The Week I Failed to Read...

This week has been a little bit manic, to say the least. It's been my first week on maternity leave without having any distractions (we were at the Olympics, on holiday, at my mums, my sister was here...), and it's been... interesting. I've been trying to get the house under control but it seems like everywhere I look at the moment is a potential hazard. I think my husband is getting sick of coming home and me saying to him 'we have to get rid of x/move y/childlock z' in a high pitched panicky tone of voice. I've also been trying to pack my hospital bag for the past four days, but first I had to do some shopping, because I didn't have some of the stuff I needed, then I had to wait for some of the stuff to arrive, and then today I just lost my motivation, so it's currently sat on the bed with a pile of clean baby laundry and a list next to it and I'll get to it at some point. Meanwhile I'm trying to maintain some kind of a social life, but every time I try to go out I'm either knackered or suffering from a headache. Today, despite this, I am determined to leave the house!! I cannot complain that I never see anybody if I don't make the effort to at least try to go and see them!

In book related news, this week has also been a little bit of a fail. Because of the fact that I constantly seem to be managing to embroil myself in at least four different things at a time, I'm not getting very much reading done, and I seem to be reading at least three different books! Agnes Grey has disappeared into the ether of my house somewhere, which is very annoying as I was really hoping to get it finished and ticked off my Classics Club list this week. I'm hoping it will turn up soon although I don't know where it can be because my house is really ridiculously tidy at the moment, compared to how it usually is.

Our fantastic new super library finally reopened this week. They've been working on it for about a year now, which means we've had to make do with less than half their usual books, most of the library being closed at one time, and random periods of full closure lasting for 6-8 weeks, but now it's done and it is lovely. They have sofas and a little cafe area (tables and vending machines), and most importantly all of the books! It is really ridiculously exciting for me. Obviously I had to go down and visit, and while I was there I picked up a really eclectic pile of stuff, mostly just to confuse the judgy man who was glaring at me because I picked up Jenny Colgan's Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams - so I like to read something pink and fluffy every now and then, it's not a crime, judgy man! Anyway, so because he was staring at me (literally all the way round the library), I then picked up a few other, less pink books, to show that just because I am a woman, picking up a 'chick lit' book, it doesn't mean that's all I read. I know that I'm waaaay overthinking this, but what can I say? I'm very susceptible to the judgement of strangers, especially at the moment! Here's what I got:

The Time Machine by H.G Wells - because it's also on my Classics Club list, also tiny, and I thought if I couldn't find Agnes Grey that this would be another quick read. I started reading the first couple of pages and I *may* have been wrong about it being easy....

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles pretty much because people were talking about it on blogs and stuff and I thought it looked interesting.

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman because it was on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize 2011, and also because for some reason the synopsis reminded me of White Teeth which I found really interesting. I'm sure they're actually nothing alike but anyway!

So now all I need to do is actually read them! I may start on Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams because it will be a quick read and I know I'll actually get through it! But then if I do that I'll feel bad because I should really be reading Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl, which I am really loving but which is also taking me ages. Or Anything Goes: a Biography of the Roaring Twenties, which for some reason I stopped reading about two chapters from the end a month or so ago, despite it also being brilliant. I honestly do not know what's wrong with my at the moment!!

On top of all that, I've been trying to get a review of The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan, the novel about the Bronte's that I recently read and loved, done all week and I just. can't. finish. it. So frustrating. Anybody else had these kind of problems? Any clues what to do about them?