This was supposed to be the second post of the day. Pretty sure the other one won’t be finished today after all. It’s more difficult than it should be to talk about a book you didn’t enjoy, didn’t think was well-executed, but has some good points. But anyway…let’s focus on the WWW Wednesday.
Also, let me remind you that you can Donate to my American Cancer Society fundraiser here.
This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:
What are you currently reading?
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| Promise by Christi Nogle |
How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds by Alan Jacobs |
Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire, read by Emily Bauer |
Nogle doesn’t stray too far from her Horror-norm in a lot of these short stories (at least those at the beginning of the collection), but at the halfway point, there hasn’t been a dud in this batch of creepy SF shorts.
Jacobs’ book is one of those that were I king for the day, I’d make everyone read. (which probably violates some of what the book is trying to convey).
And Aftermarket Afterlife is just as hard to take the second time, which is why I haven’t written about it yet. The wounds are still fresh. (that’s all a compliment, btw)
What did you recently finish reading?
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| Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis |
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong, read by Phyllis Ho |
Lewis’ second novel is outrageously laughable if you think of it as SF, if you don’t, it’s a pretty good time.
I expected Leong’s book to be light entertainment—and it was. But it was more that that, too. One of my favorites in months.
What do you think you’ll read next?
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| Anxious People by Fredrik Backman |
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, read by Barton Welch |
My fourth foray into “Read everything Backman writes ASAP” since 2016. Clearly, I’m not so good at the ASAP part. But, whatever.
I want to dip my toe back into Stevenson’s brilliantly creative take on murder mysteries before I try the second in this series.
How are you kicking off February?
allysonyj
I’m currently reading a couple of non-fiction books: for a class I’m starting tonight I’m reading an anthology called “Writers on World War II” – so far I’ve read poems by W. H. Auden, excerpts from books by Jean Paul Sartre, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jessica Mitford – great variety, and each offering a real-time point of view of what was going on at the time the pieces were written. I’m also finishing up Peter Heller’s “Set Free in China” – the essay which gives the book its title is a gripper. And I’m reading “That Librarian” by Amanda Jones about her experience being trolled, doxxed, insulted, lied about after she spoke against book censorship at a town meeting. Very ugly, and all too relevant to today’s world.
I finished Ruth Ozecki’s “The Book of Form and Emptiness”! (took me a looooong time). It was a challenging read because it asks really hard questions like “What is real?” and “What is sanity?” and the structure is also challenging, with point of view alternating between a deeply troubled teenager, his worried and ineffectual mother, and a Book.
Then I breezed through Kate Atkinson’s “Normal Rules Do Not Apply”, a collection of very loosely connected short stories. If you read her best-selling “Life After Life” you will recognize the gimmick – what if you could explore ALL the paths your life might have taken, branching out with every choice you ever made? (Think of those “Choose your Own Adventure” books you read as a kid.) It was fun but a bit unsatisfying (no closure.)
Next… well, there are those books on the TBR shelf which I swore to start. But I checked a second Kate Atkinson out from the library – will I give Jackson Brodie another chance? (the last one in the series was a DNF for me, but hope springs eternal…)