WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.
The three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
A similar meme is run by Lipsyy Lost and Found where bloggers share This Week in Books #TWiB.
What I’m reading now:
The Wacky Man by Lyn G. Farrell
I was thrilled when the publisher of this book contacted me to ask if I’d like a copy to review for the blog tour as I’d already seen it reviewed on a couple of blogs and knew it was a book I simply had to read. I’ve read about half of it already and while it’s a tough subject matter, it’s brilliantly written. I’ll be sharing my review on Saturday.
Synopsis:
My new shrink asks me, ‘What things do you remember about being very young?’
It’s like looking into a murky river, I say. Memories flash near the surface like fish coming up for flies. The past peeps out, startles me, and then is gone…
Amanda secludes herself in her bedroom, no longer willing to face the outside world. Gradually, she pieces together the story of her life: her brothers have had to abandon her, her mother scarcely talks to her, and the Wacky Man could return any day to burn the house down. Just like he promised.
As her family disintegrates, Amanda hopes for a better future, a way out from the violence and fear that has consumed her childhood. But can she cling to her sanity, before insanity itself is her only means of escape?
This Secret We’re Keeping by Rebecca Done
I’ve had a review copy of this book for a little while and I’ve been so keen to start reading but had other books I needed to read first. I’m so pleased to finally get to it though and it’s worth the wait. I’ve only read a few chapters so far but it’s a good read that raises some very interesting questions.
Synopsis:
A pupil and a teacher. Is it ever right to break the rules?
Jessica Hart has never forgotten Matthew Landley.
After all, he was her first love when she was fifteen years old. But he was also her school maths teacher, and their forbidden affair ended in scandal with his arrest and imprisonment.
Now, seventeen years later, Matthew returns to Norfolk, with a new identity and a long-term girlfriend and a young daughter, who know nothing of what happened before. Yet when he runs into Jessica, neither of them can ignore the emotional ties that bind them together.
With so many secrets to keep hidden, how long can Jessica and Matthew avoid the dark mistakes of their past imploding in the present?
From debut author Rebecca Done, This Secret We’re Keeping is a powerful and provocative novel about the ties which can keep us together – or tear us apart.
The Children Act by Ian McEwan
This is a short read but a very dense one so it’s taking me a little while to read it. It’s a very good read though, one that really makes you think about legality versus morality in cases involving children.
Synopsis:
Fiona Maye, a leading High Court judge, renowned for her fierce intelligence and sensitivity is called on to try an urgent case. For religious reasons, a seventeen-year-old boy is refusing the medical treatment that could save his life. Time is running out.
She visits the boy in hospital – an encounter which stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. But it is Fiona who must ultimately decide whether he lives or dies and her judgement will have momentous consequences for them both.
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
This book is brilliant, the writing is incredible and I’m enjoying it very much. It’s taking me a while to read purely because it’s a hardback copy and typically my condition has flared up and holding a print book isn’t an easy feat at the moment. I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book though, you won’t regret it.
Synopsis:
When war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up.
Tom Shaw decides to give it a miss – until his flatmate Alistair unexpectedly enlists, and the conflict can no longer be avoided.
Young, bright and brave, Mary is certain she’d be a marvelous spy. When she is – bewilderingly – made a teacher, she instead finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget.
Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary.
And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams.
In a powerful combination of both humour and heartbreak, this dazzling novel weaves little-known history, and a perfect love story, through the vast sweep of the Second World War – daring us to understand that, against the great theatre of world events, it is the intimate losses, the small battles, the daily human triumphs, that change us most.
What I recently finished reading:
The Midnight Watch by David Dyer
I finished reading this book really late last night, and felt quite bereft on finishing it. It’s such a brilliant book – it’s harrowing at times but it’s so well written. I hope to review it soon but it’s absolutely one I recommend.
Synopsis:
On a black night in April 1912, fifteen hundred passengers and crew perish as the Titanic slowly sinks beneath the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Charting the same perilous course through the icebergs is the SS Californian, close enough for her crew to see the eight white distress rockets fired by the Titanic. Yet the Californian fails to act, and later her crew insist that they saw nothing. As news of the disaster spreads throughout America, journalists begin a feeding frenzy, desperate for stories. John Steadman is one such reporter, a man broken by alcoholism, grief and a failed marriage. Steadman senses blood as he fixates on the Californian and his investigation reveals a tense and perplexing relationship between the ship’s captain and second officer, who hold the secrets of what occurred that night. Slowly he peels back the layers of deception, and his final, stunning revelation of what happened while the Titanic sank will either redeem the men of the Californian, or destroy them.
The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne
I’ve avoided buying this book for so long because I was convinced it would be too scary for me (I’m such a wimp) but I’m so glad I finally picked it up because it was such a good read. I finished it in two sittings and whilst it is very creepy at times, it’s more unsettling than scary and I loved it. I plan to review it soon.
Synopsis:
A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcraft move to the tiny Scottish island Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives.
But when their surviving daughter, Kirstie, claims they have mistaken her identity – that she, in fact, is Lydia – their world comes crashing down once again.
As winter encroaches, Angus is forced to travel away from the island for work, Sarah is feeling isolated, and Kirstie (or is it Lydia?) is growing more disturbed. When a violent storm leaves Sarah and her daughter stranded, Sarah finds herself tortured by the past – what really happened on that fateful day one of her daughters died?
Shtum by Jem Lester
I’ve got such mixed feelings about this book – there were some good things about it and some things that I really didn’t like. I’ve about finished writing my review so I’ll be sharing that soon.
Synopsis:
Ben Jewell has hit breaking point.
His ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken. So when Ben and Jonah are forced to move in with Ben’s elderly father, three generations of men – one who can’t talk; two who won’t – are thrown together.
As Ben battles single fatherhood, a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons, he learns some difficult home truths.
Jonah, blissful in his ignorance, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history and misunderstanding are finally untangled.
Funny and heart-breaking in equal measure, Shtum is a story about families, forgiveness and finding a light in the darkest days.
What I plan on reading next:
This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
I’ve been wanting to read this for ages but haven’t managed to read many print books lately due to my condition but I can’t wait any longer. I’ll definitely be starting it in the next couple of days.
Synopsis:
Meet Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex-film star given to shooting at anyone who ventures up their driveway.
He is also about to find out something about a woman he lost touch with twenty years ago, and this discovery will send him off-course, far away from wife and home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?
Maggie O’Farrell’s seventh novel is a dazzling, intimate epic about who we leave behind and who we become as we search for our place in the world.
Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
This is another review book that I’ve had on my TBR for a while but have had to hold off reading due to others that were out first. It’s finally almost at the top of my pile and I can’t wait to start reading. I’m intrigued by how it compares to The virgin Suicides as that is a book that I loved, and which haunted me for a while after reading.
Synopsis:
This is not a cautionary tale about too much – or the wrong kind – of fucking. This is not a story of bad things happening to bad girls. I say this because I know you, Dex, and I know how you think. I’m going to tell you a story, and this time, it will be the truth.
Hannah Dexter is a nobody, ridiculed at school by golden girl Nikki Drummond and bored at home. But in their junior year of high school, Nikki’s boyfriend walks into the woods and shoots himself. In the wake of the suicide, Hannah finds herself befriending new girl Lacey and soon the pair are inseparable, bonded by their shared hatred of Nikki. Lacey transforms good girl Hannah into Dex, a Doc Marten and Kurt Cobain fan, who is up for any challenge Lacey throws at her. The two girls bring their combined wills to bear on the community in which they live; unconcerned by the mounting discomfort that their lust for chaos and rebellion causes the inhabitants of their parochial small town, they think they are invulnerable.
But Lacey has a secret, about life before her better half, and it’s a secret that will change everything . . .
Starting – and ending – with tragedy, Girls on Fire stands alongside The Virgin Suicides in its brilliant portrayal of female adolescence, but with a power and assurance all its own.
Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan
I’ve been so keen to read this book as the synopsis sounds really good and very intriguing. I hope to start reading it by the weekend and I’m looking forward to it.
Synopsis:
Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Enquirer. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters – but none like the one she’s just received:
Dear Amy,
I don’t know where I am. I’ve been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I’m afraid he’ll kill me.
Please help me soon,
Bethan Avery
Bethan Avery has been missing for years. This is surely some cruel hoax. But, as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public. How is this happening? Answering this question will cost Margot everything . . .
What are you reading at the moment? Have you finished any good books recently? Any books you’re looking forward to reading soon? Please feel free to join in with this meme and share your link below, or if you don’t have a blog please share in the comments below.
RatherTooFondofBooks 
Quite a lot of grim books recently, so I’m glad to see that some of your future choices are a bit lighter!
I think my poor brain was in need of a change!
Ooh another good week from you – like the sound of This Secret We Are Keeping and Dear Amy!
Thank you. This Secret We’re Keeping is great so far, I’m intrigued to see where it goes. I can’t wait to start Dear Amy, I’ve been wanting to read it for ages.
I always like looking at your Wednesday post! Love the look of Dear Amy! I hope that you enjoy your reading this week!. 🙂
Thank you so much. 🙂 I can’t wait to start Dear Amy, I’ve heard lots of good things about it.
Thank you, I hope you have a good week too. 🙂
So many books! 😆. Love the look of This Secret we’re Keeping!
I’ll keep an eye out for your review of Shtum (which I’m slightly wary of) and The Midnight Watch (which sounds great – I’m glad you enjoyed it). I particularly like the idea of a Titanic story which isn’t about the sinking itself.
So many books this week! 🙂
Here’s my WWW: https://clairehuston.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/www-wednesday-4th-may-2016/
My review of Shtum is scheduled for tomorrow but I’m a little nervous of posting it as so many people have loved it and I have such mixed feelings about it.
The Midnight Watch was very good, it was great to read about it from a different perspective but it was horrifying to see things from the view of the Californian and to know the Captain did nothing to help. I’d definitely recommend the book though.
Thanks for leaving your link 🙂
Great post. Each time I read your WWW posts, I end up getting new books to add to my TBR.I look forward to reading your thoughts on This Secret We’re Keeping. I read and reviewed it last month. Haven’t seen many reviews about it though. Ice Twins and Dear Amy sound really intriguing. Happy reading.
Thank you. I’m enjoying The Secret We’re Keeping so far but I’ve only read the first few chapters. I’ll definitely be reviewing it once I’ve read it. The Ice Twins was really good, I’d recommend it. Thanks.
Great list. I’ve not heard about Dear Amy before but that sounds all kinds of amazing. Would love to read it too.
Here’s my WWW of this week:
https://thebelgianreviewer.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/book-list-www-wednesday-04-05-2016/
Thank you. I can’t wait to start it, it sounds really intriguing. I’ll go read your post in a sec, thanks for leaving your link 🙂
You always have such fascinating books on your list that I would probably never come across. I do love your WWW’s but I’m not sure it’s good for my TBR pile 🙂
Thank you so much. I’m really sorry about your TBR pile though… if it’s any consolation mine is massive too from finding out about new books on blogs as well. 🙂
Another week filled with promising books! 🙂
I can’t wait for your review of The Ice Twins, I had so much trouble writing mine. I was totally drawn in by the blurb of The Wacky man. I simply have to read it! This Secret We’re Keeping has been on my radar but I have read mixed reviews about it. I’ll wait for yours before deciding on its fate. I still have to read The Children Act, as I made the library buy it, but I’ve been banned again so I must wait a little longer. I agree, the blurb for Dear Amy is intriguing, it sounds amazing.
Happy reading! 🙂
Thank you. 🙂 I’m still thinking over how to review The Ice Twins, it’s not going to be easy to do. The Wacky Man is incredible, I definitely recommend it. I’ve only read the first few chapters of This Secret We’re Keeping so far but I’ll be reviewing it when I’ve finished. Thank you 🙂
I really want to read some book by Ian McEwan. I must get myself a copy sooner rather than later. Happy reading! http://www.curious-daisy.com/www-wednesdays/www-wednesday-may-4-2016/
I’m a fan of Ian McEwan, I think his earlier books are better than his more recent ones but The Children Act is very good, I’d recommend it based on what I’ve read of it so far.
Thanks for leaving your link, I’ll go read your post now. 🙂
Another enticing set of books. Top of the list for me is the Maggie O’Farrell.
I started the Maggie O’Farrell yesterday and finished it this morning – it was incredible! I highly recommend it.
I’ve just read your review. Wow!
Another great week of books! Ice Twins sounds especially intriguing.
Happy Reading 😀
https://aliasfaithrivens.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/www-wednesday-the-fifth/
Thank you! The Ice Twins was very good, it was creepy and completely engrossing.
So many here that I’m tempted by and yet terrified of. The Wacky Man looks amazing and yet I don’t know that it wouldn’t be one that I’d never stop thinking about. I also love the look of The Midnight Watch, but again, I think it’d get to me. I’m just finished Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard about what happens when people go missing at sea and I’ll be honest, am a bit stuck on where to go next. Too many books! Great post:)
The Wacky Man is really good, I’m over halfway through and would recommend it. It’s a tough subject matter at times but is so well written. The Midnight Watch was brilliant but there are parts of it that are harrowing. I’d still recommend it but it is one of those books that stays with you. I just bought Distress Signals today so I hope to read it very soon. I often struggle with what to read next too due to too much choice, I hope you find the right read soon. 🙂
There are a lot of great titles on your list! I’m especially interested in The Ice Twins, This Secret We’re Keeping and The Children Act… I hope you’ll enjoy your books this week!
Thank you 🙂
Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed The Midnight Watch! I’ll be looking forward to reading your review on it. 🙂
It was such a great read. I’ve read so much about the Titanic and it was refreshing to read a novel that was from a different angle. I hope to review it in the next week or so. 🙂
Yes, I loved that the author brought this story to light after all these years. It’s shocking to think that ship was so close and didn’t help and that fact seems to have been forgotten in most recounts of the event but I was looking up the facts all the while reading so he did an excellent job keeping it true to what happened.
I had heard about the Californian before but I didn’t know the whole truth of it, how the Captain was so dismissive and stuck to his version of the truth for all those years. It was shocking to read. The author did such a great job with this book.
I vaguely remember reading a ship was closer but not in this kind of detail of what really happened. Found this one eye opening to say the least. Perhaps not everyone or maybe none at all could’ve been saved regardless but we will never know and to think that they might all have been saved, so disgusting. 😦
I found it eye-opening too. It’s the thought of all those people drowning or dying from hypothermia in the water while another boat just watched those distress signals going up and did nothing at all. It really disturbed me that the people on the Titanic could see the Californian in the distance and thought it was coming to help them.
I know, even if they’d crawled over at a snail’s pace to keep their own ship safe you’d think that more could’ve survived. It boggles my mind what that one man could possibly have been thinking to ignore trying to help. Being a sailor you’d think they’d all help no matter what because there’s always the risk that it could’ve been them in that situation and needing the same in return. 😦
Exactly! It could so easily have been his ship in danger that night and it might have been that no one helped him, how could he not put himself in other people’s shoes and try and help? I couldn’t believe that he tried to say that he thought the distress rockets were just being used as communication with another ship when everyone knows what rockets being fired at sea means! It’s just beyond belief how he acted.
I would love to just know his real thoughts and reasons behind it. He stood by his lies his whole life but really just why???? 1500 lives lost that night I’m not sure how he ever lived with himself.
Me neither, it’s astounding that he never took any responsibility for what he did – not even at the end of his life. It’s beyond words! Btw, I reviewed the book today and linked back to your review seeing as I discovered the book on your blog.
Yes, definitely. I’ll always be a bit disgusted when I think back on the book. Normally hated fictional characters are just that, fictional, but to think this really happened and he lived out his life… disgusting. 😦 And thanks for the link!
You’re welcome, it’s all thanks to you that I found the book so am very happy to link to your fab review. 🙂 I agree, it’s a haunting novel because it’s based on the disgraceful way that people really behaved.
I’m glad you liked ‘The Midnight Watch.’ I saw it at a bookstore last night and wondered what you’d say. Happy reading and thanks for participating in WWW Wednesday!
I hope to review it in the next week or so but it’s definitely one I recommend.
That’s an amazing haul of books. ‘Dear Amy’ sounds fascinating and ‘Everyone Brave is Forgiven’ is not only a wonderful title, but looks amazing – I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I recall listening to a radio programme talking about the California’s decision not to go to the aid of the Titanic and found it harrowing – they could have saved so many lives… Making it the heart of a fictional story sounds like a great premise. Hope you have a great May’s reading and I’m looking forward to your review of ‘Shtum’.
Thank you. Everyone Brave is Forgiven is so good, I just wish I could read more of it in one go.
It’s so hard to grasp how the Californian didn’t go to the aid of the Titanic and although this novel is fiction, it’s very apparent that the author has done a huge amount of research and there is so much fact blended with the fiction. It’s a harrowing read at times but one I recommend. I hope to get my review up in the next week or so.
I look forward to reading it. I recall listening to the Radio 4 prog about it years ago, and found it very moving.
The Wacky Man has a beautiful cover! ❤ It's not my usual genre but the cover's convinced me. Onto my tbr list it pops!
I haven't read The Midnight Watch yet but it's been on my tbr list for a while, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it so much! I might have to move it up a bit 🙂
Same for The Ice Twins. I think it's on my tbr list and I get scared pretty easily myself, but if you say it's alright I'll trust your judgement 😉
It was the cover that first caught my eye too. I’ll be sharing my review of The Wacky Man tomorrow as part of the blog tour. 🙂
The Midnight Watch was a harrowing read at times but it’s so well-written and I recommend it. I hope to review it in the next week or so.
I put off The Ice Twins for so long because I thought it would be too scary for me. I won’t lie, it is creepy at times but it’s more to do with people’s imagination or mental state than it being ghostly, so it didn’t scare me. It did unsettle me a little but not so much that I couldn’t sleep. I’m still trying to write a spoiler-free review but I will get a review up at some point. 🙂