It is that time of the week again! Welcome to my sixth WWW Wednesday! This meme is originally hosted by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS.
The mechanics for WWW Wednesday is quite simple. You just have to answer three questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What have you finished reading?
- What will you read next?
I’ve been seeing this meme quite often in my fellow blogger’s pages. As it is bookish and quite simple to complete, I decided to take the plunge. Oh the bandwagoner in me! It’s been two weeks since my last WWW Wednesday update. I hope you get to enjoy my own version of WWW Wednesdays.
What are you currently reading?
Now it is time to resume completing my 2019 Top 20 Reading List! Starting off this quest is this contemporary classic. Shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and the winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction, On Beauty is my first book written by Zadie Smith. I am nearly halfway through with the novel but I am still trying to find the perfect balance. There are some brilliant points to it but there are parts that I find lackadaisical, or at least bland. But then again, it is too early to pass a judgement on the book. I sure do hope that the plot thickens soon.
What have you finished reading?
Earlier this year, news of Margaret Atwood’s publishing a sequel to her classic masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, got everyone on their collective toes. And this list includes yours truly. I was lucky enough to cop a copy during the recently concluded Manila International Book Fair. And even though I had other books planned for reading, I inserted The Testaments as the anticipation was getting the best of me.
Many a reader expects Atwood’s 2019 Man Booker shortlisted work as the continuation of The Handmaid’s Tale. However, The Testaments, in many ways, is different from its antecedent. They reflect similar dystopian nightmares but the subjects and themes could not be any more different. One thing is apparent, however – both are good and enjoyable reads. Do watch out for my full review of The Testaments in the coming days.
What will you read next?
The next books in line for me are all part of my my 2019 Top 20 Reading List. I’ve been losing some badly needed momentum over the couple of months but I want to pick up where I started. On Beauty is just the start. I will immediately follow it up with American literature classics – Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The latter happens to be the inspiration of Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, in his novel, Noli Me Tangere.
It’s going to be a very tall order for me in the closing three months of the year but I am more than up to the challenge. There are several interesting reads in line for me and this three are just some of them. Do look forward to the conclusion of my 2019 reading journey! I do hope everyone’s having a wonderful reading journey as well.
Happy reading everyone!
“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.”
~ The Catcher in the Rye
The Pine-Scented Chronicles 