WWW Wednesday – July 19

WWW Wednesday is sponsored 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?

Currently Reading: I am halfway through The Last Remains, the final Ruth Galloway mystery by Elly Griffiths (2023), and I will be sad to see this series end. I am also reading The Mulberry Bush by Charles McCarry (2015), a very dark espionage novel (you ask if there any other kind but, yes, there are – think of Mick Herron’s Slough House series and Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene). I had always meant to read something by McCarry but am wondering if I chose the wrong one as it is unrelentingly violent in a dreary way and I am unsure if I care whether the protagonist can avenge his father (in general, I am pro revenge). I am putting it down temporarily for Ruth Galloway.

Recently Read: Country Lovers and Homecomings are six and seven, respectively, of my 20 Books of Summer. Homecomings is by Marcia Willett (2018), who I just learned died in 2022, which is sad. She wrote in the style of Rosamond Pilcher and some of her books have recurring characters, which is always fun. This one follows Postcards from the Past, which also mixed characters of different ages Homecomings is about several middle-aged friends living in Cornwall. Hugo took early retirement to care for his uncle, Ned, in the family home and is joined by his cousin Jamie. Hugo and Ned have become very friendly with Dossie, a widow who has made a career out of providing home-cooked meals to holiday renters (and people who never learned to cook). Dossie becomes romantically interested in Jamie, whose ex-wife turns up with a predatory eye and disturbing news. This book was pleasant, if not very memorable, and I enjoyed the setting, a small fishing village near Polzeath

Country Lovers by Rebecca Shaw (2003) is the third in a series set at a veterinary hospital in Barleybridge, a small village in the Dorset hills of England. I read the first book in this series nearly 20 years ago and must have liked it well enough to pick this up at some point but it was disappointing. While the series follows all those who work at the hospital, this book is primarily about Rhodri, an unhappy vet always picking fights with his coworkers because he is in love with Megan, a local farmer's daughter, who returns his feelings but cannot marry him because she is committed to caring for her elderly father. Until Rhodri can conquer his jealousy of those with seemingly happy lives and listen to their advice, he is doomed to misery.

Next Up: The Violent Study Club is reading Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (2005), which won the Newbery Award and is about a Japanese family that feels conspicuous and unwelcome after moving to Georgia. I am also reading Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (1941) for ReadChristie2023.

Also, I finished and enjoyed Middlemarch!