WWW Wednesday: 28 September 2022

Published on by Margaret

WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I still haven’t finished The Island by Victoria Hislop. I took it away on holiday but didn’t read much of it and now I need to refresh my memory before I can read any more. It is set mainly on the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga – Greece’s former leper colony and is the story of Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. 

I’m also reading Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby, a novel about about Fanny Knight’s governess, Anne Sharp and her relationship with Jane Austen, and Never Greater Slaughter by Michael Livingstone, nonfiction about the Battle of Brunanburh in AD937, which Livingstone describes as ‘one of the most significant battles in the long history not just of England, but of the whole of the British Isles.’

The last book I read is Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, a novella that is shortlisted for the Booker Prize this year. I loved it. It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him – and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church. A tender tale of hope and quiet heroism this is both a celebration of compassion and a stern rebuke of the sins committed in the name of religion.

Next I’ll be reading Another Part of the Wood by Beryl Bainbridge as it’s my book for the Classics Club Spin. In a remote cottage in Wales two urban couples are spending their holiday with the idealistic owner and his protege. The beginning is idyllic but catastrophe lurks behind every tree, and as the holiday continues their relationships start to show their cracks.

Although this is a weekly meme l’m taking part once a month at the moment.

13 thoughts on “WWW Wednesday: 28 September 2022”

    1. The only reason I stalled in reading The Island is because I was so busy enjoying my holiday and just didn’t have as much time to read as I expected!

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  3. I really hope you’ll like the Bainbridge, Margaret. I think her work is really suspenseful and at times, compelling. And you’ve reminded me that I want to read Small Things Like These. It’s been on my list and I must get to it!

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    1. Thanks Margot – I do hope I won’t be disappointed by the Bainbridge book. Do read Small Things Like These, it’s not very long, so you’ll easily slot it in with your other reading.

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  4. I’ll have to check out Godmersham Park – it looks like such an intriguing angle and, while I have a rocky relationship with Austen’s works, I am fascinated by the woman herself.

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