023: WWW Wednesday on a woman's ambition, being powerless, and heartburn.
what did I just finish reading? what am I currently reading? what will I read next?
Hello, it’s Wednesday again!
Picking up from last Wednesday, here’s this past week’s reading recap!
📕 what did I just finish reading?
I finished Heartburn by Nora Ephron, mostly on audio narrated by Meryl Streep, partially on e-book. A super short listen/read full of humor, heart, and wit! I read that it’s a biographical novel, based on Ephron’s marriage. Infidelity and marriage problems aren’t light or happy subjects, but Ephron manages to inject the proper amount of humor to lighten the topic. I still have to sit down and actually finish the film - Meryl Streep was so young!
Stanley Tucci - author of Taste: My Life Through Food* - wrote a foreword for the 2023/40th Anniversary Vintage Contemporaries reissued edition* which was really enjoyable and appropriate since the book contains a few recipes, somehow seamlessly inserted within the narrative.
And, since I only “own” this digitally, I was browsing for some pretty editions and found these two, both published by UK publisher, Virago - originally founded as a feminist publishing company in 1973 by Carmen Callil.
Behind the name, Virago:
The name Virago (meaning heroic war-like woman or, as the Thesaurus has it a name for a particular kind of woman: biddy, bitch, dragon, fire-eater, fury, harpy, harridan, hussy, muckraker, scold, she-devil, siren, spitfire, termagant, tigress, vituperator, vixen, wench) signaled the founders’ intent to challenge, entertain, enrich, raise eyebrows and revolutionise the literary landscape.
I love their mission statement:
We have always been committed to amplifying the widest range of women writers and elevating voices from all backgrounds. More recently, as part of our commitment to an ever more inclusive feminism, we also publish and welcome submissions from writers of underrepresented genders.
I signed up for their newsletter, and I’ll definitely be watching up for their future releases!
I’m a sucker for retellings, and this 2024 release Mulan retelling did not disappoint. The Night Ends With Fire* is set in a fantasy world largely based on Chinese mythology and is magical, action-packed, but also really thought-provoking. Left without a choice as a woman but to marry an old and abusive man, Hai Mei Lin escapes and pretends to be the illegitimate son of her father to enlist as a soldier for the war against another kingdom. Seeking glory amongst her peers, she begins to tap into forbidden power. At its core, this is a story of a woman’s ambition and greed for power and glory and the costs to her choices - was she justified in her quest for freedom and power in a patriarchal society?
This is reportedly the first book in a planned duology, so I’m excited for the next one!
Last night, I just finished reading the 1966 classic, Wide Sargasso Sea* by Jean Rhys. The more I think about it, the better it gets - its less-than-200 pages pack quite a punch. I’m drafting a full post on it so I won’t say anything more, coming 🔜
📖 what am I currently reading?
I am nearly finished with Ichigo Ichie, and have resumed reading Lies and Weddings in time for book club discussion on site in Hawaii next week!
I also started The Wren in the Holly Library, The Pairing, and the latest from my favorite comfort YA suspense/thriller writer, Karen M. McManus - Such Charming Liars*!
📚 what will I read next?
Heartburn put me in the mood for Taste* by Stanley Tucci. I’m also really curious about all the rage on Magnolia Parks. I haven’t read Shakespeare in years so I’m resuming the Shakespeare project and starting with Macbeth which I’ve never read and also maybe, E. M. Forster’s A Room With A View.
On a different but still bookish topic, I’m going to see the film adaptation of It Ends With Us* (I read this and the sequel, It Starts With Us* in 2022!) this Friday night, will report back!!
& icymi:
I recently posted a list of 50+ upcoming titles I have my eye on next season!
See you here next Wednesday! 🤍
*AMAZON ASSOCIATE LINKS
**Book of the Month referral link
your turn…
what did you just finish reading?
what are you currently reading?
what will you be reading next?
I'm going to watch It Ends With Us Saturday night, and I'm so looking forward to it! Hope it's good!