It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This is a blog hop hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for today, and just answer the three questions (I’m posting early, so you might have to wait a bit for the link up to go live).
What are you currently reading?
I’ve started All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I’m moving slowly with it, though I do have seven hours of travel on Saturday, so in theory I could get it finished before it’s due back to the library next Wednesday. If I do have to return it, though, the queue is moving quite quickly, so I can reserve it and have it again in a couple of weeks.
On audio, I’m listening to Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding. I really enjoy the movie with Leonardo di Caprio and Tom Hanks, and I absolutely loved the musical when I saw it earlier this year, so when I saw it available on Overdrive, I thought I would pick it up. I guess it’s unsurprising that a man’s memoir written in the 80s about being a teenager in the 60s is fairly sexist and gross at times… but if you can overlook that, it’s pretty entertaining so far…
I accidentally left All the Light We Cannot See on my desk at work yesterday, so last night I started Wonder Women by Sam Maggs, which I was approved for on NetGalley. While I really appreciate being made aware of these awesome women I had not heard of in many cases, I do wish the author was a little more academic and a little less snarky (I swear, there’s a “witty” aside every two sentences).
What did you recently finish reading?
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson was very sweet, though not terribly original. I still really enjoyed it, though; the characters made it.
Nightshade by Maryrose Wood was… well, a bit weird. It felt a bit like it was trying to go dark and kind of missed and just ended up melodramatic instead.
And finally, The Fictional Woman by Tara Moss. Tara’s personal stories were definitely the strength of this book; the data analysis and social commentary felt like it was treading familiar ground. Still, an enjoyable introduction to feminism if you are looking for that sort of thing.
I also posted two reviews this week, for Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine and I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, both of which were 4.5 star reads for me.
What do you think you’ll read next?
I still have The Secret River by Kate Grenville out from the library after my library haul at the beginning of the month. I am honestly not sure whether I will enjoy it and I may not end up getting through it, but I want to give it a go.
And now for WIPpet Wednesday. This is another blog hop in which writers share excerpts from their current WIP that somehow relate to the date. Clicking the blue guy on the right will take you to the linkup for this one. Today is the 29th, so I took eleven lines from my Scrivener document. In this scene, Carrie is still posing as the Princess. They have arrived back at the palace, and Masden has left Carrie to the princess’ ladies’ maid to get washed up before reporting to the King that she is supposedly home.
Her face lit up when she saw Carrie. “Oh, Princess, it’s such a relief to see you’re all right!” she exclaimed. She took a couple of quick steps forward with her arms out, as though she had intended to embrace the Princess, but then seemed to remember her place and thought better of it and let her arms fall.
Carrie gave her a smile. “Hello, Maisie,” she said, hoping she sounded natural enough. It was hard to talk to a stranger and make it sound like they already knew each other well. “It’s good to see you, too.”
Maisie gave a little curtsy, a broad smile beaming on her face, then she made her way straight to the bathroom. Carrie heard her speak through the door as she ran water into a tub. “Have to get you looking presentable for your father,” Maisie commented. “If you don’t mind my saying so, your Highness, you look a bit of a sight. You could do with a bath, but we haven’t got time for that. We’ll just get your face washed before you see your father, and change your clothes. The rest of you can wait.”
Carrie had no idea how the Princess would react to that. Surely, if that sort of familiar conversation was not welcome, Maisie would not have lasted long as the Princess’ companion. And besides, the Princess Adelyn that Carrie knew went out of her way to be accepting to all people. She even believed that magic had its place, unlike her father. A talkative servant was unlikely to bother her.
Carrie settled on a vague, “Yes, that sounds good,” and continued to sit on the bed, not sure what her next move should be.
Technically, they probably shouldn’t even have running water at this point, but I do intend to revise the time period in the next draft. I will be revising a lot of things in the next draft actually. So. Much. Revision.
But that’s Future Emily’s problem. For the moment, I’m working on Lessons Learned. I had a rather large epiphany about this one, namely that the backstory is not backstory at all, but the actual story. So I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo to make a start on that! My username is spaciireth on the site if you want to share a cabin. I’m not going to go in a random cabin but will happily hang out with blog friends.
I should head off now. Catch you all later!
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I’ve had Ink and Bone on my TBR for quite a while now… I really need to prioritise my list! I’m really glad you enjoyed it, it means I can go into it with confidence (one day, when I finally pick it up!).
I will read All the Light eventually too, but I get the impression it’s one of those books it’s best to approach when you’re in the “right” mood for it.
Here’s my WWW: https://clairehuston.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/www-wednesday-29th-june-2016/
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I really enjoyed it; I needed a cozy book-about-books and it delivered. The sequel is coming out next week, but for whatever reason, the UK Amazon store is currently the only one that has the Kindle version listed. I’ve put a hold on it at the library and will read whichever format becomes available first.
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I really loved All The Light We Cannot See – it can be a little wordy and heavy going at times but overall I thought it was brilliant – I hope you manage to finish it and enjoy it too! Here is my post for today https://ahouseofbooks.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/this-week-in-books-29-june-2016/
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All the Light We Cannot See was a favorite read of mine, although I wished that some of the characters and their relationships had been teased out a bit more. The Secret River sounds like a promising read.
My WWW: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2016/06/www-wednesdays_29.html
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Ink and Bone and I Hunt Killers are definitely my kind of books. Loved your reviews on the two and the 4.5 stars makes me really want to read them. I really liked Catch Me if You Can movie, it is one of the best con-artists movies that I have ever watched, only comes second to Ocean 11. I didn’t know there is a book though.
Happy reading and safe travel.
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I can imagine that when pretending to be someone else, it could be hard to know just how to react. Hope she handles it.
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I am curious about The Fictional Woman…and I loved a book called Ink and Bone, but the one I read was by Lisa Unger.
Enjoy what you read next. Here’s MY WWW POST
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Fun excerpt. I wonder what led her to pretend to be the princess. That’s interesting!! Soo many questions about who she actually is 🙂
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I haven’t read any of these, but they sound interesting! Which one would you recommend? 🙂
Thanks for visiting my WWW: https://sarinalangerwriter.com/2016/06/29/www-wednesday-29th-june-2016/
Happy reading! 🙂
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All The Light We Cannot See is beautiful and I really loved Ink and Bone. Here’s my WWW Wednesday https://awondrousbookshelf.com/2016/06/29/www-wednesday-5/
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I hope you will be able to continue All The Light We Cannot See soon! It was one of my favorite reads so far this year. And I should really do a Jasper Dent reread at some point as well, even if it is just the first book. Happy reading!
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I’ll probably grab the second Jasper Dent book soon. I was refraining from reserving too many more library books while I still had a huge pile of them out, but now that I’ve whittled that down again, I can start putting a few reservations down again.
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I hope you will be able to get a copy soon! I still like the first book best, but the whole series is definitely worth reading. 🙂
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Wow you’ve been busy this week! I’m feeling guilty that I haven’t managed to read anything.
I definitely enjoyed the movie Catch Me If You Can, so I can see that being an interesting book. I need to return to Ink and Bone! I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning but I got side-tracked. I’ll have to make more effort to get back to it, especially now the sequel’s out.
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You have been preparing for a book release of your own, though; I think that’s a pretty good excuse! 😉
Ink and Bone does start off a little slowly, though once they get to the Library itself it really picks up.
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I can’t remember why I stopped reading it, I really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely have to dive back in once this book is out and live 😁
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Great excerpt. I wonder what Maisie is thinking about it and whether she’s noticed anything “off.”
Your reading list looks really interesting! Might have to add a few to my list.
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For the most part Maisie is pretty unobservant, but she does become a bit more suspicious later on.
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I hope you’re enjoying Doerr. I really liked his book. I didn’t know Catch Me If You Can was a book. I enjoyed the movie as well. Happy reading and thanks for participating in WWW Wednesday!
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I haven’t had much time to read over the last couple of days which has been annoying, but I’m hoping to get back into it today and knock some more off it. I have to keep reminding myself that Catch Me If You Can is a memoir and not a novel; it seems so crazy that he pulled off as much as he did.
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I love leaving problems for future me to fix in my WIPs. Except, now I am future me and I’m really upset with past me for putting them there 😛 Writer problems!
I have All the Light We Can Not See on my TBR. Hope to get to it soon!
Thanks again for stopping by earlier. Happy Reading 🙂
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Maybe for your “running water issue”, have the kingdom have a setup similar to what Ancient Rome had, or something similar to the water tanks they use in some communities to increase water pressure … Have sluiced bits of streams that water diverted to fun (cold) into sinks streams. Or huge roof cisterns that pipe down water and are filled by servant men
Love your book list. I think I may have to start participating in this hop too. Good for my creative soul.
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What an interesting mix of books! I hope you get to finish All The Light We Cannot See before having to return it.
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I have Doerr but haven’t started on him yet. I like the mix you have this time. A little something from everything.
As for your WIPpet, I especially like your second paragraph beginning with Carrie. It is spot-on.
Shalom aleichem,
Patricia
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