It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so it’s time for WWW Wednesday, an idea I borrowed from David Chazan, The Chocolate Lady, who borrowed it from someone else. For this feature, I report
- What I am reading now
- What I just finished reading
- What I intend to read next
This is something you can participate in, too, if you want, by leaving comments about what you’ve been reading or plan to read.
What am I reading now?
During Novellas in November last year, I read a novella about an interesting woman, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, the first woman to publish more than one work. She was prolific, but she got the label of Mad Madge. We can assume that some men were jealous. Anyway, this is a biography of her, Mad Madge by Katie Whitaker, one of the source materials for the novella, I think. Not only will it work toward a larger number of books to report for Nonfiction November and fill a hole in my A Century of Books project, but I wanted to read it anyway. I am just getting started on it.
What did I just finish reading?
I don’t often read YA books, and I confess to being perplexed as to why so many adults read lots of them, but John Green is usually a reliable author and has even managed to tear me up at times. So, when I saw that Looking for Alaska filled a hole in my A Century of Books project, I got it from the library. Green, so far in my experience, usually writes about some major issue, and in this case, it is death and grief.
What will I read next?
As of this writing, that’s a good question. The next book I have on my pile for A Century of Books is Lanark by Alasdair Gray. I am sort of dreading it, though, both because of its length and what the cover forebodes. (I’ve seen that exact same devilish character on the cover of another book from that era, and I remember disliking the book intensely, although I can’t remember what it was. I also find no succor in the image of the naked woman or in the blurb that says it’s “probably the greatest book of the century.”) I’m writing this a few days ahead, being very sure that I won’t finish Mad Madge by Wednesday since I am a slow nonfiction reader, so what I read really depends on whether some of my other A Century of Books selections arrive from the library before I finish it.
The books I’m waiting for are, in order of how long I’ve had them on hold:
- Girl Interrupted by Susanna Keysen (which I’ve been waiting for since December, so I suspect it’s stolen; however, one time that I had a book on hold for several months, they apparently bought another copy, because the one I finally received looked unread)
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (which is probably going to end up being another big honker)
- Sarah’s Key by Tatiana Rosnay (I think I read another book by her and didn’t like it, but this one was very popular—we’ll see.)
- The Quiet American by Graham Green (The movie was good.)
- Moo by Jane Smiley (I have an uneven relationship with Jane Smiley. Sometimes I think her books are so-so and other times they’ve been great. We’ll see.)
Update! Not only did some of my library books arrive yesterday, but almost all of them did! The only one that didn’t arrive was A Short History of Nearly Everything. (We should have a copy in the house, because I gave one to Wayne for a present years ago, but of course, since it’s his, he can’t find it.) So, the next book I read will probably be The Quiet American. Girl, Interrupted is shorter, but I just read a nonfiction book, so I don’t want to push it. I know it’s silly to read shorter books first, but I just read several big honkers in a row!
What about you? What are you reading, or what have you finished reading?
What? Me Read? 