Category: WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesday June 27

Time for another WWW Wednesday, this wonderful challenge hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words!
I’m still really enjoying these, and I hope you are too, so let’s get started:

I just finished
Longbourn by Jo Baker

I know you’ve seen this picture before, as I wrote about this book a couple of WWWs before. On the original post, a couple of people left some curious comments about this book, and so instead of the blurb, I thought I’d put in a little mini-review here! If you do want to read the blurb, though, it can be found here.

The pacing of the book feels a bit slow and from time to time I was so infuriated with the various characters the reader gets to follow, but as a whole I really, really enjoyed this book. It didn’t have that “stiff-ness” that I’m struggling a bit with in Austen’s books (a time-thing, I know, I’m aware people wrote very differently in the 1800s than they do now writing about the 1800s), and I enjoyed the descriptive language and how Baker uses dialogue to show the character’s relationships and social statuses. Also great to get the Bennet family’s situation put into perspective by seeing the story from the servants’ perspective. On my many attempts of getting through Pride and Prejudice I’ve always enjoyed Lizzie’s character and how she doesn’t care about what people think of her, but while reading from Sarah’s point of view, I get how Lizzie’s free-spiritedness caused the servants a lot of extra work (i.e impossible-to-clean muddy underskirts and torn boots after the walk to Netherfield). Great book; a good historical read that can be enjoyed by anoyone, avid Pride and Prejudice fan or curious beginner.

I’m currently reading
TimeKeeper by Tara Sim

I may have been a little bit snobby about ebooks a couple of years ago, but this year I’ve really started using them. I one hundred precent retract and apologise for my snobbiness. Ebooks are wonderful! The reason why I’ve started using them are because my bookshelves are so full it’s not even funny, ebooks are a bit cheeper than physucal books, and a lot of the books I’d like to read aren’t as easily available here in Norway as they were in the uk. I’m of course not ever just gonna stop buying and reading physical books, but I’m excited to start using ebooks as an alternative to always getting the physical book.
When it comes to this specific book, I stumbled upon it and was completely captivated by the promise of a steampunk clocktower romance. I’m here for it.

Blurb:
An alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, where a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.
A prodigy mechanic who can repair not only clockwork but time itself, determined to rescue his father from a Stopped town.
A series of mysterious bombings that could jeopardize all of England.
A boy who would give anything to relive his past, and one who would give anything to live at all.
A romance that will shake the very foundations of time.

Next on the list is
Dammyr by Victoria Kielland

I have no clue what this book is about, but it’s  set in my hometown, in a “part” of town (Dammyr) I used to walk through almost daily. I’m intrigued to read about my home from the point of view of someone else, to see the town I know so well described and fit into the plot of a novel. Plus, the book looks really pretty.

Blurb:
It doesn’t have one, the cover’s really minimalist with only the title and the author’s name, plus a little embossed rose, I think? The back is empty.

So that was this week’s WWW! Sorry this post was a bit wordy, but I hope you either found some books you’ve read or some covers that peeked your interest. As always, please feel free to leave your WWW posts in the comments below, or fire any sort of book related comment at me. I love talking about books, and last week’s WWW post initiated a lot of great book conversations with lots of lovely people, which I absolutely loved!

Hope you have a wonderful day!
-Andrea

WWW Wednesday June 20

Thank you so much to everyone for how kind you were about the Bookshelf scavenger hunt! I’m so grateful that so many of you took the time to read it, and hopefully, it made you want to read some of the books!

On the topic of books, though; Welcome to this week’s WWW Wednesday!

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WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking On A World Of Words , and anyone can join. All you need to do is answer three simple questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m currently reading
Strange the dreamer by Laini Taylor


I can’t tell you how excited I was to get my hands on this book! Just the concept of a dream choosing its dreamer seems so fascinating to me, and it’s something I feel like I need to learn more about. I also read The daughter of Smoke and Bone years ago, and really like Taylor’s writing style. Only a 130 pages in or so but already hooked!

Blurb:
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

I just finished
Søster by Gro Dahle

About a hundred pages of Norwegian poetry about really wanting a sister. Dedicated to the bond between sisters; related sisters, book sisters, brothers who are sisters, or sisters who aren’t sisters at all. A rollercoaster of a book that I went from really enjoying to properly disliking as it turned angrier in the middle, to being in complete awe of the beautiful simplicity Dahle masterfully handles towards the end.

Blurb
En som vet om meg
som bare en søster vet om meg.
En som er i rommet
slik bare en søster kan være i rommet.
Et søsterhode.
En søsterrygg.
En søstervegg
å lene meg mot.

(Translation)
Someone who knows me
like only a sister knows me.
Someone who’s in the room
like only a sister can be in the room.
A sister head
A sister back
A sister wall
to lean against.

Next book on the list
On Love by Charles Bukowski

More poetry! So many people say that Bukowski is a must-read if you like poetry, which (clearly) I do. I’ve never read any of his work before, and I’m excited to see what it is about his voice that draws so many people to his poetry. This book is also another one of those I bought at an airport somewhere once and said “I’ll need something to read on the plane” while at the same time lugging along 4 books in my backpack. I like to be prepared.

Blurb:
In Our Love, we see Charles Bukowski reckoning with the complications of love and desire. Alternating between the tough and the tender, the romantic and the gritty. Bukowski exposes the myriad of faces of love in the poems collected here – its selfishness and its narcissism, its randomness, its mystery and its misery, and ultimately, its true joyfulness, endurance and redemptive power

So that was another week gone, and another WWW Wednesday done.
Last week I got to read so many people’s WWW posts and it felt almost like a little community. I loved it! So please please please, if you’ve done a WWW either now or in the past, drop me a link in the comments and I’d love to read it!

As always, have a nice day x
-Andrea

Currently listening to:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/1152742552/playlist/2ePd46K3QMVYo9YqXuhJuu

WWW Wednesday June 13

Wednesday again already? Where did this week go?
Work, really. That’s where this week’s gone. But work I thoroughly enjoy, though, so no complaining here!

But yes, time for another WWW Wednesday; this wonderful thing hosted by Taking on a World of Words.
Anyone can join the WWW Wednesday! All you need to do is answer three simple questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m currently reading
Longbourn by Jo Baker

Even though I’m not doing all too well with it, I’m still attempting to finish all of Jane Austen’s novels in 2018. Maybe reading this could be the push I need to get started again!

Blurb:
“If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d more likely be a sight more careful with them.” In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs.

I just finished
Nærmere kommer vi ikke by Monika Steinholm

Last summer I started working shifts at a library, and this year I’m doing full weeks of shifts, enabling me to really get into the routines and the work. I enjoy it a lot, and one of the (many) reasons why I love it so much is that it gets me into reading Norwegian books again. As much as I love English literature and the English language, there is a certain kind of charm and comfort in a really good Norwegian novel; a novel such as this one.

Blurb: (translated)

Jens is scared of making a fool of himself, scared of water and scared of blood. Edor is dating Beate and he’s practicing new skateboard moves, skinny dipping with Celia and swimming further from shore than he ought to.
The only thing Edor is scared of, is how Jens makes his stomach flutter.
A novel about all-consuming love, painful and wonderful all at the same time. A love everyone can recognise, whether they’re gay, straight, bi or just a little bit queer.

Next book on the list
Sunshine by Melissa Lee-Houghton



A poetry book I’ve had on my shelf since my first semester-third year poetry module, and keep telling myself I have to get on reading. There idea of the pink ice cream front contrasting the heavy subject matter fascinates me, and I’m excited to put it on this list to keep myself a bit more accountable and actually read it this time!

Blurb:

Sunshine is the new collection from Next Generation Poet Melissa Lee-Houghton. A writer of startling confession, her poems inhabit the lonely hotel rooms, psych wards and deserted lanes of austerity Britain.
Sunshine combines acute social observation with a dark, surreal humor, born of first-hand experience. Abuse, addiction and mental health are all subject to Lee-Houghton’s poetic eye. But these are also poems of extravagance, hope and desire, that stake new ground for the Romantic lyric in an age of social media and internet porn. In this new book of poems, Melissa Lee-Houghton shines a light on human ecstasy and sadness with blinding precision.


I really like doing these WWW Wednesdays and would love to read more of other people’s WWWs! If you’re doing a WWW this week or has done some before, please feel free to leave the link below, I’d love to have a look!
Also, I hope you don’t mind that some of the books won’t be in English from now on! My bookshelf is a mess not organized by language, and some days just call for a Norwegian book, as other days need an English one.
Once again, would love to hear from you about your WWWs!

Have a wonderful day,
-Andrea

WWW Wednesday: 6 June

WWW Wednesday is a weekly blog “series”, created and hosted by Taking on a World of Words. I heard about it through BookBoodle’s post and thought it could be a nice little weekly posting habit to get into, both to write about books I’m currently enjoying, but also to keep track of books I’ve gone through and want to get through in the next couple of months.

WWW

Everyone can join in, you just have to answer the Three Ws you’ve gotten through or are working in this week, and the Three Ws are;

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m currently reading
Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately by Alicia Cook

A clever collection of free form poetry and black out poetry, presented as Side A and Side B of a cassette tape.

Blurb:
Doesn’t have one.

I recently finished
The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson

A children’s tale with a bigger story to tell; about love, loss, unanswerable questions and the importance of letting people in.

Blurb:
“Marinka dreams of a normal life, where her house stays in one place long enough for her to make friends. But her house has chicken legs and moves without warning. For Marinka’s grandmother is Baba Yaga, who guides spirits between this world and the next. Marinka longs to change her destiny and sets out to break free from her grandmother’s footsteps, but her house has other ideas.”

Next book on the list
London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp

Picked this up on the airport on my way home (even though I was lugging around 2×23 kilos of luggage, and a significant portion of said luggage was books…) and I’m excited to give it a chance!

Blurb:
“Jack Rose begins his apprenticeship as a rent boy with Alfred Taylor in the 1890s, and discovers a life of pleasure and excess that leads him to new friendships, most notably with the soon-to-be-infamous Oscar Wilde. A century later, David tells his own tale of unashamed decadence while waiting to be released from prison, addressing his story to the lover who betrayed him. Where their paths cross, in the politically sensitive 1950s when gay men were the target of police and politicians alike, artist Colin tentatively explores his sexuality as he draws in preparation for his most ambitious painting yet, ‘London Triptych’.”

Okay, so this has been my first attempt at a WWW Wednesday post! I’m still trying to figure out how to properly format it, but we’ll get there.
Thanks for reading, and please leave anything you’re reading, anything you’ve read, book recommendations and chit chat + your WWW Wednesdays if you’ve written one, in the comments if you’d like!

-Andrea