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:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- 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
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Great stuff. So readable!
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...
2. The last books I read
The Ballroom by Anna Hope
The writing is so beautiful, but the story was too gloomy for my tastes. But, if you’re after something more sombre, this could be perfect for you. Also a good one for book clubs. Here’s my full review.
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.
AND
The World According to Anna by Jostein Gaarder
After expecting something to equal the heights of Sophie’s World, this was staggeringly disappointing and earned a rare 2-star review from me.
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!
Broken Homes (Peter Grant #4) by Ben Aaronovitch
For most of this book I was wondering what the point was. I mean, stuff happened, but it didn’t seem to be leading us anywhere. Until the last 15 pages. Blimey. I’ll be tracking down the next installment asap. I did a quick review on Goodreads which is spoiler free.
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.
3. What I’ll read next
Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard
I had mixed feelings about the first book in this series, Red Queen. However, I’m going into the sequel with optimism and hopeful that – now a lot of the world building is out of the way – things can only get better.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to Kelly at Kelly’s Rambles for being so lovely and sending me her copy of this book! I probably wouldn’t have managed to get the one library copy in my county until some time near Christmas.
The blurb: To avoid all spoilers for Book 1, if you’d like to read the blurb, please click on the cover image to go to the book’s Goodreads page.
Have you read/are reading any of these? What are you reading? Let me know! 🙂
In non-reading news, last week I finally made a layer cake with a chocolate biscuit border.
Claire Huston / Art and Soul
I’m so impressed with your ability to read so much in a week! Glad you’re enjoying Death on the Nile. I need to read that one! 🙂 I hope you like Glass Sword. I’m going to read Red Queen soon, and see what I think. Opinions seem to be rather mixed.
My post: https://kaywritesbooks.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/www-wednesday-march-30-2016/
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My reading speed is soon to slow down as I enter Camp Nano in April! I think I’ll aim for one book a week while I’m supposed to be writing 🙂
Death on the Nile is great so far. I’m hoping my suspicions as to who did it are right! (who needs Poirot?!)
I’ll visit your post now…
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I’m doing Camp Nano too, but me slowing down means weeks without finishing books. I might have to skip a few WWW Wednesdays.
Yay! Love the mysteries. Hopefully I can read that one soon too. 🙂
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I don’t think you can ever go wrong with an Agatha Christie…I love them and all the TV adaptions and will watch them over and over again. I think if you read a lot in a short space of time they become a tad formulaic bit hey..it works and she sold a heap load of books!
Good on you for perservering with the Peter Grant series 😉
Thanks for visiting my WWW – http://bookboodle.co.uk/2016/03/30/www-wednesday-march-30th/
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I’m looking forward to trying a Miss Marple next 🙂
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That cake is a bit distracting, it looks so yummy. Wow. Ballroom seems pretty interesting and so does the Agatha Christie. I have never read any of her books though.
Happy Wednesday and Happy Reading.
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Thank you! The cake was delicious and I was pleased to finally make one because it had been on my “to bake” list for ages 🙂
I hadn’t read any of Agatha Christie’s books until last year. I think I’d managed to convince myself I had read them, although it was more likely that I was remembering TV and film versions.
Happy reading!
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Every time you mention another Peter Grant book, I think “Yeah, I need to give that series another go” and then I promptly forget about it until the next time you or someone mentions it. To save this happening again I have just gone and put a hold on Rivers of London at the library.
Sad to hear the World According to Anna was disappointing; it has such an intriguing premise.
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So far the Peter Grant series seems to be following a strange “good book”, “meh book” pattern! But, as I say, the ending of book 4 is quite something (not that that excuses a slightly meandering rest of the book!).
I am still disappointed by The World According to Anna 😦
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The Ballroom does sound intriguing, but gloomy, as you say!
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Exactly. If you’re in the market for something a bit more sombre though, it would be ideal 🙂
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Hi Claire, I always enjoy your blog. I’m a baker and a writer also. My favorite quote for writers: Don’t let the words get in the way of the story! Remember, it’s all about the story! ~Stephen King~
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Thank you very much 🙂
I still have to read Stephen King’s “On Writing”, although I have seen a lot of advice from it elsewhere and he makes a lot of sense!
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ugh i hated it when stuff only starts happening towards the end of the book. I need build up!
anyway, that cake looks yummy 🙂
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I know! I always wonder how many readers abandon books when not much happens at the start. I suppose, when it’s a series, the author can relax a bit… but still, more action early on would be nice.
The cake was delicious! 🙂
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I just read your review for The World According to Anna a little earlier, what a shame it was so disappointing. I think I’ll skip getting a copy of this one now. I hope you enjoy reading Glass Sword this week.
Here’s my WWW Wednesday post:
https://rathertoofondofbooks.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/www-wednesdays-30-march-2016/
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If I can save anyone else from reading The World According to Anna, my reading it will have been worth it! 🙂
I’ll check out your post now…
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I’ve never tried an Agatha Christie but I get the feeling we have similar reading tastes so I really should try one.
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They’re very “period” (very England of the Raj kind of time), but also very good. As I say, so far there have been a few too many characters to keep track of, but that could be my increasingly poor memory! 🙂
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I started Glass Sword 2 weeks ago but realized I didn’t remember enough about Red Queen to read it and appreciate it so I need to reread Red Queen first! I think I’m going to get to it in May.
The Ballroom sounds really interesting though, I’ll have to see if my library has it!
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The Ballroom is really good, particularly if you go in knowing it can be rather gloomy and sad in places. I think I was unprepared! 🙂
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All of your Easter baking looked delicious, but as one of the few non-Christians at my theater, I had to work all weekend building our set and couldn’t make anything you posted quite yet. 😦 Someday I will try them.
Sorry about your disappointments in reading this past week. It’s never fun to start something you think you’ll like only to find yourself wishing it did more for you. I’m glad you’re enjoying your current read, at least.
Thanks for visiting my WWW post, and happy reading!
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I hope you get time off in lieu and can do some baking! 🙂
I hate to be down on any book but when it lets you down so much… I just hope I can steer a few other people away from it and towards Sophie’s World instead!
Happy reading 🙂
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You’ll finally read Glass Sword. I really enjoyed it, I hope you do too! We’ll fangirl together 😀 And that cake 😍😍
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Thank you – the cake turned out very well and was delicious!
I really hope I enjoy Glass Sword. Fingers crossed! 🙂
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You’ve read so many books in just one week. I literally finished one book this week XD
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It’s quite unusual. I’ll be busy writing in April so won’t get to read as much and I’ve been trying to cram a lot into March to make up for it! 🙂
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Oh yeah, that’s probably the reason 🙂 Good luck with writing 😀
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I’m really fascinated by these Peter Grant novels. I’m making a note to go look into them 🙂
Also, you can never go wrong with a good Agatha Christie novel. I love her books so much.
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I can’t believe it took me so long to get to Christie’s books! Millions of readers aren’t wrong: they’re great 🙂
The Peter Grant series is very entertaining. And particularly so if you have an idea of what the English police force and London are like.
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I can’t wait to read the Red Queen series, I’ve heard so many good things about it! After your post last week I’ve added The Ballroom to my TBR list, I’m looking forward to it. I don’t think I’ll mind it being too sombre, but I’ll see just how sombre it is 🙂
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I think if you go into The Ballroom forewarned, it would be fine. I was expecting something much more cheerful (not sure how I got that idea though… my fault!) and so was a little disappointed. Beautiful writing though.
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I’m glad you enjoyed the Agatha Christie book!
I loved Red Queen, but I thought Glass Sword was a bit of a disappointment. I think it suffered from second book syndrome.
Here’s my post. 🙂
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I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Glass Sword and trying to go in with realistic expectations.
I’m just catching up with WWW posts and will head over to yours asap 🙂
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Good cake (and books)! I had a copy of The World According to Anna from Netgalley before Christmas but they archived it out of the blue really early. I’m glad I didn’t miss much now 😉
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It’s funny because my request on Netgalley for The World According to Anna was rejected. I bet they’re really glad they turned me down now!! 😉
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haha!
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Great books! My mom has tried to get me to read Agatha Christie, but I’ve never been much into mysteries.
I just finished The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney last night. Today, I’m reading Under The Influence by Joyce Maynard. Probably tomorrow I’ll start What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours. I haven’t read a short story collection in awhile, so I am looking forward to that.
Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you! 🙂
I’m not a huge mystery fan either… but there’s something really cosy about Agatha Christie. It’s all so polite even though it’s about grisly murders!
I haven’t read a short story collection in ages. I should put one on my TBR…
Thank you for visiting and happy reading!
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Oh, I’m sorry ‘The World According to Anna’ was disappointing. I was hoping you’d enjoy it.
I love all the baking you do! This cake is pretty and looks delicious! If only we could have a bite!
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Thank you! I love baking. I’ve just made lemon cake today 🙂 I wish I could share it with everyone.
I was so hoping to enjoy The World According to Anna too. I hate to be down on any book, but this one isn’t worth anyone wasting their time on 😦
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I read Glass Sword at the beginning of the month. I was a huge fan of Red Queen but if I’m honest, I didn’t think Glass Sword was as enjoyable. I still liked it but I found it to be quite slow compared to RQ. I hope you like it and I’ll stay tuned to see what you think!
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I really hope I like it. I had lukewarm feelings about Red Queen so I was hoping things would improve in book 2! We’ll see 🙂
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You’re so welcome! I hope you’ll enjoy Glass Sword 🙂 shall keep an eye out for your review!
Here’s my WWW.
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I really hope so! 🙂
I’m just catching up on WWW posts and will head over to your post now…
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I haven’t read Death on the Nile in years and to be honest I can’t really recall it that well – sorry to hear that the Jostein Gaarder was such a disappointment.
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I only went for Death on the Nile because I remember having seen the first 10 minutes of the film version with Mia Farrow and enjoying the drama!
I hate being down on any book but when something is so disappointing I just can’t hide it 😦
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I still haven’t gotten around to reading Red Queen but it’s sitting on my shelf. I’m really only reading it because of the hype because it honestly sounds like the author took a bunch of other YA books and mushed them together, just really unoriginal. But I am gonna give it a shot!
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That is a pretty good summary of Red Queen! Bit of Divergent, bit of Hunger Games… It’s not bad, but it’s not fantastic either. That said, it’s entertaining enough if you go into it not expecting too much (I think the hype didn’t help it) so it’s definitely worth giving a shot!
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I think that’s what I’m gonna have to do. I’m just gonna go in with lower expectations and hope it exceeds them. As long as its fun then I’m sure it’ll be fine!
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Impressive reading 🙂 I am only starting to get back on track with my reading schedule (which is now read-whenever-wherever you can, even if it means getting your clothes dirty because you’re too absorbed by what you’re reading to pay attention to your lunch).
I always rely on Agatha Christie when I need to find a book I’m sure I’ll love. I think I’ll give The Ballroom a try when I am done with the most urgent reads waiting on my nightstand.
Here’s my week in books 🙂 https://chocolatenwafflesblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/this-week-in-books-march-30th/
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I missed posting this week because I’m still reading the Girl from Everywhere. Enjoying it and almost finished but getting ready for Easter and other writing commitments takes up precious reading time!! Cake looks yummy! Eager to know what you think of Glass Sword. I have a copy – maybe I’ll read it next too! I also had mixed feelings about Red Queen, but like you, I’m optimistic about this one!!
Good look with NaNo and see you in the trenches!!
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See you in the trenches indeed! It’s going to be an uphill struggle this time but hopefully I’ll come out with something even if I don’t hit my word count goal 🙂
I’m glad you’re enjoying The Girl from Everywhere. I’ve been trying to ues Easter to get ahead on my reading… but time does seem to disappear over the holidays.
The cake was delicious. I’ll definitely be making another with a biscuit border in the future 🙂
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Glad you’re enjoying Christie! I have one of hers on my shelf and I plan to read it next year. Yes, it’s a long time off but it’s a long-term goal. Your Easter cake looks scrumptious. Happy reading and thanks for participating in WWW Wednesday!
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I’m currently planning for “things to read in the first half of the year” but I’ll soon have to move things back to the second half of 2016. I’m sure plans for 2017 will start sooner than I imagine 🙂
The cake was lovely, thank you! 🙂
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I love that Kelly sent you the book. 🙂 So cool how that worked out! I can’t wait to see what you think of it. Almost every review I’ve read has agreed with each other.
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I know! It was so nice of her. I would have been waiting for ages to read it otherwise and she had a spare copy 🙂
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I need to get more Agatha Christie books! I loved And There Were None and I have been wanting to read more of her work for ages… Also, I hope you enjoy Glass Sword better than I did. 😉
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I want to read And Then There Were None, but I saw the recent BBC adaptation at Christmas so the mystery has been spoiled… so that one’s further down the list now.
I hope I like Glass Sword too. I don’t have high hopes if Mare is set to become even more annoying!
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You’ve read so many books this week. I’m very impressed, especially since I’ve read none.
I really need to read some of Agatha Christie’s books. I just don’t know where to start.
The cake looks delicious too. Happy reading 🙂
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Thanks! The cake was lovely 🙂 I’ll definitely be making another one of those in the future.
I’m trying to get ahead with reading as I’ll be doing another writing challenge in April and won’t have as much time from reading.
I have to try and Miss Marple next. I’ve only read Poirot mysteries so far.
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This looks very interesting. I love a good Agatha Christie read so I feel this one may be added to my TBR. Good review! Also, thanks for introducing me to WWW! Hadn’t heard of it. I may do that next Wednesday 🙂 Yours look good. I’m going to be so broke buying all these books lol I’m new to book blogging and am loving meeting fellow book lovers. Hope we can connect 🙂 Love your page
http://www.quiteanovelidea.com
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Thank you! Death on the Nile is very entertaining; I hope you enjoy it 🙂
I’m very pleased to have introduced you the WWW Wednesdays. It’s the day of the week I add most books to my TBR 🙂
Thank goodness for my library or I’d be broke too!
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I can’t wait for your review for Glass Sword. I still feel iffy about the Red Queen series…a lot of people love it, but it’s a tad overhyped. I will be looking out for your review 😀
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I hope I like it more than Red Queen. There are lots of good things about it, but it’s not original. It’s more like a mash-up of other things you’ve seen before, and seen done better. We’ll see!
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Exactly! I’m hoping that Maven is as interesting as he was in Red Queen! Happy Reading!
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I keep hearing about The Red Queen and the sequel–I think I’ll have to pick up a copy. I look forward to your review of The Glass Sword 🙂
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Whether you enjoy the Red Queen series will all depend on what you think of Mare, the first-person narrator. I didn’t warm to her much in the first book and so far in book 2 she’s even more annoying!! But then many many readers love the series so it could just be me 🙂
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