Happy Wednesday. This week I decided to take part in WWW Wednesdays again. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words, where you just answer three questions:
What book(s) are you currently reading?
What book(s) have you recently finished?
What book(s) are you reading next?
What am I currently Reading?
I have just started reading “The Chef Who Made Onions Cry” by Chilli Kippen. I’m only 15% into this book so far but am enjoying the way the story is being set up and the character introductions so far.
Book Description
As on all cruise ships, the most important person on board the Pacific Belle, apart from the Captain is the Master Chef. It is the quality and yes indeed the quantity of food that makes or breaks a cruise.
The reader is introduced to Master Chef Armand Barrique – twice Michelin starred – dreamt recipes, who is not only a Master Chef but also a man of sensitivity and devoted to his trainee expert truffle-hunter pig. Chef is also central to the plot and his planning and delivery of the spectacular Versailles dinner is a highlight, not only for the cruise guests, but also for the reader.
Our old friend Alexander Pushkin Goldfarb continues his run of luck in the ship’s casino as he observes the foibles of his fellow passengers while new characters such as Major Barbara Cock, a retired army psychiatrist and now assassin for hire, introduce elements of intrigue and revenge and somewhat paradoxically humour and sympathy for her cause.
As in her previous novel, as the plot twists and turns in Ms Kippen’s hilarious and deliberately absurd trademark style, she tackles another important social issue and delivers a powerful blow to the proponents of Live Animal Transportation. The marked contrast of sober descriptions of this cruel practice brings home the message that it must be stopped! Now!
Buy it Here:
www.amazon.com/Chef-Who-Made-Onions-Cry/dp/1838594078/
www.amazon.co.uk/Chef-Who-Made-Onions-Cry/dp/1838594078/
Add it to your To Be Read list here:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/54968978-the-chef-who-made-onions-cry
What have I recently finished?
I just finished The Visitor by Terry Tyler. This was a very gripping whodunnit murder mystery set in 2024 while a bat-flu pandemic is raging. My full review of this book can be read here.
Book Description
In 2024, a mystery virus ravages the entire world. ‘Bat Fever’ is highly contagious and one hundred per cent lethal.
A cottage tucked away in an isolated Norfolk village seems like the ideal place to sit out a catastrophic pandemic, but some residents of Hincham resent the arrival of Jack, Sarah and their friends, while others want to know too much about them.
What the villagers don’t know is that beneath Sarah’s cottage is a fully-stocked, luxury survival bunker. A post-apocalyptic ‘des res’.
Hincham isolates itself from the rest of the country, but the deaths continue―and not from the virus. There’s a killer on the loose, but is it a member of the much-depleted community, or somebody from outside? Paranoia is rife, as friend suspects friend, and everybody suspects the newcomers.
Most terrifying of all is that nobody knows who’s next on the list…
The Visitor is Terry Tyler’s twenty-second Amazon publication, and is set in the same world as her Project Renova series, while being a completely separate, stand-alone novel.
Buy it here:
www.amazon.com/Visitor-Post-Apocalyptic-Murder-Mystery-ebook/dp/B08ML72P2K
www.amazon.co.uk/Visitor-Post-Apocalyptic-Murder-Mystery-ebook/dp/B08ML72P2K
Add it to your To Be Read list here:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/55932208-the-visitor
What do I plan to read next?
After finishing the Chef Who Made Onions Cry I plan to read a Christmassy book.
Someone recommended a collection of short stories called The Twelve Days of Christmas by Maureen Turner and the descriptions of some of the stories are intriguing, so I will start there. Time will undoubtedly start slipping away from me in the run up to Christmas so short stories rather than a long novel would seem to be the way to go! If anyone has any other light Christmassy suggestions please leave a note in the comments! Thank you.
Book Description
A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE: A battle of wills between an ageing rock star and the feisty Emma Partridge determined to protect a Pear Tree.
TWO TURTLE DOVES: A tragic love affair abruptly ended by murder only to re-surface decades later, curtesy of a restless ghost.
FIVE GOLD RINGS: Bigamy is one thing…multi bigamy, oh dear, dear me.
NINE LADIES DANCING: A Latino newcomer puts the ladies in a flutter when he visits the Lower Wallop Tea Dance.
TEN LORDS A ‘LEAPING: An age old curse travels down the centuries creating havoc amongst the Morose family.
TWELVE DRUMMERS DRUMMING: Just tin toys, that’s all they were but these twelve little Drummers had minds of their own.
These and all the other stories in this collection will make you think again about the origins of the Christmas song, THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.
Buy it here:
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016F951MQ
Add it to your To Be Read list here:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/27276054-the-12-days-of-christmas
I also plan to read Dan Rather’s book What Unites Us, which has been sitting in my TBR pile for a couple of months now. 2021 is the year I plan to complete my American Citizenship application – the idea was to become a citizen in time to be able to vote in 2020, but unfortunately COVID-19 had other ideas and those plans were put on hold.
Book Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“I find myself thinking deeply about what it means to love America, as I surely do.” —Dan Rather
“A tonic for our times . . . Rather’s writing shows why he has won the admiration of a new generation. In these essays, he gives voice to the marginalized and rips off the journalistic shield of objectivity to ring the alarm bell when he witnesses actions he fears undermine the principles of American democracy. That, undoubtedly, is patriotic. And it takes courage.”
—USA Today
At a moment of crisis over our national identity, venerated journalist Dan Rather has emerged as a voice of reason and integrity, reflecting on—and writing passionately about—what it means to be an American. Now, with this collection of original essays, he reminds us of the principles upon which the United States was founded. Looking at the freedoms that define us, from the vote to the press; the values that have transformed us, from empathy to inclusion to service; the institutions that sustain us, such as public education; and the traits that helped form our young country, such as the audacity to take on daunting challenges in science and medicine, Rather brings to bear his decades of experience on the frontlines of the world’s biggest stories. As a living witness to historical change, he offers up an intimate view of history, tracing where we have been in order to help us chart a way forward and heal our bitter divisions.
With a fundamental sense of hope, What Unites Us is the book to inspire conversation and listening, and to remind us all how we are, finally, one.
Buy What Unites Us here:
www.amazon.co.uk/What-Unites-Us-Reflections-Patriotism-ebook/dp/B06XH2LZFN
www.amazon.com/What-Unites-Us-Reflections-Patriotism-ebook/dp/B06XH2LZFN
Add What Unites Us to your To Be Read list here:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/43212945-what-unites-us
Sue's Musings 
I am leaning toward the Dan Rather book. I also like the look of The Visitor. Enjoy your week, and here’s MY WWW POST
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The Visitor only took me a couple of days I was so gripped! I think you can still get a review copy from shanannigans.readsandreels@gmail.com
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Really enjoying your choices – there’s lots here I haven’t read yet but am very intrigued by.
My WWW: https://booksonthe747.com/2020/12/09/www-wednesday-9th-december-2020/
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Fantastic – hope you find something you like!
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I like the sound of The Chef Who Made Onions Cry! I hope it will be a good one for you. Happy reading! Here’s my WWW.
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So far so good!
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I can’t wait to see what you think of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Happy reading! Here’s my post: https://www.nbiblioholic.com/2020/12/www-wednesday-december-9th.html
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