I've been reading a collection of Conan Doyle's short stories. Better than almost anyone, he GETS how to set up, confound and solve a crime within 17 pages. Amazing construction.

I've read Baskervilles when I was a kid (as I'm sure most have done, it was a staple) but this is the first I really sat down to read him, since he was never on any course or time. (I have a pile of reading to get through - just the ability to be to do so with needing to critique or analyse it for something after 7 years is so refreshing....just being able to read for the simple pleasure of reading is such a joy.

I have my Dickens, and more Conan Doyle, and even a Trollope (I'll give him another chance, Robert Grant was rather shocked I didn't really enjoy him back when we studied him!), some HG Wells, Kafka (the Metamorphosis, and The Trial), Brave New World and Rebecca.

Oh, and I'm feeling very ambitious, War and Peace/Anna Karenina.

I can tell how fast my brain is working by how speedy my reading is. I got through eight short stories today, so that's about 100 pages. (Then again, I did read The Phantom Rickshaw offline, but Kipling's story telling left much to be desired there, and I needed a break afterwards)

There's also some histories I could do well to read.

When I'm not writing, of course.
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