WWW Wednesday #44

WWW-Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Samanneelizabeth, it’s all about, what we are: Currently, Just Finished and About to Read

Happy Wednesday everyone! I feel like we keep saying that it’s been a hectic week for us. BUT, it really has been and will continue to be until our self-hosted site is up and running in July. We are excited but there is much to do!

Much of the reading we’ve been doing lately are required readings for summer classes. Carmen has a majority of them already on her TBR list, while Sash, not so much. I think we’ve made some great progress in our required readings for summer classes and on our TBR list in general.

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Currently Reading

Sash

I am currently still reading The Bride Test (I know, I know) it’ll be on my list for a while. The only excuse I have is: I’m just not in the frame of mind to read it right now.

I have three more ghost stories to read in the Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories. This class is almost over and I can honestly say that I enjoyed it, and I didn’t really expect to.

To relieve the stress of required readings, I’m reading The Chase part of the Briar U series by Elle Kennedy. It’s an opposites attract book: Summer is portrayed as the rich-superficial-party-legs-for-days blonde with her own insecurities. She is hopelessly attracted to the broody gamer hockey player, oh and they just happen to be roommates. It’s a light stress-free read.

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Carmen

I am a bit behind Sash in my required readings for summer so I have only just started Slaughterhouse-Five.

I’m not a fan of Vonnegut as I discovered when I read Cat’s Cradle though so far I’m liking Slaughterhouse-Five better. It’s still absurd but I’m finding it’s not fragmented. Though maybe I’m just getting used to reading him.

Slaughterhouse-Five is on my TBR list so I’m glad that the class is making me read it because otherwise I probably never would have picked it up.

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Recently Read

Sash

Because Carmen and I are in the same class this summer so our readings overlap a tad. She’s only just starting whereas I have obviously finished.

Billy’s time-travel and interactions with the Tralfamadorians depict a man either struggling with PTSD or accepting/resigned to a predetermined fate, you decide.

If you’ve read Slaughterhouse-Five we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Carmen

I recently finished The Interesting Narrative by Equiano and am now in the process of writing a paper on it.

Equiano is a very compelling writer. I did wonder if perhaps some of his descriptions of slavery were edited for their graphic detail. But, despite this it is a detailed account of the conditions that faced Black people during that time.

If you’re looking for more diverse authors, I recommend Equiano, he’s not too dry, (at least the edition I read) and his writing style isn’t too confusing. 

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Reading Next?

Sash

Next up I need to read Orlando by Virginia Woolf as required reading for summer classes. I have no idea what I’ll be getting into but since its for Lit of the Fantastic, I’m sure there will be some fantastical element to it.

As a participant in Caribbean Heritage month hosted by Cozy Comfy Up and Book of Cinz, I will be reading Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender. Kacen crafts a story of a Black, queer, transgender looking for love. I’m quite excited for this book as I’ve read books with asexual, Aspergers and gay characters but not a transgender novel.

I’ve been diversifying my TBR list even more now and I can’t say I’m mad about it.

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Carmen

I also have to read Orlando by Virginia Woolf. This is required reading for our summer course: Literature of the Fantastic, but since I’ve read A Room of Her Own, and really enjoyed her message and her writing style, I’m pretty excited for this book. All I know is that it is a memoir of some kind. Has anyone read it? If you have, can they tell me what it’s like?

I am also required to read Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler for Travel Writing in English and have equally no idea what to expect. I have really enjoyed all of my other readings for this class so I think that bodes well for my enjoyment of this novel.

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If you’ve read any of the books we’ve mentioned for required readings for summer, please let us know what you thought of them in the comments

Happy Reading! See you all next week!

Books on Our Summer 2020 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday was an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week we will post our Top Ten of the selected theme.

This week’s theme is: Books on Our Summer TBR

I know, summer books to read should be more light-hearted, maybe a bit on the comedic or romantic side while we dream about our summer book boyfriends but sadly I do not have that luxury. Most of my Summer TBR is filled with required readings but I’ve tried to spice it up a little.

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein isn’t what anyone would deem a summer read, BUT, think about it, the dark, rainy, spooky elements of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is offset by the warmth and sunshine. Sounds like a pretty good combination to me, and a perfect summer read.

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Get a Life Chloe Brown
by Talia Hibbert

Of course, I need to mix up my summer reads with a bit more fun, it can’t all be school based. The premise of this romance and cover seem adorable. I actually bought this book at Christmas and it has been sitting on my shelf dying to be read. This seems more of a me summer read to me instead of Christmas, so it’s a perfect addition to my TBR list.

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Hemingway At War
by Terry Mort

I recently watched the movie Hemingway and Gellhorn with Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen and became very interested in both of their lives. This book just happened to be on sale. Plus there is something about the summer that screams biography for me, maybe it’s the ability to read poolside that even the driest books become entertaining. Either way, it’s a recommended book to read and movie to watch and I’m glad to finally get it off my to be read (TBR) list.

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A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M Miller Jr.

I was supposed to read this book for a class (Apocalyptic Science Fiction) but never got around to it. So I’m going to read it this summer. It’s a story about what we leave behind and how it is interpreted.

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The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
by Laurie R. King

This book was an assigned reading that was taken off the list. It’s about a retired Sherlock Holmes, who wouldn’t want to see what the great detective is up to in retirement.

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If it wasn’t for my required readings for school my Summer TBR would be a lot more exciting than it currently is. Probably a lot more colourful too.

Hopefully, you can recommend some great summer reads from your TBR lists so I can experience summer in the fall!

WWW Wednesday #42

WWW-Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Samanneelizabeth, it’s all about, what we are: Currently, Just Finished and About to Read

Things are still hectic around here for me. Required readings have been front and center and so I haven’t been able to read as much. I thought because of school I would have to put my TBR books to the side. Luckily, some of the books I have to read are on my TBR list, so win, win.
-Carmen

What are you currently reading?

So today actually, I started The Interesting Narrative by Olaudah Equiano. It’s required reading for my Travel Writing in English course, I’m only a tiny bit in but so far it’s very interesting. It’s the travel memoirs of Olaudah Equiano an African man from the 18th century who was captured and became a slave. I’m sure that it might be heavy especially considering what is going on in the world, but we can’t ignore his account. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

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What did you recently finish reading?

The last story I finished was “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, another required reading, this one for Literature of the Fantastic. This was a weird one. But fortunately, it was on my TBR list. Not to give too much away but a guy turns into a bug. I think this was on my list because it’s considered a classic, one of those books to read and so I did. 

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What do you think you’ll read next?

I know that I have to read Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. for Literature of the Fantastic. Another classic and another book on my TBR list. I’m not sure what this is about, but I’ve read his other book Cat’s Cradle and did not like it. Is this one the same? Tell me what you thought of it?

So, thats what I’ve been up to, what about you?