WWW Wednesday – October 27, 2021

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What a collaboration!  I am currently reading or should I say listening to State of Terror by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, which I am greatly enjoying as I drive back and forth to work. It’s about a Secretary of State dealing with a terrorist situation. It’s less than 6 miles to my office but it usually takes 40 minutes to get there so entertainment is key. One sign of a good audio book is when you don’t want to get out of your car!

In addition, I am reading How to Be Brave by Daisy May Johnson, a lively boarding school story based on many classics of the genre. It reads a little like Eva Ibbotson - but more arch.

I recently finished Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro for my Book Group. This started out well with two robots in a store window longing to be chosen, purchased, and brought home. It reminded me of some of Rumer Godden’s doll books. The first half of the book was interesting as Klara, a very sentient machine, became acquainted with and devoted to Josie, her owner. Although it was very readable and I was curious to know what would happen, I felt the second half of the book dragged as Klara tried to negotiate with the sun. It just stopped making sense to me and the characters all grew apart, so I wasn’t thrilled with the dénouement. Some of my friends objected to a science fiction theme but it just seemed like ordinary fiction about a somewhat different but recognizable society to me.

For next month, I suggested my Book Group read A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier and they agreed. Some of my friends do not like historical fiction as much as I do! I know this is shocking. Carrie says it is because some of the books I chose used stilted language. I suppose that might have been true of The Scapegoat by Daphne DuMaurier (I would say mannered, not stilted - and we had a great discussion that night) but I certainly don’t think it was true of Dawn’s Early Light by Elswyth Thane (trying to think what else I selected in recent years). Anyway, fortunately, there was a very positive NPR review, plus everyone remembered liking Girl with a Pearl Earring (I recall my grandmother also really enjoyed that book).  Chevalier is clearly a kindred spirit: she loved Anne of Green Gables as a child, also Joan Aiken, Susan Cooper, and Lloyd Alexander (oddly, three authors I met).

What else should I read next? I have quite an assortment of library books hoping for attention, including The Love-Child by Edith Olivier (who recommended this?) and The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies (Helen at She Reads Novels got me interested in her books).  I also have a paper to write that is due on November 7th.