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:
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. Verse novel for younger end of YA. Familiar immigrant story told in a fresh an intimate way. Fits my YA and POC challenge.


Wait For Me by An Na. I am biased. I love poetry and Na's prose reads like poetry. This is romantic, lyrical and hopeful. Everything you hope young love will be. Fits my YA, POC and Women Unbound Challenges.

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli. Love the intimate look at culture and history of the Ming Dynasty period. Far more impressed with this take on a classic fairy tale. Fits my YA, POC, Women Unbound challenges.

Picked up several titles I had on hold at the library. I sorely need to get to some adult titles and nonfiction so we'll see how it goes this week. In the queue:

The Pistachio Seller by Reem Bassiouney. Translated by Osman Nusairi. Saw this at Feminist Review. Fits my Women Unbound and POC challenge.
A devout Muslim, Wafaa desires Ashraf, but hates herself for lusting. Her desire is driven by imagination, prejudice, and the unachievable. This is where the beauty of Bassiouney’s complex characters shines. No character is singularly blameless or nefarious. Do I love Wafaa for being honest and passionate, or hate her for being judgmental and dogmatic?

Naming Maya by Uma Krishnawami. Reading this for YA, Women Unbound, South Asian and POC challenge. First saw this title at Reading In Color.
“Language can make you a stranger in many places, but only if you let it,” Maya observes in a place where Hindi, English, and Tamil all compete for her attention. How does Kamala Mami bring Maya’s family together in spite of their differing languages and customs? Read full review at Papertigers.org.


Babyji by Abha Dawesar. Reading this for YA, Women Unbound, South Asian and POC, LBGT challenge. Don't know much about it but I've learned it fits several challenges so I'm giving it a go.
To my knowledge,this is the first book by an Indian author,esp a female which has so explicitly dealt with lesbianism. See review by Abha Deveshar.

Feminsita by Erica Kennedy. Heard nothing but good things about this book and I sorely need an adult read. Reading this for Women Unbound and POC. My most recent review read was at Doret's.
Kennedy created an honest, take no crap, flawed, strong, smart, vulnerable, funny character in Sydney. Whenever Sydney is asked about her heritage she quickly responds with Afro Cuban, Portuguese, French and Irish. Feminista is as diverse as a novel set in the city of Manhattan should be. Kennedy's writing is seamless, everything from Sydney's inner monologues to the dialogue is spot on good.

An Ocean Apart, a World Away by Lensey Namioka. Fits my Women Unbound, YA and POC Challenge
Yanyan is not a girl who bows down to conformity. She is fascinated by science, the treating of wounds and health improvement. That’s why she wants to study medicine so she can become a doctor and save other people’s lives. Lucky for her, her father fully supports her decision considering it’s 1921 in China where women rarely attend university. See full review at Books Love Me.

Also got several books in the mail for Color Online. See my New Crayons post here and the one at Color Online.

I tend to read in binges and multiples books in a similar vein and that's how I like to talk about them. I think this year I'm really ready to let go of my guilt about individual book reviews. I love reading reviews, but I neither have the time nor the interest to review every book I read. I'm in oh, seven book challenges. I do however want to promote and support writers so for me I have to find other ways to engage readers here in book chat.

What did you read this week? What's next on your tbr? Find more posts at One Person's Journey. WAYR is hosted by Sheila.