WWW Wednesday, 4-May-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading 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.

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Currently reading: I hope to get back to Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling soon. It’s sitting on my bedside tale for now.
I’m making great progress with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. I’m about four hours from the end and in the midst of the final battle. I got the eaudio back and the battle is great listening during my long runs!
I got through a bit of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson but nothing to brag about. I’ll be working on this one for a while!
I’m really enjoying The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier. I always love her books so no surprise to me here. I’m hoping I can tear through this one and get back to Harry!

 

Recently finished: I finished two books! The first was Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith which I got through just a few days after my book club meeting last week. I was so close to finishing in time, but it slipped past me. Oh well. I wasn’t a big fan of the book. My review went up yesterday where I explained why I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. I’ve still got a book-to-movie review and a book club reflection to write on this one so it will be around for a bit.
The other book I finished was Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones which I loved! The book was really well written and I loved the characters. A full 5 out of 5 stars. My review is already up for this one so check it out.

Reading Next: I’ll be grabbing my next book club selection, The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer. I haven’t decided if I’ll do the physical or audio copy yet, but I’m leaning toward audio so I can fee myself up to finish Harry and work on some other books I’ve been waiting to read.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Challenge Update, April 2016

April was the month of plodding through long books. Not a ton of progress, but I’m predicting a lot of these giants will fall in the next month. Look out! I’m going to get through these challenges, just you watch! You can look at my progress at any time on my challenge page.

Books finished in April:

Norwegian by Night // Derek B. Miller
Texts from Jane Eyre // Mallory Ortberg
The Tales of Beedle the Bard // J.K. Rowling
Child 44 // Tom Rob Smith
Silver Sparrow // Tayari Jones

Two more big ones I’m hoping to topple next month! And my only missing review will be up tomorrow so look out for Child 44!

When Are You Reading? Challenge

8/12
This is my challenge to read a book from 13 different time periods. You can read about it here. I only crossed one off of the list this month, Pre-1500 with The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Yes, I know, it’s a bit of a stretch to count it but I’m at peace with this. If I end up reading something that fits it better, I’ll swap them out, but I’m going to count it until then.

Goodreads Challenge

16/45
I’m two ahead of where I should be! I feel like I’m slogging through books now, but I’m doing alright for the year. I keep forgetting it’s still early in the year! I’ll be fine on this one, I’m 99% sure.

Book of the Month

Cover image via Goodreads.com

Hm. It’s for sure between Silver Sparrow and Norwegian by Night, but I have to go with Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller. This book caught me completely by surprise and I just loved it. My book club enjoyed it too and we all had a great discussion.

Added to my TBR

I’m down two! Two of the books I read weren’t on my TBR and I added just one. It’s slowly coming down…

• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowing. Is anyone surprised I added this? I still need to figure out where I’m going for a release party but I have a good idea. So excited for it!

How are your challenges going? I hope you’re killing it. If you love historical fiction, give some thought to my challenge, it’s fun!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 27-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading 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.

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Currently reading: I’ve just put aside Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling so I can start a new book. I hope to get back to it soon, I was getting to the meat of it!
I’m really hoping to start back with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin very soon! Maybe on disk, but it will take me a while to find where I am. We’ll see.
I was so embarrassed about my minimal progress with In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson that I made a point of reading it this week. I’m at 13% now, so much better but still behind.
I wasn’t able to finish Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith before my book club met. I was close, one disk left, but I watched the movie in order to see how it ended. I’ll still finish it, though. I’m looking forward to comparing the book and movie.
It’s not the ideal running book, but I’ve made good progress with Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones while running this past week. I’m getting toward the end so I hope to finish it soon.
I started  The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier on Monday night. Not too far into it yet so no comment but I do love this author! Yes, I realize I have WAY too many books going at once. I hope to clear this list up really soon.

Recently finished: Just one. I finished the quick read of The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling and wrote a review which I posted Monday. It’s not much, but it’s something!

Reading Next: No plans again. I’m going to try to get through my massive list before I take on anything new!

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Book Club Reflection: Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

After what seems like a long wait, my book club finally met last week to discuss Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller. I absolutely loved this book and had been really anxious about this meeting. I’m thrilled to say a lot of others were as anxious as I was.

We talked first about the author who is not a writer by trade. He works in security affairs, specifically with the UN for disarmament research and to reintegrate former soldiers and noncombatants back into non-military life. We saw this come through in Enver’s character and it helped us understand how he could write that subculture so well. This book won The Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger Award, an award that has been won by some big name authors including Janet Evanovich and Gillian Flynn. Miller’s next book is due out in January 2017 and many in our group are excited to read it.

Most of our conversation was about the amazing Sheldon. His dementia was a key point in the story. We didn’t think he was properly diagnosed with dementia. One of our members works with those in early stages of dementia and she didn’t see similarities with her patients. He was aware that Bill wasn’t really with him when they spoke and he was able to formulate a plan. We think it was more likely PTSD. He had kept his life hidden from those around him but after his wife died, finally felt he could open up to the truth. When he started to talk about things no one had heard of before, they assumed he was demented. We thought it was likely that after his wife’s death, he felt stagnant, like he couldn’t move on in his life and drifted through as best he could. This might have been perceived as dementia. It was obvious to us that the adventure he found himself in kicked his brain into gear and had him thinking like a marine again. The stress and situations brought back all his memories and training and even at 82, he knew what to do.

The only thing that made us doubt he was able minded was when he mentioned that he couldn’t remember filing anything and that was why he thought he was a sniper. If it was a joke, we missed it. Maybe he was losing it, but everything else in the book pointed to him knowing exactly what was going on.

The death of Saul haunted Sheldon for his whole life. We felt the interactions between Sheldon and his son when he returned from his tour of Vietnam was very real. There was an implied understanding between the men but it was a gap between them they were unable to fill. Sheldon felt Saul’s death was his fault and wanted to make amends for it his whole life. Saving Paul at the end of the book was Sheldon’s way of coming to peace with what he had carried around his whole life. Personally, I thought it was a beautiful ending.

Why didn’t Paul talk? No one else agreed with my theory that he was deaf. Oh well. They all thought he was traumatized, which had pushed him into silence. Even a few days out from the event, he was still too stunned to speak. We all hoped that Rhea and Lars would adopt Paul at the end instead of finding some distant relatives to take care of the boy. He would be a good son for them if they could find a common language.

Miller writes about Norway like it’s a character in his book. He’s lived in Norway a long time and his wife is Norwegian. He says he was poking fun at his wife’s family and the culture of Norway. We have two members of our group who had lived in Europe for a while and thought the portrayal of Norwegians was spot on. They are polite to a fault, waiting until the early 2000s to apologize for their actions in World War II.

One of the ways Miller criticized Norway was in their openness to Kosovars and Serbs after the Yugoslavian conflict. Enver was welcomed into the country without question. Whether he was seen as a freedom fighter or a war criminal was no matter. What he’d done to Paul’s mother was no issue. We saw a strong contrast between Sheldon and Enver. When Sheldon came back from war, he was quiet and clammed up. Enver was still angry and lashed out at everyone.

Guilt was a strong theme in this book. Sheldon’s guilt over Mario’s death haunted him especially. It was such a simple thing, to take a step to improve a picture. Why did Mario movie and not Sheldon? This little thing must have haunted him he whole life.

We all liked the book. We loved the layers of the plot and how we got deeper into the characters with every page. The multiple points of view all worked. Many books with multiple POVs slow down, but we liked all of the voices in this novel. It was so well crafted.

Our next book will be The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls which I read a few months ago. I’m looking forward to the discussion!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 20-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading 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.

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Currently reading: I’ still making my way through Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling and thoroughly enjoying it. There’s so much I’d forgotten about and I’m having a great time reading it all again.
Unfortunately, still on hold with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. I’m not happy about it. Urg.
I think I read three pages of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. This is just the nature of me and ebooks, we’ll see how it goes.
I’m getting worried about finishing Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith before my book club meets. It’s really not a book for me, I’m not a fan of the thriller genre and this narrator is still grating on me with terrible Russian accents. Blah.
I’m enjoying Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones while I wait to get Martin back. I was hoping to put this one aside and finish Martin if I got the hold back quickly, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Sigh.

Recently finished: I’m sad to say I haven’t finished anything! I need to buckle down and focus on some of these books but my semester will be over in another two weeks and I’ll be a lot more available then… until the next semester starts. Ugh.

I posted my review of Texts from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg. A lot of you were asking about that so go check it out!

Reading Next: I’m still planning on The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier. I’ll put Potter aside for this one so my ‘currently reading’ list is only going to grow, much to my chagrin. I put too many things on hold. Ugh.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 13-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading 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.

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Currently reading: It’s been great to work on Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling lately. I love this story and there’s so much I’ve forgotten since I last read it. I’m half way through now!
I wasn’t doing too well with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin and then I lost the hold! I still have the physical audiobook but I have to finish Child 44 first so as of now, this one is unfortunately on hold.
I don’t think I’ve read any of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson since last week. Being on vacation slowed that down a lot. If you’ve been here a while, you know I’m slow on ebooks anyway. This one will take a while.
Slow progress still on Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. I’m still not enjoying it much at all. The narrator does a terrible Russian accent for each character and I can’t see any semblance of a plot yet. It’s very meandering and there were two prologues which turned me off right away.
While I’m waiting to get A Clash of Kings back (again), I started listening to Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. This is a book that appeared on the book calendar I had in 2013 that grew my list exponentially. I’m glad I found it on eaudio.

Recently finished: Hoping my loss of Martin would only be 24 hours while the system reset, I took Mallory Ortberg’s Texts from Jane Eyre with me on a business trip. It was really fun and passed the hour drive quickly. Review to come next week.

Two reviews to share! I posted my thoughts on Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut on Friday. I liked it enough though I probably would have liked it more had I read it in a shorter time-span. Three out of Five stars.
I also reviewed Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller while I loved. I’m excited to talk to my book club about this one in a few weeks and see if anyone else felt the same.

Reading Next: Next will likely be The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier for my book club. This is one I’ve had on my shelf for a while because I’m a fan of Chevalier’s books. I suggested it for the book club and they said yes! Hahaha! I’m hoping to finish Potter before I start this, but no promises with how long it takes me to get through one of those in Spanish.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Book Review: Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller (5/5)

I love when a book club read knocks it out of the park for me. I get so excited to go to the meeting and I try to convince a few other people to read the book and join me because I’m sure they’ll love it, too. This was one of those books and I’m so glad it was selected for us to read.

Cover image via Goodreads.com

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

Summary from Goodreads:

He will not admit it to Rhea and Lars – never, of course not – but Sheldon can’t help but wonder what it is he’s doing here..

Eighty-two years old, and recently widowed, Sheldon Horowitz has grudgingly moved to Oslo, with his grand-daughter and her Norwegian husband. An ex-Marine, he talks often to the ghosts of his past – the friends he lost in the Pacific and the son who followed him into the US Army, and to his death in Vietnam.

When Sheldon witnesses the murder of a woman in his apartment complex, he rescues her six-year-old son and decides to run. Pursued by both the Balkan gang responsible for the murder, and the Norwegian police, he has to rely on training from over half a century before to try and keep the boy safe. Against a strange and foreign landscape, this unlikely couple, who can’t speak the same language, start to form a bond that may just save them both.

Wow. I was not expecting that. This book grabbed my shirt in its fist and ran with me. It was a part murder mystery, thriller, war novel, and very psychological. It took me a while to figure out how Sheldon’s mind worked, what was true and what was in his head. Once I did, I loved the parts he’d narrate. I wanted to know more about Paul as he was easily my favorite character for no reason than I was rooting for him. Great novel overall and I’m really recommending this one.

Sheldon reminded me of my grandfather. He was very realistic in the way he had memory lapses and suffered from physical limitations but he was so smart and his age didn’t dull that. I liked that about Sheldon. As much as Rhea and Lars discredited him and the police though catching an old man and a boy would be easy, he consistently outsmarted everyone and I would say he won in the end.

As much as I liked Sheldon, Paul was my favorite character. It’s hard to guess what was going through his head the whole time and he was brave beyond reason. I wondered if he was deaf with how little noise he made and how he never talked.  There was a lot I didn’t know about Paul, but I still loved him. I thought it was great how much he enjoyed dressing up like a Viking with Sheldon. It was such a perfect moment for a boy and I loved seeing him happy if just for those few minutes.

In a small way, I could relate to Rhea. I have older grandparents that live in California (I’m in Michigan) and I’m constantly worried about them. I can’t imagine how worried Rhea was after she moved to Norway and was so far away from Sheldon. I can understand wanting to move him closer to her and the burden that would be. I wish there had been a little more from her in the book, but I understand that she wasn’t the focus.

Derek B. Miller
Image via The Times

The ending was great. I absolutely loved seeing Sheldon in his element years after the fact. I thought it was good for us to see him prove that he was a sniper and that he knew what he was doing in a combat situation. I thought the ending was exactly what it needed to be and I appreciated Miller’s ability to finish a story with just enough fact to satisfy me as a reader. Again, I was blown away.

I didn’t enjoy revisiting Saul in Vietnam. I thought it was a bit much, especially with all of the revisiting Korea that Sheldon did, too. I understand why the flashbacks were necessary, I just thought it was a bit much. I could have done with a little less blowing up and a little more Paul.

 

Sheldon was ready to sacrifice anything for family. After losing his son and his wife and a great-grandchild, he felt his family was slipping away from him and I think it hurt him more than he let on. He was primed to look at Paul as another member of his family, willing to include the small boy who represented both his lost son and lost great-grandchild. I thought it was great how Sheldon took care of Paul so well. He wasn’t as far removed from raising children as most men his age because of Rhea and he fit the role well.

Writer’s Takeaway: I’ve seen a lot of writers trip up when trying to write a character who doesn’t have a complete grip on reality. I thought Miller did it extremely well. It was clear when Sheldon was talking to God and when he was talking to someone who was really there. I thought the ending was really impactful in this way. It was very obvious how upsetting the whole event was for him and how ready he was to sacrifice everything for Paul and Rhea. I think choosing a character we knew to be dead made it very obvious when Sheldon was in his own world. I found this much clearer than when I read The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey a while back.

 

A great read and one I can’t wait to discuss with the book club. Five out of Five stars.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Related Posts:
Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller: A Review | Scandinavian Crime Fiction
Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller | Dulwich Books Review
“Norwegian by Night” by Derek B. Miller | Karen’s Two Sentence Book Club Reviews
BOOK CHEWING: My Interview with Derek B. Miller Author of NORWEGIAN BY NIGHT | Bite the Book

WWW Wednesday, 6-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading 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.

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Currently reading: I’ve been able to return to Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling for the past few days which has been nice. Even in that short reprieve, I missed Harry. This is my comfort food.
I’ve been able to make some headway with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin during my workouts. It’s not the best pump-up track, but hearing about all the war feels motivating, haha.
Honestly, I haven’t read much of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. There hasn’t been a lot of time for me to read on my phone with the vacation time we’ve had. I guess that’s a good thing? I’m enjoying my vacation so I haven’t had a ton of time for my phone.
I just started Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith and haven’t made much progress with it. I thought I’d listen to it when I drove across the state but my husband and I talked instead. Oh well. I’m on disk 1 of 11 still. We’ll see how this goes, I’m not a huge fan so far.

Recently finished: I was able to finish Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller while on my vacation. It was really good, I gave it a full 5 stars! I’m excited to talk about this one with the book club.

My review of Brooklyn went up last Thursday and as I told y’all last well, I really enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought.

Reading Next: No plans now. I’d like to finish Harry before I worry about starting anything new. I’m bogged down with audio right n ow so I won’t be picking another out anytime soon.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 30-March-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading 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.

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Currently reading: Still holding on Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling. I’m hoping to pick it up gain soon but I’ve been moving slowly through physical books lately.
I’m back to A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin on audio. I actually have the eaudio and the CD audio right now but I’m going to stick to eaudio so I can listen to it more for a while. I’ll probably switch back and forth a few times before I finish it, haha.
So far, I’ve really enjoyed Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller. The main character, Sheldon it great and I really enjoy the parts he narrates. Maybe I’ll get a bit more reading done on my mini-vacation next week.
I was at my in-laws when I finished my ebook and the next one available was In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. I’m a big fan of Larson’s so I’m excited to read this one. I owned a copy but lent it to a co-worker who got fired before he returned it to me! I think it’s never coming back so the ebook is a good option.

Recently finished: Waiting for Easter dinner to be reading, I finished Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I know it took me a long time but I’m just happy to have finished it. I liked it but didn’t love it. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Review to come!
In order to meet the deadline of tomorrow, I flew through Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. I’ll post my review tomorrow but know I really liked it but found the ending a little disappointing. I’m looking forward to watching the movie soon because I think I’ll really enjoy the story

Reading Next: I had book club meeting on Monday and we got our next book, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. I’m not usually big on thrillers but they tend to be fast reads. I’m not sure if this will be a physical or audiobook for me so we’ll see how this plays out.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 23-March-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading 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.

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Currently reading: I’ve had to put Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling on hold for the moment. I’ve got some other reading obligations to attend to first.
I’ve been making a point to get through Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I’m on chapter 8 of 10 so I know I’m getting close to the end. Maybe I can finish this in a week or two? Maybe?
After some intense audiobook switching, I’m still listening to A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin on CD audio in my car. I’m moving along fine and with some other books requiring my attention, this seemed the best decision at the moment.
I put Potter aside to pick up a copy of Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller. My book club is going through this one right now and I’m only a few chapters in but I’m really enjoying it so far. The writing reminds me of my friend John’s style and it’s making me happy to read it. The premise is a bit different than I expected from the title, but I’m enjoying it.
A sudden decision, I’m listening to Brooklyn by Colm Toibin on my phone. I was sent a copy of the BlueRay movie if I would post a book and movie review by the end of the month. Agreed! I was supposed to get a copy of the book in the mail, but it hasn’t arrived and I had an hour and a half drive on Friday so I jumped into it. So far, so good!

Recently finished: I finished off Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle AND got the book review posted on Monday! Look at that efficiency! Super proud of myself and glad I was able to finish a book. Woo!

Reading Next: I’ve got enough going right now that there’s no plan on starting another book anytime soon. I’ll get through what’s in front of me first.

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Until next time, write on.

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