Always "reading" 7 or so books at a time

Shroud - John Banville Lovecraft Country: A Novel - Matt Ruff The Nice and the Good - Iris Murdoch The Physiognomy - Jeffrey Ford The Changeling - Joy Williams Quilt - Nicholas  Royle The Hidden Face of God - Richard Elliott Friedman The Disappearance of God: A Divine Mystery - Richard Elliott Friedman

There's always seven or more books I'm reading at a time. Is that odd? Is that impossible? It's probably at least a little bit of both; so when I admit that this is a long-standing habit of mine, I feel like something of a monstrosity; hence the "frankenstein" feeling in my "smiley-face"-variant (I prefer this label to "emoticon", which is too glib for me).

 

Shroud - John Banville  Shroud - John Banville : This is a reread for me; I read it several years ago, not knowing that it was intended to be a kind of "sequel" to Eclipse; book two of the "Father and Daughter trilogy", I believe.

 

Lovecraft Country: A Novel - Matt Ruff  Lovecraft Country - Matt Ruff: So far, about 25% or so into the book, nothing particular "Lovecraftian" has happened yet; presumably Ruff is doing some stage-setting for us. I liked Ruff's Bad Monkeys a lot, so I'm prepared to give him plenty of rope on this one.

 

The Nice and the Good - Iris Murdoch  The Nice and the Good - Iris Murdoch: Yes, it's an odd juxtaposition, thinking of the Lovecraft ethos and the Murdoch oeuvre at the same time, but I love her stuff; this is probably around the dozenth or so book of hers I'm reading. Most recently read Murdoch books for me were The Unicorn and A Severed Head.

 

The Physiognomy - Jeffrey Ford  The Physiognomy - Jeffrey Ford: Book 1 of the "Well-Built City" trilogy, very imaginative and also very tongue-in-cheek fantasy. (The mayor of a town compliments the narrator/protagonist on having given him a "good beating".