WWW Wednesday 2-20-13

WWW Wednesday. This meme is from shouldbereading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

I’m reading a Regency romance, The Notorious Atherton, for the amazing Patricia Rice. You have to wait until July to read it. I get to read it now. Me, taunting? You bet! But even though you can’t read it today, you can read the two books in the Rebellious Sons series that came before it, starting with The The Wicked Wyckerly and following up with The Devilish Montague.  Aren’t I generous, giving you links and everything? This way you’ll be ready for the fun when Atherton arrives in July. Rice’s readers have been begging for Atherton’s story and they will not be disappointed!

• What did you recently finish reading?

Last week I lied. I said I was going to read  A Bride Most Begrudging. I changed my mind. Why? I explain why here. Short form: I realized it seems to break some rules that annoy me so much I didn’t want to use this book to form an opinion of Christian fiction.

So instead, I chose a different book that had been on my Kindle for a very long time, another book I picked up free somewhere, The Apothecary’s Daughter by Julie Klassen.

I liked it a lot. This approach to the Regency time period was fresh and interesting–the legal and personal and professional conflicts between physicians, apothecaries, and other medical “professionals” of the era. I am not sure if this was marketed as a Romance. Most romance readers are going to find it at least a little frustrating, and some will find it totally frustrating. I skimmed a number of reviews to be sure before making that comment. The heroine does not have a strong love story here. Depending on how you view the story, either three or four potential suitors are involved. I loved that it wasn’t clear who she would end up with, but many will not like that. Because the reason it wasn’t clear is because there is because she never seems all that smitten by any of them. Her main goal is saving her father’s apothecary business and keeping her family together. I found her story and world compelling and the book worked for me.

Bonus points for making her Christian faith a small but real part of the book, without sermonizing or making me roll my eyes and stop reading. I find spiritual subplots fascinating no matter whether the main character worships the Judeo-Christian God I worship or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I find living in other person’s world fascinating, whatever that might mean. Just don’t use fiction as a pulpit, and we’ll get along fine.

Bonus: I love the graphic flourishes Bethany House Publishers put in this ebook.

I finished listening to Speaking from Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel, the newest in the series. How I love this girl and her passion for poisons and death (unless it’s a chicken about to be someone’s dinner). I am sad that I now have to wait for the next book, because I loved this one. Some interesting new characters and story twists (for the ongoing story of the De Luce family). Well-crafted, witty, and adorable. I love Flavia. But I’ve said that before, on several occasions!

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Two books showed up from the library and so I need to read them next. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach and Eleven Pipers Piping: A Father Christmas Mystery by C C Benison. I’ll probably read Pipers first because I really did enjoy Twelve Drummers Drumming and have been looking forward to this one.

I’m keeping a running total of my reading challenges–the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge (see banner at the bottom of the right sidebar) and my own challenge, the Embarrassment of Riches Challenge. The January wrap-up is here and I’ll post a February wrap-up on the 28th, in which I’ll ask everybody who is participating to respond with their current numbers in comments.

Paisely Vandermeir requests the pleasure of your presence.

What about you? What have you been reading lately? Put the link to your WWW Wednesday entry in comments, or just tell me!

WWW Wednesday (October 3, 2012)

Again, this meme is from shouldbereading, but before I go any further–

IT’S BANNED BOOKS WEEK.

Book View Cafe is running a series of daily blog entries on banned books that are thought-provoking and sometimes fun, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Please go check them out.

An excerpt from one of today’s posts:  It’s all too easy to say, “If you don’t want your kids to read that stuff, don’t let them, but it’s fine for mine,” or “If your viewpoint is that narrow, it deserves to be broadened!”   “Not Even Mein Kampf: Why Hateful Books Should Not Be Banned,” by Deborah Ross.

And now, of course, the books!

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

I’m embarrassed to admit that The Ringed Castle is getting shoved aside yet again. Lymond deserves better treatment, but I have a couple of library books I really would like to read before they disappear from my Kindle, thus…

Today I am double-dipping in World War II England.  The book I’m reading on my Kindle is a library borrow, the first in a mystery series, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, by Susan Elia MacNeal. IRA terrorists, Nazis, and Churchill’s underground war room–this is a really terrific read so far. Plus I’m eager to know what Maggie Hope doesn’t know about her father, that everybody else does…

And I’m listening to a World War II book with a totally different tone but equally engrossing, The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons. A nineteen-year-old Viennese Jewish girl (raised without religion by her opera-singer mother and novelist father) is sent to England as a parlour maid to escape the Nazi threat. Elise is confused, lost, angry and totally unsuited to servitude… and her world is about to turn upside down in more ways than one. I’m enjoying it, and it’s making me much happier about bustling about doing housework or even (gasp) walking for my health. Along with keeping score by logging steps with my fitbit, of course.

What did you recently finish reading?

Another Lisa Kleypas romance. I really enjoy her romances. She has made very, very few missteps in my opinion, or at least, that I’ve read so far. I enjoyed much about this one, Where Dreams Begin. If I were a betting girl (and I’m not) I would bet that the book originally ended with “happily ever after” and she needed to make it longer.  (You’ll have to read it to get that reference.)  It continued to be interesting and I wasn’t gnashing my teeth with frustration or anything, but the romance had concluded and now we just got a bit of what happened next.  Still, a good read.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Well, The Casual Vacancy is still on the way from England.  I think the saddest part of knowing that the reviews are dismal is that it has been very easy to avoid spoilers. People aren’t even talking about it. So will it really be next? Not sure.

But because of all the banned books talk I’m also considering which banned book is next on my reading agenda and I think I might just tackle this one.

Ulysses, by James Joyce.  I somehow always thought it would be heavy, awful reading, and it might be. And I might not finish it. But Kit Kerr tells me it she found it to be funny in a vulgar and scatalogical way, and how can I not give that a try, I ask? I may try to find an annotated version so I can actually understand it, though.

Oh, and have I suggested what your next read might be? One of my books perhaps? Yes, I am shameless. You can find them both here (one on sale, even).  Or on Amazon here and here.

What books have you excited right now? What are your WWWs? Let me know via link to your blog, or in my comments!

NOTE: I am running another contest to reward reviewers on Amazon. If you’re interested, here is your chance to win a $20 Amazon gift certificate.

Warning: My notifications aren’t working. If you leave a comment, I will reply to it! But you won’t know unless you check back to see. Sorry. I’m having wordpress issues!

WWW Wednesday (August 1, 2012)

Again, this meme is from shouldbereading:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

Remember last week how I said I am in love with a new series? Well, I am TRULY in love with a new series! Last week it was the first in the series, Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy (Bloody Jack Adventures). This week it’s Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady (Bloody Jack Adventures).

Repeating what I said last week: I am listening to the audiobooks and the reader, Katherine Kellgren, is stellar. But the narrative voice is so delightful, I want to read the book in print, as well, and will be hard pressed to choose which way to enjoy the next book in the series. Jacky is a strong, wonderful character. The world is so brutal and graphic I am a little surprised at the YA label. I certainly recommend this for a lot of adult readers I know.

I’m still reading The Disorderly Knights: Third in the legendary Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett. I’m debating whether to keep reading it or stop long enough to read The Night Circus so I can turn it back into the library. I’m just not reading print books as much as  I’m listening to audio right now–too much time in the car driving instead of sitting where I can read.

• What did you recently finish reading?

I listened to a short Regency novel between Bloody Jacks, Lady Fortescue Steps Out: A Novel of Regency England – Being the First Volume of The Poor Relation. Charming, exploring a part of society we rarely see in other Regency-era novels: the poor relations who are genteel and starving. Written by Marion Chesney, aka MC Beaton.

A fun tale, the first in a series.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Will I finally read The Night Circus?  Or will I choose something else? Only time will tell!

What about you? What are your WWWs? If you post on your blog, leave a link below! Otherwise answer here.

Warning: My notifications aren’t working. If you leave a comment, I will reply to it! But you won’t know unless you check back to see. Sorry. I’m having wordpress issues!

WWW Wednesday (July 25, 2012)

Again, this meme is from shouldbereading:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

I am in love with a new series.  Well, I assume I’m in love with the series. I’m certainly loving the first book: Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy (Bloody Jack Adventures). I am listening to the audiobook and the reader, Katherine Kellgren, is stellar. But the narrative voice is so delightful, I want to read the book in print, as well, and will be hard pressed to choose which way to enjoy the next book in the series.  Jacky is a strong, wonderful character. The world is so brutal and graphic I am a little surprised at the YA label. I certainly recommend this for a lot of adult readers I know.

I’m still reading The Disorderly Knights: Third in the legendary Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett. I was already into it when Crossed showed up from the library, followed quickly by The Paris Wife (see below) but now am back into Lymond and loving every word.  It always takes me a bit of time to sink into one of these, because Dunnett keeps the reader at a distance from Lymond. But her world and other characters are so rich, I find myself totally caught up in it once I give it enough time.

• What did you recently finish reading?

A novel exploring Ernest Heminway’s first marriage through the viewpoint of Hadley Hemingway, The Paris Wife.  A fast read, but emotionally difficult at times. I was not familiar with their story and wasn’t sure how it would end.  This is definitely worth reading, and from the notes at the end, is a faithful exploration of a well-documented relationship.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

After I finish the third chronicle of Lymond (see above) I will probably read The Night Circus, since the library just sent me the ebook.  I don’t have the slightest idea what it’s about.  I just know it’s extremely popular and looks cool.

What about you? What are your WWWs? If you post on your blog, leave a link below! Otherwise answer here.

Warning: My notifications aren’t working. If you leave a comment, I will reply to it! But you won’t know unless you check back to see. Sorry. I’m having wordpress issues!

WWW Wednesday (May 23, 2012)

After skipping last week, due to “no change since week before syndrome,” I will now carry on.  I haven’t been spending a lot of time reading, but at least I do have stuff to show that I haven’t already shown before.

From shouldbereading:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

First, a library ebook loan, A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness.  This one started off great. I loved the Oxford setting, the ongoing research in “Bodley’s Library,” the Ashmolian tie-in… it was smart and fun. A tenured professor from Yale is researching in Oxford. She is a witch denying her magic, but it seems magic will not be denied. She puts in a request for an obscure text, Ashmole 782, and it comes. And every witch, daemon and vampire in England seems to descend upon the library in an attempt to get it.

I’m in the middle now and it’s feeling more like a romance novel. This is actually somewhat in Twilight-territory if you consider that the heroine  is now in deep trouble, and a vampire has made an unhealthy connection with her and is determined to protect and save her.  In this case, however, the witch does not allow herself to be carried around like an infant, ahem.  I won’t say I’m not still enjoying it.  I am. But as I said, it’s feeling more like a romance than a straight fantasy, so if that’s your thing, you’re gonna love this one.

As for audiobooks, I’m listening to Anita by Keith Roberts. This is from the Neil Gaiman Presents collection on audible, and he says he chose it because, “Anita is an almost forgotten novel by one of the finest UK writers. It works on two levels. The stories are a product of the 1960s – they come out of a swinging world and a ‘Georgy Girl’ time, and Keith Roberts, then a young art director, has captured that feel. At the same time, it’s about a teenage witch being brought up her Granny. He writes about her falling in love, getting her heart broken, about change and growing up and compromise, about what magic is and how you can lose it sometimes and how you can get it back.”

• What did you recently finish reading?

I finished listening to Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs, Book 2 in the series), by Jacqueline Winspear.  Maisie (and for some reason that sounds like an old woman in Brooklyn to me, not England) is a private investigator between the World Wars. She served in a field hospital (and was injured) during WWI, where she also lost her fiance. She’s seen a lot. I find these books difficult to judge because I do enjoy them. I enjoy the worlds, the characters, the era–but then, is anybody surprised? England. Need I say more?  I was bothered in this one by the fact that our pov character finds things or does things while leaving the reader in the dark, which is manipulative and a cheat from the author.  It wasn’t enough to ruin the book for me, but it was enough for me not to give it highest marks. It may have been a little less annoying because I think this is true of early mysteries, so it felt a little bit “period” in the author’s handling of these things, and I forgave it. Mostly.

It is the spring of 1930, and Maisie has been hired to find a runaway heiress. But what seems a simple case at the outset soon becomes increasingly complicated when three of the heiress’s old friends are found dead. 

The mystery itself was rooted in the tragedies of the Great War, and was fascinating as it unfolded.  There are plenty of shady suspects around, as well. My guesses at the secret in the past came nowhere near the mark. Anyway, if you like British mysteries you should check these out.  Winspear has won a number of awards including the Agatha, Alex, and Macavity awards for the first book in the series, Maisie Dobbs,  according to her Amazon page.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

From what I’ve been reading lately, you’d assume something with witches.  If so, it might be The Hedgewitch Queen, by Lilith Saintcrow.

Vianne di Rocancheil has been largely content to play the gawky provincial. As lady in waiting at the Court of Arquitaine, she studies her books, watches for intrigue, and shepherds her foolhardy Princesse safely through the glittering whirl. Court is a sometimes-unpleasant waltz, especially for the unwary, but Vianne treads its measured steps well. Unfortunately, the dance has changed. Treachery is afoot in gilded and velvet halls. A sorcerous conspiracy is unleashed, with blood, death, and warfare close behind. Her Princesse murdered and her own life in jeopardy, Vianne must flee, carrying the fate of her land with her…

Or it might be something entirely different.  I guess we’ll all know next week!  (Okay, I’ll know before you do. Because I have the Power to Choose.)

What about you? What are your WWWs? If you post on your blog, leave a link below! Otherwise answer here.

Note:  My notifications aren’t working. If you leave a comment, I will reply to it! But you won’t know unless you check back to see. Sorry. I’m having wordpress issues!

WWW Wednesday (2012-April-4)

The tornados are here, saving the world is here, Authors4Trayvon is here, and the garden is here.

Now. Wednesday! From shouldbereading:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

Dissolution  The first in a mystery  series set in the time of Henry VIII, with Matthew Shardlake sent by Cromwell to root out papist sin and debauchery (plus straighten out some financial issues that should result in more money for the Crown, natch) from a problematical abbey. This has been highly recommended to me.  So far I’m greatly enjoying it.

It’s an interesting contrast to Nancy Bilyeau’s The Crown. The more I listen to Dissolution (I’m listening to the audiobook) the more I appreciate the tale Bilyeau told from the more unusual point of view of a young Roman Catholic nun who loves her faith and her Church, and yet also loves England and her King.  This doesn’t take away from Dissolution at all. I’m enjoying it very much. Two sides of a coin, but mysteries, both taking place at about the same moment in time–Henry’s marriage to Jane Seymour.

• What did you recently finish reading?

The Book Thief. Five stars.

What was it like to be German during the Fuhrer’s reign? Not a member of the elite, but one of the powerless? How many times have people outside Germany pondered whether or not they would have gone along with the crowd, whether they would have drunk the Kool-Aid? The Book Thief explores that idea in unexpected and deep ways.

This is a gorgeously written book. The prose sometimes stopped me cold just long enough to savor it before moving forward. Not so often that it got in the way of the story, just often enough to make this book of difficult subject matter lush and beautiful.

Death’s point of view is fascinating. It gives just enough distance and subjective thought to keep the story from getting too intense. Yes, I love intense emotion in books, and this had its moments. But the use of Death as a character was a profound and appropriate choice, for he brought vision and distance in moments when it was needed. Again, five stars.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Tough question.  I have shoved several aside that were top of my list in order to read library books, and I still have a couple of library books to read. New books are popping into the queue. I can see I’ll never go back to my “must read NAO!” list if I keep this up.  Stay tuned until next Wednesday to find out which book shouldered its way to the top of the stack!

What about you? What are your WWWs? If you post on your blog, leave a link below! Otherwise answer here.

WWW Wednesday (March 28, 2012)

From shouldbereading:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

The Book Thief.  Everybody in the world seems to be in love with this book so who am I to hold back? As I mentioned last week, it’s told through the point of view of Death and I’m very much in adoration with the great Sir Terry Pratchett‘s Death.  That’s okay. I can make room for another one.

But it feels like a book I would want to feel closer to, the characters and situations, and not view it from a distance the way it’s starting out.

I just noticed the cover, the dominos… interesting.

Enough musing, time to read!

• What did you recently finish reading?

I finished Matched, the first book in a Young Adult dystopian future trilogy.  I first discovered it by seeing how many other WWW Wednesday folks were reading it. I downloaded a sample because the premise intrigued me:  Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

Another reader mentioned that she didn’t usually like romances but she loved this trilogy. I think that is because this is not a very romancey romance. Yes, the premise is that of a love story, but the dystopian world–the Society–is compelling and by far a bigger issue.  I gave it five stars and will be reading the sequels soon.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Tough question. I have another library book waiting, a book I would have thought I’d read long before now. I’m not sure what’s holding me back. So maybe Blackout by Connie Willis. I’ve loved her work for so long, especially her Oxford Time Travel books, and World War II England is a time period I do find fascinating.

What about you? What are your WWWs? If you post on your blog, leave a link below! Otherwise answer here.

WWW Wednesday (March 21, 2012)

From shouldbereading:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

 I kept having the same images here week after week and I finally have something new. A light romance, another library book checked out to my Kindle: A Dangerous Love. A story of an arranged marriage (or rather, an attempt to arrange a marriage) that looks like it will be fun. It was also fun choosing a cover, since I found several. This book seems to have been through several editions. I decided to go with The Sultry Guy cover. Sue me.

Also, I’m still listening to For Heaven’s Eyes Only: A Secret Histories Novel. There is only one book left in this series after this one, so I guess I’ll dip into Simon R Green’s “Nightside” series next, since so many people think it’s better than this one. I’m really enjoying this one so that means better is ahead? Do I dare hope?

• What did you recently finish reading?

I finished The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great the first book I’ve checked out from the library. Once I got it onto my Kindle (took a bit of hunting to figure out how) I sank into it  and  found it to be a very quick read. And then I wondered, what does that mean? Was it really faster to read, or did it just feel fast? What made it so?

And I don’t have an answer to that. But I’ve never read anything about Catherine the Great before, and this view of her from her first moments as a young girl in the Russian court, under consideration as wife to the young tsar, told through the eyes of another young girl whose future was totally reliant on the whims of the Empress Elizabeth was compelling.  I give it four stars.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

I have two library books ahead of me and am trying to be good about those so probably one of them, The Book Thief. Have you read it? What did you think?  I started it and it’s quite interesting, told through the point of view of Death.  On the other hand, the great Sir Terry Pratchett‘s Death owns such a piece of my imagination, that is a tough act to follow!

What about you? What are your WWWs? If you post on your blog, leave a link below! Otherwise answer here.

WWW Wednesday (March 14, 2012)

From shouldbereading:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

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

• What are you currently reading?

Again, I will list Ha’penny, the sequel to Farthing. I really do want to know what is happening to those characters now. This is the fascinating alternate history series in which the English negotiate a truce/peace with Hitler instead of continuing the war, and they are left to their own devices whilst Hitler controls Europe and continues banging away on the USSR. There is interesting use of voice and pov, and the characters are cleverly chosen to illustrate several kinds of prejudice in a suspenseful tale of “might have been.”

Also, I’m listening to For Heaven’s Eyes Only: A Secret Histories Novel. It surprises me that even though there have been two or three different readers for this series, it doesn’t bother me. They are all good and I just slip into the next reader’s voice without too much issue, which isn’t always the case. James Bond for the supernatural set? Fun!

• What did you recently finish reading?

 The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag. I adore this German cover. I hadn’t pictured Flavia this way, but it fits, oh yes my darlings, it fits.  Very Wednesday Addams, and when you consider that this ten-year-old chemistry prodigy has a passion for poisons, well, yes, it’s as perfect an image as I’ve seen. What a fabulous female character.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

I’ve checked The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great out from the library on the recommendation of friends. It looks good, so I think it will make it to the top of my WTR (want to read) stack next.

What about you? What are your WWWs? If you post on your blog, leave a link below! Otherwise answer here.

One more reason to love Hermione’s Handbag

I‘m very slow to get around to this, but wow, I just checked three books out from the library.  The local public library.  They will load onto (into?) Hermione’s Handbag automatically (and if I understand this process, will also vanish automatically, which means — no late fines!)!

I checked out The Book Thief, The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great and A Dangerous Love (Swanlea Spinsters, Book 1).

You’ll hear what I think about them, it’s safe to say!

[Speaking of library books, I have exciting news that I will reveal later.]

And speaking of books and libraries also reminds me–

As you may recall, by eliminating a ton of books from my life and now using my Kindle for most new ones, I’ve freed up space to “build my library,” meaning, buying books I love, usually hardcover, and creating a library of special books rather than just any book I have ever purchased at any time in my life.

I’m loving the process.

And a new one is on the way to me.

A reread is definitely in my future.

Have you checked books out electronically from the library?

Which books would you want in hardcover that you don’t have now?