WWW Wednesday is a tag currently hosted at Taking on A World of Words. The three W’s are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently Reading:
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
A Brief History of Time is Stephen Hawking’s introduction to many aspects of the scientific world, intended for non-scientists. With topics such as Black Holes, The Uncertainty Principle, and the concept of Time itself, Hawking delves into the history of discovering what we know today and how these things work.
I know this is a must-read, and I’m happy I picked it up. A lot of these concepts I am well-aware of from school, but I didn’t know a lot of the history behind who made what discoveries when, and how those chain of discoveries led to what we know now. Although I said I’d stop reading non-fiction for a while to work on fiction books, I may just end up sneaking some on my TBR for June because I just can’t seem to get enough!
Recently Read:
Levittown: The First 50 Years by Margaret Lundrigan Ferrer and Tova Navarra
Levittown: The First 50 Years is a history of America’s first modern suburb in photos. It shows Levittown before, during, and after development, and what life was like for its residents in its early years.
I really liked being able to see the very early pictures of the town and the exterior designs for the Levitt capes and ranches. However, the informational side of this book felt a bit slim. The authors also glorified Levitt in such a way that surprised me, given that he built a town that intentionally remained segregated for decades. I do think this book could have gone a bit more in-depth with Levittown’s background, and I think it was probably meant for Long Island locals more than anything.
Lost Girls by Robert Kolker
Lost Girls investigates the murders of the women found after being missing for years along Long Island’s Ocean Parkway. It gives a history of each of the women’s lives and and attempts to find answers to what is still a cold case today.
I thought that this book did an incredible job of humanizing the victims, because they sadly did not get the treatment they deserved because of their professions. However, despite this being a cold case, there were certain parts of the author’s investigation that I wished he honed in more on. Regardless, I would still recommend this book and I think it raises a lot of questions about our missing persons process.
You can read my full review on my blog here.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a story of the affair between Constance Chatterley and her gamekeeper after her husband returns from the war paralyzed from the waist down. The book was banned upon publication for over 30 years before the original would be released again.
This was just…okay. I liked the demonstrations of what life was like post-war, and there were a lot of discussions in this book about what love, romance, and sex mean to people (although plenty of it was problematic). On one hand, there was a lot of interesting writing on topics unrelated to the affair, and on the other, some of the dialogue between Constance Chatterley and the gamekeeper felt so repetitive and almost immature. I’m not sure if this is reflective of the times or if this was a reflection of the author’s views, but it does seem to be the start of a published genre.
Up Next:
Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor
Shadowplay is a Victorian fiction novel set in Victorian London in the aftermath of the murders by Jack the Ripper. It follows the start of a new theatre by Henry Irving and managed by Bram Stoker, and how his time there influenced him to write Dracula.
I found this on NetGalley and it sounded like the kind of historical fiction that was up my alley! Every now and then I like to read Victorian and/or Gothic literature so I thought this was a good fit. I also have another read for NetGalley, Mortmain Hall, that I’ll likely read after I’m done with Shadowplay. And after that, I’ll resume to reducing my physical TBR as usual.
That’s all for this week’s WWW Wednesday. Leave a comment if you participated this week too so I can read your post – or let me know what you’re currently reading below!
Lost Girls sounds really interesting! That kind of thing always really piques my interest, even when it’s a bit grisly.
My WWW post.
Yes, it was a very interesting book! I didn’t think I would have had an interest in true crime in the past but there’s so much you can learn about the world from reading about situations like this.