Reading Update

I remember last year at the end of the year I was excited for a smaller reading goal and I was ready to tackle some of the books that have been sitting on my shelves for years. Then February happened. Now the year is more than halfway over, and I’m looking at my reading. It’s no surprise but this has turned into a year of comfort reading. Lots and lots of re-reading favorite parts of books. No surprise there. What has been a little surprising is that my comfort reading has turned into a Georgette Heyer binge.

I have always enjoyed the Heyer books I had read in the past so it was no surprise to me to enjoy Venetia in January. It had been sitting on my shelf for a while and it seemed like a good time to read it. But that started my interest and I bought a few more of her books in old editions. Then I proceeded to re-read some of my favorites from years past and started reading the ones I had recently purchased. Then I purchased more. And read more. I’ve finished 55 books this year and 14 of them are Heyer. That’s 25% devoted to one author this year. And it doesn’t even include the re-reading.

One of them is a mystery and the rest are the “romances” which is a term I use loosely. Many of them seem to be very short on the romance and turn into a comedy of errors. I’ve enjoyed them immensely. There’s just something really comforting about the polite society manners and carriage rides and all the crazy situations and funny dialogue that has had me returning over and over again.

Now, I have succeeded in reading other things: the other 41 books on my list. However, many times I’ve been staring at my bookshelves and taking down other books just to turn around and put them back and reach for a Heyer. I think with this 14^th book (also 3 in a row) I am ready to reach for something else for a bit. I’m not ruling out another Heyer this year, but maybe not for a couple weeks. Ha ha