WWW Wednesday – March 23, 2022

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

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

After seeing a New York Times review, my sister Andrea recommended The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk, a mystery set in the rare books department of a large university. Sarah Weinman says, “I’m pleased to report it is as winning as I had hoped,” and her taste and mine often coincide.  I've only just started it.

I am listening to Orphan X by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz (2016) about a trained assassin who changed course and turned himself into an anonymous protector of the vulnerable – until a mysterious enemy targets him for death. This is so enthralling (not to mention violent) that I missed the turn onto my street coming home from work!

What did you recently finish reading?

Last week I read Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas (2021). It is the prequel to The Hate U Give, a YA novel about a teen who witnesses police killing her friend unprovoked and has to decide whether to go forward (my review). This book is about her father Maverick as a teen. Thomas does an amazing job making the reader care about a reluctant drug dealer, struggling with high school, family problems, and peer pressure. This was the March selection of the de Grummond Book Club and, as always, we had a great discussion.

I also read The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas (2021). The man who painfully rejected Catalina back in Spain is going to be the best man at her sister’s wedding, so she needs a date fast! Her condescending (but – she admits reluctantly – very attractive) coworker Aaron volunteers and Catalina assumes he is just trying to add to her humiliation – but what if she took him up on it? I enjoy enemies to lovers romances, although Elena was too harsh and Aaron too good to be true.

The funny thing about David Baldacci’s books is that they are completely absorbing and compelling while one is reading them yet are hard to remember.  Mercy (2021) is the latest in his series about Atlee Pine, an FBI agent who has been trying to find her twin for three previous books. The action starts so early in this installment that I didn’t have time to recall all the drama from the last one. I hope he continues Atlee’s story.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next, I plan to read The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (2021). I bought this the minute it came out because of my fascination with Bletchley Park but then I very thoughtfully loaned it to my sister. Although she returned it, I realized I wanted to wait until the perfect undistracted moment to read and savor it. Now my book group has chosen it for April so that must be now! I also have The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park (2010) out from the library. Cross your fingers: I’m hoping to visit Bletchley Park in June.

I also intend to read Evil Intent by Kate Charles (2005). I used to enjoy her ecclesiastical crime fiction but there must have been a gap when she was no longer published in this country and I forgot about her. Somehow I came across this series published by Poisoned Pen about a female curate, which looks good and has a Deborah Crombie quote on the cover.

Finally, I have It’s Better to be Feared: The New England Patriots and the Pursuit of Greatness by Seth Wickersham (2021). He is an ESPN writer who has covered my football team for years. I was on the waiting list for this book for months so I’d better read it before it is due back to the library. Although it is not football season, the Patriots are rarely out of the news.

Have you read any of these?