Happy Wednesday, everyone! Wednesdays also mean WWW Wednesday updates. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted originally by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS. 

The mechanics for WWW Wednesday are 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?
www-wednesdays
What are you currently reading?

It’s already the middle of the week — how time flies! I hope everyone’s week is going well. The good news is that we only have two more days to go before the weekend. I hope everyone makes it through the workweek. Also, we are in the final stretch of the eleventh month of the year. In a couple of days, we’ll be welcoming the last month of the year — the new year is just over the horizon. With the year approaching its inevitable end, I hope everything is going well for everyone. May blessings and good news shower upon you. I hope the remaining weeks of the year are filled with answered prayers and healing. I hope everyone is doing well — both physically and mentally — and that you’re making great strides toward your goals. May the rest of the year be kinder to you and reward you for all your hard work.

Like in previous years, I have been — and will continue — spending the rest of the year ticking off books on my reading challenges. It has now become a tradition for me to spend the latter part of the year catching up on these goals. At the start of the year, I usually put together a list of ten books scheduled for publication that I am most looking forward to — my annual Top Ten Books I Look Forward To list. One of the books I listed for this year is Nell Zink’s Sister Europe. Before this year, I had never heard of Zink nor read any of her works. To be fair, one of the reasons I maintain the Top Ten Books I Look Forward To list is that it lets me explore the work of writers new to me. Interestingly, before pursuing a full-time career in writing, she spent fifteen years writing fiction exclusively for a single pen pal, the Israeli postmodernist Avner Shats. In 2014, she stepped out of the shadows and made her literary debut with The Wallcreeper. She made her breakthrough with Mislaid (2015). In 2025, she is set to publish her seventh novel, Sister Europe.

Zink transports readers to Berlin, the city she has long called home. At the InterContinental Berlin, an eclectic cast of characters — primarily Berlin’s exclusive and elusive cultural elite — converges. They gather to honor Masud, an illustrious yet fatuous Arab novelist who has been awarded a $54,000 career achievement prize by an aging royal benefactress, Naema. Over the course of the evening — the story takes place entirely during that evening — we are introduced to various characters such as Demian, a German art critic; Radi, Naema’s grandson, whom she sends to the ceremony on her behalf; Nicole, a trans teenager and Demian’s daughter; and Toto, a publishing friend of Demian’s. Through their interactions, the characters express their fears, desires, and prejudices. They offer intimate glimpses into their psyches as they discuss a broad spectrum of subjects, including dating apps, the war in Ukraine, sexuality, and Nazism. It is these discourses that elevate the novel. However, the digressions can be quite a challenge. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds.

What have you finished reading?

After a very busy reading week, the previous week was quite a slowdown, as I was only able to complete two books. Still, two is a good number, especially since I have markedly slowed down, reading-wise, in the past few weeks while focusing on the remaining books on my reading goals and challenges. The first of the two books I finished, however, was not part of any of these challenges. Nevertheless, Paul Auster’s The Book of Illusions is technically part of my reading goals, as it is listed among the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die; it is my goal to complete at least twenty books from the list this year. Interestingly, it was must-read lists that first introduced me to the highly heralded American writer.

Originally published in 2002, The Book of Illusions is the third book by Auster I’ve read. The story begins in the 1980s and is written from the perspective of David Zimmer. Zimmer is a university professor who, just a couple of months earlier, lost his wife and two sons in an airplane crash. Following this tragedy, he fell into a state of depression, alcoholism, and isolation. This haze was broken one afternoon when a silent comedy clip on television elicited an unexpected burst of laughter. That moment provided a glimmer of hope, drawing him into the intrigue of the comedian who managed to pierce his grief. He learned that the comedian’s name is Hector Mann, an enigmatic figure from Latin America whose career blossomed in the early 1900s, during the twilight of the silent film era. His exponential rise to stardom was abruptly cut short in December 1928 when he mysteriously vanished. Before disappearing, he created a dozen short films that fortuitously found homes in various film archives across America and Europe. Zimmer then embarked on a mission to watch each movie, resulting in the first comprehensive critical analysis of Mann’s work. Shortly after the book’s publication, Zimmer received a mysterious letter from someone claiming to be Mann’s wife. Even more intriguing was her claim that Mann was still alive.

Frieda, Mann’s wife, also extended an invitation to Zimmer, which he initially dismissed as a hoax. That changed when he returned home to find a young woman named Alma waiting for him at his remote cabin. What ensues is a pseudo-adventure that takes Zimmer to New Mexico, allowing the novel to explore a plethora of themes and subjects. Grief and loss are prevalent, with Zimmer forced to confront the untimely demise of his wife and sons. As the story unfolds, these are only among the many instances of loss that permeate the novel. More vividly, the novel is a meditation on the act of storytelling and the inspirations behind the art we create and, at times, decide to destroy. This adds a layer of illusion while presenting an alternate reality. As these two subjects collide, the novel explores identity and transformation. Containing elements reminiscent of The New York Trilogy, The Book of Illusions is a compelling and intriguing read.

From one award-winning writer to another. I can’t remember how I first came across Mia Couto. It may have been must-read lists that introduced me to him, or perhaps it was online booksellers. Nevertheless, the Mozambican writer has piqued my interest. Imagine my surprise when I learned he is quite a prominent figure in the ambit of Portuguese literature; yes, he writes in Portuguese because of Mozambique’s colonial history. Last year, I finally read my first Couto novel, Woman of the Ashes, the first book in his Sands of the Emperor trilogy. During a random escapade into a bookstore, I came across his latest translated novel, The Cartographer of Absences.

Although I had no plans of reading it this year, my curiosity got the better of me. Originally published in 2020 as O Mapeador de Ausências, the book became available to Anglophone readers this year. The Cartographer of Absences charts the fortunes of Diogo Santiago, a renowned poet and intellectual, and a professor at the University of Maputo. On the eve of a cyclone that threatens the coast, Diogo travels to his hometown, the city of Beira, for the first time in years to receive a tribute his fellow citizens wish to offer him. Liana, the host, takes the opportunity to share with Diogo a cache of files that belonged to her grandfather, Óscar, an agent of the colonial state police. The files detail the life of Diogo’s father, Adriano, and his role in the anticolonial movement. This transports the readers to the 1970s, particularly the years before Mozambique won its independence from Portugal. One event was forever embedded in Diogo’s mind: witnessing the 1973 massacre of Blacks in the town of Inhaminga by security forces during the waning days of the Estado Novo. His father attempted to help the wounded and dignify the dead but was stopped by the state forces. In a way, the novel follows two prominent narrative arcs. The first explores the violence-laden twilight years of Mozambique’s colonial past — a period of chaos as racist state violence plagued the colony.

The second narrative arc follows Diogo as he confronts and reflects on his own memory of his father. Not only do they share this painful memory, but they also share a love for poetry. Adriano’s history is complex, marked by both infidelities and efforts to counter the racist colonial forces. He would eventually be persecuted by the PIDE, the state secret police. Like Woman of the Ashes, the story unfolds through documents — letters, stories, and entries in the journal kept by Óscar, who served as an agent of the PIDE. The Cartographer of Absences becomes a vivid exploration of memory and its impermanence while grappling with the legacy of colonialism. Adding an interesting texture to the story is the budding romance between Diogo and Liana, a counterpoint to Diogo’s confrontation with his conflicted feelings about state power. While the unorthodox structure comes with its own set of challenges, The Cartographer of Absences finds its strength in Couto’s lush and compelling storytelling.

What will you read next?