Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I finished a chapter inSoldiers’ Pay by William Faulkner! I had a doctor’s appointment and told myself I was going to read instead of checking social media while I waited and it worked! Maybe I’ll make it through this one after all. I’m getting really close to finishing Powering Up by Anne Doyle and I’m pushing myself to pick it up each night so I can make progress. I’m really hoping this will be on the ‘finished’ list next week! I gone through a good bit of My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand with a speaking engagement I had last week. It was almost an hour drive each way so I made a big jump and I found a lot of time to listen to it while doing some work around the house. I’m feeling good about this one. I’m enjoying it and I think I’ll make my way through it quickly.
Recently finished: Nothing new this week. I was able to post my review of Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe on Monday so please check that out when you have time!
Reading next: I’m just waiting to start Sophie’s Choice by William Styron and hoping it will be soon! I can almost taste finishing my challenge soon and I can’t wait to cross more books off the list.
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
This is another book I got a free audiobook of from my library’s summer program. I moved it up my TBR a bit because it fit a time period I needed to wrap up my When Are You Reading? Challenge. I’ve still got my fingers crossed I finish that.
At first Hiram is excited to visit his hometown in Mississippi. But soon after he arrives, he crosses paths with Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who is also visiting for the summer. Hiram sees firsthand how the local whites mistreat blacks who refuse to “know their place.” When Emmett’s tortured dead body is found floating in a river, Hiram is determined to find out who could do such a thing. But what will it cost him to know?
I’m glad I didn’t read the summary of this one. I knew what was coming the second I heard Emmett’s name. His case is so infamous that it immediately told me what was happening in the rest of the story. At least without the summary I had a bit of time with some unknown. What bothered me most is that it felt like this wasn’t a story that should have come from a white narrator. It felt wrong to me that Hiram was telling the story and not one of Emmett’s family members. We meet his cousins and find out that Ruth Anne is somehow related, but it’s still Hiram telling the story. Toward the end we find out more about his connection to the case, but I think it still seemed off.
I think it’s worth noting that this story is coming to movie theatres soon. And told from his mother’s perspective.
Hiram seemed just slightly unbelievable to me. It seemed odd to me that he wasn’t aware of how racist his grandfather was after living with him for so long. We had to suspend disbelief that he would have picked that up. What really got me was that his father would never had said anything about it to Hiram, especially before he went back to spend the summer with his grandfather. The feud between his father and grandfather was that his father disliked how his grandfather treated black people. I’d have to assume Hiram would have picked up on the ideas of one of these men and had the other challenge him before his late teenage years. Children seem to parrot ideas they hear so easily. How could this strongly held belief not be parroted from either man?
I wanted to like Naomi but she fell flat for me at the end. She was a victim of circumstances and did the best she could with a drunk father and an angry brother. The fact that she was still sweet is a miracle. We hear her desires to go to school and make something of herself, but Hiram doesn’t seem to believe she’ll really do it and I was confused why. What is it about her that’s given him this impression? The narrator doubting her made me doubt her. I was hoping there would be a bit more resolution with their relationship, too.
I’ve had moments in my life where I realized someone I loved or respected held ideas that I could not align with, much like Hiram and his grandfather. It’s jarring. It makes you rethink things about your relationship. I understood when Hiram had to shift his opinion of his grandfather and how it continued to happen as time went on. I think it makes you appreciate those who did shape your mind a lot more.
I like Hiram’s relationship with Naomi until the end. I thought it was a very sweet and genuine thing and I was hoping it would turn into something more than it did. Other than that, there wasn’t that stood out to me about this book. It fell really flat.
Chris Crowe. Image via Goodreads
R.C. really bothered me as a character. I understand he embodied the ideas that many Southern whites held at the time but I think this would have been more powerful if seen through Hiram’s grandfather. He seemed like an unnecessary add just to address white poverty, which wasn’t relevant to the story.
The audiobook was narrated by Victor Bevine. I liked how he read the story and felt he gave weight to the things that needed it. I think he was a good choice for this book as it would have been odd to have someone without a Southern drawl read the story.
Emmett Till’s lynching is a well known catalyst in the Civil Rights movement. I think it’s important that its talked about and shared. I think we should challenge the assumptions and prejudices of older generations as we continue to advance our culture to be more inclusive of those with diverse backgrounds. It’s good that this story is being told, even if I don’t agree this was the best way to tell it.
Writer’s Takeaway: One of the faults I find in historical fiction is often that the characters seem terribly modern for the time period they’re living in. This suffered from that to me. Hiram was easier to relate to because his ideas were very modern and his approach to people of diverse ethnicities was in line with a lot of us today. That doesn’t make him realistic for his time. I would have liked better if his father talked about a reason he opposed his father or an event that showed him the error of his father’s thinking. Maybe fighting side-by-side with a Black man in the war, or an encounter in Greenwood that challenged what his father had taught him. I think the story suffered without this.
Overall a good story but not the one I wanted. Three out of Five Stars.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I read a few pages ofSoldiers’ Pay by William Faulkner, but nothing to brag about. I’m still trying to figure out where in my day this fits so please let me know if you have any suggestions! I’m still moving well through Powering Up by Anne Doyle. I’d hoped it would be finished this week, but I’ll push it out one more week. Staying positive here! I started a new audiobook! I’m still determined to wrap up my reading challenge before the end of the year, so I jumped into My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand. I’m hoping it’s a quick listen for me! I don’t have any long trips coming up that will take a chunk out of it so it might be a while.
Recently finished: I took a drive to se some friends over the weekend and that allowed me to take a massive chunk out of Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe. I finished it up earlier this week. I feel a little iffy about this one, but I liked it overall. I’m going to have a lot to say about it in a review so keep an eye out for that one.
I posted my review of Easy Prey by Catherine Lo on Monday. This one took a turn at the very end that I didn’t care for and it knocked it down a lot in my mind. I ended up giving it Two out of Five Stars.
Reading next: I put a hold on Sophie’s Choice by William Styron and it came in! It’s sitting next to my bed now and I’ll pick it up as soon as I finish Doyle. I’m excited to jump in and probably see the movie after!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: Yet again, nothing withSoldiers’ Pay by William Faulkner. I’m trying to think when I can dedicate some time to this one. I try not to use screens before bed and that’s some of my best reading time. Any thoughts? I have been making good progress in Powering Up by Anne Doyle. I use it to wind down for a few minutes after work, give my eyes a break from screens for a bit. I’m hoping I’ll have this one finished in a week or two. I took a massive chunk out of Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe the first day I started it. I was driving all over and had it running, getting through a quarter of it! It’s not what I expected from the cover (I didn’t read much of the description) but I think it will be an interesting read.
Recently finished: I wrapped up Easy Prey by Catherine Lo on Saturday morning. I’ll be honest, the ending ruined it for me. I was into the story and trying to figure out the twist and I kind of called it, but I hated how it wrapped up. I think it was unrealistic and sent a really bad message. I haven’t written my review yet so this is subject to change, but I’m giving it Two out of Five stars so far.
Reading next: I’m going to keep executing my plan for finishing When Are You Reading? Challenge this year. Next physical book is going to be Sophie’s Choice by William Styron. I hear a lot about this book but don’t have much of an idea of the plot so I’m excited to read it!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I’ve got a big old goose egg withSoldiers’ Pay by William Faulkner. Nothing doing this week. It was a less stressful week, but still busy and I didn’t find a good time to devote to this. I’ll keep looking. I made progress in Powering Up by Anne Doyle. I think I did better than last week so I’m considering that a win. I’ll probably be another two weeks or so with this one, but I’ll get there! I’ve moved fairly well in Easy Prey by Catherine Lo. This one isn’t winning me over, but I think it has a unique message and I’m enjoying it enough that I’m picking it up regularly to keep moving forward.
Recently finished: Nothing new finished this week. I did get to a review of Like No Other by Una LaMarche which went up on Monday so please go check that out! I gave it Four out of Five Stars.
Reading next: I realized I needed a plan to finish the When Are You Reading? Challenge so I put one together this week. My next audiobook is going to be Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe. This is another YA Summer Audiobook from the library so let’s hope the good streak continues!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
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