Saturday, July 30, 2011

Derailing the Reading Plan

Even though I am very much a planner in real life, the most planning I do when it comes to my reading is reserving books at the library and participating (rather badly given my track record) in read-a-longs and book tours. I also will mentally calculate my next few books, but these plans are seldom set in stone and very rarely accomplished as planned.

My current loosely constructed plan was to try to finish The First World War before next Friday night because that is when my book club will be discussing Testament of Youth. I also was rereading the Lady Julia Grey books to prepare to read Raybourn's newest installment. After that, I was ready to give in to the winds of Maisie Dobbs, the sirens of WWI, and those wily reading fates.

Turns out the wily reading fates have stepped in a bit earlier than expected (as they are wont to do...they are fates after all). One of the blogs I love best (and one of the blogs that inspired me to start my own book blog) is Stuck in a Book. Simon has such a wonderful knowledge of books and stories, and I always find unexpected gems on his blog. Today I found mention of an article in The Guardian that moved Simon to tears and the book that the article was excerpted from, Let Not the Waves of the Sea. After reading the article (and being moved to tears myself), I jumped on my library's website to reserve it. It is not there. I went to Barnes & Noble. com; they don't have it either. I then proceeded to my old standby, Amazon. Turns out it has not yet been released in the U.S., but it is available in Kindle format.

As soon as I saw that, I felt that old familiar feeling, and knew my plans were of no use. For the foreseeable future, I will be reading Let Not the Waves of the Sea. Oh, reading fates, you are cunning!

4 comments:

JoAnn said...

These things always seem to happen! Some of my most memorable reading experiences have been totally spur of the moment, so I try not to make too many plans. Just took a peek at Let Not the Waves of the Sea over at amazon and it sound wonderful! Here's to flexibility - I'll look forward to your thoughts.

Read the Book said...

Thanks, JoAnn! I'm really enjoying it (I've been devouring it!). Given how much I plan in other aspects of my life, it's kind of strange that I don't stick more closely to a reading plan. Let me know what you think if you read Let Not the Waves of the Sea!

Darlyn (Your Move, Dickens) said...

Like you, I always keep making reading plans, but, alas, the reading fates have plans of their own. Another book always catches my eye. :)

Read the Book said...

Oh, those reading fates, they're so sneaky!!