WWW Wednesday

W…W…W…Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. 

TO PLAY ALONG, JUST ANSWER THE FOLLOWING THREE (3) QUESTIONS:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

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What are you currently reading?

Currently I’m reading A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin, the second book of A Song of Ice & Fire. So far I’m really enjoying it, although sometimes I get pretty confused – thank goodness for the details of the Houses at the end.

A Clash of Kings – George R R Martin

What did you recently finish reading? 

The last book I finished was Youth by J.M. Coetzee. You’ll find my review here. 

Youth – J.M. Coetzee

What do you think you’ll read next?

The next book on my list is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, which was given to me by my boss for my birthday, and is her favourite book ever – always love a good recommendation so very much looking forward to reading it!

A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these books, although no spoilers please for the ones I haven’t read yet!

-H-

#20 Youth – J. M. Coetzee

Youth – J.M. Coetzee

Goodreads rating: 3.78/5 (2,200+ ratings)

My rating: 6/10

First Published: 2002 by Secker and Warburg

Genre: Autobiography

So, I only just found out that this book is a semi-fictionalised autobiography by J M Coetzee. When reading it, I thought it was total fiction, and was originally going to comment about how there was no climax/event in this book and how it just plodded along. However, now knowing that it’s actually about Coetzee himself, it’s a lot more interesting! Real life often doesn’t have a huge event that changes the course of your life (usually), which is what you usually expect in a fictional book. Originally I was going to give this a 4, but have moved it to a 6 knowing what I now know.

Basically, Youth is the second book in a series by Coetzee called ‘Scenes from a Provincial Life’ of which there are 3 books. If i’d known it was a series I would’ve read the first book before this one! It follows Coetzee from being an aspiring poet, and mathematics student in Cape Town, South Africa, to moving to London in the 60s and working as a computer programmer whilst trying to pursue his love of poetry and prose.

Youth was a slow read, but it did keep me interested and it wasn’t too long which helped. It was quite depressing though, especially the description of London and how dull his life was. I found him quite boring too, although the book was well written so I was kept interested.

My favourite part of this book was the description of what was happening in South Africa at the time. My Dad is South African and grew up during Apartheid. There were events, political parties, and people referenced in this book that I found myself needing to Google and read up about, which has expanded my knowledge about South Africa, and has made me hungry to read more books about that period in time. I know that it had a big effect on my Dad, and would love to learn more! Also, another thing that i’ve learnt about the author is that although he’s of South African origin, he now lives in Adelaide, Australia which is where my Dad first moved to after leaving South Africa.

I don’t think I’d recommend this. However I’m not turned off reading Coetzee books because I’ve heard great things about some of his other novels, and I do think Youth was well written.

-H-

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

Rules

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser

Book: I’m still reading Youth by JM Coetzee! I’ve almost finished, i’m up to page 152 of 169, so not long to go! The teaser is from page 161.

Is it fair to be using mechanical aids to writing – fair to other poets, fair to the dead masters? The Surrealists wrote words on slips of paper and shook them up in a hat and drew words at random to make up lines.

Youth – J.M. Coetzee

-H-

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

Rules

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser

Book: I have just started Youth by J.M. Coetzee. My dad is South African, and as this book begins in South Africa, i’ve wanted to read it for a while. I’m up to page 51, which is the start of Chapter 5. My teaser is from page 115.

He is in need of human intercourse: what could be more human than sexual intercourse? Artists have frequented prostitutes since time immemorial and are none the worse for it, that he knows from his reading.

Youth – J.M. Coetzee

-H-

WWW Wednesday

W…W…W…Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. 

TO PLAY ALONG, JUST ANSWER THE FOLLOWING THREE (3) QUESTIONS:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

_________________________________________________________________________________

What are you currently reading?

Currently I’m reading The World Beneath by Cate Kennedy. It’s set in Australia which I always love, and i’m about a quarter of the way through and am enjoying it. Here’s a teaser. I know I said in my last WWW Wednesday that i’d be reading a Ken Follett book, however my Mum is still reading it so I’m reading this instead.

The World Beneath – Cate Kennedy

What did you recently finish reading? 

I just finished The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey. Here’s my review.

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle – Monique Roffey

What do you think you’ll read next?

The next book I’ll read is Youth by J.M. Coetzee which I’m looking forward to since it’s set in South Africa which is where my dad is from.

Youth – J.M Coetzee

I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these books, although no spoilers please for the ones I haven’t read yet!

-H-