Wednesday, February 7, 2024

WWW Wednesday – February 7

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?

Just finished:

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (2023). This is the fourth in a delightful series and although just as amusing as the first three (especially in one place where Joyce is channeling Elizabeth and another where Donna is criticizing Chris’ Christmas present to her mother) it also has some very sad moments. I have really enjoyed recommending this series to people who are instantly hooked.
I also enjoyed The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams (2021), one of the best contemporary romances I have read in a while. It is a fake relationship trope involving best friends since high school, Bree, a dance teacher, and Nathan, a star quarterback on his way to the Super Bowl.  I especially appreciated the secondary characters.  I knew how it would end but it was fun to see how the author got there and I will definitely be checking out her other books.

Currently Reading:

Fen Crosbie recently recommended The House on the Hill by Eileen Dunlop (1987) and although I own and have enjoyed some of her other books, this had to be borrowed via Interlibrary Loan. It’s about cousins in Glasgow, staying with an aunt in a mysterious old house that may be haunted.  Of course, it made me want to plan a vacation in Scotland!
I am also reading The Outsider by Jane Casey (2023), a short story about Rob Langton who has been mostly written out of the Maeve Kerrigan series while he is away from London and undercover.
Next Up:

I have opined on all the recent books about books – it’s not that I don’t like them but I don’t need to drown in them! And yet here are two more I’m planning to read:

The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn (2020 in German, 2023 in English). This is about a small town German bookseller and is the February choice of my de Grummond Book Group. We'll see if I am in the mood for "an unlikely friendship between an elderly door-to-door bookseller and a nine-year-old girl that changes his life."  I’ve missed the last two discussions due to lunch-time meetings so I hope to catch up with them on the 15th.
Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslian Charles (2024) sounds right up my alley. The heroine leaves the New York Public Library in 1918 to go to France to establish children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.
I may need a violent crime novel as a palate cleanser!

7 comments:

Emily said...

They all look interesting. I got Last Devil To Die for Christmas and really want to find time to read it!!

Have a great week!

Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/02/07/www-wednesday-currently-reading-finished-reading-reading-next-73/

thecuecard said...

Ha. I laughed about the palate cleanser. One too many book brigades might lead you there. Enjoy your week.

Claire (The Captive Reader) said...

The Outsider reminded me of how much I like and miss the very normal and estimable Rob. Yes, Josh and Maeve's relationship is the main draw of that series but I was sad when Rob was written out so it was nice to be reunited.

Sam said...

I really liked The Last Devil to die...and totally agree with you on the ever-expanding number of books being published these days that use books/libraries/book lovers as a theme. I've always been a sucker for those, but lately I've become a little numb to them because they seem to have become kind of a crutch for some writers, and a genre/subgenre of its own. (I think you've chosen the perfect kind of palate cleanser, though.)

JaneGS said...

I've only read the first in the Thursday Murder Club but I am hooked and eager to read the rest. Such a marvelous set of characters. Miss Morgan's Book Brigade sounds great. And yes, planning a trip to Scotland sounds like a good way to get through the rest of winter.

Dewena said...

I've written down your last two books for my library list. I guess my mind is decades over violent crime novels! Right now I'm clearing some authors off my shelves to donate, dipping into them to see if I'm really ready to say goodbye. Right now all of Rebecca West novels are in a bag and I'm sampling them. I think they're going to be gone.

TracyK said...

I look forward to hearing about both of the two books about books you plan to read. They both sound good, but I will wait until you read them.