WWW Wednesday 30th 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

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie book coverGreat 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 Ballroom by Anna Hope book coverThe 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

The World According to Anna by Jostein Gaarder book coverAfter 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

Broken Homes Peter Grant 4 by Ben Aaronovitch book coverFor 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

glass sword by victoria aveyard book coverI 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! 🙂

Chocolate finger cake with biscuit border around the edges and mini eggs 2

In non-reading news, last week I finally made a layer cake with a chocolate biscuit border.

 

 

 

Claire Huston / Art and Soul

 

 

 

68 thoughts on “WWW Wednesday 30th March 2016”

    • 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. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  2. 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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  3. 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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  4. 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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    • 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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  10. 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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  11. 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 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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  15. 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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  16. 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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  17. 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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  18. 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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    • 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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  20. 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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  23. 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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  24. 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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  25. 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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  26. 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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  28. 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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  29. 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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  30. 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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    • 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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