Good news/bad news this week. A few weeks ago, the slow season started at work so my hours got cut, which meant I had time to focus on my blog and reading a lot of my other blogging friends’ posts. Friday I got word that work would like me to increase my hours and then some starting this week, so that means less time hanging out in the blogosphere which is the bad news. But I have to remember how fortunate I am to have a job and a retired husband who can focus on the kids and all the school-related stuff that goes on during the day. And how as much as I enjoy blogging, it’s just a hobby that needs to be pushed aside when the real world comes calling.

But that didn’t stop me from putting together a WWW for this week! I still manage to carve out time for reading before bed every night, and I can listen to audiobooks at work.

The Three Ws are:

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

What are you currently reading?

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Amazon) I just started this book last night and I’m already half way through it. No wonder it was named Goodreads 2020 Fiction Book of the Year.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

I’m also starting Anxious People by Frederik Backman (Amazon). I picked this up from the library last week and am finally getting around to it after finishing the Amazing Cicely Tyson memoir Just As I Am (Amazon). So far I find all the people in it idiots, but realize that was probably done on purpose.

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix their own marriage. There’s a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

For Audiobooks, I’m listening to Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella (Amazon). I don’t believe I’ve read anything else by Kinsella, so I’m coming into this with open eyes and no expectations.

Call Ava romantic, but she thinks love should be found in the real world, not on apps that filter men by height, job, or astrological sign. She believes in feelings, not algorithms. So after a recent breakup and dating app debacle, she decides to put love on hold and escapes to a remote writers’ retreat in coastal Italy. She’s determined to finish writing the novel she’s been fantasizing about, even though it means leaving her close-knit group of friends and her precious dog, Harold, behind.

At the retreat, she’s not allowed to use her real name or reveal any personal information. When the neighboring martial arts retreat is canceled and a few of its attendees join their small writing community, Ava, now going by “Aria”. meets “Dutch”, a man who seems too good to be true. The two embark on a baggage-free, whirlwind love affair, cliff-jumping into gem-colored Mediterranean waters and exploring the splendor of the Italian coast. Things seem to be perfect for Aria and Dutch.  

But then their real identities – Ava and Matt – must return to London. As their fantasy starts to fade, they discover just how different their personal worlds are. From food choices to annoying habits to sauna etiquette…are they compatible in anything? And then there’s the prickly situation with Matt’s ex-girlfriend, who isn’t too eager to let him go. As one mishap follows another, it seems while they love each other, they just can’t love each other’s lives. Can they reconcile their differences to find one life together?

What did you recently finish reading?

Books I reviewed in the last week:

The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (Nancy Drew Mysteries #22) by Carolyn Keene

Under a Gilded Moon by Joy Jordan-Lake

Becoming by Michelle Obama

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop (Whistle Stop, AL #2) by Fannie Flagg

What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m finally getting around to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (Amazon) It seems every other person I know has read this book except me, so I’m curious. I actually had it checked out of the library twice but had so many books I didn’t get a chance to read it. Then I saw the Kindle edition for only $3.80 and figured what the heck and bought it.

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever―and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

I also plan to get to The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (Amazon) (AbeBooks) eventually. Also on tap is The Kennedys in the World: How Jack, Bobby, and Ted Remade America’s Empire (Amazon), an ARC I got from NetGalley. I’m about 25% done with it but put it aside when I picked up a ton of books from the library last week.

What are you reading? Do you have any recommendations? Drop your list in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!

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