WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.
It has been a shamefully long time since I last did one of these posts! This is all the books I have read since my May Wrap-Up.
Links are provided for books mentioned – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)
What have you recently finished reading?
I’ve had a brilliant start to the month with five books read already!
First up was the brilliant ‘Dead Ground’ by M W Craven, the fourth book in the Poe and Bradshaw crime series. I hadn’t read any of the previous ones, but absolutely loved this book – the relationship between the two main characters (one police officer, one computer programmer) is just gorgeous and the whole story is packed with tension and humour and twists. You can read my full blog tour review here.
Following this was another blog tour book and one that I’ll be going on about for a long time – I absolutely adored this and it may well be one of my books of the year. ‘Mary Jane’ by Jessica Anya Blau is a gorgeous coming-of-age story set in 1970s America. It is full of music references and heady nostalgia (even if you don’t remember the 1970s – as I don’t!) – my review is here.
My next book is an unusual one for me – ‘Wildspark’ by Vashti Hardy. I don’t usually read a lot of Middle Grade fiction, but I read this with a Year 7 class (ages 11 and 12) at school and we all enjoyed it. It’s a fantasy novel about a world in which people are brought back to life when their spirit is captured in a harnessing ceremony and embedded into a lifelike-but-mechanical animal body (personifate). Prue is the fabulous central character navigating this world with other apprentices learning the personifate trade. It’s a cracking story in a vividly-imagined world and won the Blue Peter Book Award in 2020.
Then I read ‘The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle’ by Matt Cain, a heartwarming story of a 64 year-old postman who decides it is never too late to make the most of life. In looking to find his lost love – a man called George with whom he had a relationship in the 1960s when homosexuality was illegal – Albert finds friendship and a new joy in life. My review is here.
Finally, I read ‘Nighthawking’ by Russ Thomas, the second in the series to feature DS Adam Tyler. I hadn’t read the first but I thoroughly enjoyed this story of nighthawkers accidentally digging up a body in Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens and triggering a pacey and wide-ranging investigation. My review will be up later in the week.
What are you reading now?
Unusually for me, I only have two books on the go!
I’m reading ‘Yours Cheerfully’ by A J Pearce, sequel to the brilliant ‘Dear Mrs Bird’. This picks up the story of Emmy after her comic disasters in the first book and sees her writing for ‘Women’s Friend’ magazine in order to boost the war effort. It’s a humorous, warm and cosy book considering its World War II setting – and I’m savouring it!
I’m also reading and enjoying ‘The Tattoo Thief’ by Alison Belsham. This is a book group read with the lovely Tsundoku Squad ladies and I’m loving our discussions about this gory and genuinely disturbing crime novel set around Brighton’s community of tattooists and their customers. The leads – one police man, one tattooist woman – are great characters and there is a strong plotline (plus some very gruesome murders).
What do you think you will read next?
In the absence (for now) of blog tours, I’m a bit giddy with free choice!
I really want to read ‘Still Life’ by Sarah Winman (Twitter has been abuzz with people loving this one and the E M Forster link had sold it to me anyway!). I also love the look of ‘Snow Country’ by Sebastian Faulks – I got sent a proof of this historical novel, out September.
On the non-fiction side, I’ve just bought a signed copy of Fern Riddell’s ‘Sex Lessons from History’ and I’m keen to read what one of my favourite historians has to share!
Many thanks to NetGalley, blog tour hosts, publishers and authors for books in exchange for an honest review.
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I’m only reading one book at the moment and that’s unusual for me too. Haha
My brain can’t cope with any more at the moment!
Oh I feel like Sex Lessons from History has the chance to be SO fascinating!
It looks so good. I’m looking forward to reading it
Looks like you’re off to a good start this month! I’m currently reading Killer Content by Olivia Blacke.