WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading.To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?
Anne Frasier – Hush (Kindle e-book)
This Kindle e-book caught my eye and I thought I’d give it a try. I’m so glad I did! I’m now half way through and it’s so exciting! The writing is excellent and the plotting is tight. I’d never even heard of this author before, but now I’ll be looking out for more of her work to snap up!

Jackson Pearce – Sisters Red (S)
This is one of the books I bought with some of my Xmas money and I’ve been dying to get to it. The cover first grabbed my attention and positive reviews from fellow bloggers have made this a must-read. I’ve only just started this, so no comment yet. I just hope my expectations aren’t unrealistically high!

What did you recently finish reading?
Frances Hodgson Burnett – Little Lord Fauntleroy (e-book)
Although I enjoyed the writing in this novel every bit as much as I did with The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, this story was a little more “goody-goody” than either of those. I think if I had actually known Little Lord Fauntleroy personally, he would have annoyed me intensely as he is just TOO good to be true. The story is also rather predictable so there were no actual surprises for me.

However, the writing is really excellent and it’s worth reading it just for the beautiful, flowing style as much as the sweet story. So, not quite as much of a favourite as the other two I’ve read, but still rather good.

Susan Hill – Howards End is on the Landing
I’d heard so many wonderful things about this book that I think I fell victim to the hype and wanted to like it so much more than I did. That’s not to say it’s not good – it IS good, just not as good as I’d hoped.

Howards End is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home is less a love letter to the books Susan Hill loves, and more a recounting of the many anecdotes she has of meeting and working with other writers, and their books which have subsequently helped shape her life, both personally and professionally.

It’s a little dry in places and, I confess, it did not actually inspire me to search for any of the books mentioned that I had not already read, but I did enjoy some of the little stories that were triggered by Hill wandering round her book-filled home and choosing to read only books she already owns for a year.

If we were all to follow her example, I’m sure everyone’s “Final Forty” would look very different. Certainly, there are not many books on which she settles that I would include in my own list, and there are many others I would insist upon that are omitted, but, as I’ve already intimated, everyone’s tastes are different.

This is an interesting read for anyone who loves books and, who knows, may lead to others discovering the joys of those tomes Hill pulled down from her own shelves.

Jonathan Pinnock – Mrs. Darcy Versus the Aliens
Not quite as clever as Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, nor quite as funny as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but still a fun read. Pinnock pits our beloved Elizabeth against invaders from another planet and, on the whole, it does well, but some of the pop-culture in-jokes will probably not age quite as well as the ones based on more classic areas. This really is a major mash-up, not just between Austen and aliens, but also time, as the Regency meets the Victorian age too.

If you’re a fan of mash-ups, especially of Austen-based ones, you’ll probably enjoy this. If not, then you’re probably best to steer clear, as you simply won’t get it.

What do you think you’ll read next?
Stuart MacBride – Birthdays for the Dead
Not set in Aberdeen and not about Logan McRae or any of this colleagues, but it’s by Stuart Macbride and that’s more than good enough for me! I love his books! I have this in hardback (to add to my permanent collection along with the rest of MacBride’s books) and it will be my bedside table book for now.

Charles Dickens – Great Expectations (Kindle e-book)
This one features on several of my reading challenges, so I thought I’d make a start. The only Dickens I’ve ever read before now is A Christmas Carol. I don’t know why I’ve put off reading more of his work for so long, but I hope to remedy that over the course of this year.