WWW Wednesday 23rd March 2016

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This meme is hosted by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. A similar meme, This Week in Books is hosted by Lipsyy Lost and Found.

Why not join in? Just answer the following three questions in a post and then put a link to that post in the Comments over at Taking on a World of Words.

The questions are:

  1. What are you currently reading?
  2. What did you recently finish reading?
  3. What do you think you’ll read next?

As always, clicking on the cover image will take you to the book’s Goodreads page.

1. What I’m reading at the moment

The Ballroom by Anna Hope

The Ballroom by Anna Hope book coverI don’t know. I think I’m too optimistic. I read the blurb and thought this would be more hopeful and uplifting than it is. Ah well… things could still end well, I guess…

The blurb: Where love is your only escape…

1911: Inside an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors, where men and women are kept apart by high walls and barred windows, there is a ballroom vast and beautiful.

For one bright evening every week they come together and dance. When John and Ella meet It is a dance that will change two lives forever.

Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, The Ballroom is a tale of unlikely love and dangerous obsession, of madness and sanity, and of who gets to decide which is which.

2. The last books I read

What Milo Saw by Virginia MacGregor

What Milo Saw by Virginia MacGregor book coverAn enjoyable mixture of the light-hearted and serious. Not as gloomy as the blurb might make it sound. Here’s my full review.

The blurb: Nine-year-old Milo Moon has retinitis pigmentosa: his eyes are slowly failing and he will eventually go blind. But for now he sees the world through a pin hole and notices things other people don’t. When Milo’s beloved gran succumbs to dementia and moves into a nursing home, Milo soon realises there’s something wrong at the home. So with just Tripi, the nursing home’s cook, and Hamlet, his pet pig, to help, Milo sets out on a mission to expose the nursing home and the sinister Nurse Thornhill.

AND

Oy Yew by Ana Salote

Oy Yew by Ana Salote book coverThis is an original and quirky middle grade novel. Well-written with a splendid cast of characters. Here’s my full review.

The blurb: ‘Lay low and grow’ is the motto of the waifs of Duldred Hall. The only way to escape their life of drudgery is to reach the magical height of 5 thighs 10 oggits, yet Master Jeopardine is determined to feed them little and keep them small.

When the Master’s methods grow more sinister the waifs must face their doubts. What is kept in the Bone Room? Why is Rook’s Parlour locked? A new waif arrives and the fight for survival begins. But this child brings another mystery. Who is Oy?

Oy Yew was longlisted for the Times/Chicken House prize.

AND!

Blood of my Blood (Jasper Dent #3) by Barry Lyga

Blood of my Blood by Barry LygaThe final book in the Jasper Dent trilogy. It was gripping… but not as good as Book 1 (amazing, fantastic, etc) or even Book 2 😦   I did a short review over on Goodreads if you want to check it out.

Please don’t let this put you off reading Book 1 (I Hunt Killers). It would be worth reading even as a standalone it’s so good.

The blurb:  I won’t put the blurb here because it contains spoilers for the previous 2 installments in the series. If you click on the cover image you can read the blurb over at Goodreads 🙂

3. What I’ll read next

The World According to Anna by Jostein Gaarder

The World According to Anna by Jostein Gaarder book coverThis is Gaarder’s latest book and I look forward to seeing if it’s up to the standard of Sophie’s World, which I’ve read a few times (although I still can’t remember as much of it as I’d like!).

The blurb: When sixteen-year-old Anna begins receiving messages from another time, her parents take her to the doctor. But he can find nothing wrong with Anna; in fact he believes there may be some truth to what she is seeing.

Anna is haunted by visions of the desolate world of 2082. She sees her great-granddaughter, Nova, in a wasteland peopled by ragged survivors, after animals and plants have died out.

The more Anna sees, the more she realises she must act to prevent the future in her visions becoming real. But can she act quickly enough?

AND

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie book coverI finally read an Agatha Christie last year (Murder on the Orient Express) and I made it my mission to read at least one more of her books this year. My library helped me out by practically throwing this in my path 🙂

The blurb: The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything – until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: ‘I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.’ Yet in this exotic setting’ nothing is ever quite what it seems...

AND

Broken Homes (Peter Grant #4) by Ben Aaronovitch

Broken Homes Peter Grant 4 by Ben Aaronovitch book coverAnother book my library threw at me. As it’s the continuation of the series I plan to zip through it and put a quick review on Goodreads.

What’s it all about? If you’ve never heard of the Peter Grant series, these books are London-based police procedurals with some supernatural goings on thrown in for good measure. So far we’ve had vampires, river gods, fae, wizards, witches… all within a contemporary London setting. It’s all rather good fun with a few moments of tension and suspense.

 

Have you read/are reading any of these? What are you reading? Let me know! 🙂

Chocolate shredded wheat cereal easter nests with golden syrup and mini eggs 5

In another Easter-themed baking post, last Friday I made chocolate Shredded Wheat nests with golden syrup and mini eggs.

 

 

 

Claire Huston / Art and Soul

 

 

71 thoughts on “WWW Wednesday 23rd March 2016”

  1. I have ‘The Ballroom’ on my wish list but not sure whether to get it or not. Heard so many different opinions about it. But love the cover of ‘The world according to Anna’ and the description sounds good too! Might have to look out for it 🙂

    Happy reading!

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  4. I’ve loved just about all of Jostein Gaarder’s books but I’ve not picked up this latest one yet. I really hope you enjoy it and that it lives up to the brilliant Sophie’s World, I’ll be looking out for your review of it. I’ve been keen to read The Ballroom but I might leave it for a little while if it’s a bleak read, I hope it does pick up for you.

    Here’s my WWW / Week in books:
    https://rathertoofondofbooks.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/www-wednesday-23-march-2016/

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  5. Libraries really are evil aren’t they? They are just full of tempting books with pretty covers that you can’t resist.

    I’ve been trying to get my hands on a Ben Aaronovitch for a while now but so far no joy. I think I may have to cave and buy it but I think I should try to read some of the books I have first 🙂

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  8. I keep finding such good reads in your Wednesday posts! I love the cover for The Ballroom, but the blurb doesn’t convince me. It’s not my usual kind of book and I’m not sure if I want to make an exception for it. There are so many other books I KNOW I want to read!
    Once again I’m in awe of how many books you can read in a week! I wouldn’t be as intimidated by The Name of the Wind if I was as fast a reader as you are.

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    • I thought it was really good but the ending left me feeling so sorry and sad for poor Jazz. The first book is definitely the best one, the second one is still quite exciting but the last one becomes more about child abuse and just left me feeling quite down 😦

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      • Yeah I thought the second and third were so twisted. But it is just so different from anything out there that I couldn’t put it down!

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  10. I’m sorry you were disappointed by the end to the Jasper Dent trilogy. I still plan to one day read all three, however far in the future that day may be. And I’m glad to hear you’re still enjoying Peter Grant.
    Thanks for visiting my WWW post. Happy reading!

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  12. I’m sorry to hear you didn’t like Blood Of My Blood that much! I agree it’s not as good as the first book though, but then again that book is amazing. 😉 I have been wanting to read more Agatha Christie as well, and I have the Peter Grant series on my TBR… Hopefully some time soon, although there are way too many on my need-to-read-soon list already haha. Those Eastern nests look adorable by the way!

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  14. Once again I love your Easter baking! Cute and yummy!
    “The World According to Anna” looks fantastic! That’s why I enjoy these “What are you reading?” type posts! I love to see what everyone is reading! 🙂

    Have a wonderful week! Happy Easter and Happy Reading!

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  16. Glad you enjoyed Death on the Nile. I’ve been meaning to read Christie for a while and I have one of hers on my shelf. Happy reading and thanks for participating in WWW Wednesday!

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  17. I’m impressed by your reading week! 🙂
    The Ballroom is on my MaybeBook list, I’m looking forward to your review to help me decide whether it should be moved to the actual TBR.
    I’m glad What Milo Saw is not as sad as expected, I might get to it at some point. I wanted to stay away from anything sad and/or depressing and ended up almost shedding a tear reading the fate of a cute mouse in The Laptev Virus (sensitive, anyone, ahah!). Now that I’m aware anything can move me, I won’t try to sort through my books according to the tear scale!
    I don’t know Jostein Gaarder but this book sounds intriguing. I’ll also check out Sophie’s World.
    Have a good reading week! 🙂

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  18. I’m waiting for I Hunt Killers to come back to the library! I see interesting books on your blog and right away put them on hold. And then when I’m there picking them up, I find more….

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    • Hooray! I can’t wait for you to read I Hunt Killers because I think you’re really going to enjoy it 🙂
      I cannot leave a library with one book. It’s an illness. And then the librarians put lots of eye-catching books by the entrance. That display is the book equivalent of the candy bars next to the supermarket checkouts 🙂

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    • I can understand why so many readers love The Ballroom. If you’re in the market for a bit of a weep and some serious gloom then it would tick all the boxes! As you know, I don’t like to read to be depressed 🙂

      I picked Death on the Nile next because I’ve seen the first 10 minutes of the film adaptation and I loved the high drama. I’m really looking forward to it 🙂 I’ll have to branch out into Marple next because this will be my second Poirot.

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  21. Hmm I might have to check out The Ballroom. I love when books are really emotional, whether it’s positive or negative. Maybe I’ll see if the library has it next time I go 🙂 The World According to Anna sounds really cool too. I’ve never heard of it, but I’m definitely going to add it to my TBR.

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    • If you don’t mind whether the emotion is sad/happy, then you’ll like The Ballroom. The writing is beautiful and it’s very moving. I just tend to prefer happy (or at least happy if we’ve had to suffer to get there), so my experience was as positive as I’ve hoped.

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  23. I just started reading Agatha Christie this year and I really love her style! I’ve only actually read three of her books so far. I’m starting with the Poirot books and am trying to read them in order (although I don’t think that really matters). Then I’ll move on to Miss Marple. Agatha Christie has so many ideas and her plots are pretty complex!

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    • I did enjoy Murder on the Orient Express 🙂 The only difficulty I had was that there are so many characters I found it a bit hard to keep track of who was who! After Death on the Nile I’d like to read a Miss Marple mystery. Both the Christie’s I’ve read have been Poirot stories.

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  25. I love Agatha Christie. Murder on the Orient Express was my first Agatha Christie book…I think. I had the same teacher for English my freshmen and sophomore years, so I get the books we read each year mixed up. One year we also read And Then There Were None. I need to read more of her books.

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    • I’ll be posting my review for The Ballroom later today. It’s good, but a bit too sad for me (I prefer happy books! Or at least ones with happy endings). If you don’t mind/ like more gloomy stories then I think you’d like it.

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