WWW Wednesdays
I prepared a whole video, and then, for whatever reason, I discovered that the audio and visual were not in sync, so here is a traditional post!
BOOKS JUST READ
click on the covers to know more about them
MYSTERY |
NONFICTION |
MYSTERY/AUDIO |
I have reviewed the first two:
Solving Cadence Moore
Elder Leonid of Optina
Avalanche Hôtel:
In 1980, Joshua wakes up in a hotel where he works as a security guard. He is interviewed by a cop about the disappearance of a girl. But he has a hard time remembering what he does there, where he is, and what really happened.
Then we jump to 2018. Joshua wakes up in the hospital after a period of coma due to an accident in an avalanche. During this coma, Joshua had vivid dreams, and he strongly believes his subconscious is trying to tell him something. His first step is to find that hotel, which has actually been abandoned for years. So what is really going on?
Who is he really? What was he doing in this dangerous place?
The book is set in Switzerland. I loved the atmosphere, with the abandoned hotel, and the way the author described the cold, the snow, and the spooky silence around. I hate snow and cold, but I have to say, it was so well done, I really could feel there!
I especially liked the constant shift between dream and reality. In Joshua’s mind, and for the reader.
There’s a lot in this book about memory, how it builds up on our past, and defines who we are.
The narrator was great for the suspense and atmosphere.
CURRENTLY READING
CHINESE SCIFI |
NONFICTION |
CLASSIC/AUDIO |
Supernova Era:
Received for review on BOOKishFirst
After 3 meh books, finally a great one!
A supernova exploded, and because of the heat and radiation, people’s chromosomes are damaged. Only kids 13 and under will heal and survive. So the adults have only 12 months at most to train the children how to do everything and run the world.
And what happens after is sociologically quite fascinating!
UPDATE: loved it, see my happy review!
Secret Agent Brainteasers:
Received for review
Interesting book: it’s indeed a collection of brainteasers – actually quite difficult, I don’t think I’ll manage to solve one.
But the book is much more than that. Each chapter starts by explaining the historical background of spies, highlighting one theme per chapter, and then the teasers of that chapter focus on that theme.
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes:
I had no idea this book was so hilarious, about the people’s reactions to this Scottish foreigner travelling with a donkey in the middle of nowhere in France.
Fascinating overview of the time.
BOOKS UP NEXT
CLASSIC |
FICTION |
MYST/AUDIO |
The synopses below are from Goodreads
On the Edge of the World
For Classics Spin #21.
“Based on a true story of an early Russian missionary bishop’s trip to Eastern Siberia. During his journey he learns through example and suffering that in indigenous peoples of all cultures there is dignity that must be recognized and built upon as a foundation for Christian conversion.”
If You Cross the River
Received for review
“From celebrated Belgian author Geneviève Damas, a modern fable about friendship, self-determination, and the power of words.
Illiterate, isolated, and held at arm’s length by a bitter father, François Sorrente has spent his seventeen years within narrow confines. By day he tends the family farm’s pigs; by night he manages the household chores. Still, François can’t help but wonder about the wider world and his place in it. Who was his mother, who he remembers not at all? And why is the opposite shore of the river, where his beloved older sister disappeared many years ago, forbidden to him?
The Archipelago of Another Life
I’ll listen to it in French, but it’s now available in English. I’ve been curious about this author.
“A tense “Siberian Western” set in the inhospitable, boundless Russia taiga at the height of the Cold War.
On the far eastern borders of the Soviet Union, in the sunset of Stalin’s reign, soldiers are training for a war that could end all wars, for in the atomic age man has sown the seeds of his own destruction.
Among them is Pavel Gartsev, a reservist. Orphaned, scarred by the last great war and unlucky in love, he is an instant victim for the apparatchiks and ambitious careerists who thrive within the Red Army’s ranks.
Assigned to a search party composed of regulars and reservists, charged with the recapture of an escaped prisoner from a nearby gulag, Gartsev finds himself one of an unlikely quintet of cynics, sadists and heroes, embarked on a challenging manhunt through the Siberian taiga.
But the fugitive, capable, cunning and evidently at home in the depths of these vast forests, proves no easy prey. As the pursuit goes on, and the pursuers are struck by a shattering discovery, Gartsev confronts both the worst within himself and the tantalising prospect of another, totally different life.”
GIVEAWAYS
There are several giveaways featured
on the homepage
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And I have books available for swap!
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WHAT ABOUT YOUR READING?
So many interesting reads that I haven’t heard of. I haven’t even heard of that Robert Louis Stevenson that you are currently reading. Love it! Here’s my WWW: https://greatmorrisonmigration.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/www-wednesdays-october-16-2019/
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I know, we often think he only wrote Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but he wrote so much more!
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Yeah…besides those two, I’ve only ever read Kidnapped. It would be nice to explore his other works a bit more.
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A lot of different genres for the same author
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Avalanche Hotel is perfect for my spooky-themed October! I love a good suspense story. Have a great week!
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If you read in French, that will work very well indeed!
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Alas, I cannot. I would love to learn but this might not be the best way to start.
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You know, French for reading is actually not that difficult. And I give online classes through skype if you are interested. Let me know
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I will! Thank you!
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Last book completed was A Passage to India by E M Forster; reading group discussion this coming Sunday. Currently reading The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden. Up next is A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, for another reading group; my pick. I await your review of the Cixin Liu book!
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Thanks for sharing. A Kind of Freedom seems an unusual background
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Avalanche Hotel sounds so interesting!
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I know, I wish it were available in English, soon hopefully
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I’m terrible at brainteasers as well, I’m glad I’m not the only one! lol
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well, I finally got into a more word based section yesterday, and 2 were easy for me
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Yay!
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Supernova Era sounds great (it has a terrifying premise).
Ronnie @ Paradise Found
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Just finished it yesterday, wow!! What a book. I hope to publish my review today or tomorrow
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Avalanche Hotel sounds like good fun.I much prefer reading about snow than being in it though (I am definitely a warm sunny day girl). I read Travels with A Donkey decades ago so have forgotten the details beyond the fact that it was funny in places
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I hate the cold and the snow, and usually stay away from them even in books, but it did work here!
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I can manage snow better in books than in real life because the fictional stuff never gets to that messy stage
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lol
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