WWW Wednesday 02.13.

 

February started out pretty miserable for me: I welcomed it by lying in my bed for a week, trying to get rid of a nasty flu. But hey, at least I got to read a lot while I was home, provided I could find the one position where my back wasn't killing me from all that lying and coughing. Good times, but thank God it's over now. So let's see what I'm reading this sunny WWW Wednesday now that I'm back on my feet and have less time but slightly more enthusiasm for new books!

Recently finished: Just a couple days ago I finished Women Who Dared by Jeremy Scott, a book that promised to be extremely interesting and right up my alley, but which ultimately proved rather disappointing. I guess morally questionable con artists and downright abhorrent socialites are not the kind of "strong women" I am looking to learn about. No offense to poor Mary Wollstonecraft who somehow ended up in this book and was basically its saving grace.

Currently reading: The book I picked up instantly when I realized I was sentenced to rest and read all week was The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, a book I started years ago but put away when it got too much, and which I made tremendous progress on while I was sick. Then I started King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, which I thought was going to be smooth sailing since I loved all the previous grisha books so much, but unfortunately it didn't quite grip me as much as its predecessors. I was actually supposed to finish it yesterday but then I found myself not at all in the mood for it, so I started Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett instead. It's the first book in my "Books adapted into movies or TV shows in 2019" challenge, and I love it so far! And then there's the previously mentioned The Dark Ages by Sir Charles Oman, which I'm trying to read at work whenever I get the chance. So yeah... I got a little carried away again with all these books. Let's just hope I can actually finish all of them at some point.

Next read: Of course, the one book I should be reading is none of these. It's Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, the February choice in my reading group. Hopefully I can finish Good Omens in a few days and get started on this one.

Now tell me, what are YOU reading these days?

WWW Wednesday 01.02. - January reading plans

I was thinking about getting back to the habit of writing by talking a little about what I've been reading lately, and what I'm planning to read for the rest of the month. So this here is my first WWW entry! I plan to make a regular feature of this, maybe not every week but whenever I stumble onto some particularly interesting new book. So let's see what Janury has in store for me so far!

Recently finished: I completed my 2018 Reading Challenge on the 26th of December by finishing Queen of the Conqueror by Tracy Borman, a pretty excellent biography of not only Matilda of Flanders but also William the Conqueror and their entire family. It was a worthy last read of the year and I didn't want to add any more books to the challenge so for the last few remaining days I was reading The Dark Ages 476-918 A.D. by Sir Charles Oman, whose title is pretty self-explanatory. It's a good read but so freaking detailed that I can only manage a few chapters at a time, so I'm still only halfway through it. 

Currently reading: I will eventually finish The Dark Ages, but for now I put it away in favour of a book that's been marked as "currently reading" on my Goodreads for three years, along with several other books I started and never finished. No wonder I no longer use this feature: these books haunt me every day and I swear I will finish all of them eventually... but I really don't need to add more to this cursed list. Anyway, the book I took up again after so much time is Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, third in the Outlander series. My relationship with this series is a bit complicated, I don't love it as much as I expected I would but I still enjoy reading it a lot. I think I might elaborate on this later in a separate post. So far I'm making good progress on Voyager. I completely forgot how absolutely engaging and readable these books were, and it's nice to be back in their world a little bit, even if I probably won't pick up Book 4 immediately after this.

Next read: While I would love to finish Voyager by the end of January, this time I decided that I won't fret it. No one's rushing me (not that anyone ever was), and I have a couple other books I want to pick up this month: Ready Player One for my Reading Challenge group, as well as a couple new titles whose releases I'm eagerly awaiting: The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden, and The Wicked King by Holly Black.

Now tell me, what are YOU reading these days?