It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (February 23, 2015)

It's Monday, so you know what that means -- it's time for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?, a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

I have a couple of books on the go at the moment, although I'm sad to report that I'm not really enjoying either of them...at least not yet.  The first is Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove.  The book, about a grumpy old man named Ove, has been well received.  Unfortunately, I'm not enjoying it as of yet (I'm about 1/3 of the way through it).  At this point in my reading of the book Ove has yet to do anything to endear himself to me. While it's not necessary for me to like a main character in order to like a novel, A Man Called Ove seems the type of book in which sympathy for the main character is necessary in order to enjoy it.  The book is the first selection of the new book club I'm in, so I hope the story (and Ove) improves.  I normally don't hesitate to set aside books I'm not enjoying, but will read this one to the end so I can discuss it with my fellow book clubbers.  Who knows, maybe I'll end up pleasantly surprised by it.

I'm also working my way through Pilgrim by Timothy Findley.  Honestly, I have no idea what to think of this one.  I read Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage a few years back and really enjoyed it. Pilgrim, which is about a man who can't die and features psychiatrist Carl Jung as a principal character, is not what I expected (although that's not necessarily a bad thing). At times I'm quite caught up in the story, at other times I'm bored by it.  I'm almost halfway through and am intrigued enough to keep going, although just barely.

Sarah Dunant's Blood and Beauty continues to sit on my reading pile, although I've temporarily set it aside to focus on other books.  I seem to have lost interest in historical fiction again, and don't want to pick up the Dunant book until I'm in the right mood. I really liked what I'd read, and don't want to ruin the book by not being in the right mood for it.

Looking ahead, I hope to start Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos, the sixth book in the Wheel of Time series, this week. It's been a few years since I read the previous books and I can't wait to revisit Jordan's world.

How about you? What are you currently reading?