And it is the first Wednesday of the eight month of the year. August, in Chinese superstitious belief, is a ghost month. I sure hope not! Although the news today is really saddening. We’re praying for Lebanon and for those who have passed away or got injured in the incident. 

For now, let’s go back to the original intent of this 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:

  1. What are you currently reading?
  2. What have you finished reading?
  3. What will you read next?

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What are you currently reading?

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It’s been sometime since I last read a Charles Dickens, nearly a decade actually, but since Bleak House has been sitting for so long on my bookshelf, I decided to include it in my 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge. This is the 12th and last book from the list. This English classic relates the story of Esther Summerson, an orphan (typical Dickensian story), but not really (you’ll understand when you read the book). It is no simple coming-of-age story for it is filled with subplots that touches on subjects relevant to the Victorian period.

What have you finished reading?

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Prior to reading Bleak House, I completed reading the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy. This was my first McCarthy so I was a little unfamiliar with the territory. I, however, am cognizant that The Road is a post-apocalyptic novel. It chronicles the story of a father and son tandem who straddles down the titular road, evading predators and other travelers like them. The path is rife with the products of destruction. The pace was upbeat and the tempo made it a surprisingly quick read. McCarthy’s depiction of catastrophe was vivid, and bleak. It was a story that is rife of hopelessness but is also brimming with hope.

What will you read next?

Since we’re nearly on the last stretch of the year, I want to resume my 2020 Top 20 Reading list; I still have about seven books from the list to complete. I think I’ll start first with Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, The Story of a Murderer since it is a book that I have long wanted to read. Moreover, Peter Nadas’ Parallel Stories is also kind of lengthy, like 1,000 page lengthy so I might find it burdensome after reading another 1,000-ish book in Bleak House. This is like a European Literature reading month version two this year! I wouldn’t mind though.

And thus concludes another WWW Wednesday update! I hope everyone is having a great midweek! Do keep safe and as always, enjoy reading!

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