WWW Wednesday – February 17th, 2021

“Once I was young, and young forever and always, until I wasn’t.”

First line in Lost Boy by Christina Henry

Hi, guys. You might notice a few changes around here because I finally changed the look of my blog!! I’ve hated the old one almost since I created it, so I’ve been meaning to change it for a long time. I’m so glad to finally have a text-background that is actually white and not just pretending to be. It’s going to make everything easier for me, and hopefully also makes it easier for you to read. Organization-wise, everything is the same, but I wanted some new colors and images. I’m really not a graphic designer, so I’ve learned that I need it to be as simple as possible. I might still tweak a few things here and there, but let me know what you think of it.
But let’s get onto what we’re here for. WWW Wednesday a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words, and it’s meant to give you all a little insight into my reading this week. I’ll answer the 3 questions:

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

What did you recently finish?

I finished a total of three (!!) books this past week, so I’ll try to be brief about them, at least two of them.

I finished The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson, the final installment in The Remnant Chronicles,… and I gave it 1 star. That was one of the worst endings I’ve ever read, and I can’t believe I put myself through the torture of reading the entire book just for that. The trilogy ended up being more about relationship drama than any deeper message. There was so much underutilized potential, and I’m frustrated!

I also finished Othello by William Shakespeare, which I didn’t rate because I wouldn’t know how to do that. I did really like it though, and thought there were some important messages hidden among all the drama. And I loved that drama! I know it’s dealing with some serious topics and it’s all very tragic, but there’s just something about the theatrical delivery that makes me want to laugh. But still in way where I truly admire Shakespeare and his way with words, even though I haven’t read much from him yet. A specific line I couldn’t help but notice: “I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.” Somehow that doesn’t mean anything sexual according to the modern version I read alongside the original, but merely that he’ll do whatever he’s ordered to do. Just gotta say I appreciate the flair.

Lastly, I finished Lost Boy by Christina Henry, which I had a hard time rating but ended on 2.5 stars for this re-imagining of the origin story of Captain Hook . For most of the book I switched between being a bit indifferent to a bit intrigued and waited for that thing that was gonna get me hooked (pun intended). It never really came. However, the last third of the book showed some developments that I really didn’t care for, so that affected by overall enjoyment quite a lot. I’ll also say that the writing is very simple, maybe even too simple for my taste, so that also prevented me from being fully invested.

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What are you currently reading?

I’m only two chapters into The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix, but I’m already stressed! This is so fast-paced! I usually don’t like those kinds of beginnings to books because it’s all action from the get-go, but you still get bits and pieces of the world-building thrown at you randomly. None of it is explained properly because, you know, characters are about to be murdered. So not a great start, but I hope it settles down soon. It’s also my first book by Garth Nix, so I really don’t know what to expect.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m sticking with my goal to read some shorter books and picking up Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. It’s probably a bit out of my comfort zone as a contemporary romance, but a friend of mine really wants me to read it.