#WWWWednesday – 4th September 2024

WWWWednesdays

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!


Currently reading

To Calais, in Ordinary TimeTo Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek (Canongate) 

Three journeys. One road.

England, 1348. A gentlewoman is fleeing an odious arranged marriage, a Scottish proctor is returning home to Avignon and a handsome young ploughman in search of adventure is on his way to volunteer with a company of archers. All come together on the road to Calais.

Coming in their direction from across the Channel is the Black Death, the plague that will wipe out half of the population of Northern Europe. As the journey unfolds, overshadowed by the archers’ past misdeeds and clerical warnings of the imminent end of the world, the wayfarers must confront the nature of their loves and desires.

Gabriel's MoonGabriel’s Moon by William Boyd (eARC, Viking via NetGalley)

Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing the changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into a web of duplicities and betrayals.

As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into the shadows. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy’, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story. . .


Recently finished

A Place Without Pain by Simon Bourke 


What Cathy Will Read Next

Shy CreaturesShy Creatures by Clare Chambers (Wiedenfeld & Nicolson) 

In all failed relationships there is a point that passes unnoticed at the time, which can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park.

Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with a charismatic, married doctor.

One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen’s home. A mute, thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.

20 Books Of Summer 2024 Wrap Up #20booksofsummer24

20-books-of-summerThis annual challenge run by my namesake Cathy at 746 Books is over for another year. It has a simple objective: pick 10, 15 or 20 books you’d like to read during the period of the challenge: 1st June to 1st September.

Once again, I aimed for the full 20 books. So, how did I get on?

Version 1 – I failed. I read only eight books from my list, stubbornly refusing to make use of the option to swap books in/out of my list during the period of the challenge. I am part way through another two though. The other ten? Let’s all meet again next year…

  1. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz –  Read
  2. Transcription by Kate Atkinson
  3. The Draughtsman by Robert Lautner
  4. The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark
  5. Appetite by Philip Kazan
  6. Anna of Kleve by Alison Weir
  7. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
  8. Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts Read
  9. The Cross and the Curse by Matthew Harffy
  10. Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
  11. The Second Sleep by Robert Harris
  12. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek – Currently reading 
  13. Tidelands by Philippa Gregory
  14. A Place Without Pain by Simon Bourke – Currently reading 
  15. In the Garden of Sorrows by Karen Jewell  – Read
  16. French Windows by Antoine Laurain  – Read
  17. Alvesdon by James HollandRead
  18. Dark Frontier by Matthew HarffyRead
  19. The King’s Mother by Annie GarthwaiteRead
  20. Heart, Be at Peace by Donal RyanRead

Version 2 – I succeeded. I read 22 books during the period of the challenge. Only eight were on my original list but who cares?

  1. The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear
  2. French Windows by Antoine Laurain
  3. The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
  4. Alvesdon by James Holland
  5. A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering by Andrew Hunter Murray
  6. The Days of Our Birth by Charlie Laidlaw
  7. The Housekeepers by Alex Hay
  8. In This Ravishing World by Nina Schuyler
  9. Dead Ground by Graham Hurley
  10. Dark Frontier by Matthew Harffy
  11. The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite
  12. In the Garden of Sorrows by Karen Jewell
  13. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
  14. The Trap by Ava Glass
  15. West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman
  16. normal rules don’t apply by Kate Atkinson
  17. Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead
  18. Berlin Duet by S. W. Perry
  19. Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan
  20. The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable

If you took part, how did you get on?