WWW Wednesday, 17-October-2018

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. 

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Currently reading: It might be optimistic, but I think I can return to The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl soon! I’ve only got one more book standing in my way. The future is at hand!
Unsurprisingly, I’m still working through A Column of Fire by Ken Follett. I’m getting close now, only a normal-length audiobook to go!
I’m moving slowly through Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson but I think this will be faster than some of my other ebooks. It’s a lot shorter than I thought it would be, honestly. I double checked four times that I didn’t have the abridged version!
I began listening to A Night to Remember by Walker Lord on my phone. I love everything Titanic and I’m honestly surprised I didn’t have this on my radar earlier than I did. It’s a short one and I expect I’ll fly through it.
I began Not Me by Michael Lavigne on Friday. Not too far into it yet but I’ve had such a good run of print books that I’m optimistic that this one will go fast. too!

Recently finished: I finished two again! The first was The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz which was a phone audio. I was happy to wrap it up on my way home from school. It was a very satisfying ending for me and set up well for another one in the series! I gave it Four out of Five Stars and posted my review yesterday, check it out.
The second was Dark Matter by Blake Crouch which I flew through. I was skeptical for about the first 100 pages and then finished it in less than 24 hours. I’m yawning as I type this because I sacrificed a lot of sleep for this book. So worth it. A full Five out of Five Stars and my review will be up tomorrow.

I also posted my review of Artemis by Andy Weir last Friday. It wasn’t The Martian, but it was good. I’ll expect good things from Weir in the future. I gave it Four out of Five Stars.

Reading Next: It seems too optimistic to think about finishing yet another book this week. If I do, it will probably be an eaudiobook and next will probably be That Night by Chevy Stevens. This book haunted me for a while before I found it on clearance when a Barnes and Nobel closed and decided to buy it. We’ll see how it goes.

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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!

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Book Review: The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz (4/5)

I put this book off for a very long time. I knew that the Salander books were being continued by another writer, but I was nervous that I’d be disappointed by them and didn’t want to read them at first. But my mom read it and reassured me it was fine. I got a copy from a library sale and let it languish on my desk. Eventually, I caved and here we are.

Cover image via Goodreads

The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz

Summary from Goodreads:

She is the girl with the dragon tattoo—a genius hacker and uncompromising misfit. He is a crusading journalist whose championing of the truth often brings him to the brink of prosecution.

Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female superhacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Salander for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. The secret they are both chasing is at the center of a tangled web of spies, cybercriminals, and governments around the world, and someone is prepared to kill to protect it…

I’m genuinely OK with Lagercrantz taking over this series. I was afraid it would feel too different and maybe for some hard-core fans, it is. As a fan who read the trilogy over five years ago and has seen the Sweedish films and wants to see the new English one, this was just fine. It had the same techy vocabulary and lists of street names that I remembered. I like how Lagercrantz created a new villain for Lisbeth to defeat in this one and I hope he’ll stretch it out for a few more novels.

I liked that Blomkvist is getting older. In the first three, it seemed like Larsson was writing an idealized version of himself in Blomkvist and his ability to be sexy, smart, and perpetually young stuck out (much like Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s novels). But Lagercrantz doesn’t have the same dedication to the character and he’s much more believable. Lisbeth is as crazy and out there as ever and hasn’t changed much, which I appreciated.

August was my favorite character. I loved how this boy with a minimal ability to communicate found a way to express himself and help the people he loved. He needed to feel protected and didn’t feel that with his mother but when he could be around his father and Lisbeth, he was safe enough to let show what he could do. I adored seeing him as a strong boy and not someone who needed to be perpetually pitied.

There wasn’t much in this book I related to well. It was very distant from my life and I think that’s why I could enjoy it. It was an escapist piece for me. Really fun to read and nothing like my life. Even the ways the characters reacted weren’t things I could relate to because the situations they were in were so far from me.

David Lagercrantz
Image via Facebook

I liked Lisbeth and August’s escape from the summer home best. It was the best of Lisbeth’s quick thinking and fighting ability. Her being able to perform at that level with a child just showed how clever she was. I liked getting the story in bits from different perspectives as well.

I thought the build-up in this one was a bit slow. I can’t exactly put my finger on why, but it just seemed to take a long time to grab my attention. It seems silly to say that with how action-packed the early chapters were, but I wasn’t invested until Lisbeth was more involved.

My audiobook was narrated by Simon Vance. He’s the same man who narrated the first three in this series and I believe I listened to two of them. He doesn’t use much change in vocal tone but it’s enough that you know who’s talking in a phone conversation and he changes his accent enough that you recognized the Russian characters in this one. As is my mark with male narrators, I didn’t feel his female voices were ‘weak’ or ‘too girly.’

There’s not too much of a moral theme in this one. Stop the bad guys from killing people for money. It’s not a very noteworthy theme. Underneath it, though, Lisbeth always has more to say. She can’t stand those who don’t protect women and children. She does everything she can to help August even when his mother has given up. In today’s world, standing up for women is seeming harder and harder. We can’t give up, the same as Lisbeth.

Writer’s Takeaway: I have great respect for Lagercrantz for what he was able to accomplish in writing this book. He was able to take another man’s characters and style and still write an original book. It’s like the ultimate version of FanFiction I can think of. Mimicking another author’s style is a fun writing exercise, but keeping it up for an entire plot is really impressive.

Overall, really enjoyable and a fun read. Four 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:
Review: ‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’ by David Lagercrantz | The Life of a Thinker
Book Review: “The girl in the spider’s web” –  Millennium part 4 | Katevents
The Girl in the Spider’s Web – David Lagercrantz | aclairerium
Guest Post: David Lagercrantz’s Girl in the Spider’s Web “was a soy milk latte to my preferred triple espresso” | The Tattooed Girl

WWW Wednesday, 10-October-2018

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. 

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Currently reading: I see The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl sitting on my bedside table every night. I want to finish it soon. Let’s see if I can.
I’m still in love with A Column of Fire by Ken Follett. The separate plots and characters are coming together now and it’s been so cool to see everything work together toward what I’m assuming will be an amazing ending. I don’t want this to end!
I made great progress with The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz this week and should finish it up really soon! I’m enjoying this as much as the original trilogy and I hope Lagercrantz keeps it going.
Since I finished Artemis, I was able to start Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I hope I can sprint through this one as quickly! I’m on a hot reading streak lately.
I working on Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson as my ebook now. This will fulfill yet another time period for my When Are You Reading? Challenge which means I’m in the middle of three books to finish that off! Let’s just hope I can polish them off before the end of the year.

Recently finished: I wrapped up Bel Canto by Ann Patchett during lunch last week. The ending had me a little puddle of emotions that was not ready to jump into four straight interviews. I think the movie will make me cry. This will be a good one. My review went up yesterday so please go check that out!
I spent most of Saturday in bed resting and reading Artemis by Andy Weir. It was a quick read, much like The Martian and I enjoyed it. My review will be up tomorrow. It felt good to get through a book so fast!

I posted my review of The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert on Monday and them promptly went to my book club on the book that evening. Look for the book club reflection coming soon. It was an interesting book to put it lightly. To be honest, I really disliked it!

Reading Next: Another book club read to block me from reading Poe! I’ll be starting Not Me by Michael Lavigne next. I’m not sure how we came to select this one as there’s not much about it on our library site and it looks like it won’t be one I can audiobook. Darn.

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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, 3-October-2018

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. 

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Currently reading: I’ve continued to make progress on Bel Canto by Ann Patchett but I’d really like to wrap it up soon. I’ve been reading this one since I was in Europe in July and I’d love to put it to rest and move on to another book.
I’m still waiting on The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl and finishing up some book club picks in the meantime. I’ll get back to it, but it might not be until November or so.
I finished the first half of A Column of Fire by Ken Follett and am still deeply in love. I want to finish this one, but I want it to drag at the same time.
With my husband working a lot, I’m home alone and doing chores a lot of the time so I’ve been able to make great progress with The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz. I think Lagercrantz has been a good pick to follow Larsson so far. We’ll see if I keep feeling that way, but so far I’m a fan.
I started Artemis by Andy Weir and I’m trying to rush through. I want to get this one finished and go to the discussion but I need to read another book club pick for a group I’m already committed to. I have too many book club problems.

Recently finished: I finished The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert over the weekend. I’m not sure how I felt about this one. Let’s just say I’m glad I have a book club meeting surrounding this book because I’m not really sure what happened in the last third of it and I was so upset by the sudden ending that I don’t want to Google it to find out. I think I’ll skip this author in the future, though. It was not my thing at all.

Reading Next: I have another book club obligation that I need to get to and that’s Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I think it will be a great Halloween read so I hope I can get to it soon. The meeting isn’t until the end of the month so I’m hopeful I can start it soon, it looks good!

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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, 26-September-2018

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. 

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Currently reading: I’m making slow progress on Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. I’ve tried to pull this out of my pocket every moment I can but it’s still a slow go. I’ll have to be a bit better at dedicating time to it in the next few weeks to wrap up before it returns again.
I decided to put The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl on hold for a bit to move forward with some book club picks. I’m afraid those are starting to pile up quite a bit!
I’m in love with A Column of Fire by Ken Follett and am finding excuses to run errands so I can listen to it. I’m almost halfway already. I hope I can renew this one a few more times to finish it up. Driving to and from school so often is helping a lot!
I decided to pick up The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert and try to knock it out quickly so I can get back to Poe. It’s a short book and I’m about a quarter of the way in so far. With luck, this will be finished next week.
I began a new eaudiobook as well and I’m so excited to say that it’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz. I wasn’t sure how to feel about this one when it came out, but my mom liked it so I thought I’d try to go into it impartial. So far, so good.

Recently finished: I was able to wrap up The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri thanks to all my running in the past weeks. I’m revving up for a half marathon so I expect my eaudiobooks to fall faster and faster! It was interesting that I was reading two books at the same time about characters born in India. Thankfully, this did not run together with Umrigar’s book at all. I enjoyed The Lowland, though not as much as I enjoyed Lahiri’s first novel. I’ll read a third if she decides to write it. I posted my review Monday so please check that out. I gave it four out of five stars.

Reading Next:  Artemis by Andy Weir is still my top choice. I hope I can get to it soon but I can feel another book club selection baring down on me soon. I’m trying not to think about it. We’ll see how I do with all these pressures!

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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!