The month of playing with, and hopefully catching, fire (TSS)

Here it is halfway through the month and I’ve only read one of the 14 books I had planned to read this month: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, the second of the Millenium series. In my defense, it was over 700 pages (and excellent, by the way), but still…the only other book I’ve read this month was Godric by Frederick Buechner at 178 pages for a Faith’n’Fiction Saturday Round Table taking place over at My Friend Amy. The e-mail discussion is set to begin later tonight, with posts to come later in the month.

This week, my goals are:

1. to read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins before Aug. 24, when the third of the series Mockingjay is set to hit bookstores. I did get this one out of the library to join (late) Book Club Girl in her read-along, but my wife grabbed it up before I could get to it. So far, she’s loving it.
2. to read at least one, if not more, of the Agatha Christie books on my shelf, which include Sad Cypress, The Patriotic Murders (aka One, Two, Buckle My Shoe and An Overdose of Death), for the continuing Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, hosted by Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise.

(Aside: Kerrie sent me a coupon to The Book Depository earlier this month, which I used to buy Faceless Killers, the first Kurt Wallander mystery, by Henning Mankell. I also have begun that, but am putting on hold for these other “projects.” Thanks again, Kerrie.)

I think that’s enough for this week.

At the end of the month, I will be joining Amanda at The Zen Leaf for a read-along of Bleak House by Charles Dickens, which I have setting on a shelf on our bookcase. That read-along will run through Oct. 27. I think what also intrigued me about this one was that eventually I would like to see the BBC miniseries, starring Gillian Anderson (yes, that Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame).

In another effort to read the book before seeing the miniseries, I also picked up The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett at our library from the donation shelf, because I’ve heard talk about the miniseries on Starz around the blogosphere and eventually would like to see it too. At 983 pages, though, it might be a while before I get to watch it. I just hope it will still be available on Netflix Instant Watch by that time.

Disclosure: I rarely buy books from online or “big box” bookstores. In fact, I ordered Buechner’s Godric at our local bookstore, From My Shelf Books, where I got it for a price probably lower than many online stores. However, for full disclosure and one for which the owners of the aforementioned store, Kevin and Kasey, might never forgive me, I did purchase The Girl Who Played With Fire at a “big box” bookstore in an act of weakness at the end of last month. I know, I deserve at least forty lashes — maybe even fifty– with a wet noodle, although Kevin probably will argue that a cattail whip of knotted cords of nails would work better. For the record, I most likely will opt for something in between, but leaning toward the lesser extreme.