WWW Wednesday | 17.12.14

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Miz B over at ShouldBeReading.  If you'd like to join in here is what you need to do - answer these three questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you just finish reading?
What are you going to read next?

Once you're done, go and visit everyone else who is participating - simple :)

What are you currently reading?

It's a Christmas tradition that I read this each year, my Poppa love Dickens, and when we visited there I would always go into the library and sit and read this and Cricket on the Hearth.  This December I'm going to try and tackle all of his Christmas short stories - wish me luck - I have set myself the TBR of death for December.

What did you just finish reading?

This was a particularly hard read for me, my mother had EOAD, so I was quite emotional reading this.  But what a book!  I really did enjoy this.  I love that it was from Alice's POV, often it is how family members cope with a loved one having Alzheimer's Disease   I know this is an upcoming movie starring Julienne Moore as Alice, which it's safe to say I will have to wait until it comes out on DVD to watch.

What are you going to read next?

I've had this at home for a little while and haven't had the time to read it, but hopefully this weekend I can make time.  The Christmas #booktubeathon is running again and there is also the #cramathon which is overlapping that.  Fingerscrossed - because I don't think I'll get much reading done once Christmas hits.

So that's my WWW, what is yours?  Leave me a link in the comments so I can come visit you and see what you've been reading :)

Until next time, happy reading :)

C.

Book Review | The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an enthralling read, despite the contents. I'm not much for novels of war, but O'Brian is able to write a beautiful, lyrical tale that I wanted to read.  I listened to this on audio read by the author and then reread stories in print that I particularly enjoyed.  For me this was the best way to consume this story, I could immerse myself in it.  Listening to it was like having O'Brien and his characters over for a Sunday afternoon session, talking crap and lamenting the bad old days.

This managed to grab me from the start and while these are essentially short stories, they come together to paint a picture of Alpha Company and their time in Vietnam.  The opening story 'The Things They Carried', just, I still can't, it was beautiful.

"They shared the weight of memory.  They took up what others could no longer bear...They carried the land itself - Vietnam, the place, the soil -  a powdery orange-red dust that covered their boots and fatigues and faces."

That's not to say I loved all of this, I was frustrated by the senseless violence, the apathy towards other people, animals, the war. And I don't necessarily think this answered my questions about why the war happened, maybe I need a straight non-fiction book to tell me that.  Then again, I'm not sure it's something I can truly understand - there are some things that you have to experience first hand to fully understand.  It's given me a lot to think about and I know on a reread I'll discover more.

It is books like this that make me thankful that I'm slogging my way through the 1001 list.  Well worth the read, so much so that I would like to add it to my collection.


View all my reviews

Until next time, happy Reading.

C.

Book Review | Hot Rebel by Lynn Raye Harris

Hot Rebel by Lynn Raye Harris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this ebook was provided for me via Netgalley for review - in exchange for an honest review.

I loved that there was a lot more action in this book, plenty of suspense to keep the story moving.  The action is fast paced and having it set in Afghanistan (I want to say Afghanistan) makes it relevant to now.  I'm by no means an authority of women in the military, but it's always refreshing to see - even if Victoria is on the wrong side of it at the moment.  She's a kick arse character that can take care of bid'ness.  She's strong and I think Harris does well to portray that and her loyalty to family.  She'd do anything for her sister, even to the point that she puts her own life on hold.

Even though I liked Victoria and Nick together, and their scenes together were well done, I felt that the love side of things was quite rushed.  I would've been happy for a HEA without declarations of love, but that's just me.  I could quite possibly be become a cynical old biddy in my old age ;)

Nick was everything I like from my heroes - smart sexy and not too in your face alpha - he wants to take care of Victoria, but he also knows that she can take care of herself.  And I like how this seems to be a consistent character trait for Harris' heroes.

Overall, this was another fun foray into the world of HOT and I'm looking forward to reading more from the series in the future.  Again, this could be read as a standalone novel, but why would you want to miss out on the HOT fun!


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Until next time, happy reading :)

C.