......or should I say a fan of Anthony Trollope? Just fancied a post with that title (and no sniggering in the back row or rude comments from anybody please...)
Have not really settled in to any serious reading yet in 2011 as I seem to be charging around like the proverbial at the mo. In London yesterday with darling Florence who is now crawling and blimey, I now have to watch her like a hawk as she is off and away in the blink of an eyelid. Had the CDs down from the shelves at least four times (delighted to see she kept looking at the cover of Lohengrin - it's in the genes obviously), and also took an unhealthy interest in my shoes.
Sorry, rambling again. What has this got to do with Anthony Trollope? Well, nothing really. I just went off topic for a bit. So, off again - right. I don't normally join in reading challenges from other blogs, not because I don't think they are a good thing, I do, but one year I joined so many challenges I got frazzled and gave them all up in the end as I was getting so far behind and it all seemed a bit daft to pressurise myself into reading something by a certain date. After all, I wasn't going to be graded or marked so why do it? I do, however, set myself little personal challenges. Back in 2006 I decided to set myself a task, and task it was believe you me, of reading one modern novel a month. By modern I mean one that was not written by an author now residing in the bookshop in the sky, but a living, breathing author, perhaps one who had been on the Booker list or some such, or at least not a Victorian/Edwardian/written between and in the two World Wars etc etc. I succeeded and read many books I would not normally have even opened. Was distinctly underwhelmed by most of them but have read more of certain of these authors since so it worked. But as you all know, I am not a Booker/Costa/Orange type person and I am an unashamed recidivist when it comes to VicLit. I have now reached an age where I don't feel the need to impress anybody with my knowledge of the litterati or feel obliged to keep abreast with the latest trends. To hell with it all and I now read what I like, whether it is high or low or middle literature (I do draw the line at Dan Brown however).
About fifteen years ago a lady loaned me her copy of Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope and said I would like it. I had never read any of this author and was a tad irritated to be handed this doorstop of a book which I felt obligated to read as my colleague was waiting for my opinion. I have long lost touch with this lady but if she should ever glance at this, I hope she remembers Elaine of Colchester who worked with her in Crouch Street for a while and who is forever grateful for her kind gesture. I read, loved and have been reading AT ever since. Long way to go yet as he has a huge list but I have loved the Barchester Chronicles (most of which I re-read last year) and also the Palliser novels which I intend to also re-read. Have read many of his stand alone books, some sad, some funny but all imbued with such a warmth and understanding of humanity and all its foibles and the more I read of AT the more I think what a thoroughly nice man he seems to be.
In 2011 I have decided to set myself a mini-challenge and that is to read some of his earlier works, the 'Irish' novels, most of which I have but have yet to open and others as well. I am only going to aim for six, which is one every other month, as I don't want to set the bar too high and fail. To this end I have just been checking the Kindle store on Amazon as I have been given a super duper Wi-fi model for Christmas, and find I can purchase 50 of Mr T's books for the princely sum of £1.47 plus VAT. This seems to me the bargain of the decade and I have downloaded a sample and it reads easily on the screen and so these are going to be bought. I will be taking the Kindle to Australia with me and as I have also discovered I can download all of Austen and Dickens for a ludicrous price, they will be going on there as well. Real books will never be replaced in my heart, but I can already see that this elegant piece of high tech is going to be wonderful to use for travelling.
I would like to ask all readers of Random who love Trollope if they would be kind enough to let me have their thoughts on their favourites. Have any of you read all of his works? Which of the stand alone titles to you like best? And any other thoughts you may have on this great man. I would love to hear from you and get Random 2011 started.
And a belated but none the less heart felt Happy New Year to you all.
