WWW Wed Apr 17

What are you currently reading? River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay. This fantasy inspired by Chinese history looks like it will be as excellent as Under Heaven. It takes place many years after the glory of the empire in the prior book has declined. Ren Daiyan, the third son of a minor clerk, dreams of restoring the country to greatness, and if he must become an outlaw to do so, he is prepared.

What have you recently finished reading? Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy was barely a blip. I read less than ten percent of it, and so will not add it to my books read list. Twice it put me to sleep–not joking–so I switched to something more lively. Before that, I read Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal, the third book in the Glamourist Histories featuring Jane and Vincent. It’s a Regency fantasy, inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, and quite delightful. I recommend the series to fans of novels of manners or of genteel fantasy.

What do you think you’ll read next? Z: A Novel of Zelda by Therese Anne Fowler, a much-reviewed novel based on Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Having taken a class on F. Scott Fitzgerald, I know a bit about their biography: Zelda accused Scott of having used her diaries in his novels. He probably did; they sometimes published her stories under his name for more income; but the line between how much he stifled her creativity (as she claimed) is very blurry. As this novel is written in Zelda Fitzgerald’s voice, I’m sure it will be a case of an unreliable narrator, which is a favorite style to this reader.

WWW Wed Feb 27

I may not blog otherwise, but by golly am I good at remembering it’s Wednesday.

What are you currently reading? Nothing. Strangely, this is not the first time recently I’ve found myself unaccountably between books of a Wednesday. Which makes for a boring post. Sorry.

What did you recently finish reading? Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus. This mystery is translated from the German, in which language the author is a bestseller. Eleven years ago in the town of Altenheim, there was a double murder of two teenage girls whose bodies were never found. Just released from prison after serving the maximum sentence for the crimes, Tobias still cannot remember what happened that night after the fair. As the police force slowly uncovers layers of hatred and duplicity in the town, Tobias meets another young woman who looks just like one of the murdered girls, the one they called “Snow White.”

What do you think you’ll read next? The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks. I intended to begin reading this book during my lunch break today, but my boss took the office out for lunch instead, so I didn’t get a chance. (Between free food and an hour of reading, I’m honestly not sure which I would have preferred. No, I am sure, and if you know me, you’re sure too.) However, this evening I also picked up three books on reserve for me at the library, so my resolve might waver in favor of the new short story collection by Karen Russell, Vampires in the Lemon Grove. I didn’t care for Russell’s novel Swamplandia! but greatly enjoyed her first short story collection, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.

Audiobook update. Finished Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and began The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Despite its being read by a female–I prefer to listen to male readers–I am enjoying the first disc. I read the novel only once in…was it really February 2011? Two years exactly. So that must be why the story feels fresh to me.

WWW Wed Feb 13

What are you currently reading? Nothing. I’m between books. And last week when I said I was between books but picked out the book I was reading next, I ended up finishing three other books before I finally read it. So this week I’ll just list the two books I bought today: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler and Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre.

What did you recently finish reading? The Fitting Room by Kelly Minter, whose study on Ruth I prefer to her nonfiction. Before that, I read Pure by Julianna Baggott (will not read the forthcoming sequels) and Clay’s Ark by Octavia E. Butler (not as good as Lilith’s Brood and certainly not Bloodchild).

What do you think you’ll read next? Death of an Artist by Kate Wilhelm, a standalone mystery by the author of Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, about clones, which I read last year. I’ve selected it because I’ve used up all three renewals, and the library finally wants its book back.

On Audiobooks. Listened to The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde, a Nursery Crime novel featuring detectives Jack Spratt and Mary Mary. Am a third of the way into Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which is so quintessential an example of literary romanticism that I often burst out laughing.

WWW Wed Jan 16

Here’s my WWW Wednesday update.

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently. I am between books as of noon today. I have almost convinced myself to commit to Death of an Englishman by Magdalen Nabb, a first in a mystery series I ordered through Inter-Library Loan (ILL) on a whim. If the series is good, it might serve to fill the gap left by Donna Leon’s Venice mysteries. We’ll see.

Recently. Today I finished The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Smith. I didn’t care for it, though I’m not entirely sure why. It was magical realism in that there really was a girl with feet turning to glass, but I found the glacial pace a bit trying, and I didn’t manage to empathize with the main character, Midas.

Next. I also ILLed Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, a thin book, or there is the fat modernist novel The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, which Ann Patchett likes. Or Ian McEwan’s Sweet Tooth, which another library patron has had the nerve to reserve, preventing me from being able to renew it on the 24th. Hard to know what I will be in the mood for.

Audiobook update. The Hound of the Baskerville discs wouldn’t play in my car, so I switched to Dracula, which is horrible. I can’t believe how stupid Jonathan Harker is, and I can’t believe that this was cutting-edge horror rather than, as it sounds today, melodrama. I will be making the switch tomorrow to Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book. Read by the author. Should be better.