Monday, January 26, 2015

It's Monday! What are you reading? (1/26/15)

http://bookjourney.net/
It's Monday! is sponsored by Sheila at Book Journey.
 
Last week I finished two books, one on Monday when I was off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and another on Wednesday.
 
 
Gulp had been on my TBR for months, and although I didn't fall in love with it, I enjoyed the writing and am glad I finally read it. In short, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting and was much more sideshow than main attraction. That was kind of exciting but a little too weird for me.
 
I also finished my re-read of The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio last week. And it was every bit as good as I remember it being. This time through I did see a darker overtone than I did the first time. It's about a mother in the 1950s and 60s who enters and regularly wins jingle contests sponsored by America's top products. She's raising ten children with an alcoholic husband, so money troubles are ever-present. It's a sweet and hopeful book without being sappy, and it deals with the realities of alcoholism in their family without dwelling on it. It's written by one of the kids, now an adult, of course. I highly recommend it.  
 
 
This week I'm reading Americans' Favorite Poems (only about 25 pages left) and Brown Girl Dreaming which is a YA memoir set in verse. Both are very good.
 
 
I hope to finish both of these this week, and then I think I'll move on to one or both of these:
 
 
I'll be reading Yes Please for my "read something everyone else is" challenge and Charlotte's Web for my "read a children's class" challenge.

What are you reading this week?
 





8 comments:

  1. I have been curious about Gulp. YAY for Charlotte's Web - a banned book!

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    1. Gulp is not a bad book, just not my cup of tea. It was well-written and researched, humorous, etc. But I expected a book that followed food through the digestive process, and it was more about odd studies and interesting professionals doing weird things in the name of digestive science.

      I have a feeling Charlotte's Web will make me cry like a baby.

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  2. Brown Girls Reading looks good. Charlotte's web scared me as a young girl (I felt so bad for the animals)... I should read it again.

    Have a great week!

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    1. I had Charlotte's Web and Where the Red Fern Grows read to me as a child, and they traumatized me for all future stories about animals that die. Maybe now that I'm a "big girl" I can handle it. We shall see. After all, Marley and Me did me in!

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  3. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio looks like one I would enjoy. :) Thanks for sharing, and enjoy your week!

    Brooke at http://www.brookeblogs.com

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    1. I just adore the book. It was made into a movie in 2006 starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson.

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  4. Brown Girl Dreaming is such a great book!

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    1. I'll be finishing it tonight, and already I am missing it. It's fabulous.

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