#WWW Wednesday – May 09, 2018

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading? 

I finished Lessons in Letting Go: Confessions of a Hoarder by Corinne Grant. To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure if I would finish it, as the chapters about where her hoarding began and how it affected her life were quite depressing. But once she got onto how she faced the problem once she recognised it, I became much more engaged. Review will be up next week.

I am finally reviewing again! I posted my reviews of Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie and Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery this week. Click the titles to read them.

What are you currently reading? 

I am still going with Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton. I haven’t had much of a chance to make a dent in it. So far, though, I feel like it maintaining the standard of the previous two books.

I am also listening to The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel. This is a great historical mystery and if you enjoy audio books, I definitely recommend this one. The narrator is great. The conflict between the two leads, London gentleman Ian Frey and his new boss, rough-around-the-edges Scotsman Adolpho McGrey, is a lot of fun.

What do you think you will read next?

I have borrowed a copy of Blackwing by Ed McDonald from a friend. This friend is as picky, if not more picky, than I am about fantasy, and he thought it was great, so I’m hoping I feel the same way.

What are you reading this week?

“The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.” // Review of “Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie

Title: Murder on the Orient Express
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Mystery
Date Read: 25/04/2018 – 26/04/2018
Rating: ★★★★☆

Review:

As someone who very often finds classic literature dry, stuffy and inaccessible,  I  had put off reading Murder on the Orient Express for a long time. It’s so iconic, and I didn’t want to sllog my way through it and then end up disappointed. I needn’t have worried. I flew through it in two days. It was completely engaging.

While I’d never read a Poirot book before, I had seen many an episode of the TV series starring David Suchet. Poirot is just as interesting a character on paper; his way of talking to people makes me laugh, but his powers  of deduction are masterful.

Having reached the end of the book, I could see why this particular one is so iconic, and widely considered Christie’s best. I tried keeping track of details, but of course, the outcome took me completely by surprise. Just when I thought things were getting completely unrealistic and ridiculous, that gets addressed and is part of the solution.

The reason that this doesn’t get a full five stars from me is because the decisions made by Poirot in literally the final paragraphs threw me off a bit. I couldn’t quite reconcile it, and even after googling some discussions surrounding the ending and coming to understand it, I still don’t know how I feel. But honestly, that was the only issue I had.

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#WWW Wednesday – May 02, 2018

 

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading? 

I finished Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie in two days and really loved it… I was a little weirded out by the very last page or two and what goes down then… but I won’t say too much here  because I don’t want to spoil things.

Galax-Arena by Gillian Rubinstein. This was… quite strange. One of those books that seemed to have some interesting ideas but didn’t do enough with them. Also it was really obvious it was written in  the early 90s.

I didn’t review at all in April but I have some reviews scheduled to  go up in the coming days, and I should be back to my usual schedule of Monday and Friday review posts.

What are you currently reading? 

I am listening to the audio bookk Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood. This is a cozy mystery set in Melbourne and the main character owns a bakery… I like it enough so far, though the baker is a bit judgey and like Galax-Arena, I can kind of sense this book’s age from some of the language used.

My reading at home book is Lessons in Letting Go: Confessions of a Hoarder by Corinne Grant. Corinne is a well-known Australian comedian and while I haven’t read much of this yet, I already really like her writing style. It’s interesting hearing about a more vulnerable side to her, too.

And my reading at work book is Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton, which is the final book in the Rebel of the Sands trilogy. I only started it today, and I’m only up to about page 10. I appreciated the cast of characters list at the beginning, since it’s been over a year since I read the last book. That really helped to jog my memory.

What do you think you will read next?

Despite avoiding it for ages because I’m about 90% sure it’s not going to be my thing, I picked up Nevernight by Jay Kristoff when I saw it on display at the library the other day. So I might try that. Or I might pick up either Greythorne or The Iron Line by L. M. Merrington. I went along to her book talk the other day and bought both and they are both currently sitting on a table near my TV tempting me.

What are you reading this week?

#WWW Wednesday – April 25, 2018

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading? 

It’s been a slow reading week. The only thing  I finished  was a very short audio book, The Best Bear in All the World by Paul Bright, Brian Sibley, Jeanne Willis and Kate Saunders. This was written for the 90th Anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh. Each author wrote a Winnie-the-Pooh story set during one of the seasons. They did a pretty good job of capturing what I love about the original books.

Last night I finally realised how much I was not enjoying The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon and decided to DNF. It was taking me far too long to read and I was looking for distractions. I actually wish the book had been more about Paige’s gang. I really liked Jaxon, Nick, et al. Didn’t care so much for Warden, and half the time I couldn’t keep track of the other characters because they were referred to by their numbers.

What are you currently reading? 

I am finally reading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Why didn’t I read this book long ago?! I kept putting it off because I thought it would be dated and dry, but I am nearly halfway through it, having really only started it this morning. I’m trying to keep track of all the little details which will no doubt be key to the resolution, but I have no real hope of solving this case and I will wait patiently for the denouement.

What do you think you will read next?

I’m not quite sure just yet. I have set up my May-June TBR but I’m not really feeling like any of the titles on it right now. I’m just looking over my Australian Women Writers TBR shelf on GoodReads and thinking maybe Galax-Arena by Gillian Rubenstein might be a good option.  It’s aimed at an older-MG/lower-YA audience, so should be fairly digestible.

What are you reading this week?

#WWW Wednesday – April 18, 2018

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This blog hop is hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for this week, and just answer the three questions.

I am back from Nepal! I had a great time, though the trek itself was quite challenging, physically and emotionally. But I had a fantastic group of people supporting me. Those 12 days went way too fast, but I am glad to be home.

What have you recently finished reading? 

I finished Ready Player One by Ernest Cline before I went away.  I… look, there’s an okay YA dystopia in there somewhere, but I couldn’t find much of it. It was my first ever one star review! (Said review is full of spoilers, read at your own risk).

I also read The Sherlockian by Graham Moore prior to that. It was fine, but nothing special. I definitely enjoyed Graham Moore’s other novel more. I reviewed it here.

Remember how I was all  “I’m going to read so many books on the plane and have a super long post for you when I get home!”? Yeah, I read two. And one of them was super-short.

The first was Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. I had never read it before and I’m not sure if perhaps I missed the boat with it? I mean, I enjoyed it, but I think a lot of people probably have a certain amount of nostalgic love for it that comes from reading it when one is the same age as Anne Shirley.

I also picked up and read Folk Tales from Nepal by Kesar Lall at Pokhara airport. The English translation wasn’t brilliant but it was fun reading these stories while I was travelling around the locations where they took place.

What are you currently reading? 

At time of writing, I haven’t actually picked up The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon since the day before I left for Nepal. I wasn’t entirely into it. Coincidentally, one of the women in my group was reading it on the plane and she wasn’t that into it either, but we did both say we would see it through. .

What do you think you will read next?

I want to try and read something else off my March-April TBR before the end of the month. I am leaning towards Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie because I didn’t read that on my Jan-Feb TBR either… but I also have an ARC of Bookworm by Lucy Mangan, so I should probably read that soon… I don’t know. I’ll see what I’m in the mood for.

What are you reading this week?