It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Is a meme hosted by Shelia over at Book Journey. A weekly check in to see what you are currently reading and what is coming up. Head over to Shelia's blog to see what others are reading this week.

 What am I reading now.

 

 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling.

I decided to reread this series last year after seeing the final movie. I started this the other day when my Kindle died halfway through Mort. (My Kindle dying was a very traumatic experience!) Once I got a new Kindle sorted I went back to Mort but picked this up again the moment I finished.

What I finished this week.

Another half way decent week with holidays and all!

1. The Other Hand - Chris Cleave (also published as Little Bee)
2. The Complete Peanuts 1961 - 1962 - Charles Schulz
3. Mort - Terry Pratchett

What's next

Likely to be more Pratchett. I am really enjoying re-reading his stuff at the moment.

 

So what was your week like? Leave me a comment and a link, I'd love to know!

Mort

Title: Mort
Author: Terry Pratchett
Series: Discworld
Genre: Fantasy/ Comedy Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Kindle

From Goodreads: Death comes to us all.  When he came to Mort, he offered him a job.
After being assured that being dead was not compulsory, Mort accepted.  However, he soon found that romantic longings did not mix easily with the responsibilities of being Death's apprentice...

What I thought:  Death needs a break so he takes on an apprentice. No one can give Death more life than Pratchett. Mort is learning how to collect souls and what happens when he doesn't. Death meanwhile is off looking for himself and collecting cats. Throw in Death's old and very loyal servant, Alfred, his adopted daughter Ysabell and a princess that people are having trouble seeing and you get yet another classic, hilarious read.


Challenges: Ebook Challenge

The Complete Peanuts 1961 - 1962

Title: The Compete Peanuts 1961 - 1962
Author: Charles Schulz
Genre: Comic
Series: Peanuts
Audience: Everyone!
Format: Book - Library

Synopsis: Volume 6 in this series takes us through 1961 and 1962.

What I thought: More Peanuts brilliance! There are a total of 25 volumes in this series, I wonder how many I can get through this year!

Challenges:

The Other Hand

Title: The Other Hand (also published as Little Bee)
Author: Chris Cleave
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Kindle

From Goodreads: Worlds collide when Little Bee, a Nigerian girl orphaned by violence, meets Sarah, a dissatisfied British professional away on holiday. The story is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn't. And it's what happens afterwards that is most important. A mixture of tragedy and comedy, a taste of what could happen to immigrants to the UK, realistically narrated by the two main characters: Little Bee, an immigrant to UK from Nigeria; and Sarah, a British magazine editor who had a previous connection with Little Bee.
What I thought: This is our first book group read for 2012 and wow, what a way to start the year! First off, it is simply beautifully written. The flow, the language all melds seamlessly to create a fantastic reading experience. Each chapter alternates between Little Bee and Sarah. In the beginning this produces a wonderful image of two stories moving closer together until you know they will merge and from that point they move forward together, showing different view points of the same events.

The characters of Little Bee and Sarah were lovely too. Little Bee's way of explaining or describing things and events appear simplistic, but offer such great depth. Sarah's chapters showed her feelings of confusion and uncertainty as her world is turned upside down. I believe Little Bee is a book that needs to be read by everyone, if for no other reason than to show that things are not always what we think.

Challenges: Ebook Challenge

Quotable Quotes

 

 Sometimes when I am reading a book, I come across a quote that for some reason grabs me. It may simply be beautifully written or it speaks to me on a deeper level. I often think I must write that down! And now I want to share them. So every now and then, I will do a Quotable Quotes post featuring a passage from a book I am reading. If you would like to see all my Quotable Quotes, click here!

This quote comes from The Other Hand by Chris Cleave. Other's will know this book as Little Bee.

On the girl's brown legs there were many white scars. I was thinking, Do those scars cover the whole of you, like the stars and the moons on your dress? I thought that would be pretty too and I ask you right here to please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, "I survived."

I love this. I have always said my stretch marks from being pregnant were badges of honour - proof that I nurtured a child in my body for 9 months. Scars do mean survival - triumph over something or someone that tried to hurt or damage us. A badge that says I survived.

You can check out other quotable quotes here.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Is a meme hosted by Shelia over at Book Journey. A weekly check in to see what you are currently reading and what is coming up. Head over to Shelia's blog to see what others are reading this week.

 What am I reading now.

I'm currently reading The Other Hand by Chris Cleave. It's also published under the name Little Bee. This is my book club's first book for 2012 and I am enjoying immensely.

What I finished this week.

I actually had a pretty good reading week - I love holidays - with four finishes.

1. Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater
2. The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett
3. I am Number Four - Pittacus Lore
4. The Power of Six - Pittacus Lore

What's next

I have no idea! Think I will just see where the wind takes me.

So what have you started 2012 with? Leave me a comment, I'd love to know!