The State of Things

So I have been so wrapped up in reading that I have neglected to write about any. And now that NaNoWriMo is in full swing, I might very well neglect even reading.

But. I just had to say something about what I am reading now.

After, of course, listing, mostly for my own later benefit, whatever things I've recently read that I remember off the top of my head. HG Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, and "The Country of the Blind," Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, as well as various Poirot stories from 13 for Luck, Double Sin, and possibly another collection?, Lawrence Block's Burglars Can't Be Choosers, The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, and The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian. I'm fairly certain that that's the extent of my readings since my last writing.

But as for what's now in progress, I am currently little more than halfway through PG Wodehouse's Leave it to Psmith. It is, although I have owned Uncle Dynamite for quite some years now, the first Wodehouse I have ever read. And I am loving it. I really, truly, honestly have no idea why I have not read any Wodehouse until now, save for the back cover of Uncle Dynamite, and possibly a few pages from a Jeeves story that belonged to someone else. I mean, I should have known I'd at least like him, for I adore Jeeves and Wooster. But I am devouring every word. I have already bored my girlfriend by reading her entire passages--once, nearly a whole chapter. I am enjoying it so much that I regret to say that I am 100% certain that my NaNoWriMo effort will include a fair amount of horrendous failures in the exercise of imitation of style. Ah, well.

Anyway, I shall possibly have more to say about any of the above after finishing Leave it to Psmith, possibly no sooner than the end of November (having something to say, not finishing...I predict it may be finished quite soon). And then I'll choose which of the books that I have on hand to go on to: Life with Jeeves or some Evelyn Waugh. I expect I will go with the Waugh because I will want to have the Wodehouse to look forward to, and also I won't want to put off the Waugh any longer in case I have a similar reaction to him. I've been putting off Wodehouse for more than three years and Waugh for less than three months, but I have been meaning to read both, and I certainly intend to as ess as pee.