Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks: Latest Update

I haven't posted in quite some time any reviews of the books I'm reading for the Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge.  This is not to say I haven't been keeping up with the reading -- I have.  But time to craft thought-provoking reviews has eluded me to the point that I am so far behind.  So I'm throwing in the towel.

I'll continue the reading, of course, and let you know what I'm reading and some brief thoughts.  It just won't be as formal as before.  So here's a list of what I've read lately:

Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry.  This was my first taste of Berry (couldn't help the pun -- it just happened).  After what I deemed a slow, albeit enjoyable start, I really sunk way into this book (bibliophiles, you know just what I mean by that descriptor) and ended up loving it.  Berry's poetic eloquence shines through in so many of the passages and descriptions that the prose is just beautiful.  Berry has created a narrative that manages to be rich and vivid yet light as silk.  An added bonus: I laughed out loud on several occasions.

A Far Cry from Kensington, by Muriel Spark.  Very different from my first Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, this small novel is a delight.  The cast of characters is both off-beat and amazingly human, and the plot skilfully weaves comedic elements with suspense, along with a touch of the (supposed) supernatural.  I thought it was a hoot.

The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes, by Marcel Theroux.  This is an unusual story, told in the first person by a man who seems, in the beginning, to be living his life in absentia, almost more like dying day by day instead of living.  But an unexpected bequest from a forgotten uncle -- a house in Massachusetts -- spurs him to a radical life-change, which then leads to other discoveries, not the least of which is an unpublished manuscript that offers more mysteries to unravel.  I very much enjoyed Theroux's writing style and turn of the phrase, and I look forward to reading more of this books.

Yikes! Look at the time! I have to leave for a Scout meeting in an hour and haven't even started on supper.

More later.  And, yes, there's more!