Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
- What did you read last?
- What are you currently reading?
- What will you read next?
It’s been another slow reading week. I’ve been so exhausted lately and so it’s a bit of a struggle to read since I can’t focus on anything. 😅 Since last week I’ve managed to finish two books and thankfully, I loved both!
Until We Meet Again by Lily Kim Qian
The author’s experience growing up as a child moving from place to place was why I wanted to read this graphic novel memoir. It sounded quite similar to my own experience as a third culture kid! This goes deeper than that though, this explores mental health and growing up with a parent suffering from mental illness and cultural stigma around that. I got the impression this was written as part of the author’s healing journey and it I appreciated how gorgeously illustrated it was and the author’s willingness to be emotionally vulnerable.
10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak ★★★★½
While it may have taken me over a month to finish this—mostly because I found myself slipping into a weird headspace so I had to put it down for a while—I thought this was an excellent read. This was my first book by Elif Shafak but it won’t be my last. Her writing is poetic without being frilly, and evocative and deeply moving! There’s so much heart in this story about a group of misfits in Istanbul, and the city itself felt very much like a character of its own. It was moving, heartbreaking, and hopeful—I loved it!
Voidwalker (Beasts of the Void #1) by S. A. MacLean ★★★★½
This was a buddy read with Chris, but it was a re-read for him and a first time read for me! It was a bit of a rough start (the world-building was confusing) and I was on the fence about our main POV, Fionamara, but she steadily grew on me! Antal won me over from the start with his black cate vibes and it was honestly, kind of really adorable. I loved the cheeky banter, the found family vibes, and how this was about the underdogs overcoming. It was refreshing to read about two MCs who weren’t particularly heroic and who, quite frankly, hecked up often, lol. 😂 I loved them all the more for it and I’m keen to see where the story goes next!
Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Glenn Marsh, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Our Rogue Fates ↦ 52% ↦ I honestly requested this because of the cover 😂 But it’s blurbed by Sean Astin, and it is supposedly for the Sam/Frodo shippers. I’m not really reading with that in mind, but if I’m being honest, the only likeness I recognise is that one is dark-haired and the other is blonde, lol. Mal and Griff are interesting characters, but I think this could do with a a lot more editing. So many sentences are paragraphs long and there’s something about the writing that I can’t pinpoint, but isn’t entirely working for me. This is also much heavier on the romance than I expected, but I don’t mind the minimal world-building and I’m enjoying the ongoing adventure.
The Ministry of Time ↦ 13% ↦ I’m not sure how I feel about this one yet. This is my second attempt at reading it—the first time I just couldn’t absorb anything so I put it down for the moment. I’m having more success this time, but I’m still not sure if I’m really vibing with it. This is another case of something about the writing not working for me but I can’t say what it is! That said, Gore and his reactions to modern life have made me chuckle a time or two, so I guess you can he’s growing on me. I’m keen to read more!
What are you currently reading? I hope you’re enjoying whatever book you’ve picked up, friends!
dinipandareads 
I’m currently reading Grumpy Alien Boss by Cara Bristol
In the last week I read 🥁
1 Wake-up Calls by Mariah Stewart
2 Alien Tower by Honey Phillips
3 A Cruise to die for by Heather Graham
It’s been 10 years since I read a Heather Graham book and it will probably be another 10 years, assuming I live that long. The premise was good and I thought I’d give it a go, but it was very stilted, too many exclamation marks, and lots of typos. And a very mundane ending. I expected a more nuanced one.
Next up, not sure
Gill
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