WWW Wednesday #July 26

This meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words

To take part all you need to do is answer the following questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

So here’s my 3 W’s for the week.

Recently Finished

 

Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh

This was a suspenseful, engaging read with very memorable characters. If you are interested in historical fiction set in Africa then I definitely recommend this book. Lovers of Kenyan literature will also enjoy it. If you read it, let me know, I would love to discuss it with you. You can read my review here.

 

The Still House Lake by Rachel Caine

Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. Just when she’s starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake—and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed—or watch her kids fall victim to a killer who takes pleasure in tormenting her. One thing is certain: she’s learned how to fight evil. And she’ll never stop.

This was an impromptu ARC read. I read Yvo’s (It’s All About Books) review and was immediately intrigued. I read the book over the weekend and was definitely impressed. My review will be up on Friday.

 Currently Reading

Memoirs of a Muhindi: Fleeing East Africa to the West

In Memoirs of a Muhindi, Mansoor Ladha bears witness to what happens when nations turn against entire religious and ethnic groups. When, in 1972, Ugandan president Idi Amin expelled Africans of Indian descent from the country, he unleashed an intolerance that set off an exodus from the entire region. In Tanzania and Kenya, businesses were nationalized, properties taken, people harassed, and livelihoods upended. Mansoor Ladha, who was living in Nairobi at the time, had to decide whether to stay or leave. Canada became his new home–where he found considerable success, as did the rest of the Ismaili community–while East Africa never recovered from its fit of bigotry.

I really wanted to read this memoir. It is partly set in Kenya and tells stories of a history that I don’t know much about. However, I am having a difficulties with it. It’s hard to criticize a memoir, I mean that is someone’s life but I just can’t connect with this one as far as the writing and the stories themselves. I am also usually keen on representation especially of ethnicity. The representation of Africans (blacks) in this memoir is just off. For the most part, it is offending. Not sure whether to keep reading or just admit defeat at this point.

 

Unsub by Meg Gardiner

Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.

Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?

I am excited about this one. It has taken quite some time to get to it but I am glad that I finally get to read it. I plan to start reading it this week.

Reading Next

My next books are both historical fiction. One set in South Africa and the other in Indiana in the 1950s.

The Lost History of Stars by David Boling

In turn-of-the-century South Africa, fourteen-year-old Lettie, her younger brother, and her mother are Dutch Afrikaner settlers who have been taken from their farm by British soldiers and are being held in a concentration camp. It is early in the Boer War, and Lettie’s father, grandfather, and brother are off fighting the British as thousands of Afrikaner women and children are detained. The camps are cramped and disease ridden; the threat of illness and starvation are ever present. Determined to dictate their own fate, Lettie and her family give each other strength and hope as they fight to survive amid increasingly dire conditions.

Brave and defiant, Lettie finds comfort in memories of stargazing with her grandfather, in her plan to be a writer, and in surprising new friendships that will both nourish and challenge her. A beautiful testament to love, family, and sheer force of will, The Lost History of Stars was inspired by Dave Boling’s grandfather’s own experience as a soldier during the Boer War. Lettie is a figure of abiding grace, and her story is richly drawn and impossible to forget

Alphonse by Carl Sever

After twenty years of riding the rails, Alphonse has earned a reputation for being a kindhearted soul always ready to help. When he helps the Sadlers, a young couple seeking a better life in small-town 1950s Indiana, he doesn’t intend to stay. But stay he does, keeping a close eye on the Sadlers and their two young sons—and an even closer eye on the town’s new priest, Father Brennon. On the surface, Brennon seems perfect for the job—but Alphonse crossed paths with him years earlier in the railyard jungle, and he knows better. Brennon doesn’t recognize Alphonse, but Alphonse has never forgotten Brennon . . . or his crimes. So when Brennon assigns the Sadlers’ son, Francis, who is now thirteen, the thankless task of cleaning and maintaining the church’s bell tower—work that often continues into the night—Alphonse immediately grows suspicious. Soon, he discovers that his worst fears have come to pass, and he races to find a way to protect Francis and reveal the truth to the Sadler family.

So what are you reading? Let me know in the comments section.

Happy Reading!