Just like that, it is midweek again! And it also means it’s time for another WWW Wednesday update. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme was 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?
What are you currently reading?
In line with my American Literature reading month, my current read (not really current as I am just about to start reading it haha), is Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I have been wanting to read this book since I first came across it. Despite this longing, I have parked this book for years since I bought it way back in 2017. Ironic right. To make up, I included this book in my 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge. Actually, the three books I’ve read preceding it are all part of the same reading challenge. I am hitting two birds with one stone. I do hope that the book lives up to my expectations!
What have you finished reading?
I’ve had two slow reading weeks in a row and it is because of these books (and Kathryn Stockett’s The Help as well). They are very challenging reads and one has to bide his time in order to unravel the story.
First off, William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! is my second book from the Nobel Laureate in Literature. I had quite a challenging time with The Sound and the Fury and I was expecting the same from this. My impression was rightly founded as Absalom, Absalom! is a very complex read even though the story behind seems simple. It, however, showed a different aspect of Faulkner’s writing. In Absalom, Absalom! his descriptive writing was prevalent. It can, at times, be overwhelming as some paragraphs run quite long.
I just finished Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain before doing this WWW Wednesday update. I am still trying to figure out how I feel about the book. Sure, it is very rich but it is also very complicated. It is a story that one must really take his or her time. It had several graphic and violent scenes, considering that the story was set in Civil War North Carolina. The premise of two lovers’ paths converging again after it diverged before the war was very promising. It is, apparently, a polarizing work.
What will you read next?
I originally planned to read just John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. I dedicated two full weeks for these two books because they’re both lengthy and I am especially intimidated by Pynchon; this is going to be my first venture into his body of work. At the last minute, however, I have decided to include James Baldwin’s semi-autobiographical work, Go Tell It On The Mountain which I have recently received. I am very interested in reading this work because, like Pynchon, I have never read any of his works before. I just hope I finish these three before the month ends. **Crossing my fingers**
And thus ends another WWW Wednesday update! I hope everyone is having a great midweek! As the Koreans go, “Hwaiting” (or “Fighting”) for the rest of the week! Do keep safe and as always, enjoy reading!
Cold Mountain sounds very interesting. 👍🙂
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Haha. It does. On the surface. It is one that must be read slowly in order for one to appreciate it, or even understand it. At least that was how I felt.
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Very ambitious reading week it seems! Cold Mountain looks like such a heavy read, the story seems intriguing though. Maybe I’ll just watch the movie first, eventually. Happy reading!
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Now that you mention it, it was really an ambitious reading week. And some are waiting ahead. Cold Mountain is a deceptively heavy read although I haven’t watched the movie yet. Happy reading!
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Hello. I love The Grapes of Wrath, anything by Steinbeck really. I have seen Cold Mountain, the movie and I wasn’t overly impressed. I think my expectations were very high. Anyway I don’t think I’ll read the book. I’m just beginning the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire. Usually I have about three books on the go but this one is going to swallow me up, I think.
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I am reading Grapes of Wrath next and I am looking forward to it now because of your commendation. I’ve read some of his shorter works so I wonder how this will pan out. Happy reading! And I hope you enjoy the book series.
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