Monday, May 21, 2018

Monday Mini-Reviews: Two Fantastic New Releases

I was so busy with watching the royal wedding and soccer games and the usual weekend errand running that my reading time was minimal. Thank goodness the two books I read were really good.  




You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld is a collection of short stories.  Normally I would pass on a short story collection, but I like Sittenfeld's writing and have heard great things about this book, so I decided to give it a chance. I can easily see why people like this book. I enjoyed all the stories and read it in just a day.  The stories are short enough that anyone could easily read just one each night before bed as well.  I didn't necessarily appreciate her political commentary in her work.  This is something I'm seeing from a lot of writers, and mostly I just don't think it brings anything to the story. Instead their work is being used as a place for them to force their beliefs on their readers.  I'll still read anything Sittenfeld writes, but that is one aspect of her writing detracts from her work.

A Place For Us by Fatimah Farheen Mirzah is a family saga, something I love.  The story begins at Hadia's wedding, where her brother Amar has come to reconcile with everyone after being away from home for several years. The story moves back and forth in time and we can see Layla and Raffiq meet and marry, and then have children: Hadia, Huda and Amar. We learn of different events that occurred in their childhoods and can see that Amar has struggled more to fit in than his older sisters.  I loved seeing things from various perspectives of the family members and loved seeing the family dynamics and growing and changing of the characters.  This novel captured my attention from the first page and is one I'm anticipating will be on my list of Best Books I've Read in 2018.

What books did you find to enjoy this past week?

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