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?

Aaand, I’m late again. Sigh.

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.

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Pages in Progress

Still 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, it’s October which means it’s time for Erin Smith’s Bewitched Reading Challenge. 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 was reading last month were paused to allow their use in the challenge. There are a couple of non-challenge books which I’m still finishing up but, as I finish those, I’ll pick up the books I’m reading for the Bewitched challenge. Wish me luck!

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally: Paperback. 188 pages. 23% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.68. Current Storygraph rating = 3.41. 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’m not really enjoying it to be honest. I’ll try to muddle on through for a bit longer, but I suspect I’ll probably DNF this book.

Letters for Emily: A novel by Camron Wright: Paperback. 213 pages. 12% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.90. Current Storygraph rating = 4.63. 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.

The Plays of Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (Wordsworth Classics) by Oscar Wilde: Paperback. 150 pages. 75% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.50. There are no ratings or reviews on The Storygraph. 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 Second Act of The Importance of Being Earnest.

The Bitter Sea: Coming of Age in a China Before Mao by Charles N. Li: Paperback. 283 pages. Borrowed from Mum. 70% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.01. Current Storygraph rating = 3.64. This is the memoir of the son of a Chinese government official. Going well so far. I’m finding it to be quite interesting, and I’m learning quite a lot.

Bond Keeper: The Watcher’s Gift by Nicola Appaji: Digital. 83 pages. 54% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.71. There are no ratings or reviews on The Storygraph. Won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. A middle grade fantasy book. Still going well.

Cupid’s Curse: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure of Love, Gods, and Breaking Generational Curses by Travis Brown: Digital. 271 pages. 19% done. Current Goodreads rating = 0.00. There are no ratings or reviews on The Storygraph. Won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. I’m not too far in but it’s okay so far. Bit flowery for my tastes, but the plot is solid. Never, and I mean never piss off a deity.

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On the Shelf Again

I didn’t read my challenge/readathon books in their correct month/s due to being in a reading slump, but I’m counting them anyway, because I did read them!

Title: Tsunami Kids: One Family’s Fight for Survival
Author: Rob Forkan & Paul Forkan (The Gandy Brothers)
Prompts:
The 52 Book Club Challenge 2025: Title is a spoiler
2025 Buzzword Reading Challenge: February: Water related words
Time to Read: 30 days
Rating: 3.5
Spice Rating: 0
Some Thoughts (not reviewed yet): Damn, what an opening! This memoir starts with a killer first hand account of the tsunami as it was happening, the circles back to look at their lives from the beginning. This was a solid read. It was interesting to read about the family’s background, and what shaped them into the people they are today.

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Title: The Dead Won’t Sleep
Author: Anna Smith
Prompts:
The 52 Book Club Challenge 2025: Related to the word puzzle
The Read Good Challenge: January: Ann-uary
Time to Read: 52 days
Rating: 2.75
Spice Rating: 3
Some Thoughts (not reviewed yet): This is the first book in the Rosie Gilmour series. I mean, it was okay. A standard crime novel with all the tropes that one generally expects to find in a crime novel. I didn’t hate it, but there’s nothing that makes it stand out either.

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Title: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Author: Max Brooks
Prompts:
The 52 Book Club Challenge 2025: Audiobook has multiple narrators
The Read Good Challenge: May: May-Ja-Vu
Time to Read: 16 days
Rating: 5
Spice Rating: 0
Some Thoughts (not reviewed yet): This is a reread and my opinion hasn’t changed. This is still the best zombie book I’ve ever read. I love that it’s set in the aftermath of the war, rather than the onset. I also love that footnotes are included, as though this was a genuine history book. Brooks has a real talent for giving every interviewee a distinct voice. I was never confused as to who was being interviewed. 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 other 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.

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Waiting in the Wings

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© Adele Walker October 2025