Category Archives: slow reading

In the Middle: What I Read on Summer Vacation

Posted on July 28, 2012 by

I’m just back from 10 days in New England visiting my parents, slightly jetlagged, confused about what day/time it is, and doing mountains of laundry. Sometimes I find it hard to negotiate my position “in the middle” on these vacations–being … Continue reading →

Posted in personal, slow reading | 5 Comments

Chapter One: A Seduction

Posted on May 27, 2012 by

In a Twitter discussion of clergy heroes hot vicars @JanetNorCal suggested Jo Manning’s Seducing Mr. Heywood. I requested it from the library, picked up the hold yesterday, and dove in. Manning’s book was published in hardcover by Five Star, and later released as … Continue reading →

Posted in romance, slow reading | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Chapter One: An Invitation

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

I just started J. G. Farrell’s Siege of Krishnapur, which my dad left behind after a vacation; Rohan’s post got me to dig it out. I was struck immediately by how different the opening pages are from those of a genre novel, whether … Continue reading →

Posted in slow reading | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

It’s the End of the World! Franzen and Byatt

Posted on February 5, 2012 by

By now you’ve all probably laughed/wrung your hands/rolled your eyes over Jonathan Franzen’s supremely ill-considered remarks about how, as the Telegraph headline puts it, “e-books are damaging society.” What I wonder is, why would I read a book about contemporary middle-class Americans … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, review, slow reading | 15 Comments

Slow Reading II: The Courtship of Miss Brooke

Posted on August 25, 2011 by

Anyone who reads this and is interested in reading Middlemarch has probably already done so, and I don’t think plot is the reason to read Middlemarch anyway, but just in case, consider yourself warned of spoilers herein. Book I of … Continue reading →

Posted in slow reading | Tagged , , | 3 Comments