WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently Reading
I’ve admittedly not made a whole lot of progress on Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, though I have read a few stories since last week. I’m starting to notice an intriguing trend in the last few stories I’ve read in this book, which revolve around a young person having a haunting experience with abandoned property/houses. Each story was effective in their own way, while also having a number of elements in common. I wonder if this is happenstance, or will continue in some way throughout this book. I know most of these stories were published before being collected here, but I think it’ll be interesting to keep an eye out nonetheless.
Recently Finished
The first book I finished over the weekend was volume one of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, which I posted a review for yesterday. This is my second time reading the book after many years, and while a lot of the story was familiar I didn’t realize just how deep some of the literary cuts were in this book. There were some obvious ones I was ignorant to the first time around—I had no knowledge of the plot of Dracula so had no idea who Mina Murray was—but this book is positively packed with references. By all accounts nearly every named character is somebody from literature.
I also finished Lost Stars by Claudia Gray, which I should have a review up for soon. This book was intensely sentimental and melodramatic in certain ways and I am not ashamed to say I ate it right up. Romance isn’t typically a particular draw for me, but set in the galaxy far, far away against the backdrop of the Galactic Civil War I enjoyed it immensely. It helps that Gray did an excellent job of crafting both characters, with opposing viewpoints, who are both sympathetic and likable in their own right. I hope we get a follow-up story for these characters some day.
Reading Next
Part of me wants to focus my energy on reading Fragile Things now, but I always meant it to be a supplementary read. That being the case, I think I will start The Wonder by Emma Donahue soon, another book from my scrappy little list. It’s a book I remember little about, but I think that’ll be a nice change of pace to what I’ve been reading recently, with events of Star Wars so well known to me and League volume one being a re-read.
Until next week, thank you for reading!
Muse with Me 
So I have not read Neil Gaiman before. I will be reading my first (Good Omens) for a book club soon. Are you enjoying Fragile Things? Are there other Neil Gaiman’s you would recommend?
I haven’t heard of Fragile Things, but that sounds cool as heck. I loved ghost stories and stories that involved abandoned places when I was younger, and I’ve been wondering why I ever stopped reading them lately.
On Book Riot’s All the Books! podcast, one of the hosts reads a lot of collections of short stories, and almost every one she talks about, the stories center around a certain theme like you pointed out about Fragile Things, so I’m thinking that’s probably the literary trend these days. I’ve had some crummy experiences with short stories in the past, but last year I read Naomi Kritzer’s Cat Pictures, Please and loved EVERY. SINGLE. STORY. in that book, so I’ve been rethinking my stance about short stories lately. 🙂
It seems it depends on the author for me, as far as short story collections go. Anthologies are always a mixed bag, but any collection by Stephen King or Neil Gaiman I’ve really liked so far. Ottessa Moshfegh’s Homesick for Another World was excellent too. A central theme is certainly ideal for cohesion in a collection, but I’m familiar with one of the stories in Fragile Things here already and I’m pretty sure it breaks away thematically from the rest of these stories more noticeably. I don’t think I’ll mind much though.
Neil Gaiman has become my 2019 obsession but this one is still on my TBR. I definitely want to check our The League because even though the movie was….not great….I loved the premise. Great WWW!
Thanks! It’s definitely a series worth checking out. It looks like League’s been continuing lately too after a fairly long hiatus: there’s a new volume coming out this year.
I find it difficult to just sit and read a collection of short stories. I have a tendency to just dip in and out so can understand you making this a supplementary read. I’m liking the sound of Gray’s book. Must add to my tbr.
Lost Stars is good if you’re not looking to dive into all the new Star Wars fiction that has been coming out too. All you need is a basic understanding of what happens in the original movies, and otherwise you can just get swept away by the drama around the new characters.
Sounds good to me. I’m a little behind on all of the new stuff but love the original movies
Happy reading!
(www.evelynreads.com)