Monday Reading Check In

I received a complimentary copy of LOVE IN COLOR by Bolu Babalola from William Morrow.

Happy Monday! The weekend wound up being more busy than anticipated between a birthday dinner for my dad on Saturday and lots of book chats happening Sunday, but I did get some good reading in! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

For today’s current read, I started yet another new book yesterday (even though I already had 8 in progress reads at the time). LOVE IN COLOR has been calling to me from my shelf to check out, so I figured I could use a short story collection in the mix to pick up here and there. This book is a collection of retellings of myths and stories from different cultures. There are some familiar names (Nefertiti and Scheherazade) and a lot of stories that are entirely new to me.

While there is a list of sources of inspiration given in the back of the book (the original title where applicable and the country of origin), I do kind of wish there was just a bit more about each story and how the author adapted it. Still, I am enjoying these stories even when I don’t know the source material. Each of the stories is renamed for the central character, refocusing the story where needed on the woman at its center.

Though I did manage to finish up a couple things over the weekend, my currently reading list is still quite long:

BETH AND AMY by Virginia Kantra is her follow up to MEG AND JO, modern retellings of the March sisters from LITTLE WOMEN. Amy is a handbag designer who is beginning to make a name for herself and her company. She’s longtime been in love with the boy next door who also happens to be her older sister’s ex. Beth is a singer and songwriter with chronic debilitating health conditions. I’m at the halfway point and eager to finish this one up.

NINEFOX GAMBIT by Yoon Ha Lee is the #DeepDarkReads pick of the month. I am about haflway into this one and I’m kind of struggling a bit with it. Cheris is a disgraced captain trying to redeem herself in a new campaign. She’s brought back another disgraced general, known for his impressive tactics but also for going crazy and killing off his people. I am finding much of the story intriguing, but there are a lot of things introduced with what I feel like are less than great descriptions, so I’m having a bit of a hard time really envisioning what is going on. I’m about halfway in and hopeful that I will catch on better as I continue.

LOST CHILDREN ARCHIVE by Valeria Luiselli follows a small family on the road. The parents met on a project to record the sounds of New York and now that that is done, they are each on to pursuing new projects, things that may drive them and their family apart. We are getting the mother’s POV. Her attention has been captured by the immigration crisis at the border where kids are being detained trying to cross over into the United States and she seeks to capture this story. In the meantime, the focus really is on this family, their journey south and on their potential future. The book is told in a unique style and I am enjoying it, but it is one that I moreso want to read in short bursts rather than sit and devour the entire thing in a single read.

YOU WILL REMEMBER ME by Hannah Mary McKinnon follows a man who wakes up on the beach in Maryland with no memory at all about who he is. He feels drawn to Maine as home and there he begins to get answers, but they bring up even more questions. Meanwhile, a young woman is looking for her boyfriend Jack who went missing after going to the beach for a quick swim ahead of an incoming storm. I am at the halfway point for this one and it is an easy binge read. I’ll be excited to finish it tomorrow after the #letstalkbooks buddy read chat.

I am still working on A WINTER’S PROMISE by Christelle Dabos, book one in The Mirror Visitor Quartet, for a buddy read with a friend. I’m looking forward to continuing on with the story.

I’m moving on to the final sections of THE THORN BIRDS by Colleen McCullough for the #ClassicsBuddyRead as well before our final chat later this month. I am continuing to find this one a fun and a very easy read!

How is your May reading going? What are you reading this week? I’d love to hear!