WWW Wednesday 28-Oct-2020

Hi there, Homo sapiens! Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, hosted by Sam from Taking On A World of Words.

As usual, just answer the three W questions:

1. What did you recently finish reading?
2. What are you currently reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Recently Finished

As I have mentioned last week, I find The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue a bit slow for my taste but I must say, I’m glad I didn’t abandon it. I enjoyed the last third of the book so much so I’m giving it 4-stars. I also read Pigeons from Hell, a short story and it was a good one, too, so another 4-star read.

Currently Reading

Both What the Wind Knows and The Turn of the Key are interesting reads, so far, so I hope to enjoy it to the end. I thought I could finish them quite quickly but there’s just too much work to be done these days so I have less time for my reading.

Up Next

I hope to start with The Ten Thousand Doors of January soon which I have been wanting to read for some time now. The Year of the Witching was a recommendation, while Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was an unexpected find.

Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading this past week? I’d be delighted if you share your WWWs, too. Leave a link or share your lists on the comments section so I can check them all out!

Happy reading and keep safe, Homo sapiens!

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Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

Thunder Cake is one of the many children’s books written by Patricia Polacco. I have read some of her works as a child but not this one. I actually just came across the title while reading Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.

This is a cute book about a little girl afraid of thunder and how her grandmother, babushka, helped her overcome her fear by teaching her how to make a thunder cake. Oh! The power of distraction! 

Patricia Polacco writes stories from her childhood and it’s nice how every story can touch your heart. This was a wonderful story. I liked how the grandmother showed her granddaughter how brave she is and how brave she can be. It’s a very nice lesson to kids how to deal with things that they are afraid of by taking action.

The bonus? The thunder cake recipe is included and I should try it one of these days.

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

This is my first book from Philippa Gregory. I have been wanting to read her books as I’m very much interested with the life and history of the royals and this was really a good start.

The Constant Princess is the story of Catalina of Aragon, the Infanta of Spain, daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, raised to become the Princess of Wales and future Queen of England. She and Arthur, the Prince of Wales, married at a very young age but they truly loved each other. It was just very unfortunate that Arthur died just merely five months of marriage because of “sweating sickness.”

Catalina was then left with nothing and ignored by Arthur’s family but she stayed strong and tough and determined to take control of her life and soon married Arthur’s brother, Tudor King Henry VIII. Catalina prepared herself to become the queen of England all her life but found herself unprepared for the physical and emotional aspects her new life requires of her.

I personally found this book very interesting because I like and admire Katharine most among the wives/women of King Henry VIII. I admire how she was able to manipulate Henry in their early years of marriage as to how and what she thinks is best for England. All through her years of trials and hardships, it is indeed commendable how she remained constant with her desire to make England a better and stronger country and how constant she remained faithful to God.

This is a very good read where history comes alive.

Quotable Quotes:

“You have to have faith that you are doing God’s will. Sometimes you will not understand. Sometimes you will doubt. But if you are doing God’s will, you can’t be wrong, you can’t go wrong.”

“He may well speak French and Latin and half a dozen languages, but since he has nothing to say – what good are they?”

“Words have weight, something once said cannot be unsaid. Meaning is like a stone dropped into a pool; the ripples will spread and you cannot know what back they wash against.”

“God does not make the way smooth for those He loves. He sends hardships to try them. Those that God loves the best are those who suffer the worst.”

“Then life taught me a harder lesson, beloved: it is better to forgive an enemy than destroy him.”

Rating: 4/5 stars

Quote of the Week

It’s amazing how a little tomorrow can make up for a whole lot of yesterday.

~John Guare

A Six-Word Story

Someday I’ll wake up beside you.

WWW Wednesday 21-Oct-2020

Hi there, Homo sapiens! Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, hosted by Sam from Taking On A World of Words.

As usual, just answer the three W questions:

1. What did you recently finish reading?
2. What are you currently reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Recently Finished

The Deal of a Lifetime was a really quick read but moving in many ways, 4-stars.

Sadly, I didn’t find The Makioka Sisters as engrossing as I hoped it to be but I’m still giving it 3.5 stars.

And 3-stars for My Cousin Rachel. I think I was expecting more from it because I very much enjoyed Rebecca but still, I consider it a good read.

Currently Reading

I have read 30% or so of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and I’m finding it a bit slow-paced for my taste and I’m starting to lose interest but I’ll try to continue with a few more chapters and see whether I’ll read through the end or abandon it instead. 

Up Next

What the Wind Knows piqued my interest by the title itself so I didn’t have second thoughts getting a copy while The Ten Thousand Doors of January has been on my TBR for months so I hope to start with it as well. The Turn of the Key was a recommendation from a good friend so I hope to get to it this month.

Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading this past week? I’d be delighted if you share your WWWs, too. Leave a link or share your lists on the comments section so I can check them all out!

Happy reading and keep safe, Homo sapiens!

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

This is Going to Hurt is not the type of book I’d pick up in a bookstore even if it’s on sale. A non-fiction book written by an ex-doctor about things that happen in the medical field? It’s a no-no. But when a friend recommends a book to me, I am always inclined to check it out and I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

This was a funny, witty, entertaining, highly informative, humane and heartbreaking read. Adam Kay shared first-hand account of what pressures doctors face at work every single day as they  struggle to maintain healthy and happy lives with their families and friends.

I get to laugh out loud as I read about the author’s silly/ridiculous stories and wonder what on earth these patients were thinking? Until he revealed the episode in the final chapter why he decided to hang up the stethoscope in the end.

If you are curious about what it’s like to be starting a career as a doctor and how they progress in the public healthcare system, this book will not disappoint.

Quotable Quotes:

“It’s sink or swim and you have to learn how to swim because otherwise a ton of patients sink with you.”

“A great doctor must have a huge heart and a distended aorta through which pumps a vast lake of compassion and human kindness.”

“You work yourself to Exhaustion, pushing yourself beyond what could be reasonably expected from you and end up constantly feeling that you don’t know what you’re doing. Sometimes it just feels that way and you’re actually doing fine and sometimes you really don’t know.”

“From the most insignificant of actions can come the most serious of consequences.”

“The depth of the lows is the price you pay for the height of the highs.”

Rating: 4/5 stars

Quote of the Week

Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey.

~Roy T. Bennett

A Six-Word Story

He did not love her enough.

WWW Wednesday 14-Oct-2020

Hi there, Homo sapiens! Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, hosted by Sam from Taking On A World of Words.

As usual, just answer the three W questions:

1. What did you recently finish reading?
2. What are you currently reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Recently Finished

All three books I’ve finished were firsts for me from these authors.

I’m giving Apeirogon 4-stars, a great blend of fact and fiction.

While I’m giving 3.5 stars for both The Death of Vivek Oji and Mexican Gothic.

Currently Reading

I’m halfway through The Makioka Sisters and I hope to finish it before the weekend.

I’ve also started reading The Deal of a Lifetime from one of my favorite authors, Fredrik Backman.

Up Next

These three books I hope to read next were recommendations from fellow readers so I am really enthusiastic getting my hands on these ones.

Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading this past week? I’d be delighted if you share your WWWs, too. Leave a link or share your lists on the comments section so I can check them all out!

Happy reading and keep safe, Homo sapiens!

The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz

I have never heard of Bruno Schulz until I came across this book while browsing the internet during my lunch break. Schulz, as I came to know, was a Polish-Jewish writer and some of his works were lost during the Holocaust. He was killed by a German Nazi in 1942.

The Street of Crocodiles is a collection of short stories centered on Schulz childhood. Stories pre-World War 2 in Poland. It was a fun and at the same time strange read. There were times I found it hard to understand what exactly was going on but it didn’t matter. This is definitely on my list of books to reread.

This is a unique book, as unique as Schulz prose and writing style. Some themes hidden through these stories are finding one’s own purpose, lust and love. I may not be smart enough to understand everything he wrote in this tiny jewel, but it was definitely worth my time and worth reading again.

Quotable Quotes:

“Reality is as thin as paper, and betrays with all its cracks its imitative character.”

“It is strange how interiors reflect their dark turbulent past, how in their stillness bygone history tries to be reenacted, how the same situations repeat themselves with infinite variations, turned upside down and inside out by fruitless dialectic of wallpapers and hangings”

“The days hardened with cold and boredom like last year’s loaves of bread. One began to cut them with blunt knives without appetite, with a lazy indifference.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Quote of the Week

Close some doors today. Not because of pride, incapacity, or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.

~Paulo Coelho

A Six-Word Story

It’s never too late to change.

WWW Wednesday 07-Oct-2020

Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, hosted by Sam from Taking On A World of Words.

As usual, just answer the three W questions:

1. What did you recently finish reading?
2. What are you currently reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Recently Finished

Currently Reading

Up Next

Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading this past week? I’d be delighted if you share your WWWs, too. Leave a link or share your lists on the comments section so I can check them all out!

Happy reading and keep safe, Homo sapiens!

Quote of the Week

Sometimes the smallest things take the most room in your heart.

~Winnie the Pooh

White Fang by Jack London

My first Jack London read was The Call of the Wild and I absolutely enjoyed it so I didn’t have second thoughts reading another of his works and this time, White Fang.

White Fang is a story of an extra ordinary wolf, a well-developed character for a wolf. We follow his adventures as he makes friends and enemies along the way. It’s intriguing how a wolf deals with such horrible conditions in the wild like brutality, abuse and famine to name a few.

The story started somewhat slow, it took some time before getting into the exciting parts of the story but the author is definitely skilled to keep you reading and convincingly get you into a wolf’s point of view. The story eventually became thrilling, suspenseful and enjoyable. I’m glad it had a happy ending.

Quotable Quotes:

“He was a silent fury who no torment could tame.”

“Fear urged him to go back, but growth drove him on.”

“The Wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept.”

“He had no conscious knowledge of death, but like every animal of the Wild, he possessed the instinct of death. To him it stood as the greatest of hurts. It was the very essence of the unknown; it was the sum of the terrors of the unknown, the one culminating and unthinkable catastrophe that could happen to him, about which he knew nothing and about which he feared everything.”

“But the Wild is the Wild, and motherhood is motherhood, at all times fiercely protective whether in the Wild or out of it.

Rating: 4/5 stars

A Six-Word Story

Miss having you here beside me.