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
A Brief History of Living Forever by Jaroslav Kalfar (eARC, Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley)
When Adela discovers she has a terminal illness, her thoughts turn to Tereza, the American-raised daughter she gave up at birth. Leaving behind her moody, grown son, Roman, in their native Czech village, she flies to the United States to find the long-lost daughter who never knew her. Yet the country, in the year 2029, is steeped in surveillance and has adopted an unapologetic nationalism—a very different place from the open and accepting one Adela experienced decades earlier, when, as a teenager high on the promise of America, she eloped with a filmmaker and starred in his cult sci-fi movie.
Now, in New York City, with time running out, Adela reunites with Tereza, who is working as the star researcher for two suspicious biotech moguls hellbent on developing a “god pill” to extend human life indefinitely. But before Tereza can find a cure for Adela, her mother dies mysteriously. Unbeknownst to Tereza, her body is whisked away by the American government to a mass grave for undocumented immigrants in the swampy wastelands of what was once Florida. Distraught, Tereza travels to the Czech Republic to convince Roman, the brother she’s never met, to join her in rescuing their mother’s remains from oblivion, with the intent of bringing her home to rest in Czech soil.
God’s Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu (Wiedenfeld & Nicolson) Longlisted for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2023
A man revisits the university campus where he lost his first love, aware now of what he couldn’t understand then. A daughter returns home to Lagos after the death of her father, where she must face her past – and future -relationship with his longtime partner. A young musician rises to fame at the risk of losing himself and the man who loves him.
Generations collide, families break and are remade, languages and cultures intertwine, and lovers find their ways to futures; from childhood through adulthood; on university campuses, city centres, and neighbourhoods where church bells mingle with the morning call to prayer.
Recently finished
A Complicated Matter by Anne Youngson (Doubleday)
The Settlement by Jock Serong (Text Publishing) Longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2023
The Romantic by William Boyd (Viking) Longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2023
Birthright by Charles Lambert (Gallic Books)
What Cathy (will) Read Next
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes (Vintage)
Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration.
Neil is just one of many who fell under her spell during his time in her class. Tasked with unpacking her notebooks after her death, Neil encounters once again Elizabeth’s astonishing ideas on the past and on how to make sense of the present.
But Elizabeth was much more than a scholar. Her secrets are waiting to be revealed . . . and will change Neil’s view of the world forever.
This week’s topic is a Top Ten Tuesday Rewind. In other words, pick a previous topic you missed or would like to do again. I’ve gone for one from March 2020 – One Word Book Titles – but I’ve given it a twist by choosing only books nominated for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Links from the titles will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.
