And, of course, still on the TBR table: that’s (in alphabetical order by author) Daniel Abraham’s “A Betrayal in Winter”, the second in his The Long Price quartet; Justin Cronin’s The Passage; and Ian McDonald’s River of Gods. The fact that these books are still on the table is no reflection on my level of interest in them—I am very interested in all of them, but you know, it all comes down to the old maxim: ‘so many books, so little time.’ [Sigh.]

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Speaking of not making much progress, I am still reading Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog. You may recall that last week I was only a short way into the book and was  feeling a little unsure about it, despite Hedgehog having spent a year on the NYT best seller list, as well all as the critical plaudits that have been lavished on it. Well, I am still a little ‘unsure’, but I am a lot further into the book—only about a quarter left to go by my reckoning—and also more “into it” (ie the story) as a reader. There are definitely parts that I am really enjoying. The uncertainty arises because Hedgehog also contains chapters in which characters reflect, in a very high minded way, on Life, Philosophy and Art–which to be honest, I find just a tad pretentious. But—but, ‘gentle readers’, I also nurture a suspicion that the author may, just may, be playing with my mind, so I am reserving judgment on the point of pretentiousness or otherwise until I’ve finished the book, which I hope to do this week. Don’t get me wrong though, even if I do finally check that “a tad prententious” box, I still think it is well worth a read.

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Plus “Just Arrived”: (wildfire excitement!)

From Gollancz (Hachette)—Archangels’ Consort by Nalini Singh: this is the third in NYT best-selling author, Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series; the genre is Paranormal Romance and you may recall that I read the first-in-series, Angel’s Blood last year and interviewed Nalini for Women on Air, Plains 96.9 FM;

From Auckland Univeristy Press—AUP New Poets 4 featuring Harry Jones, Erin Scudder & Chris Tse. I don’t “know” any of these poets so I am really looking forward to becoming acquainted with their work.