What Are You Reading? 01/13/13

We are wrapping up the second week of the year, and it's time to get going on one of my New Year's  Resolutions For Blogging.  In 2013, I want to do some sort of weekly round up here at Lost In Kudzu of what I've finished, what I'm working on, what's coming up, and what has been abandoned (this happens often, sadly).  Lucky for me, Sheila at Book Journey already has a meme for that.  It's Monday! What Are You Reading?, is the meme in which I will talk about last week's reading and what I am working on for the coming week.

Confession:  I didn't make it even two weeks on the Double Dog Dare to read only from my own shelves.  I blame PBS.

Last week after the premiere of Downtown Abbey, my PBS affiliate showed the first of four Inspector Banks movies scheduled for January.  British police procedurals are my genre of choice and this series by Peter Robinson was a new one to me (though he's been writing them since the 1980's).  The next book / movie, Playing With Fire, was $1.99 on Nook last week, and ...  well ... I just couldn't help myself.

What I'm working on:

Final Voyage: A Story of Arctic Disaster & One Fateful Whaling Season  (Peter Nichols) -- For those who enjoyed Ahab's Wife or are working on the Moby Dick Big Read, this non-fiction book provides lots of historical background on the whaling industry in the nineteenth century while also telling the story of a fleet of about 20 ships that got stuck in Arctic ice in 1871.  

The Sign of the Beaver (Elizabeth George Speare) -- A readalong with my 12yo.  This book about the friendship between a pioneer boy and a Native American won all the major awards for children's literature in 1984.

What I finished:  (this is actually two weeks since I neglected last week's post)

1.  The Pillars of the Earth  (Ken Follett; Chunkster Challenge; Dusty Challenge)

2.  The Handmaid's Tale  (Margaret Atwood; Continents Challenge)

3.  Anne of Green Gables  (L M Montgomery; Continents Challenge; Children's Lit Challenge)

4.  The Wizard of Oz  (Frank Baum; Children's Lit Challenge)

5.  Murder In The Cathedral  (T S Eliot; 5/5/5 Challenge; Dewey Decimal)

6.  The March of Folly  (Barbara Tuchman; Dusty Challenge; Dewey Decimal)

7.  Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats  (T S Eliot; Children's Lit Challenge)

8.  Playing With Fire  (Peter Robinson)

What I abandoned:

Though not officially abandoned, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke) is really d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g.  I am on page 81 of 846.

What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper (Paula Marantz Cohen) -- I picked this up as a $0.99 Amazon deal on the recommendation of a couple of mystery bloggers I follow, but it is not keeping my attention.  Page 99 of 341.

What's coming up:

My Inspector Banks find this past week (and my subsequent admission of defeat in the Double Dog Dare) sent me scurrying to my library's online catalog for others in the series.  I should have two or three more in my hands by the end of the week.

A reread of The Terror (Dan Simmons).  This is one of my favorite cold weather books involving ice-bound whaling ships, murder, intrigue, and a super scary sci-fi monster.  Fantastic Fiction shows a new Dan Simmons, The Abominable, due for release in October 2013.

Quote for the week:

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."  Oscar Wilde

Thanks to Sheila for hosting this weekly meme!