WWW Wednesday, 27-May-2020

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 my way through Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich but it’s a slow go. I’m feeling a little more motivated to write, but not a lot like I’d hoped. I’ll see about picking up with my editing or maybe start something new. Something new might be freeing.
I’m making good progress with The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai and really enjoying it. It’s a long audiobook, but it’s nice to have a story last a while instead of flying through it. The plot has been great and I’m looking forward to getting further into this one.
I started an ebook of The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Emma Donoghue. Our book club made a switch and this is our new book for June. I’m not very excited about it if I’m being honest. I don’t like short story collections very much. I’ll probably finish it without issue, but I’m not sure how much we can talk about.

Recently finished: I pushed to finish The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel so I could start my new ebook. It was a good story but I wasn’t as excited about it as I should have been. Stretching it out over so long dulled how I felt about it. I’ll plan to review it next week.

I posted my review for White Oleander by Janet Fitch on Thursday. I’m glad I read this again, it was a beautiful story. I’m hoping to find the movie soon and see if it’s similar and as enjoyable. I gave it Four out of Five Stars.
I also reviewed Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell and posted that review yesterday. This was fun and I’m so glad I read it. I’m excited for the third book and I hope the release date hasn’t been delayed.

Reading Next: I recently checked for an update to what’s available on my audiobook services and was excited to see that there’s a copy of It’s All Relative by A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs is one of my favorite non-fiction writers so I’m excited to read about this project. He narrates the audiobook himself so I’m getting excited about that, too.

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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.

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: Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell (4/5)

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day! I took the day off to pretend holidays are meaningful during the quarantine. I’m hoping that having finished this book will get the Kansas song out of my head. I’ve been listening to it daily and my husband is getting really sick of me.

Cover image via Goodreads

Wayward Son (Simon Snow #2) by Rainbow Rowell

Other books by Rowell reviewed on this blog:

Attachments (and Book Club Reflection)
Carry On (Simon Snow #1)
Eleanor & Park
Fangirl
Landline

Summary from Goodreads:

The story is supposed to be over.

Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after…

So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?

What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light…

That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West.

They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place…

This was pure fun. I’m a little wary of this series just because we dove into the final installment but this book took a great turn with it that I’m 100% on board for. The ‘final battle’ is done and all the things we don’t know about Simon’s history don’t matter as much anymore. Now we’ve got characters we like in a fun adventure. Even better, they’re in the Midwest to start so it’s like your favorite fantasy characters visiting your hometown (ish).

The variety of personality types amongst Penny, Baz, and Simon was fun. Penny’s very take-charge and pushy, Simon flies by the seat of his pants, and Baz won’t speak up unless he has to. They make a great team. I think Penny is a bit unbelievable, though. Which is funny to say since she’s the only non-vampire non-winged character. Her personality is so pushy that I’ve never met someone anywhere near her level and I took honors classes in college. If you’re going to meet a pushy personality, it’s there. And no one was anywhere close to her. So I think it’s ironic that the human character is the one I don’t believe in.

Baz was my favorite character. He is most like me so I could understand him better than the other characters with narrations. He and I approach life in similar ways and my husband is as impulsive as Simon sometimes so I related to having to reign someone in a bit. I thought he handled his vampirism well and it was always fun to read about how he fought the urges to bite Penny or Simon and things that affected him differently because of it.

I probably related best with Baz and Simon in regards to their relationship. I’m not a ‘touchy’ person (it’s my least strong love language) but my husband loves to snuggle and hold hands and put his arm around me. The way Simon always hesitated to touch Baz and Baz was afraid Simon didn’t like him because he pushed off any physical intimacy resonated with me. I’m like Simon: I can like someone a lot and not even think of holding hands or walking arm in arm. I can see how it was frustrating to Baz, it’s a conversation I’ve been a part of.

Rainbow Rowell
Image via Goodreads

The time in Las Vegas was so fun. I adored the idea that the city is run by vampires. It makes so much sense! Learning about the vampire culture was really fun and I enjoyed Lamb a lot. I hope he appears in future novels though it seems we’re leaving him behind in LV and heading back to England.

Tying Micah into the story seemed unnecessary except to make Penny single. But with Simon and Baz being together, I don’t understand why that was important. Is Shephard going to be a new love interest? As much as Penny is broken up about it initially, he isn’t mentioned after two days so it’s a bit of a flash in the pan. It only served to put them on an epic road trip to California. I do laugh about how non-Americans can’t fathom how big our country is.

The audiobook was narrated by Euan Morton. I think his overdramatization of Penny was part of why I didn’t like her very much. Simon seemed a bit giddy, too. I liked how he did Baz and his American accent for Shepard wasn’t bad. Agatha sounded a bit like a Valley Girl which was finally appropriate because of where she was living but was still irritating.

I didn’t get a lot of strong themes from this book. The growing tenderness between Simon and Baz was touching, but I don’t think it qualifies as a theme. I’m wondering if it’s something like, “It takes all types”? That might be the best fit I can think of. Shepard ended up being very helpful even after he was written off initially. And without his magic, Simon is still useful in fights. Baz being a vampire ended up being an asset instead of a detriment like he seems to think it normally is.

Writer’s Takeaway: Not every book needs to take itself seriously or have a strong message. This book was fun. It dealt with friendships and relationships and long, fun journeys in multiple stolen vehicles. Simon and Baz’s relationship was strengthened but nothing decisive happened to the characters. It was fun, it was an adventure, and it has me anxious to come back for more. Nothing wrong with that.

I enjoyed the book overall. 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:
Carry On + Wayward Son, there’ll be angst when you are done | inkandplasma
Book Review: Carry On & Wayward Son By: Rainbow Rowell | Bookcave
Review: Rainbow Rowell- Wayward Son | Anniek’s Library

WWW Wednesday, 20-May-2020

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 made some decent progress with The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel this week. I’m still a ways from finishing it, but I’m happy with still moving forward with it.
I started Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich and I suspect this one will be a bit slow for me. It’s nonfiction and right before bed, that can put me to sleep pretty fast. I’m hoping to feel motivated to do some of the exercises and get to writing again. It would be great to feel like I accomplished that during this lockdown.
I began the audiobook for The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. I picked this one up as a physical book when I was visiting Atlanta but it seems I’ll get to the audiobook first. A lot of my books have fallen this way and I’m okay with that.

Recently finished: I was able to finish up White Oleander by Janet Fitch on Thursday. Finally! I liked the ending to this one, though it was pretty sad. It was a very different mother/daughter relationship than is usually portrayed in fiction and I liked that it was different, but it was still sad. I gave it Four out of Five Stars.
I flew through Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell and finished it on Saturday. It was a really fun ride and I enjoyed hearing about Simon and Baz and I’m looking forward to book three soon! I gave it Four out of Five Stars.

I posted my review of Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani on Thursday. It was a light, fun ride and I gave the book Three out of Five Stars.
After getting through The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzi Lee in one day, I posted a review on Monday and gave this one Four out of Five Stars. What a fun ride!

Reading Next: I’m going to pick up my book club selection next: Old Baggage by Lissa Evans. This one has some length to it so even with tri training, I probably will take at least a week to get through it.

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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.

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-May-2020

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 getting really close to finishing White Oleander by Janet Fitch! This book is taking me much longer than I would like so I’m really excited to finish it off. It’s a very sad story but very intriguing at the same time so I’m engrossed.
I made an effort to make more progress with The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel. I like this one, but the mystery is still a bit too shrouded for me to be completely engaged. I’m hoping to get more into it soon, though.
I’m loving some fun YA right now so I decided to keep it going and picked up Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell on audio. It’s been a while since I read the first in this series (Carry On) so it might take me a minute to pick up on the plot and characters again. However, the parallels to Harry Potter make it a bit easier to pick up on.

Recently finished: I sped through The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson. It wasn’t what I expected and it came across as a disappointment because of that. I wanted more about books and bookselling but that wasn’t the focus. It felt like a bait and switch so I ended up frustrated. I posted my review yesterday if you want to check that out. I gave it Three out of Five Stars, though I contemplated Two.
I got through Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani much faster than I expected to. It was a fun YA read and I enjoyed it well enough. It didn’t have much for me that was really a standout, though. I gave it Three out of Five Stars and I’ll have a review up tomorrow.
I had way too much fun listening to the short novella The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzi Lee. This is installment 1.5 in the Montegue Siblings series and I wanted to read it before I picked up the second which I’m sure I’ll do this summer.

I posted my review of The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David LagercrantzThanks for those who have commented about their opinion of Lagercrantz taking over the series. I’m still unsure if I think it was the best move but I’m glad I’m not the only one who has marked the difference.  I gave the book Three out of Five Stars.
I posted my review of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern on Monday and my final meeting with my reading buddy is tonight! I’m excited to see what she thought of the ending of the book. I finished it over a week ago so I hope my memory is sharp enough and my notes detailed enough to have a good discussion.

Reading Next: I’ll pick up Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich as a physical book very soon. I hope this can give me a little inspiration to read.
I’ll need another audiobook soon and I requested Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray but I’m not sure how quickly it will come in. Fingers crossed.
If that fails, I’ll likely start my next book club selection, Old Baggage by Lissa Evans. I don’t know anything about this one but I see that it’s pretty long so it will be a nice one to settle in with during my long training hours.

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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.

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!