Wednesday, October 21, 2020

WWW Wednesday: October 21, 2020

WWW Wednesday is run 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?
I’m currently reading The Day of the Dead by Nicci French; this is the eighth and concluding volume in the extremely compelling Frieda Klein suspense series.  I accidentally read this first (don’t do what I did; there were too many spoilers) so had to go back to read the whole series.  Frieda is a fascinating character because she is so self-contained (everyone finds this frustrating, including the reader but it is part of what makes her so interesting).   She is a very calm and deliberate psychotherapist, despised by her enemies, loyal to her motley crew of friends, and so insightful she is able to solve crimes the police cannot (this reader is usually in the dark too). 
This week, I finished Friday on My Mind, Dark Saturday, and Sunday Silence, all in the same series.  They are all good in a somber, bleak sort of way but Dark Saturday was really outstanding.   The first in the series is Blue Monday.  

Next up is something completely different – Three Keys by Kelly Yang.   This is the much-awaited sequel to Front Desk (see my review), an outstanding debut children’s novel which reminded me of The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink.  In this installment, Mia and her parents are the proud owners of the Calivista Motel, Mia gets to run the front desk with her best friend, Lupe, and she’s finally getting somewhere with her creative writing. 

Front Desk was awarded the 2018 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, the Parents' Choice Gold Medal, is the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and has earned numerous other honors including being named an Amazon Best Book of the Year, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, an NPR Best Book of the Year, and a Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year.  That’s a lot of awards!

Off the Blog: Happy Birthday to my eldest nephew!  He will be able to vote on November 3rd!
When he was little!

2 comments:

TracyK said...

How exciting that your nephew will be voting for the first time.

I have heard that the Nicci French series is good but I have never read any of it.

I just purchased A Killer in King's Cove by Iona Wishaw, which I think you recommended to me.

CLM said...

Oh, good, I will be interested to hear what you think of A Killer in King's Cove (I always type Grove). It seems inspired by the Maisie Dobbs books although the author says it is based on her mother's experiences. I hope you are still doing your Canada challenge?

I had taken a break after reading five Nicci French books in about ten days last year, and forgot how compelling they are. She is one of the oddest heroines ever but it is quite amusing how much everyone detests her because she is so direct and ignores anyone who gets in her way. She is always surpried by their annoyance because she sees it as just doing what needs to be done. I saw French (a h&w writing team) has a new one coming later this month, which already has many reserves at the library.