And it is midweek again! Happy Wednesday everyone! Wah, today is the last Wednesday of August. Time is flying fast. Anyway, Wednesdays also mean another 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:
- What are you currently reading?
- What have you finished reading?
- What will you read next?
What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading one of my newest discoveries, Eric Nguyen’s Things We Lost To The Water. I just came across Nguyen because I follow Viet Thanh Nguyen in Twitter. It was there that I have heard of Nguyen’s debut novel. It piqued my interest even further when I learned that it was available in the local bookstore. Things We Lost To The Water follow the story of Hương and her two sons – five-year old Tuấn and baby Bình. They managed to escape from Vietnam in 1978, following the culmination of the Vietnam War and the crackdown on people who were deemed as communists. Unfortunately, Công, Hương’s husband, was left behind in Vietnam. We get to see the plight of the migrants in New Orleans, as they adjust to their new environment and culture. I am nearly done with the novel and hoping to finish it today or the latest tomorrow.
What have you finished reading?
It has been a sluggish reading week and I only managed to complete one book; the book that was current read in last week’s WWW Wednesday update. There is very little information I can find about Nghi Vo but I am lead to believe that she has Vietnamese heritage (like Eric Nguyen). The Chosen and the Beautiful was her debut novel and was part of my 2021 Books I Look Forward To. I was riveted by the book’s cover and premise. The novel revolves around Jordan Baker, one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. If you think the novel is a retelling of the timeless classic then you are correct. It was loyal to The Great Gatsby but what made it interesting is Jordan’s backstory. Vo also introduced an interesting point-of-view upon which the literary classic can be observed from. The Great Gatsby aside, the new subjects Vo introduced – such as Baker’s queerness and her Asian heritage – were mostly underexplored. The writing was good though.
What will you read next?
I am lining up two writers who I have never encountered previously nor whose works I have never read previously. Torrey Peters and Zakiya Dalila Harris are two names that have piqued my interest this year. To be honest, it was the controversy surrounding Peters’ nomination for the Women’s Prize for Fiction that piqued my interest. I did recall encountering Detransition, Baby earlier this year whilst searching for books to include in my 2021 Books I Look Forward To List. I just cannot recall why I passed it over. Speaking of my 2021 Books I Look Forward, Zakiya Dalila Harris’ The Other Black Girl was one of the books I have listed and despite having a challenging time procuring a copy of the book, I finally managed to find a copy this week. Several positive reviews of the book further piqued my interest in Harris’ debut novel.
I know I listed Gabriela Garcia’s Of Salt and Women as the book I will read next after The Chosen and the Beautiful but I simply cannot resist Thing We Lost To the Water and The Other Black Girl. Nevertheless, it is still part of my books to read this year. That’s it for this week’s WWW Wednesday. I hope you are all doing great. Happy reading and always stay safe! Happy Wednesday again!
The Pine-Scented Chronicles 