Category: WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday: 5 April 2023

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

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?

Currently I’m reading four books:

The Children’s Book by A S Byatt. I started this in February and am taking it slowly. It spans the Victorian era through the World War I years, and centres around a famous children’s book author and the passions, betrayals, and secrets that tear apart the people she loves. I’m still not very far into this book (chapter 7). I’m also reading Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling by Philip Pullman, a beautiful book my son bought me for Mother’s Day. It’s a collection of his essays and I’m dipping into it choosing an essay at random. The third book I’m reading is Asking for the Moon by Reginald Hill, four novellas about Dalziel and Pascoe. I’ve read the first one, The Last National Service Man which is about their first meeting. And the final book is The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson, a follow-up to his Notes from a Small Island, seeing how Britain had changed twenty years later. I’m nearing the end of this book

The last book I read (on Kindle) is Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks, set mainly in Austria from the years before the First World War to 1933. I found parts of it very slow with too much about Freud. Anton and Lena are the main characters and I much preferred Lena’s story. I may write about it in more detail later on.

Next I’ll be reading – Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck, my Spin book for the Classics Club.

Although this is a weekly meme I’m only taking part occasionally.

WWW Wednesday: 15 February 2023

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

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?

Currently I’m reading three books:

The Children’s Book by A S Byatt. This is one of my oldest TBRs, a book I’ve owned since 2009. I did start reading it as soon as I got (it was a birthday present) but I didn’t get very far! It’s a big book with 624 pages and at the time I was in the middle of reading Wolf Hall and I couldn’t cope with to such long and complicated books, so I temporarily put down The Children’s Book to read later – then other books got in the way. It begins in 1895 in the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) and ends with the end of the Great War. There are lots of characters and it’s about children, about books, about art, about the writing of children’s books, about the telling of children’s stories, and about the clash between life and art. It’s detailed and richly descriptive full of fascinating facts. I’ve only the first three chapters so far and I’m loving it.

I’m also reading The City of Tears by Kate Mosse, one of my NetGalley books that I ‘should’ have read long before now. It’s another long book, the second in The Burning Chambers trilogy. I’ve read the first book, which began slowly and developed into a fast moving story with a dramatic climax. There’s a huge cast of characters and it continues the story of Minuo Reydon-Joubert and Piet Reydon during the Catholic and Huguenot conflicts in the sixteenth century. It looks to be just as good as The Burning Chambers (my review).

The other book I’m reading is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I usually avoid hyped books, but this one interested me. It’s about Elizabeth Zott, who is described as ‘not your average woman’. I had a look at the sample and liked the beginning so I borrowed it from the library. It’s also described as ‘laugh-out-loud funny’, but I’m not finding that at all and I’ve read 13 chapters so far. In fact I’m finding it a bit irritating.

The last book I read is A Death in Tuscany by Michele Giuttari. Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara, head of Florence’s elite Squadra Mobile, is investigating the death of a young girl, whose body was found in the picturesque Tuscan hill town of Scandicci, lying by the edge of the woods.When he delves deeper he believes the girl was murdered, And then his close friend Massimo Verga is accused of murder and has disappeared, so Ferrara is desperate to find him, and it appears both the Freemasons and the Mafia are involved.

Next I’ll be reading – It’ll be a while before I’ve finished the books I’m currently reading so it’s too soon to decide what I’ll read next.

Although this is a weekly meme I’m only taking part occasionally.

WWW Wednesday: 26 October 2022

Published on by Margaret11 Comments

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?

Currently I’m reading two books:

The Island by Victoria Hislop. I’d started reading this in the summer but put it on one side for a while. I’ve now picked it up again and am well into the story of the Petrakis’ family. All Alexis Fielding knows about her mother’s family is that Sophia grew up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. Eager to find out more she visits Plaka, a seaside village on Elounda Bay in eastern Crete which sits opposite Spinalonga Island, a former leper colony. There she finds Fotini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. It combines historical and romantic fiction.

I’m also reading The Night of the Mi’raj by Zoe Ferraris, crime fiction set in Saudi Arabia. Nouf ash-Shrawi, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Saudi dynasty, has disappeared from her home in Jeddah just days before her arranged marriage, and when her battered body is found in the desert, it looks like she was murdered. But, for me, what is most fascinating in this book is the description of life in Saudi Arabia.

The last book I read is Another Part of the Wood by Beryl Bainbridge, my book for the Classics Club Spin. I’ll post my review in the next few days – on or before 31 October. It’s set at a holiday camp in a forest in Flintshire, Wales, where Joseph takes his mistress and son, together with a few friends, to stay in a cabin for the weekend – with absolutely disastrous results. It has a claustrophobic atmosphere as the tension between the characters builds to a climax.

Next I’ll be reading The Darkness Manifesto: How light pollution threatens the ancient rhythms of life by Johan Eklöf, one of my NetGalley books, which will be published on 3rd November 2022. He ‘encourages us to appreciate natural darkness and its unique benefits. He also writes passionately about the domino effect of damage we inflict by keeping the lights on: insects failing to reproduce; birds blinded and bewildered; bats starving as they wait in vain for insects that only come out in the dark. And humans can find that our hormones, weight and mental well-being are all impacted.’ (extract from the synopsis)

Johan Eklöf, PhD, is a Swedish bat scientist and writer, most known for his work on microbat vision and more recently, light pollution. He lives in the west of Sweden, where he works as a conservationist and copywriter. The Darkness Manifesto is his first book to be translated into English.

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

WWW Wednesday: 28 September 2022

Published on by Margaret13 Comments

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.

WWW Wednesday: 24 August 2022

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

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’m still reading J R R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This is a book I’ve read several times over the years since the first time I read it, just after I left school (a long time ago). I am now well into Book 3, The Return of the King. I don’t remember this one as much as the first two books, maybe I haven’t read it before as many times as the other two. It really is an amazing book, such vivid descriptions of characters, places and events. I am reading this hardback book slowly, taking my time over it, just a small section each day – letting the story soak into my mind. I think I may have to spend more time reading it from now on – the action is really gripping me, although, of course, I know how it ends.

The other books I’m reading are The Island by Victoria Hislop and Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson.

The Island 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 reading a paperback edition, which means I’m not reading it in bed! I need more light to see the small typeface.

Shrines of Gaiety is to be published in September, so I’m reading a digital review copy from NetGalley. As with Atkinson’s Life After Life, I’ve found this a difficult book at the beginning and it took me until nearly 20% to get to know the characters. I nearly gave up a few times. But then I settled into the story and am nearing the end – now at 86%. I should finish it soon.

The last book I read is Nucleus by Rory Clements, historical fiction set in 1939 just before the start of the Second World War. I wrote about it in this post.

As always I haven’t quite decided what to read next. It could be Lion by Conn Iggulden, the first in a new series ‘The Golden Age’, set in Ancient Greece in the 5th century BC. It’s about the Athenian general and politician Pericles. 

But, then again when the time comes I could choose something completely different. I just don’t know.

Although this is a weekly meme I think I’ll take part once a month from now on.

WWW Wednesday: 27 July 2022

Published on by Margaret15 Comments

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’m currently reading J R R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This is a book I’ve read several times over the years since the first time I read it, just after I left school (a long time ago). I have finished Book 1, The Fellowship of the Ring and have nearly finished Book 2, The Two Towers. This time round I am struck by Tolkien’s world building and his powers of description of the characters and the locations, but most of all by Tolkien’s storytelling – superb. I am reading this hardback book slowly, taking my time over it, just a small section each day – letting the story soak into my mind.

The other book I’m reading is A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, which is also a fantastic story. I’m reading this one quickly on my Kindle, so different from The Lord of the Rings, but although Shute’s style of writing in straight forward, almost plain language, is not at all like Tolkien’s he is also an excellent storyteller, bringing the characters to life. So far I am still in Malaya with Jean and her companions as they walk hundreds of miles around Malaya as prisoners of war of the Japanese.

I recently finished True Crime Story by Joseph Knox and wrote about it in this post. I didn’t enjoy it, as much as I had hoped, but after a confusing start it picked up at around the 50% mark. It’s a novel about a 19 year old university student who walked out of a party taking place in the shared accommodation where she had been living for three months and just disappeared. Seven years after her disappearance, struggling writer Evelyn Mitchell begins piecing together what really happened in 2011.

As always I haven’t decided what to read next. I have so many books I’d love to read, but until I’ve finished The Lord of the Rings and A Town Like Alice, I just don’t know which one it will be.

WWW Wednesday: 21 October 2020

Published on by Margaret12 Comments

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’m currently reading David Cameron’s autobiography For the Record and making slow progress. It’s interesting reading his version of events. I’ve not got much to say about it yet, though as I’ve only just got up to the 2010 election.

The other book I’m reading is Daniel Defoe’s novel, A Journal of the Plague Year, a most depressing book about the truly terrible details of the Great Plague of London in 1665 – 1666 in which killed an estimated 100,000 people—almost a quarter of London’s population—in 18 months.

I recently finished reading The Searcher by Tana French, her latest book published on 5 November. I enjoyed it, although not as much as The Wych Elm. It has a leisurely pace that I wasn’t expecting, but I loved the characters and most of all Tana French’s beautifully descriptive writing. I’ll be writing more about it in a later post.

Next I’m thinking about reading some escapism, maybe the second book in the Rivers of London series Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch. I loved the first book – pure fantasy.

WWW Wednesday: 7 October 2020

Published on by Margaret14 Comments

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?

Currently reading:

Recently finished – A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin, the latest Rebus book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reading next: not sure as it will be some time before I finish my current books. I’m wondering if it will be 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro as a follow-up to Hamnet.

WWW Wednesday: 30 September 2020

Published on by Margaret40 Comments

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?

The Three Ws are:

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

I’m currently reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell and am surprised that I’m not feeling enthusiastic about it; surprised because I’ve enjoyed her earlier books and Hamnet won the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year. It looks just the sort of book I usually enjoy. It’s historical fiction, set in Elizabethan England and it is beautifully written.

It has a strange, fairy-tale feel and I’m finding hard to settle into this book. I don’t feel involved. I feel I’m on the outside looking on from a distance. I think it’s O’Farrell’s use of the present tense, but I’m hoping I’ll feel more involved as I read on.

The last book I read was The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, a disturbing novel to say the least. My review will follow. For now here is the description from Goodreads:

Four seekers have arrived at the rambling old pile known as Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Luke, the adventurous future inheritor of the estate; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past. As they begin to cope with chilling, even horrifying occurrences beyond their control or understanding, they cannot possibly know what lies ahead. For Hill House is gathering its powers – and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

Reading Next: I’m really looking forward to reading A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin, published tomorrow, his latest Rebus novel.

When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days.

Rebus fears the worst – and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect.

He wasn’t the best father – the job always came first – but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective?

As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast – and a small town with big secrets – he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn’t want to find…

WWW Wednesday: 26 August 2020

Published on by Margaret15 Comments

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’m currently reading Wycliffe and How To Kill a Cat by W J Burley, one of my TBRs. It’s the second in the Wycliffe series, set in Cornwall.

Superintendent Wycliffe is on holiday, but popping into the local police station to see an old friend he hears that a woman has been found dead, probably murdered and he can’t resist offering to help. It’s immensely readable. The title puzzles me – I suspect that it’s not really about how to kill a cat – I hope not!

The last book I read was Still Life by Val McDermid, her latest Karen Pirie mystery. I’ll be writing more about this book. It combines a cold case investigation into a skeleton found in a campervan and a current investigation into the discovery of a body in the Firth of Forth. I loved it.

I see that ITV are adapting the first Karen Pirie book, The Distant Echo. Filming began in February this year, but I couldn’t find any other details – one to look out for.

I’d like to read several books next …

But at the moment I’m leaning towards reading the first book in the Inspector Lynley series, A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George. I’ve dipped into it and it looks good.

Blurb:

Fat, unlovely Roberta Teys is found beside her father’s headless corpse, wearing her best dress and with an axe in her lap. Her first words are: ‘I did it. And I am not sorry’ and she refuses to say more. Inspector Thomas Lynley and DS Barbara Havers are sent by Scotland Yard to solve this particularly gruesome murder. And as they navigate their way around a dark labyrinth of secret scandals and appalling crimes, they uncover a series of shocking revelations that shatter the façade of the peaceful Yorkshire village.