“They found him in a narrow alley, within smelling distance of the riverside wharves and the pestilential tenements that crowded them, with his throat slit from ear to ear. “
First line in Deeds of Men by Marie Brennan
Hi, guys. I hope you’re all doing well. WWW Wednesday is 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?
The Absolutist by John Boyne which I gave 4 stars. I really liked the ending to this despite having predicted some of it. There are so many books about the World Wars, but I still felt that this one brought something new that was equally heartwrenching. I have no particular reason for not giving it 5 stars other than it didn’t feel like a 5-star book to me. It wasn’t one I found myself thinking about when I wasn’t reading it, and I actually almost forgot that I had read it when I was writing this post. Why, I can’t say because I did really enjoy it.
I also read the Onyx Court novella Deeds of Men by Marie Brennan, which I didn’t rate. Generally, I’m not a big fan of mid-series novellas, but I guess this was one of the better ones. It did manage to have its own plot, although it was resolved rather quickly in the end if you ask me. It also gave me back one of my favorite characters in the series who I enjoyed getting some more information on. Still, the book didn’t tell me everything I wanted to know so finishing it left me with a bit of a disappointed feeling.
What are you currently reading?
I’m almost done with Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain, so I think I’ll be saving my thoughts on that for next week when I’m all done. It’s not that long a book, but non-fiction is just taking me a really long time to get through.
I had a dilemma last week because I didn’t know which book to start next, but then luckily, my library came in to save me by giving me Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater. It’s the second book in her Dreamer Trilogy, and I’m 36% into it. It’s fine but I have the same problem as with the first book: There are too many POV characters (five so far), and I only care about one. It makes it very hard to get invested in anything, especially because it’s already a very slow-moving book. It’s like it keeps promising me action but nothing actually happens.
What do you think you’ll read next?
Yes, I pushed my dilemma to this week, but now I actually know that I’m going to start A Star Shall Fall by Marie Brennan. I took a closer at what it was about and now I’m very intrigued.
First Line Reader 
Quiet really changed the way I look at my introversion! I need to reread it and tab my favourites parts. Looking forward to your thoughts on it!
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Yes, Quiet really is a book every introvert should read. It’s so eye-opening!
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What you said about The Absolutist is interesting – I also liked it a lot back when I read it, but have forgotten almost everything about it by now… Something about that book just defies being of five-star-worthy remembrance, I guess 😅 It’s very strange; I have such clear memories of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Crippen, so it can’t be John Boyne’s writing style 🤔
Your thoughts on Deeds of Men are also making me a bit apprehensive, but I’m still excited to get around to it eventually!! Or to get around to reading anything, really… When my exams are over tomorrow (and I’m hopefully out of the fevery haze my second covid has vaccine put me into 😅), the first thing I’m doing is getting back to A Little Life, which I’m loving so far! 🤗
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I’m actually really happy to hear you say that about The Absolutist because I was worried I might have been distracted while reading it and that’s why I don’t remember it. I was so sure I only had Deeds of Men to talk about 😅 Because I also remember every single thing that happened in The Heart’s Invisible Furies.
And yeah, I’m kind of conflicted on my feelings towards Deeds of Men, so I’m highly anticipating your thoughts 😊 But hearing you’re loving A Little Life is making me very happy! I was afraid it had defeated you already but good to hear that was just your exams 😉
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Enjoy your reading! I need to read Mister Impossible soon!
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