#WWWWednesday – 19th August 2026

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!


Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday via NetGalley)

It’s the summer of 1951 and everyone is looking to put the dark days of the war behind them. The government’s solution: The Festival of Britain, a celebration of the country’s creativity, grit and ingenuity.

For foreign correspondent turned war reporter Harry Flynn, it might offer the chance of redemption after a bad war in the Far East and a peace that is proving no easier to negotiate. Having failed to resume his journalistic career, he reluctantly joins an oddball team of misfits, ne’er-do-wells and downright chancers helping to ready the Festival of Britain for launch.

Flynn’s attempts to resume some semblance of a romantic life also founder when one of his dates goes missing and he is deemed to be the last person to have seen her alive. Could he have been in some way responsible for her disappearance?

Little does he realize that the answer to some of his mounting problems may lie in the hands of a precocious, straight-talking thirteen-year-old called Veronica and a rather scruffy terrier who goes by the name of Mrs Betty…

A Thought Without Collision by Adrian Duncan (Tuskar Rock)

Summer, 1923. Six-year-old Catherine Carolan grows restless on her parents’ farm. It’s already clear that her intellect will soon outgrow the two-room schoolhouse across the fields. But in post-Civil War Ireland, an education is not an easy thing for a girl to access, and young Catherine is not the only one in her family who will come to tire of rural life.

Summer, 1951. To ease him through his final days, Dr. Josef Alois calls for someone from his past. Enter Catherine Carolan, now an Oxford professor. As Alois’s mind and body falter, Catherine must decide how far she will follow this man that she loves.

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Pan Macmillan)

Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook’s potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there and rose to its top ranks, things turned out a little different.

From wild schemes cooked up on private jets to risking prison abroad, Careless People exposes both the personal and political fallout when boundless power and a rotten culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative, Wynn-Williams rubs shoulders with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and world leaders, revealing what really goes on among the global elite – and the consequences this has for all of us.

Candid and entertaining, this is an intimate memoir set amid powerful forces. As all our lives are upended by technology and those who control it, Careless People will change how you see the world.

A Shroud of Snow (Bradecote and Catchpoll #14) by Sarah Hawskwood (Allison & Busby)

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Penguin)

Sybil Van Antwerp is seventy-three, slowly losing her sight and always writing letters . . .

To her children. Her favourite authors. Her ex-sister-in-law. The journalist poking into her past. Her doctor. Suitors. Kindly neighbours. The infuriating gardening club.

All receive Sybil’s witty, wise correspondence, rich with everyday concerns.

But there is one letter that she has never sent. It concerns the darkest period of her life. To post it, Sybil must find forgiveness within herself.

The hardest letter to write is the one you’d never dare to send.

#TopTenTuesday Book Series I Want to Catch Up On #TuesdayBookBlog

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

  • Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
  • Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
  • Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
  • Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Book Series I Want to Catch Up On. I have a rather chequered history when it comes to series, as my list will demonstrate. Links from each title will take you to my review.

Discovered part way through, earlier books not yet read:

  • Devotio by Gordon Doherty is book 10 (and also the final one) in the ‘Legionary’ series. I’ve read books 7 & 9 but none of the earlier ones plus I’ve no idea why I missed out book 8.
  • The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan is book 7 in the ‘DS George Cross’ crime series. I’ve read books 5 & 6 but none of the earlier ones, or book 8 that has been published recently.
  • Revenge of Rome by Simon Scarrow is book 23 in the ‘Eagles of the Empire’ series. This currently holds the record for latest discovery of a series. The only other books in the series I’ve read are books 21 & 22.
  • The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear is book 18 (and also the final one) in the ‘Maisie Dobbs’ historical crime series. I’ve read books 15, 16 & 17 but none of the earlier ones.
  • The Shadow Network by Tony Kent is book 5 in the Dempsey & Devlin thriller series. I’ve read book 4 but not the first three.

Read in the wrong order:

  • A Shroud of Snow by Sarah Hawkswood is book 14 in the ‘Bradecote & Catchpole’ historical mystery series. I’ve read books 7, 8, 9 & 10 but not the ones in between or the earlier books
  • Bane of Bernicia by Matthew Harffy is book 11 in ‘The Bernicia Chronicles’ series. I’ve read books 1, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 but not in that order.
  • Odin’s Game by Tim Hodkinson is book 1 in ‘The Whale Road Chronicles’ series. I’d read books 4, 7 & 8 before this one.
  • To Kill a King by David Gilman is book 8 in the ‘Master of War’ series. I’ve read book 1 but none of the books in between.

Started, haven’t finished:

  • The Night Raids by Jim Kelly is book 3 in the ‘Nighthawk’ historical crime series. I’ve read books 1 & 2 but haven’t yet read books 4 & 5 that have been published since.

In case this has given you the wrong idea, there are series where I’ve read all the books. There are even examples where I’ve read them in the right order!

What’s your record with series, especially long ones?