Friday, February 10, 2017

Read Harder 2017: One book to rule them all?

How's your challenge going? Struggling to find the time to read? (ME TOO.) So, looking to check off a few list items with just one book? We've got you covered!

Check out Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran for four challenges in one book!
Those challenges are:
#2: Read a debut novel. (Sekaran's first!)
#4: Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author. (This is a bit of a stretch but a good portion of the narrative takes place in Oaxaca.)
#5: Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative.
#24: Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color.

While admittedly it gets a teensy bit too sentimental for my liking (heart of stone over here), I think readers will totally fall in love with Sekaran's wonderfully real, flawed, and relatable characters, and the compelling narrative that springs from their (sometimes dubious) life choices.

Solimar, barely 18 and pregnant, has journeyed from rural Oaxaca to California to work for her aunt as a housekeeper. Her situation is tenuous and after a snowballing series of small disasters, seriously in peril. Meanwhile Kavya, a chef in Berkeley, is in her 30s and unable to get pregnant but desperately wants a child. Can you kind of guess where this is going? Their lives and families intersect after a surprising turn of events.

New's Year resolutions are tough. Here's what I'm reading right now:

The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain
Selection Day by Aravind Adiga
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
...Because I have to read multiple books at once.

What are YOU reading?

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