Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: Hold on because I think things are about to get messy. I read just a small bit in Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier which is back to normal for me. I’m traveling the rest of this week which might give me a bit more time so I’m optimistic! Still on pause with The God of the Woods by Liz Moore while Reading Buddy moves. I’m happy for her but also excited to keep pushing forward with this one! Slow progress through La Novena Casa (Ninth House) by Leigh Bardugo. I’m not going to lie, the length of this one is intimidating! Especially in Spanish. I’ll keep moving, but it’s slow. I’m so close to finishing Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros- I’ll probably wrap it up today! I’m really loving this one and I’m so sad there’s nothing else published yet. I’ll be waiting impatiently for it. I started my next review book, Firecircle 5×5 Method: The Definitive Guide to Igniting and Transforming Your Tourism Business by Deneen Allen. I’m taking it on my trip and I think I’ll be able to finish it up. In an ideal world, I can get the review written and submitted before I get home! Fingers crossed.
Recently finished: Nothing new this week, shockingly. I guess that happens when you’re in the middle of so many books!
Reading next: I’m getting anxious about my next audiobook. I’m next in line for Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell so I’m praying that by some miracle it comes in before I finish Onyx Storm later today. I can only hope. There’s a backup plan if this doesn’t happen, but I am manifesting it’s delivery. I also hate to say it, but I’m going to get myself into another print book. La Novena Casa was too big for me to take on the plane (and I get really tired reading in Spanish for a long time). I have a copy of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin for my travels to give me something a little more ‘light’ to read while I’m moving around. I’m also planning to hit up a bookstore tomorrow night so this might change in a moment!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I’m happy to report I made some good progress in Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier for once! I read more than a chapter. I’m not sure this is sustainable, but I’m loving it! I’m paused with The God of the Woods by Liz Moore for a while. My Reading Buddy is moving so she doesn’t have a lot of time to read and I’ll wait for her to catch up so we can chat through it before we move on! I’m going slowly through La Novena Casa (Ninth House) by Leigh Bardugo. I find I do better at Spanish reads when I let myself pick them up and put them down a lot so I don’t burn out. A little counter intuitive, but it works for me. No shock, I started Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros yesterday after finishing the second book on Monday. I’m sad that I’m reaching the end! This has been a fun ride and I’ll join the hoards of fans eagerly awaiting book four. If it doesn’t come out early next year, I’ll start to wonder if this is George R.R. Martin all over again.
Recently finished: I wrapped up Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros on my way home from work on Monday and was yelling “WHAT?!?!” in my car as I pulled in the driveway. What a cliffhanger ending! I wrote my book review that night so I could keep my thoughts separate. That posted yesterday if you’d like to check out my thoughts. I gave it Four out of Five Stars.
All of my reviews are posted! I published my review of Women’s Hotel by Daniel Lavery on Thursday last week. It’s so wild to be caught up! This book wasn’t really for me and I ended up giving it Two out of Five Stars.
Reading next: I surprised myself by picking up another book for review! There aren’t often print books so I snap one up when I can. A little outside my wheelhouse, but I grabbed Firecircle 5×5 Method: The Definitive Guide to Igniting and Transforming Your Tourism Business by Deneen Allen. Do I have a tourism business? Nope. But I plan to learn about it! I’m looking forward to something very different.
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
I’m having a blast binge reading this series. It’s fun to jump right from one book to another. An unintended consequence here is I’m getting my reviews out almost immediately after finishing so I can separate my thoughts on the books. I’m starting this less than a half hour after finishing with the goal of having it written before I drive into work tomorrow and start book three!
Iron Flameby Rebecca Yarros (The Empyrean #2) Publication Date: November 2023 Length: 21 hours, 7 minutes on audio
Other books by Yarros reviewed on this blog: Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1)
Cover image via Amazon
This is only the first glimpse of the war and it is oh so satisfying. A twisting plot leaving the reader itching for more.
Summary from Amazon:
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College―Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.
Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.
Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits―and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.
But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.
Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College―and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
This had some awesome highs and some stretches where it felt a little repetitive. More highs, though. It felt like the book was pretty evenly split between the time Violet spends at Basgiath and the time after she leaves (trying to to give too much away in spoilers!). I was getting bored toward the end of her her time on campus- things were feeling repetitive and I couldn’t see how the plot was going anywhere. One thing Yarros has done well is whenever I feel that way, she throws a wrench in that has me screaming “NO WAY!” in my car while I listen. I wish she’d hurry the twists up just a bit so that moment of lingering is gone.
Most of the character development in this book was a logical continuation from the first and I appreciated that. The one thing that bothered me, though, was Xaden and Violet’s relationship. This is a complaint I have often in YA books so this is nothing new. Their relationship is so intensive and so all-consuming that I wonder if it’s healthy. I hope I don’t come off as un-romantic. I believe in love! I’m in love- but I’ve never loved my partner with the same aggression as Xaden. I think that in a first love, it does feel that primal and aggressive and the wartime setting can make things seem more immediate and pressing. However, I think all of that in a YA book is really unhelpful for young readers who are (intentionally or not) using these characters as a blueprint for their own romantic relationships.
The audiobook I listened to split this up into two files and it split the book really well into two distinct halves. I felt like the first half was a little more unnecessary than the second. This is a bit of a spoiler for half way through the book, so please skip ahead if you want to avoid that. Violet makes a very conscious decision to return to Basgiath to maintain the illusion that she doesn’t know about the wyvern but half way through the book, she abandons it so this effort feels very futile. It does allow for more of the cadets to eventually join her in Areita and for Sloane to be developed, but I think there are other ways Yarros could have incorporated this. The second half of the book was really fun and a drastic change from the first book. I thought the introduction of Cat and the other flyers was a great way of developing the world.
Rebecca Yarros. Image via Wikipedia
The limitations of the Continent were really well described and worked into this installment. I liked when the world itself made it hard for the characters to do what they wanted. The reasons Gryphons couldn’t come to Areita was really well explained and helped build tension in the book. Understanding the magic behind the wards became a great plot point and I loved how that understanding wove itself through the entire book. The limits of magic were really pushed in this book but it helped give a solid understanding of what it can do.
I listened to the Graphic Audio version again for Iron Flame and I’m growing to really enjoy it. Again, certain mature scenes are a little much to listen to if you think anyone else might overhear. I turned it off when I was waiting in the pharmacy drive through pick up because I would have been embarrassed if the pharmacy tech heard the part I was listening to! I’m looking forward to the third book with this same cast and I can only hope subsequent books have the same format available.
Violet is forced to sacrifice a lot in this book and find her own limits. I think this will continue in the next book given the ending we saw! She recognizes her limits and what she has to do if she wants to push past those limits. And sometimes she realizes that even her best isn’t good enough. I liked how Violet had to rely on others in this book. After having to fight her way through her first year, her second is learning when she can rely on others for help
Writer’s Takeaway: Yarros does a great job of dropping her big ‘plot bombs’ when she needs to. Her pacing is great at keeping the reader engaged and staying away from anything predictable. I appreciated how even when I thought I knew what was coming, I was always surprised and kept on the edge of my seat.
An enjoyable second installment that only minorly suffers from ‘middle book syndrome.’ Four out of Five Stars.
Read Alikes: Harry Potter series, A Song of Ice and Fire series, Divergent series
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
I love the story behind why I own this book. My husband took my oldest to a book store to find me a Christmas present. The oldest ran around the store, grabbing random books off the shelf and saying “Mommy loves ___ (image on cover), let’s get this one!” After my husband assured them I don’t love garden gnomes or soccer or Bluey, this book was grabbed off the shelf and with nothing to object to, it was purchased. I’ll keep it forever just to tell that story.
Women’s Hotel by Daniel Lavery Publication Date: September, 2025 Length: 272 pages in print
Other books by Lavery reviewed on this blog: Texts from Jane Eyre (published as Mallory Ortberg)
Cover image via Amazon
A series of absurd stories that highlight the levity of youth and the limited options for women in the 1960s.
Summary from Amazon:
The Biedermeier might be several rungs lower on the ladder than the real-life Barbizon, but its residents manage to occupy one another nonetheless. There’s Katherine, the first-floor manager, lightly cynical and more than lightly suggestible. There’s Lucianne, a workshy party girl caught between the love of comfort and an instinctive bridling at convention, Kitty the sponger, Ruth the failed hairdresser, and Pauline the typesetter. And there’s Stephen, the daytime elevator operator and part-time Cooper Union student.
The residents give up breakfast, juggle competing jobs at rival presses, abandon their children, get laid off from the telephone company, attempt to retrain as stenographers, all with the shared awareness that their days as an institution are numbered, and they’d better make the most of it while it lasts.
This is the first time I can remember thinking that I wish I knew more about this book before I started reading it. This might sound odd, but I didn’t realize it was a comedy. I was waiting for a plot and this book doesn’t really have one. It’s supposed to make you laugh, not take you along a character development journey. But as it bounced from character to character, sharing small stories of absurdity and comedy, I found myself frustrated. I finally saw this book included on a list of ‘funny books’ from my local Indy and realized I was supposed to be laughing! I picked it up again with that in mind and found I did enjoy it a lot more. I stopped thinking Ruth was going to have a major development to help me understand her absurd behavior. I forgot the notion that Katherine was going to make a major realization about her past. And I laughed. Not a lot, but some. And while that made it better, this still didn’t seem to be a novel- more like a collection of related stories about women with absurd behavior. I think it’s lack of direction made this book frustrating even when it was enjoyable.
The characters were absurd to the point of not being believable. It almost seemed like the author was making fun of how inept the women were and I think that’s part of what made it hard for me to see the book as funny at first. Katherine is the most mature of the women but she seems to be stuck with a hard lot because of this which makes her seem pitiable instead of comical. Lucianne comes off as hopelessly inept and unable to take care of herself and was the most frustrating character to me. She seemed unconcerned with her financial situation and took advantage of everyone who considered her a friend. The other characters didn’t seem to feature enough to be expected to have any development or arc and only served as comical additions. While some of them were funny, I would quickly forget their quirks and relevance while trying to remember everyone’s names.
Daniel Lavery. Image via the author’s Instagram
Nothing seemed to progress in the novel. The characters don’t seem to have moved too far from where they started and besides dropping breakfast, the hotel is unchanged as well. I wish we’d seen one of the major characters leave the hotel or the hotel close at the end of the book to show some movement, but there’s so little difference from beginning to end that this book doesn’t seem to be a novel by any definition.
I did appreciate the 1960s setting and the details from that time period that Lavery was able to impart. I’d never heard of a women’s hotel before and I think he described the need and operation really well. I can see how there was a market for the hotel and the types of people it would attract. The details about clothing and dining choices were really well done, too. I could picture the dining counters and the women in their styling hats. This is a time period I haven’t read much in so those details helped me picture it well.
Many of the women seemed stuck. They were in jobs that weren’t going anywhere and without a husband, they didn’t have anywhere else to go. These were women who didn’t want to be home, but didn’t have anywhere else to belong. They found a community where they belonged together and could support each other, but it felt like a dead end. There weren’t a ton of options for women in this time period. Josephine, the oldest resident, seemed to serve as a reminder of what a future would hold if the younger women didn’t get married. Her life was portrayed as lonely, sad, and desperate. This made me really grateful for the opportunities I have today and how the path that I chose of getting married was a choice and not the only option.
Writer’s Takeaway: This book didn’t work for me either as a comedy or as a novel. I had to be told it was funny before I found the humor and it didn’t have enough of an arc for me to feel it was a novel. Without succeeding in either place, I struggled to read it and put it down often. I’ve read and enjoyed humorous books (Jenny Lawson comes to mind) that weren’t novels. I’ve also enjoyed a lot of novels that weren’t funny. Missing out on both marks was a disappointment.
Moderately enjoyable and best approached as a series of short stories. Two out of Five Stars.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I haven’t made any progress in Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier again this week. I keep thinking about how I can carve out time for it, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. Reading Buddy and I met on Friday to talk about The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and I’ve already finished the next section we decided on. I’m flying through this one and I can’t wait until we meet again to keep it going! I immediately started Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros after finishing Fourth Wing. I’m about half way through. I’m looking forward to binging the series! This book will be on here a while. I started the Spanish translation of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, La Novena Casa. This is a thick book by any standards and I know I read much slower in Spanish. I suspect I’ll take a few pauses on it but I’ll keep pushing through!
Recently finished: I’m happy to have two books here this week! The first being, obviously, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I pushed myself to write the review immediately after finishing it so I could more easily separate my thoughts between the installments in the series. I asked AI how I could change my review format so this is also my first review in that new format. Please take a look and let me know how you like the new format! I gave the book Four out of Five Stars. I also wrapped up I Have a Love Story by Natalie MacMaster and submitted my review. This will probably be my last paid review for a while. There was an event going on that had a lot more physical books than the normal spread so it could be a while before I find another physical copy to review.
I’m really excited to say I am caught up on reviews! I posted three in this past week. The first was, as I mentioned above, for Fourth Wing. The next was Nice Girls Don’t Win by Parvati Shallow. It was a fun read for someone who is a fan of her, but it didn’t feel very complete. I gave it Three out of Five Stars. I also reviewed The Night Watch by Sarah Waters which was a Four Star review for me. I thought the way she paced the timeline in the book was awesome and really unique. It drew me in a lot!
Reading next: I don’t feel like I’ll finish another book in the next week. If I do, I’ll start Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros on audio. I’m seeing a bit of a trend in my books lately.
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
OK, I’m trying something new. I asked AI how I could optimize my review format and I’m going to incorporate some of those suggestions. Let me know what you think! I’m also jumping this review ahead because I want to immediately start the next in the series and I want my thoughts to have some clear separation. Back to the regularly scheduled programming soon!
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (The Empyrean #1) Publication Date: September 2024 Length: 18 hours and 32 minutes on audio
Cover image via Amazon
Violet’s struggle to find her own strength will push her to the edge. A sweeping fantasy about relationships and finding the truth.
Summary from Amazon:
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general―also known as her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter―like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
I can see why this is so popular. I kept being reminded of the Divergent series and that was a massive hit. The dragons were a bit reminiscent of A Song of Ice and Fire. It’s been a while since I read YA Fantasy and I’m remembering the draw of a world where there are so many possibilities- where we can change our fate and become someone else. This was fun- there’s no denying that. And you can bet I’m going to immediately jump into the second book followed by the third and ending with a period of frustration while I wait for further publications.
Yarros did well at assembling a cast of characters to see Violet through her first year. I was worried at times about there being too many people to keep track of, but she did well at narrowing down the ones to focus on to a manageable number. I’ll admit I had my doubts about Violet’s survival sounding plausible but the development she undergoes is well written. I believed that she came from a scrappy small recruit to a hardened rider. Her progression wasn’t easy or fast and she earned it. I did struggle with the feelings between Violet and Xaden, though. They seemed far too sudden and strong. I know part of that is just youthful lust, but it it was the one part of this book that dragged it down for me. It felt like the war and their romance were equally important in Violet’s mind which was very hard to understand given that one can kill you.
Rebecca Yarros. Image via Wikipedia
I had some Harry Potter and The Magicians call backs with the college setting. I think boarding school settings are used a lot in literature because they give young characters a huge amount of autonomy and put them in a very high pressure situation. It gives the plot a lot of structure with chances to educate the reader alongside the characters and a natural progression. It’s a little cheap, but it works well. It felt like the end took a very sudden turn away from the school structure so I’m interested to see where that goes in the second book. As I mentioned, the romance was a bit too strong for me. It was so clear this was going to have an ‘enemies to lovers’ trope almost immediately that I wasn’t fooled by the ‘Dain red herring’ for a second. It felt like Xaden’s personality was pushed to an extreme for the sake of the reversal plot and that rubbed me the wrong way just a bit.
I enjoyed the world Yarros built. I haven’t read Shadow and Bone but I watched the show and I got a similar feeling to that world where there are mortal enemies and government secrets abound. The relationship between the dragons and their riders was well developed and I liked the way it was completely fantastical but felt so real. It’s clear she put a lot of time into thinking through the geography of the world and giving it a history the developed the structure it now has.
I listened to a dramatized adaptation from Graphic Audio. It took some getting used to. It was obvious some descriptive lines were cut out and sound effects were used instead. For example, at one point there’s the sound of a bell and a character says “That means I have to go” (or something close to this, forgive me). So I assume in the text there’s a line about the sound of the bell, but nothing was said. This is considered and unabridged edition so I imagine I didn’t miss much, but it was different from what I’ve heard before. This was also full cast which was amazing. I think some dialogue tags were skipped because of the different voice actors. I sometimes struggled to hear non-essential dialogue as someone was coming or leaving the scene, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. I will saw that the intimate scenes took on a whole different tone with the sound effects! In the end, I liked it and I’m going to continue with the Graphic Audio versions for the next two books in the series.
This is a very classic coming of age tale and I’m all for it. Violet hasn’t thought for herself her whole life and when she’s pushed in a direction she doesn’t want, she makes space for herself there and thrives. If I was in high school, I would have devoured this in a day. It’s the kind of freedom and responsibility that late teens and young adults live for and it was a great ride.
Writer’s Takeaway: There’s a reason so many YA books have a school-like structure. It works and there’s no denying it. The trick is making it feel original. Yarros does well here in having the dragon bonding process be unique to her school even if it’s very reminiscent of Divergent in a lot of other ways. Finding something unique and focusing on it can be enough to avoid being compared to something more original.
A fun ride and I’ve fully jumped on board for the whole series. Four out of Five Stars.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
I’ve read a few Sarah Waters books and really liked them. I was surprised to be needing a WWII book for my challenge this year and I wanted something a little more off the popular path and dove into this one. It was hard to find a copy and I ended up buying the audiobook so I could listen to it during my commute.
Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked-out streets, illicit partying, and sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch tells the story of four Londoners—three women and a young man with a past—whose lives, and those of their friends and lovers, connect in tragedy, stunning surprise and exquisite turns, only to change irreversibly in the shadow of a grand historical event.
I didn’t know this book would have time shifts when I started it and I was so surprised by the first one! I liked how we get to know the characters and their interactions well before we’re completely shifted to a different time and arrangement. It was a great way to keep some mystery surrounding the people we were meeting and why certain folks were included. I loved the first big jump and learning more about how the characters got to where they were and how they’re all connected. My biggest complaint is that it felt a little slow at times. I had some problems with one of the characters as well, but I’ll get into that.
At first, I thought Kay was an odd character. I loved that as we went back in time and learned more about her, I understood her better and her actions made more sense. Helen had some odd moments as well but, again, the further I got into the story, the more her actions made sense. The characters got more detailed and richer with the format Waters used. The one character that seemed odd to me the whole time was Vivian. I could get my mind around her relationship with Duncan and her father, but I failed to understand what she was doing with Reggie. What a deplorable man! I was looking forward to finding out how their relationship started and nothing about what I learned made me like him at all. I lost all respect for Viv. She knowingly put herself in that relationship and chose to stay, ignoring every red flag there was. She could have easily stepped out but refused to. It was incredibly frustrating.
Duncan’s story was the most interesting to me. There was a lot of mystery around his relationship with Mr. Mundy and his time in jail, which shifted to mystery about why he was in jail at all. I thought Waters did a great job of keeping me guessing about his story until the very end. I was super surprised with the final reveal!
I thought I’d find a character to relate to in the story, but I didn’t. I think there were emotions each of them went through that I related to at a high level, but there wasn’t a single character I connected with more than the others. The backdrop of the war made it feel even more inaccessible. The bombing in London is such a unique and horrible time in history and it’s hard to imagine living through that onslaught.
Sarah Waters Image via Goodreads
I loved how Waters wove the characters together. Each time jump was a chance to see what other arrangement of relationships the characters could create to bump into each other. It was fun to see how folks were paired off and I looked forward to seeing how they would meet someone else that set them up for the section we had just read.
We see a lot of changing and shifting in the characters, but Vivian didn’t feel to me like she was much different in the three time periods. Going back in time gave us more of her story, but it didn’t feel to me like it showed any change or growth, just more of the unnecessary suffering she put herself through. I had some empathy for her after her ‘middle’ story, but it put her situation after the war in a worse light. We invested so much time in her that I hoped her final story (first chronologically, last in the book) would redeem her situation but I don’t feel like it did.
The audiobook was narrated by Juanita McMahon. Her narration didn’t move me much one way or the other. Her voice for Duncan seemed a little whiney, but with what we learn about him, it didn’t seem out of character. Her voice for Reggie might have made me hate him even more. Her female voices didn’t seem starkly differentiated.
We’re all shaped by events in our past and Waters takes a great look at the events that shaped a handful of interconnected people. I liked how she showed us who they were before, during, and after the Blitz. The event itself made a massive impact on London and its inhabitants. It was great to see that layered with the massive impacts the characters made on each other. It left you questioning if interpersonal relationships or international politics shook their lives more.
Writer’s Takeaway: I like how Waters played with time in this story. She refused to info dump anything that wasn’t relevant to the current plotline and she didn’t flashback to anything that was referenced. I liked how it created a lot of mystery. I was almost at the point of tearing my hair out to find out what had happened to Duncan! The jumps in time were so satisfying because the answered so many questions but at the same time created new ones. I don’t see this type of plotting much and it was really enjoyable.
A fun ride and a different side of World War II. Four out of Five Stars.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
I’m a big Survivor fan. I’ve seen every episode of every season and Parvati Shallow is a legend of the game. I was looking for something to get me pumped about Season 50 before it premiered and a contestant memoir seemed like the perfect pick-me-up.
At twenty-five years old, Parvati Shallow was plunged into fame and fortune after becoming the million-dollar winner of the reality television series Survivor. But despite her success, the ghosts of her traumatic past, coupled with the harsh glare of the public eye, kept her locked in a survival cycle of fear and shame that sabotaged her self-confidence and eroded her self-trust. It wasn’t until a series of painful life events, including the death of her younger brother and a challenging divorce, that she found herself on a path of healing that would awaken her true power and reset the course of her life.
In Nice Girls Don’t Win, Shallow shares the stories that allowed her to transform her most difficult moments into potent catalysts for empowerment. From her childhood growing up in a Florida commune run by a tyrannical female guru, to her journey out of the South and into the L.A. casting rooms that would eventually drop her in the lush but brutal landscapes of Survivor, Shallow shows readers what it took to build herself into the ultimate survivor—for better and, more often, for worse. She then reveals what it took to rebuild herself into something much greater.
I had some expectations going into this book and in a way those were met, but in other ways I was disappointed. I wanted more about her time on Survivor and that was the biggest gap I had with this book. Survivor put Parv on the map and while she talked a bit about her times on the show, it wasn’t a major focus. I was also curious to learn more about her life before she became a Survivor icon and in that sense I was hugely satisfied. I wasn’t anticipating so much about her time after Survivor, but that’s on me. She was on the show so long ago that I should have suspected the time since would be part of a recently released memoir. I appreciated the perspective she has since her time on the show and I’m honestly looking forward to seeing her in a few other things I plan to watch.
Besides herself, the only person who is well developed in the book is her ex-husband, John. I don’t remember much about him from his season on Survivor. (If you watch, he was on Russel’s season so everyone else just kind of disappeared in my memory.) This is the second book I’ve read recently where someone wrote extensively about a relationship that ended. I think it’s hard to take what’s said about the person at face value. Ultimately, this is a relationship that ended and there was likely a lot of finger pointing about who should take responsibility. In writing her book, Shallow is giving her side which will, understandably, show her in a positive light. How much John is ultimately responsible isn’t something I’m going to pass judgement on.
Parvati takes center stage in this memoir and it was fun to see her grow and change. She’s appeared on US Survivor three times and I liked seeing how she told her story about how she was growing and changing between those public appearances. Since I watched all three of her seasons in a short time and not as they came out, I felt like she grew up very quickly but I can see from this story that it was a long and complicated process. I think she’s very brave to live in such a public eye and I have a lot of respect for what she’s done.
There wasn’t a lot in Parvati’s story that I could relate to. Her childhood was overshadowed by the cult her parents were a part of and her adult life has been lived in a very public eye- two things I’m happy to say I haven’t experienced. I admire the community of strong women she’s built around herself, but it’s not something I’ve been able to do for myself. One of the things I like about memoirs is getting to explore something so different from my own life and in that sense, this book delivered.
Parvati Shallow. Image via Wikipedia
I watched Shallow most recently on the second season of The Traitors and I enjoyed her discussion of that appearance and how stressful it was for her. I could tell that the different game format was a completely different approach for her and I’m glad she discussed that. I enjoy watching shows like The Traitors and The Challenge that have Survivor players who have to adapt to different challenges. It’s fun to see who thrives and who burns up fast.
I thought the end of the book was a bit of a disappointment. One of the hard things about writing a memoir is knowing when to end it. Most memoirs are written a while past when someone becomes famous and covering that time between when they become known and when they become who they are when writing is tricky. There wasn’t a lot in Shallow’s recent life that felt related to the earlier parts of her story. It felt like she’d taken a sharp left turn to get to a new place and then wrote the book. She didn’t have a lot of time in her life that she’d been in this new place so there wasn’t much reflection that helped relate it back to where she’d been before. It felt like an odd place to leave off after what I’d read up until that point.
Shallow narrated the audiobook which I think is always the right call with a memoir. The passions someone gives their own story are just so much stronger than what anyone else would give it. Shallow has a great way of using her voice to inject playfulness and she was able to display that well in this recording. I’m not sure she could narrate any other book, but she was the perfect choice to do her own audiobook.
Parvati put a lot of herself into the public eye and it’s easy to see why it’s hard to live with that. She’s found a way to feel strong and at peace and I applaud her for that. It hasn’t been an easy journey and she showed a lot of the turbulence along the way in this book. I applaud her for finding her power and focus again after being pushed around so much.
Writer’s Takeaway: This book made me think about memoir a lot more. Is there a right time for a celebrity memoir? At the peak of fame can serve some purpose, giving a backstory as to how the person arrived where they are. In old age or retirement is another option, being able to look at the full journey. But there are misses with both of these. With the first, a miss of what comes while the person is still in the limelight. With the later, a miss of interest as someone might fade into obscurity. But finding the perfect middle ground is a guess. I think Shallow took a good guess based on her continued appearances on reality competition shows. It felt to me like there was more to her current chapter in life and I wish she’d waited just a bit longer to be able to close it before writing this book.
An enjoyable read for a big Survivor fan like me. Three out of Five Stars
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I found a little time to read Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier so I’m moving forward, but at a snail’s pace. This is pretty typical for me with ebooks so I’m not worried about it. I’m just glad I got a bit in! Ready Buddy and I are meeting on Friday to talk about The God of the Woods by Liz Moore so I’ll dive into the next section of this soon and keep moving! I’m itching to know what happens. I thought I would have finished Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros by now, but a sick kiddo has left me working from home with no commute to help knock it out. I’m sure I’ll have it done by next week, though! I’m working through my review copy of I Have a Love Story by Natalie MacMaster and hope to have it finished next week. It’s a fun mix of memoir and a coffee table book and I’m learning a lot about a type of music I knew nothing about. This might be my last review book for a bit (depending on availability) so I’m soaking it in.
Recently finished: I finally wrapped up Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery! For such a short book, it took me a long time. It was one I didn’t mind setting aside to focus on other things and I let myself take on a lot of review books that kept kicking it down the road. Once I realized it was a comedy, I could enjoy it a bit more but it still wasn’t for me. I gave it Two out of Five Stars. I’ll get a review together for this one in a while as I’m slowly taking down my backlog.
Speaking of reviews, I posted my review for Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus on Thursday. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while and I gave it a full Five out of Five Stars.
Reading next: I’m going to do something I haven’t done in a while. I’ve decided to binge a series. I think the last time I did this was the Divergent books which I read in 2014. It’s time for another binge! So I’ll jump right into Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros on audio when I finish the first book. I’m going to do the dramatic reading again now that I’m finally getting used to the sound effects and voice actors.
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
This book was recommended to me by both my mom and AI when I asked for book recommendations. So I’m hearing that my mom knows me as well as AI. Hm. Anyway. I found a copy of it on the book exchange shelf at my resort on vacation and it seemed like a sign to pick it up and get started. Suffice it to say, I’ve asked both my mom and AI for some more suggestions as this was a huge hit.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
I’m usually frustrated by stories of women in history who have very modern mentalities. But I’m forgiving here because Elizabeth’s ‘ahead of it’s time’ mentality is on full display in this story and it’s the very focus of most of the tension. She actively fights back against the position women are given in her time and breaks out of that mold at every opportunity. Her story is more of a way to see what a modern woman would be like in the 60s and the chaos that it would have caused. The comedy was in the reactions Elizabeth elicited and the horror some felt when others were bold enough to do the same.
The characters in this book weren’t very believable and that’s what made them funny. This book was a comedy, among other things, and I enjoyed laughing at the way the characters behaved. Mad and Elizabeth are very academic in a time when that wasn’t what women were ‘supposed’ to be. They fight, over and over, for a chance to do what they want and behave how they want. It’s a strong reminder of how society has shifted and how differently women are perceived now.
Elizabeth was a delight and I really enjoyed reading about her. I adored her intellectual relationship with Calvin and how she both met and betrayed every ideal he had of a partner. I loved the way she raised Mad the way she wanted to and never changed her fierce dedication to her daughter despite the reactions she got. She was an amazing mom and a woman any woman would root for.
I think most women can think of a time they felt they were being treated differently because of their gender. Elizabeth’s life was full of these moments and some of them hit home with me. I’m sure the other moments would hit home with a different reader given their lived experience. Garmus did an amazing job of looking at the ways society has shifted in regards to women and poking at the ways it hasn’t changed at all. It helped me feel a lot of connection with women of the time period and also see where I could still make change.
Bonnie Garmus. Image via Wikipedia
I really connected with Elizabeth’s passion for rowing. I’m a swimmer, another highly cardiovascular sport, and I saw a lot of similarities in the culture surrounding her rowing club and the difficulties she had getting into the sport. I thought it was wonderful how fully she threw herself into the sport and the benefits she got from being involved. A woman involved in sports was one of her many radical choices, but its easy to see now how beneficial it was and we know today how great it is for women to be involved in sports. I’m glad this part was included.
There wasn’t much I disliked about this book, but there was one part that made me roll my eyes. I had just finished reading It Ends With Us when I read this book and that made it two books in a row that the main female character ends up pregnant when they don’t want to be. It seems to be a very popular mechanic in writing that characters are very fertile at the exact wrong moment! I read another book after this where it happened, too. A coincidence, maybe, but a frustrating run of very fertile women.
Elizabeth fights for almost everything in her life and the story highlights her struggles. But it does so with humor. Elizabeth isn’t a woman who rolls over and gives up when things get hard. She fights back. She doesn’t let her gender hold her back and she refuses to let arbitrary limits put a stop to her or her daughter. She’s brave and bold and she inspires others. I think she’s a great reminder to continue to fight today for a better tomorrow for women and girls.
Writer’s Takeaway: Garmus didn’t hold back on technical know-how and jargon, the same way Elizabeth didn’t hold back on her show. I loved how this challenged the readers (as the fictional viewers were challenged) to learn a few things. I had to remember that sodium chloride is salt and I learned about the reactions taking place as I cooked. I think often a fiction writer feels the need to overexplain something or to put it in terms that the most uninformed reader could understand. But Garmus didn’t do this. I appreciated the challenge and the trust that I could figure it out.
This was one of the best books I’ve read this year by far. Five out of Five Stars.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
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