Happy midweek everyone! Happy first day of the last month of the year! Woah, we’re 30 days away from welcoming a new year. Time does fly fast! I just hope that we spend the last days of 2021 healing from the pains of the past years. I also hope that all your prayers were already answered. I also pray that you are all doing well and are all healthy amidst the threat of a new COVID19 variant.

As it is Wednesday, I am going to share a new 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?

With 30 days before the advent of a new year , I have been focusing on ticking off books from my various 2021 reading challenges. Thankfully, I am on the cusp of completing two of them: my Goodreads reading challenge and my 2021 Top 21 Reading List. For the former, I only have to complete my current read while for the latter, I have two remaining books to complete, and one of them is my current read. I was initially apprehensive about buying and reading Richard Adams’ Watership Down for I thought it was a book about the war. Upon research, I learned how wrong I was. HAHA. It is a story about rabbits! But do not be mislead. It does sound like a children’s story but the story is something that adults can relate to. The story does have some elements of war and conflict as a group of rabbits try to find a new place to inhabit following one of their members’ (Fiver) premonition of danger. Led by Hazel, they eventually settled on a hill, the titular Watership Down. I am not yet midway through the book but it felt like a lot has happened already. With two-thirds more, I am curious how the story will pan out.

What have you finished reading?

It was a slow reading week. As such, I was only able to complete one book, which also happens to be my current read in last week’s WWW Wednesday update. When I first encountered Swedish novelist Göran Tunström’s The Christmas Oratorio, I barely had any iota on what the book was nor do I have any idea on who the author was. However, the book’s title did pique my interest and imagine my surprise when I learned that the book was listed as one of 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Without more ado, I included the book to my 2021 Top 21 Reading List. The novel related the story of three generations of Nordensson men, beginning with the story of the patriarch Aron. The family’s story started in the 1930s, following the untimely demise of the matriarch, Solveig, after she was accidentally trampled on by cows while on her way to perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the church choir. Aron, devastated, was haunted by her ghost and she saw her manifestations in everything he does. This alienated from his two children, especially his son, Sidner. Sidner’s story made the heft of the novel. It was, well, an interesting reading experience. Unlike the rest of the novel, the exploration of Victor’s story, Sidner’s son, was rushed. The novel still had its bright spots.

What will you read next?

Once I am done with Watership Down, I have one book in mind, and that is James Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain. Completing it would also mean completing my 2021 Top 21 Reading List. It is a book I keep encountering in several must-read lists, such as the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. It is highly regarded that it was a no-brainer adding it to my reading list. Beyond Go Tell It On The Mountain, my list is pretty much open although I am hoping to read books in my 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge, of which I still have remaining four unread books. I will have to think about it.

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!

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