I attended a work-adjacent social activity yesterday* . I’ve got two social gatherings tomorrow** . And one the next day.*** I don’t know myself anymore. So I’m going to rush back to my comfort-space of books for a bit now.
* And enjoyed it.
** I’m anticipating enjoying both.
*** I’ll likely have fun here, too.
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?
 |
 |
| The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis |
Cold Days by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters |
Wow, you can remember the problems with the fifth Narnia novel, and then there’s re-reading it. I can appreciate it for what it is, but Lewis doesn’t make it easy, you know?
While I don’t love the plot developments that led to Cold Days (I don’t hate them either), I’m enjoying this more than I did Ghost Story (although I did like it more this time through).
What did you recently finish reading?
 |
 |
| Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi |
Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger, read by David Chandler |
Zoe’s Tale was so much more fun than I expected once I realized what I was going to be reading. It could be my favorite of the series (although I’ve said that with every book in the series, so take that with a grain of salt).
Iron Lake itself was fine. But I think I made a mistake by going with an audiobook. It’s a very Joe Pickett-ish kind of plot and setting, which is fine. But when you have Joe Pickett’s narrator reading that to you…the word “distracting” is an understatement.
What do you think you’ll read next?
 |
 |
| The Christmas Tree Killer by Chris Frost |
Son of a Liche by J. Zachary Pike, read by Doug Tisdale Jr. |
This seems like a good time for Chris Frost’s latest.
I grabbed Son of a Liche right after I listened to Orconomics, but forgot that I had it, until one or more of the people on SFF Addicts Ep. 183: Our Favorite Reads of 2025 LIVE. Whoops.
Are you going through something seasonal now? Trying to finish challenges?
KWHR
Let it never be said that the Irresponsible Reader doesn’t have a social life.
HCNewton
Oh, I assure you…he’d be fine with that being true.
allysonyj
Currently reading Nikos Kazantzakis’s “The Oddyssey: A Modern Sequel”. Since I read “the Oddyssey” and then “the Penelopeiad” I couldn’t resist this from the library book table. I’m up to page 61 in small print; it goes on for776 pages. Will I stand the gaff? Not sure (there’s a synopsis in the back which is very tempting.) So far, I think Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses “re Ulysses’ return to Ithaca says it all in fewer words.
Also reading an ARC which a friend has written – will write the review when it can do him some good on Amazon.
And still have V. S. Pritchett’s short stories on my stack. He is a fine writer, but somehow his stories are forgettable.
Just finished reading: “The Flanders Panel” by Arturo Perez-Reverte. This was a translation from the Italian which I picked up and was instantly hooked. An art historian is doing a renovation of a 15th century artwork, “The Chess Game” and unveils a cryptic inscription offering a clue to a 600-year-old murder. And then the murder becomes more personal, and much more involved with an ongoing chess game between the protagonist and the murderer. A fascinating story.
Also read “Trade Winds”. a story by M. M. Kaye. Her “Far Pavilions” is one of my must – have favorites. This story was steeped in her experience in Zanzibar but I could not love the heroine: she was too priggish, too self-righteous. By the end of the story she had loosened up. but I was no longer ready to believe in her.
Next: Can I resist Adam Johnson’ s “The wayfarer”, picked as one of the Wall Street Journal’s 10 best books of 2025? It’s over 700 pages, but I like sagas. Can’t recommend it to my book group, which has a 500 page limit. Will you give it a try?
HCNewton
I don’t think I’d seen anything about Johnson’s book until now. That does look pretty intriguing.
The rest of your list looks pretty daunting, I’ve gotta say.