#WWWWednesday – 24th January 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

An audiobook, a book for my personal Backlist Burrow reading challenge (that I hoped to complete by the end of 2023 but didn’t) and a NetGalley ARC.

HowToBeBraveHow to be Brave by Louise Beech (audiobook, Orenda)

All the stories died that morning … until we found the one we’d always known.

When nine-year-old Rose is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Natalie must use her imagination to keep her daughter alive. They begin dreaming about and seeing a man in a brown suit who feels hauntingly familiar, a man who has something for them.

Through the magic of storytelling, Natalie and Rose are transported to the Atlantic Ocean in 1943, to a lifeboat, where an ancestor survived for fifty days before being rescued.

All Day at the MoviesAll Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman (Gallic Books)

When war widow Irene Sandle goes to work in New Zealand’s tobacco fields in 1952, she hopes to start a new, independent life for herself and her daughter – but the tragic repercussions of her decision will resonate long after Irene has gone.

Each of Irene’s children carries the events of their childhood throughout their lives, played out against a backdrop of great change – new opportunities emerge for women, but social problems continue to hold many back. Headstrong Belinda becomes a successful filmmaker, but struggles to deal with her own family drama as her younger siblings are haunted by the past.

SufferanceSufferance by Charles Palliser (eARC, Guernica Editions via NetGalley)

When his nation is invaded and occupied by a brutal enemy, a well-intentioned man persuades his wife that they should give temporary shelter to a young girl who is at school with their daughter. He has no idea that the girl belongs to a community against whom the invader intends to commit genocide.

Days stretch into weeks and then months while the enemy’s pitiless hatred of the girl’s community puts all of the family in danger. Nobody outside the family can be trusted with the dangerous secret and the threat from outside unlocks a darkness that threatens to derail them all. 


Recently finished

The Most Difficult Thing by Charlotte Philby (The Borough Press)

To Kill a King (Master of War #8) by David Gilman (Head of Zeus)


What Cathy Will Read Next

Where the Wind Calls HomeWhere the Winds Calls Home by Samar Yazbek, trans. by Leri Price (eARC, World Editions via NetGalley)

Ali, a nineteen-year-old soldier in the Syrian army, lies on the ground beneath a tree. He sees a body being lowered into a hole—is this his funeral? There was that sudden explosion, wasn’t there …

While trying to understand the extend of the damage, Ali works his way closer to the tree. His ultimate desire is to fly up to one of its branches, to safety.

Through rich vignettes of Ali’s memories, we uncover the hardships of his traditional Syrian Alawite village, but also the richness and beauty of its cultural and religious heritage. 

#TopTenTuesday Books I Meant to Read in 2023 #TuesdayBookBlog

Top Ten TuesdayTop 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.

Sad girl holding book

This week’s topic is Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To. And I’m supposed to list only ten? I need #TopHundredTuesday for this topic! Narrowing it down slightly, the books listed below were part of 2023 reading challenges that I didn’t complete: my Backlist Burrow personal reading challenge (books 1 – 5) and the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge (books 6 – 10).

Links from the title will take you to the book description on Goodreads.

  1. All Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman
  2. The Infinite Air by Fiona Kidman
  3. Himself by Jess Kidd
  4. A Dry Spell by Clare Chambers
  5. Pure by Andrew Miller
  6. To Calais, in Ordinary Time by James Meek
  7. The Cross and the Curse (The Bernicia Chronicles #2) by Matthew Harffy
  8. Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
  9. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
  10. Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir

Which books would you have liked to get to in 2023?