one finished .. many to go

I only finished one book this past week, mostly because much of my time has been spent writing and reading my own writing, not that of others. I completed The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History by Linda Colley. I am incredibly disappointed. The premise of this book is quite fascinating, Elizabeth Marsh sounds to be a most fascinating woman– one who spent time travelling or living in London, Menorca, Rio de Janeiro, and Dhaka among many other places… in the late 1700s. She sounds amazing in the “book blurb”. However, the book Ms Colley has written is about three times as long as it needs to be. She continuously repeats herself and brings in references which show similar situations but requires the reader to go looking to realize it isn’t something written by or directly about Ms Marsh. That was my other huge disappointment, but it was my own fault for expecting a female world traveller’s journals from the 1700’s to survive and be quoted more extensively in a book written about her.

I’m not sure how much reading I’ll actually complete these next few weeks.. I have Musicophilia and The Indian clerk out from the library as well as Empire of Ivory waiting for me to complete all my work.

• Category: books