WWW Wednesday 2025: 24 September

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share their answers to the reading world’s three W’s:

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

I’m late posting again this week. I did set a reminder but I was unwell yesterday and unable to post. Hopefully, I’ll finally be on time next week.

Disclaimer: While I do participate in a few challenges and readathons, I am also a mood reader, so any books waiting in the wings are subject to abrupt and unannounced changes. You have been warned lol.

Pages in Progress

As I mentioned last week, after a long reading slump earlier in the year, I’m currently playing catch up on my challenges and readathons, so I’m reading a lot more than I normally would. I’ll keep up this pace for as long as I can, as I’m really hoping to actually complete at least one challenge this year. Next year, though, I’ll be back to my normal reading schedule, because this isn’t a load I can keep up long-term.

That said, I have decided to participate in Erin Smith’s Bewitched Reading Challenge in October, and she’s generously permitted the use of books begun in September, on the condition that they can’t be more than 50% complete. So, some of the books I’m reading have been paused until next month to allow their use in the challenge. If you like reading challenges, I encourage you to check this one out. It looks like lots of fun.

Book Cover: Extraction of Arrows by Kathryn Lorimer

Half-Arse Human by Leena Norms: Hardcover. 294 pages. 69% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.02. A self-help book with a difference. I’m enjoying it so far. Highly quotable. Those of us who love to watch Leena on YouTube will recognise her characteristic humour shining through every page.

Tsunami Kids: One Family’s Fight for Survival by Rob Forkan and Paul Forkan: Paperback. 272 pages. 68% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.19. This is about the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami in Sri Lanka. Aside from the prologue, I haven’t reached the tsunami yet, but reading about the family’s lives before that point is interesting. I’m enjoying this book at the moment.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally: Paperback. 188 pages. 16% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.68. Picked this up because it’s written by the same author as Schindler’s List. Jimmie Blacksmith is a mixed race Australian who doesn’t fully fit into either culture. I’ve only just started it and I’m already gritting my teeth at the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Half the people Jimmie encounters treat him like dirt, the other half talk down to him like he’s a bloody toddler. It’s infuriating.

Letters for Emily: A novel by Camron Wright: Paperback. 213 pages. 12% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.90. A heartbreaking story about how it feels to have Alzheimer’s, what it’s like to have a loved one with Alzheimer’s, and a grandfather’s desperate race to record his legacy for his beloved granddaughter before the disease steals his memories and turns him into a caricature of himself.

Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter: Paperback. 114 pages. 70% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.81. As the title suggests, this is a book about grief. Very strange, but not in a bad way. Haven’t made any progress on this book this week.

The Plays of Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (Wordsworth Classics) by Oscar Wilde: Paperback. 150 pages. 47% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.50. This volume contains two plays: An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. I’ve neither seen nor read An Ideal Husband, but I took in a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest as a girl and recall enjoying it immensely. I’m up to, I think, the Fourth Act of The Ideal Husband. I’m quite enjoying it, though I could happily strangle Mrs. Cheveley. She certainly makes an excellent villain.

The Bitter Sea: Coming of Age in a China Before Mao by Charles N. Li: Paperback. 283 pages. Borrowed from Mum. 33% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.01. This is the memoir of the son of a Chinese government official. Going well so far. I’m finding it to be quite interesting.

The Dead Won’t Sleep by Anna Smith: Paperback. 304 pages. 80% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.21. Crime mystery set in Scotland. First in the Rosie Gilmour series. Protagonist is a journalist. It’s getting better. Still not a five star read, but not boring.

Extraction of Arrows by Kathryn Lorimer: Paperback. 67 pages. 97% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.25. A Book of poetry in three parts. Nearly finished. Would recommend.

Bond Keeper: The Watcher’s Gift by Nicola Appaji: Digital. 83 pages. 45% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.71. Won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. A middle grade fantasy book. Good so far.

Pointless: Revenge Is a Rationalization, Not a Motivation (The Revenge, Unhinged Series #1) by Michael Geczi: Digital. 293 pages. 77% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.83. Won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. A story about an ex-feeb with a grudge, who’s decided to chuck a tanty and take his grievances out on innocent people instead of taking his licks like a man. This is the second book this year in which we are told who the perp is at the beginning. I’m enjoying it so far. It’s engaging and entertaining; difficult to stop reading. I really like the inclusion of podcasts so we get a glimpse of the reactions of the general population, instead of just the investigation and those directly involved.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks: Paperback. 342 pages. 30% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.02. This is a reread. The best zombie book I’ve ever read. I love that it’s set in the aftermath of the war, rather than the onset. Brooks also has a real talent for giving every interviewee a distinct voice. If your only experience with World War Z is the movie, I highly recommend reading the book. The movie’s good, but the book is on a whole ‘nother level. This isn’t just the age-old ‘book is better than the movie’ rant, either. This is me saying that about the only similarity between the book and the movie is the title.