“WWW” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Taking On A World of Words. 

Hi everybody, and welcome to a new WWW Wednesday! For this post, we’ll be answering three questions (the 3 Ws):

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

RECENTLY FINISHED

When I say recently I mean in the last month or so. I finished reading A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett, which is book three in the Tainted Cup series.

CURRENTLY READING

I'm currently reading another of Bennett's fantasy books, Shorefall, which is book 2 in the Founders trilogy. But I'm struggling with finishing it. Mostly because I stopped midway through to read A Trade of Blood. Yeah, maybe that wasn't a good idea. But I so wanted to read what Ana and Din were up to.

Anyway ...

READING NEXT

As if this is a big surprise. I'll probably try finish Shorefall first before starting anything new. Though God alone knows I have enough books sat on the coffee table all waiting to be read.

But probably next up will be, His Face is the Sun by Michelle Jabès Corpora. The cover alone on this one had me buy it.

And you, what's your next read?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

The rules are simple:

Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other blogger’s lists.

Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

So, today's challenge? Book covers featuring autumn. Easy you say, that is, till you ask specifically for say, fantasy books. So, here we go:

And there you have it. Some absolutely gorgeous artwork on display, if none of thes capture your imagine, I don't know what will. Enjoy!

We decided to catch up on one or two shows, on Netflix last night, and chose the movie, Troll (no, not the kiddies animated version). And, I have to say, I’m glad we went with a silly fantasy because, it was ridiculously good fun. Putting aside whether we believe in trolls or not. It doesn’t matter. They gave their existence plausibility in this amusing Norwegian romp through the countryside.

Genuine and heartfelt in places, whimsical in others, it was all the scifi references and throw away lines that made this all the more enjoyable. And yes, before you ask, we will be watching Troll II at some point and will probably enjoy it just as much.

Great fun from beginning to end.

Three lifelong friends reunite after the death of an old classmate turns a wake into a dark mystery. They embark on a thrilling adventure across Ireland, piecing together enigmatic truths amid complicated lives.

We started watching the absolutely crazy Irish dramady, How To Get To Heaven From Belfast written by the team that brought you Derry Girls, and, in between the wonderfully twisted storyline, machine-gun delivered dialogue, and hilarious stunts, we were rolling around on the couch in stitches. I laughed so much my jaw hurt.

This is must-see TV if you’re looking for a break from the usual crime caper, especially as this one is laced with some great Irish snark and humour. Never mind some class acting by our 3 leading ladies.

Grab some popcorn and just enjoy the ride.

This weekend we caught a couple of episodes of a new show on Netflix called: Last Meals, in which the host, Josh Scherer from Mythical Kitchen, interviews a celebrity about their lives whilst enjoying what they would eat for their last meal on Earth. Hence the name of the show. 

Funnily enough Gabz talked about this over on Mastodon too, writing in his post Last Meal all the delicious things he’d have for his last meal. So of course, I had to follow suit and write about what I would love to eat as my Last Meal.

First Course

I would start with a soup, Gazpacho to be exact. And not any Gazpacho, my fav was made by the head chef at the Musee des Beaux Arts restaurant here, in Quebec City. It was bursting with flavour and definitely up there in soup heaven.

Second Course

I’d follow that up with my favourite ham & mushroom pizza (or, even just a slice) from the No. 900 which does the best pizza I’ve ever tasted outside of Italy. Well okay, I haven’t tasted every pizza. But this one is pretty close to the best you’ll ever taste, and so says the Michelin Guide.

Main Course

Ah, there are so many dishes I’d want to taste again and for my last meal. Dishes my mother cooked me as a kid. Her sweet and sour pork, her Chinese BBQ pork, or her 5 spice slow roasted pork. But of them all, I think I would go for her traditional Sunday roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings and my dad’s special gravy. 

Maybe, like the show, I could have a small tasting of all these dishes and maybe side of my mum’s mac and cheese as well, thanks.

Dessert

No meal is complete without at least one or two desserts. And out of all the ice creams I’ve tasted over my life time, and enjoyed, I think, in the end, I’d go for the singularly outstanding tasting lemon merengue pie made locally, here, on the island the ile d’Orleans. The lemon quotient in these pies is off the charts. Never mind the soft fluffy pillow of merengue that sits atop the tart velvety lemon filling that literally make your mouth salivate.

Not to be outdone, I’d also want a serving of my mother’s stick-to-your-ribs rice pudding. It was thick enough you could stand a spoon up in it and rich enough that you couldn’t stop eating it. And yes, we all fought over who got the skin off the top. There was never enough to go around. 

And there you have it. I might even finish the meal off with a good coffee, a selection of cheeses and Carr’s water biscuits. Except, I’m no longer allowed coffee, so maybe a good Turkish or Moroccan mint tea. 

And you, what would you have for your last meal on earth?

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

Set in the struggling fishing community of Snook’s Arm, Newfoundland, the story follows local fisherman Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett) as he and his family deal with economic uncertainty, a looming government resettlement program.

I watched the last couple of episodes last night of, Below, a Canadian based miniseries on Netflix. While it’s billed as a supernatural thriller, and while it does have some thrilling moments, I wouldn’t say there were any supernatural elements, not really. Though there were moments when the action will make you jump. But it’s all very earth-bound (or is that sea-bound?) dread provided by a very plausible monster.

And no, I won’t tell you what it is, you’ll just have to watch this fun, moody and, dare I say it, atmospheric series. Some excellent performances, a great supporting cast, and even better scenery make this one a thoroughly enjoyable romp at sea.

CHAOS VECTOR starts right after where Velocity Weapon left off, and plunges you straight into more political intrigue, action, subterfuge, and enough double crossing to make your head swivel as if possessed. And like Velocity Weapon, O’Keefe will lead you merrily on a chase while feeding you breadcrumbs so you think you know exactly what’s going on and then? Blindside you with a fabulous curve ball.

Nothing is as it seems and, while we know Biran and Sanda are straight arrows carrying the weight of twisted plot threads, everyone—including those closest to the siblings—have storied pasts that leave you to wonder about allegiance and motives. 

I was so happy to see more page time given to characterisation, as familiar faces put in an appearance—and we learn more not only about Graham, Nox, and Arden, but also Tomas and the dreaded Nazca. What was also interesting is finding out about Prime Director Okonkwo, and the creation of the Keepers and GC, as well as the secrets they protect. And, in doing so, O’Keefe fills in some much needed background on the players who were foundational in events leading up to where we are now. 

As far as characters go, I would liked to have seen Rainier’s storyline given centre stage rather than that of Jules Valentine’s. The latter being used more as a vehicle, and less of a character in and of herself. I felt the impact of Rainier’s eventual revelations could have hit such a sweet spot had we been following her path (as a major player) rather than Jules. But then, that’s just my own personal opinion.

Of course, I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m not discussing some major and very juicy plot points. But just know you’re in for as many surprises in Chaos Vector as there were in Velocity Weapon. Let’s just say there’s definitely plenty of action, hair-raising battles, lots of backstabbing, plenty of misdirects, and any number of revelations that just may leave you dumbfounded.

Then, of course, there is one other exciting thing to talk about and … oh, no, wait, that would be telling. And, as I’ve already said, this review contains no spoilers so, guess what, you better grab a copy for yourself, and get reading!

At nearly two and a half hours long, this third instalment of the Knives Out franchise, Wake Up Dead Man, was 45 minutes too long. At least, in my humble opinion. I started to watch this Wednesday evening and, got as far as Msgr. Wick’ confession to Father Jud outside the church and, gave up due to the trite and childish need to appeal to an audience of 12 year old boys. I didn’t actually finish the movie till yesterday afternoon.

Sadly, my opinion didn’t change much about the characters and, by the sordid end, hoped they would all end up dead. The only light in this whole hot mess was Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. He lifted this morass but still, in the end, couldn’t save it from itself.

Save yourself the trouble, go watch something else.

In the spirit of the Mini Book Review trending about the web, I thought to write my own (rather sarcastic, or it that, scathing?) mini movie reviews. You’ve been warned, there are …

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Murder on the Orient Express — A movie in which twelve suspects of varying social status have three minutes of screen time to convince Kenneth Branagh—er, I mean, Poirot—that they are not the killer of Johnny Depp’s despicable character and the obvious bad guy.

With a waveringly bad accent, the heroic Hercule Poirot confronts the suspects—who are artfully arranged at a table in the mouth of the train tunnel to look like Da Vinci’s Last Super—and recounts a series of events in flashback to solve the mystery.

And … they all did it.

3 Billboards outside Ebbings, Missouri — A foul-mouth red-neck woman hurls abuse at the town’s Sheriff and his inept, racist department for not finding her daughter’s killer. In a last ditch effort to get the dying Sheriff to find a clue, she rents three billboards to get her message across. More swearing and ultra violence ensues before the Sheriff blows his brains out, and a disgraced deputy miraculously over-hears someone bragging in a bar of his rape conquest.

Disgraced deputy and foul-mouthed woman team up, and go on a road-trip to murder the bragging rapist.

Lady Bird — A dull, coming of-age movie in which the two central characters of a mother and daughter hurl derogatory abuse at one another. Where the character of Christine ‘Lady Bird,’ a senior at Catholic high school about to graduate and go to college, acts like a self-centred spoilt child in a series of lack-lustre vignettes. The two best of which are wasted in the trailer for the movie to make you think this is a comedy. It isn’t.

Dunkirk — A long, slow, and violent look at the evacuation of 400,000 Allied troops from the beaches at Dunkirk, via three interwoven threads, confusingly mixed at random. With a total lack of regard to any continuity, we see disturbing images of men drowning, men being blown up, men running along a beach. Men waiting in long lines out in the open, waiting to be shot at by the enemy. Men screaming and jumping off sinking ships, and drowning in long drawn out sequences to heroic, and very jarring music.

There is little or no credible dialogue, as there are few speaking parts. One of which is Kenneth Branagh as a Naval Officer stood on a pier looking heroically out to sea, or to the sky, for deliverance. There is none … for him, or for us.

And there you have it, of course, this is all just my opinion. No popcorn was harm in the writing of these scathing reviews.

The English-dubbed Mexican show, Bandidos, about a group of desperate friends and frenemies coming together to find lost Spanish treasure, turned out to be an absolute comedy gem.

Full of action and fun, this one had me laughing at the group’s antics as they try to outwit the bad guys and get to the treasure first. All-in-all, a thoroughly enjoyable romp through the Mexican countryside.

I’m really looking forward to jumping in and watching season 2.