WWW Wednesday: 13th October 2021

It’s October WWW Wednesday time! Make a hot chocolate, settle in and let’s take a look at the books I’ve just read, am reading and planning to read…

This is a weekly (but I tend to do it monthly) challenge, hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. If you’re curious about what other people are reading right now too, join in! All you have to do is answer the three bookish questions below and pop your blog link on Sam’s weekly post in the comments.

/ WHAT ARE YOU READING NOW?

Lots of people know author Mitch Albom from his book The Five People You meet in Heaven and his new book, my current read, The Stranger in the Lifeboat is in a similar philosophical vein.

In a plot that keeps bringing Life of Pi to mind, a group of people find themselves in a lifeboat after their boat sinks and they rescue a man they see in the sea. A man who claims to be Jesus. That’s where I’m up to so far but liking the tone and intrigued to see how the message is conveyed here.

/ WHAT HAVE YOU RECENTLY READ?

Have to give Piranesi by Susanna Clarke a shout out here as it was a book that took me a little bit of concentration to get into, due to its fantasy setting, but I’m so glad I persevered as it was such a standout. Absolutely proves that sometimes you should leave your reading comfort zone.

/ WHAT WILL YOU READ NEXT?

I read and loved The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and have been meaning to read another of Brit’s novels, The Mothers for ages – it is finally time. Here’s the blurb:

‘It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth.

As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully manoeuvre, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.‘

I’d love to know what you’re reading this week / plan on reading soon – let me know below!