For anyone who has never had reader’s block, you are very lucky, and I might well hate you! For the last month I have been feeling distinctly meh, and generally mentally exhausted, with any spare energy I do have going into my search for a job, which sucks, and is incredibly boring, and I just can’t seem to get into the books that I pick up. The only exception has been rereads of Terry Pratchett books, which are the literary equivalent of comfort food to me. As it is, I have three books on the go; the first volume of In Search of Lost Time, Swann’s Way, which I am really enjoying, but just takes too much concentration, a short biography of Tolstoy, which is interesting, but written in a style which I find incredibly irritating, and a collection of Nawal el Saadawi’s writings, which is really interesting, but not something I could read all the way through.

Hopefully, though, as my life starts to get a little more organised, I’ll get my reading mojo back. Until then, however, I’m going to be using this little reading hiatus to try and get my blogging a little bit more up to date, and actually post some reviews, unless anyone else has any ideas on how to get yourself out of a total reading funk?

I think I may well be really late to the game on this one, but who else finds themselves glued to Five Books? There’s something deeply compelling about just getting someone who knows stuff about a thing and then getting them to pick five awesome books about it. It makes for excellent reading and some great reading recommendations. There are so many subjects it covers, too, that it must give everyone a big happy once in a while.

From the general to the specific (there are selections on feminism, and also Islam and feminism) and books from all over the world, I’ve got some serious booklust. Which is deeply worrying, for I do not have the bank balance to be feeling such high levels of desire for the written word. Never mind! The website itself will just have to be enough for me for a while.

The only sad thing is that I can’t just browse around by author, which would be excellent. But that’s just me being a greedy book lover.

Such a simple idea, so nicely done. In many ways, it’s like Pop Tarts.

Ah, the blogging portion of the internet! I remember you!

It’s been both hectic and quiet in these parts of late, which has meant a lack of blogging fun (although I’ve still been mostly keeping up with my Google Reader…). By that I mean that I have been busy, but I’ve been busy not doing a great deal. Which suits me fine.

You’d think that I’ve been reading lots! I kind of did, it’s just that the book I’m reading right now is incredibly dense and really quite long, so I’m not actually halfway through it yet. And it’s been a while. It’s become the Everest that I must climb. I must finish this book. I’m sure others among you have battled with books which are great but just incredibly time-consuming?

On top of that, it’s back to college for me. The final accountancy exams before I can be an exam-qualified Chartered Accountant are looming and this is the bad, the very bad, kind of busy. But this time round I’m going to keep a certain portion of time to one side for reading, because I just don’t understand people who can do nothing but account for stuff. Really, deferred tax, consolidated financial statements… they’re just not that much fun. A little reading goes a long way…

I’m tired, and I’m rambling, and I know it. I’ve got two books to review, and reviews are coming, but what I’m really posting for today is: what should I be reading, alongside MAMMOTH BOOK* to keep me going through the dark months of exam-studying ahead? I’ve got just oodles on my TBR pile, including White Woman on a Green Bicycle which looks like it could be quite nice and readable. Any other ideas? I really don’t want to give in and live a life with no literature!

What a dreary life that would be for a book addict.

* A very large, dense book. Not a book about mammoths. Although reading about mammoths is not something that I would rule out.