WWW Wednesday: 15 October 2014

I love a vacation from work—it gives me plenty of time to read and to focus on the blog. Therefore, I think that it is time for another WWW...Wednesday post.

MizB hosts the WWW...WEDNESDAY meme from her Should be Reading blog. Each week, MizB asks three simple questions:
   1. What are you currently reading?
   2. What did you recently finish reading?
   3. What do you think you’ll read next?
and bloggers all over the world post their answers and link back to her blog.

Here are my answers:

1:  I'm listening to a fascinating book about past-lives: My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. This adult novel from the author of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series is intended to be the first of a trilogy. I'm about 80% of the way through it, enjoying it immensely, but probably won't finish it for a couple of weeks since I don't see any prolonged time in the car alone.

I picked up a copy of V is for Vengeance at the library on Monday morning. The Kinsey Millhone mystery series by Sue Grafton is one that I earmarked this year to catch up on. After this book, there's only one more and then I can wait until the next is published.

Lastly, I'm reading Entwined Realms, Volume 1, a compilation of the first four Entwined Realms stories by Danielle Monsch. The first story, a novel, is Stone Guardian, and I'm about half-way into it right now. I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in return for an honest review. I hope to post that review on the blog next week.

2:  In the past week, I've completed two books. First was The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison. It's the penultimate book in her paranormal and urban fantasy series The Hollows. I'm already mourning the end of the series, though it will be several months before I can read the final book. The second book came highly recommended to me: The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan. I read a lot of mysteries—right at half of the books I read each year—and the character of Genevieve Lenard is one of the most memorable I've ever met. There are four more books in the series (so far) and I am sure I'll be reading all of them.

3:  In the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be focusing on books purely for pleasure. Nihal of the Land of the Wind and Sennar's Mission are the first two books in Licia Troisi's Chronicles of the Overworld. When I borrowed them from the library, I had intended to read them right away. I got distracted by other books, however, and I've had to renew the loan. Also at a high priority is A Rising Thunder by David Weber. It is te 13th book in the main Honor Harrington series. Like the other books in the series, it is well over 800 pages long. I'm glad this book is on my Kindle since the hardback would be so very heavy.

WWW Wednesday: 25 April 2012

One advantage of these weekly memes is that it provides a stimulus for writing a more thoughtful post. I'm very good at keeping the home page and books read this year pages up to date, but I developed a dislike of writing book reports back in elementary school and although I've tried from time to time to get over it and use this blog as a place to post reviews, I just can't enjoy it enough to keep it up. So, it's up to the memes and read-a-thons to motivate me to post anything at all.

Now, MizB hosts the WWW ... WEDNESDAY meme from her Should be Reading blog, and the last time I participated was back in October. Each week, MizB asks three simple questions:
   1. What are you currently reading?
   2. What did you recently finish reading?
   3. What do you think you’ll read next?
and bloggers all over the world post their answers and link back to her blog.

Here are my answers:

1:  I'm currently reading two books: Kiss at Your Own Risk by Stephanie Rowe and Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon. Kiss at Your Own Risk is the first of a series and I'm not sure whether I'm going to continue with it or not. I'm on page 114 and it's reading fairly slowly. That may be because I'm more interested in Command Decision. This is the fourth of five books in Moon's Vatta's War series—a series that I am REALLY enjoying. I will be moving on to the fifth book as soon as I finish this one.

Now, my home page shows a few other books that I've started reading. I'm only a few tracks away from finishing The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman, but I didn't bring the CDs with me on this vacation trip. It's delightful, and I was very happy to discover that one of the disks in the set contains the cookie recipes in computer readable format. And, when I pick up my Kindle again, I'm going to resume reading The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

2:  Last Friday, I finished reading Third Watch by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. This is the third (and final) book in their trilogy featuring the children of Acorna, the unicorn girl. I read the first two books back in 2007 and had put the third book onto my wishlist, but never got around to getting a copy and reading it. I wish I had read it 'way back when—perhaps I would have enjoyed it more. Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty good story, but I was continually annoyed by one of the twins. Seemed like all she did was whine and act out her petulance. Well, it helped move the plot along, but I just didn't like her or even care what happened to her by the time the book got to the end.

Next up, during Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, I read Shattered by Karen Robards—a terrific mystery/suspense novel that kept me guessing all the way until the end. Then, I read another mystery, A Face Turned Backward by Lauren Haney. This one is the second in a series set in ancient Egypt. I'm enjoying the books and looking forward to reading additional ones in the series.

And the most recent book I've finished was One Night at the Call Centre, a somewhat funny book set in a call center (duh!) in India. The best part of the book was a look at the American callers from the point of view of the people working at the help desk.

3:  Next up, I'm definitely going to move right on into Victory Conditions, the fifth and final book in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series. Great military science fiction, with well-developed characters, and a continuing story line that—in my opinion—could support another five books! I'm also going to be reading Infernal Affairs by Jes Battis, the fourth in his Occult Special Investigators series.

The last book that I KNOW I'll be reading in the next couple of days is Something Wicked This Way Comes, a Halloween classic from Ray Bradbury. I owe this book to Anne-Marye who won it in a swap over at BookObsessed. And, I think it's a very good fit for the Spring Horror Read-a-Thon which is going on this week.

Given that I have over 1000 books on my Kindle and a box of over a dozen paperbacks in the back seat of my car, I should have plenty to choose from for something to read during the next week. I plan to be back next week with another WWW ... WEDNESDAY post.

WWW...Wednesday: 26 October 2011

It's been a long time since I posted anything for MizB's WWW ... WEDNESDAY meme. She's been running it for a coon's age from her Should be Reading blog, but I haven't participated since March. It's about time, isn't it? Each week, MizB asks three simple questions:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?
and bloggers all over the world post their answers and link back to her blog.

Here are my answers:

1:  This morning, I started reading Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement. I'm also in the middle of several other books: I'm listening to Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson. My current position is Disk 4, Track 8. I have two books going on my Kindle. The first is Stormlord's Exile by Glenda Larke, the third book in her Stormlord trilogy. Current position is location 1239 of 10204, somewhere in the middle of Chapter 6. The second is Crown of Slaves by David Weber and Eric Flint. The story line occurs concurrently with the story in War of Honor, the 10th book in the Honor Harrington series. My present position is location 1775 of 9336, near the beginning of Chapter 9.

2:  Recently completed books are The Nestorian Alliance by Michael Watson and Lord of the Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier. I started reading The Nestorian Alliance during Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon. Unfortunately, I was just so sleepy that I couldn't stay awake, so I finished it later in the day on Sunday, 23 October. Lord of the Changing Winds has been the first book I finished reading during this week's Bout of Books Read-a-Thon.

3:  Next up are two books that I need to read and get mailed to book swappers from BookObsessed. I'll be reading The Telling Pool by David Clement-Davies for appaloosatb and Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding for wss4. And, since I'm focusing on reading as much as possible during the week-long Bout of Books, I have high hopes of finishing both of these before next week's WWW...Wednesday.

Books mentioned in this post:

WWW...Wednesday: 30 March 2011

I've been so busy over the past couple of weeks that I haven't kept up with MizB's WWW ... WEDNESDAY meme from her Should be Reading blog. Each week, she asks three simple questions:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?
and bloggers all over the world post their answers and link back to her blog. Here are my answers for the last Wednesday in March.

1:  I am almost half-way through The Know-It-All by A J Jacobs. In 2003, Jacobs set himself the task of reading through the entire 2002 edition of Encyclopedia Brittanica. With a subtitle of “One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World”, you might think that this is a dull book, but it's anything but. It's charming, it's profound, it's humorous, it's poignant, and above all it's fun.

I'm still listening to Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn. I've almost reached the end of disk 10 (of 15) and I'm confident I'll be finishing it next week since I have to commute to the office every day—a distance of 50 miles which can sometimes take 1 and ½ hours if I get caught up in traffic.

2:  After returning from vacation, the pace of reading slowed down a bit. I have taken two business trips which allowed me to spend a couple of hours—uninterrupted—reading. I definitely don't need any other entertainment on the airplane. Just give me a good book or two.

So, what have I read in the past two weeks? On the last day of our trip, I started reading Death at Gallows Green by Robin Paige, the second book in a cozy historical mystery series set in Victorian times. In addition to the characters introduced in the first book, Beatrix Potter plays a role in solving the mystery of who murdered a local constable. On the plane to Costa Mesa, I buckled down and read the last half of The Warden by Anthony Trollope. I can't remember when I started reading it, but since it was supposed to be the first of two Trollope novels that I had challenged myself to read in 2010, I'm sure I must have started it early in the year. So, I'm finally finished with it and can queue up the next book in his Barsetshire Chronicles.

The next two books were very long books which took 4-5 days each to read: Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher and Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon. Both were excellent books and I'm glad that there are additional books in both series that I can look forward to reading.

3:  Next up will be a couple of books which I owe to fellow book swappers at BookObsessed. I'm thinking the very next book will be another of the Vegas Vampires: Bit the Jackpot by Erin McCarthy. It is shorter, totally frivolous, and likely to be a very fast read. Other books I plan to read fairly soon are Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas, The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice, and South of Broad by Pat Conroy.

Until next time, I'll be Reading in Texas.

WWW...Wednesday: 9 March 2011

It's time for another response to MizB's WWW ... WEDNESDAY meme from her Should be Reading blog. She asks three simple questions:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

1:  Since I'm in Las Vegas, I thought it would be fun to read one of the “Vegas Vampires” books by Erin McCarthy. The first book in the series is High Stakes and I'm about 3/4 of the way through it. All the books in the series are identified as Paranormal Romances—and the plot also has a bit of mystery to it, so I'm finding this book very enjoyable. I have the 3rd book in the series, Bled Dry, with me, but the 2nd book was on order when I headed out on my trip and it's waiting for me back home in Texas.

Since I didn't bring my audio CDs with me, I haven't “read” any further in Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn.

2:  In the past week, I've only completed two books: Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler and Honor Among Enemies by David Weber. And, I finished reading both of them on Monday. Through most of the weekend, I was reading along in Honor Among Enemies, but after posting my weekly roundup on Sunday, I began to feel a bit guilty that I kept setting aside Full Dark House while I read other books, so as we were driving from Lancaster to Las Vegas, I pulled out Full Dark House and lost myself in London during the time of the Blitz in WWII. With my conscience all assuaged, I then fell back into Honor Among Enemies and finished it shortly after supper. Hooray!

3:  I don't know what's next up. I'm still thinking about it. I did load up the next Honor Harrington book, In Enemy Hands, into my BeBook reader, so I'm sure I'll be reading it over the next week or two. I also have Interlude in Death—a novella in J. D. Robb's series starring Eve Dallas—sitting on my Kindle reader and ready for me to read. Also, when shopping at Bucket of Books, I picked up the final (or should I say “most recent”) book in Shirley Damsgaard's Ophelia and Abby series. The Seventh Witch is definitely going to be a great book to read and probably a very quick book, so I'm seriously thinking that it might be one of the next books up. Check in next week to see what I actually wound up reading.

WWW...Wednesday: 2 March 2011

So, two weeks in a row I am posting a response to MizB's WWW ... WEDNESDAY meme from her Should be Reading blog. She asks three simple questions:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

1:  As predicted in last week's WWW...Wednesday post, I'm now reading Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. I actually started reading Full Dark House last Thursday. About 150 pages in, I set it aside to gobble up one of J D Robb's “...in Death” mysteries, but now I'm actively reading Full Dark House again. I uploaded a short introduction to the book in yesterday's Teaser Tuesday post, so check it out if you're interested.

And yes, I'm still listening to Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn and reading Honor Among Enemies by David Weber.

2:  I finished reading Michele Richmond's No One You Know on Thursday, 24 February. I'll be sending that book to a fellow BookCrossing member. Although I had already started reading Full Dark House, I decided to give myself a treat and pulled out Memory in Death by J D Robb. (Robb is a pseudonym used by prolific author Nora Roberts, by the way.) This is #22—of 34—in her “...in Death” mystery series starring NYC police detective Eve Dallas. They are set in the near future of the 2050s, so she throws in the occasional reference to off-planet settlements, but everything still feels normal and not science-fictionish at all.

3:  I'm about to change my mind as to which book will be the next one up. I'd really love to start reading High Stakes by Erin McCarthy, but I don't have the second book in the series available and I'm thinking I'd prefer to read the first three books in that series back-to-back. So now I'm leaning toward reading Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas. My mother-in-law recently returned it to me and she was raving about what a good book it was—and she's sometimes difficult to please—so that's a great recommendation for me. And, if I change my mind again, you can see what I did decide if you'll check back here next Wednesday.

Please join us with your own WWW...Wednesday post. Tell us what you're reading, what you've recently read and what you plan to read next and then hop over to MizB's site and link your blog post up with all the others.