It’s midweek again! That means one thing, a WWW Wednesday update! WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme 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?

As I have decided to put on hold Peter Nadas’ Parallel Stories, I have been reading books from my 2020 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To list. I just completed my 2020 Beat the Backlist earlier this month but I have been lagging behind in my 2020 Top 10 Books I Look Forward to list because of the unavailability of most of the books. Thankfully I managed to purchase a copy of Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel.

I just completed reading Frances Cha’s If I Had Your Face this morning so I haven’t gone far in my first St. John Mandel. I am highly anticipating it, however, because it has an eerie atmosphere that is reeking of suspense. I just hope it won’t disappoint.

What have you finished reading?

In a week’s time, I thankfully managed to tick off some books from my 2020 Reading Challenge Lists.

The first book I completed is Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings. This book was my current read in last week’s WWW Wednesday update. The winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize, this labyrinthine narrative introduces a vast cast of character. Through these characters – which included ghosts, CIA agents, drug dealers and hired killers – James wove the vivid and rich history of Jamaica. I wouldn’t say it was an easy read as it requires the reader to dig deeper in order for one to understand the context. James’ storytelling, on the other hand, was stellar.

I just completed Frances Cha’s If I Had Your Face this morning, the third book I crossed out from my 2020 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To list. Unlike A Brief History of Seven Killings, Cha’s debut novel was quick and simple. Through the alternating perspectives of four female characters living in contemporary Seoul, Cha related the challenges of women in a society that remains to be highly sexist and patriarchal. The novel has bright spots but I found it a little rough, unrefined. The writing was fine but the exploration of the topics, which are seminal and timely, were mostly ephemeral.

What will you read next?
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I am just two books off from completing my 2020 Top 20 Reading List. As I have mentioned above, I am putting on hold Peter Nadas’ Parallel Stories. For my next read then, I am planning to immerse in Irish writer Robert Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. It was a book I randomly picked during the 2018 Big Bad Wolf Sale. I was intrigued by the title and the book’s cover. What I didn’t expect is that it was part of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. In reading the book, I am hitting two birds with one stone.

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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