The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.
What are you currently reading?
After reading some non-fiction about Crete, I’m off to Delphi with a reread of My Brother Michael; Camilla is not my favourite of Stewart’s heroines (that’s probably Charity, from Madam, Will You Talk?), but the atmosphere is amazing, as ever.
I’ve also started on Becky Chambers’ Record of A Spaceborn Few, because it’s been sat by my desk for too long and I couldn’t resist. She’s broken the record and made me tear up in twelve pages. I’m getting susceptible! And finally-ish, I started on Nicola Griffith’s Hild, for my Habitica bookclub read. I really enjoy all the sensory stuff, the way Hild hyperfocuses on the scents and smallest movements around her, but I kept losing track of the politics when I was trying to read it last night.
What have you recently finished reading?
The last thing was my reread of Clouds of Witness, I think! And before that, The Bull of Minos — super out of date, and rather fanboyish about Arthur Evans and Heinrich Schliemann, rather than actually being informative about the Minoan civilisation. I can’t remember where that got recommended to me, but tsk, tsk, whoever/whatever you were!
What will you read next?
Well, I think I say this every week, but I really should get back to The Priory of the Orange Tree. I should load up my ereader and take it with me on the little trip to Belgium starting on Friday. Other than that, I’ve been rather wanting to reread Ancillary Justice, and to be quite honest, I seem to be reading more and more overall (including more from my backlog) after making a firm resolution to be like the Wimseys and do “As my Whimsy takes me”, and reread whatever I like.
What are you reading?
It wasn’t me who recommended The Bull of Minos, I promise! Though I would like to revisit the Mary Renault novel The Bull from the Sea which my mother lent me to read eons ago.
Just finished Katy Mahood’s Entanglement — hard to describe in a few words but it’s by a former school student of mine back in Bristol. And I’ve started Christopher Priest’s speculative The Adjacent, intriguing so far.
I never got on with Mary Renault. So… anti-female-characters. I’ve also never quite got into Christopher Priest, either… but not for any reason I can put my finger on.
Renault still has her fans, but I suspect she’s very much of her time. I’m intrigued by Priest, mainly the plotting rather than the plausibility of any of his science ideas, but his characters are rather enigmatic and we never seem to be able to fully engage with them.
I very much like that idea of reading what you fancy! I do slow down markedly when I’m wading through the ‘should read next’ list, even when they are very much books I want to be reading o.O
I’m trying really hard to remember and stick to that, lately! I find I read so much more overall that way.