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Monday, March 22, 2010

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

Each week readers share what they are reading for the week. I joined because there is no way I can review every book I read.

Read:
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan. This has been on my tbr for a while. I needed to change things up. I started this last night and finished it on my commute coming home. Blake is funny. Marissa and Shannon are believable and make a good argument that guys are not attracted to one kind of girl.

Love the humor, realism, the pacing and the author's writing style. I plowed through this almost like hurtlers (you have to read the book to know what hurtle means).

Still Reading:
Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki. Fits my South Asian and Women Unbound challenges. I almost always love Doret's recommendations but this one is just okay for me. There is nothing wrong with the writing. The problem for me is that nothing about the storyline or writing stands out. The characters aren't that complexed, the writing is competent and the book is moving at a good pace. I think my lackluster interest is that the story holds no surprises. Maybe something will happen to change my mind.

Yes, still reading Last Night I Sang To The Monster. Great writing and it was only this week that I figured out why I'm dragging on this. This resonates with me. The darkness of the book is a little too close to home. Zach, the main character has serious issues to work out and this work is hard. I know what that is like so this is no easy read.

Picked up several titles from the library that I have wanted to read so maybe this week will be better. Next up:
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
After Xing Xing's beloved father dies, she is left to the custody of his second wife, her cruel stepmother. Stepmother has just one goal: to help her only daughter Wei Ping marry well. Although Wei Ping is already fifteen years old, Stepmother decides to bind her feet, a process that was usually begun in early childhood. Stepmother is convinced that this horrific process, which her late husband frowned upon, will make Wei Ping more attractive to potential suitors. Instead, it gives the girl debilitating pain and a life-threatening infection.

Wait For Me by An Na. I loved A Step From Heaven so I have high hopes for this one.
The pack of lies about her academic achievement that Mina has told to satisfy her mother's high expectations (she has her heart set on her daughter going to Harvard) is unraveling as her senior year approaches. Jonathon Kim, a Stanford-bound teen and the son of her mother's best friend, has helped with the deception by forging Mina's report cards and backing up her many fictions. He asks too much of her, though, while Ysrael, the attractive new employee in the family cleaning business, encourages her to follow her own dreams–and him–to San Francisco.

Find more WAYR hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey.

16 comments:

Sophie said...

You have an interesting set of books going. I am going to look for Bound, as it is a topic that has had me curious for a while now.

susan said...

Hi Wisdom,
Thanks for coming by.

I hope interesting is good. :-) If you continue to visit, you quickly see where my interests lie: YA, women's lit, multicultural lit. Will look to see if you have a link posted for this week.

Wilhelmina said...

I'm finishing up "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - an amazing book!

Nadege said...

I read an essay about binding the
feet - a horrible, extremely
painful tradition.

Currently reading Inner Eve, by
Dr. Susan Newman and re-reading
Audrey Lorde's Sister Outsider.

bj neary said...

I loved Wait For Me by An Na, didn't read her lst one yet! I thought so many of the characters were written with conviction, even the father, who the mother was so mean to, begged his wife to be more kind...Even better I read her book, The Fold, and that was just as good, family unity was stressed, but many times, the sisters were angry with each other, everyone called their aunt with too much plastic surgery, "Michael" for Michael Jackson an they were all chasing the American dream. I couldn't put either book down, loved learning more about their culture. Great YA reads!

Amy said...

Looks like you'll have a great reading week! Thank you for stopping by my blog. :-)

susan said...

Chimamanda Ngozi is amazing, isn't she?

bj, you'll love her first then, A Step From Heaven

Nadege, ah, Sister Outsider is on my shelf now.

Staci said...

Bound is fantastic...I recommend that one a lot to my readers. I have a copy of Wait for Me..I need to get to that one because I really enjoyed A Step From Heaven!

Have a wonderful week of reading!

Jennifer said...

Bound and Wait For Me sound wonderful and I am adding both of them to my TBR list, thank you. I hope you have a great week reading. If you have time, my Monday: http://www.rundpinne.com/2010/03/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-22_22.html

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Your books look so wonderful! I am going to look at some of these more closely.

Have a wonderful week! :)

Jessie Carty said...

Always enjoy seeing your list of books, especially interested in Bound.

Right now I am reading the graphic novel "Lost Colony" YA novel "Devlish" by Maureen Johnson, a non-fiction essay collection about different types of video game players called "Gamers" and a poetry collection that i don't have in front of me that has redneck tendancies.

:)

Athira said...

You have some really good books there. I like the sound of Bound. Have to check it out!

Ana said...

I wish I had all the time to read all that is on your list.

Anaïs: Confession Tuesday-Race as a social convention
I just finished “Swimming in the Monsoon Sea”, and I hope to get to review it soon. For now just rambling around “The History of White People”.

Ana said...

I wish I had all the time to read all that is on your list.

Anaïs: Confession Tuesday-Race as a social convention
I just finished “Swimming in the Monsoon Sea”, and I hope to get to review it soon. For now just rambling around “The History of White People”.

April (BooksandWine) said...

Bound looks great, I'm going to add it to my TBR! And yay for Wait For Me by An Na. I have a copy of it waiting TBR, can't wait to see what you think of it :-)

Once said...

just finished the four agreements and just started the great gadsby. i guess i missed the f scott fitzgerald kick in hs, but hes pretty awesome!!

thanks for the suggestions. you have some great recos to add to my summer reading list.