If you've been following me long, you know I'm a sucker for challenges...at the beginning of the year. Truth be told, most of the challenges I've signed up for really should be much of a challenge for me. We all know I'm going to read a lot of historical fiction, after all. But Colleen challenges me to find books that deal with a particular type of history, the immigrant experience, and that is a bit more of a challenge. I'm joining at the Just Off The Boat level, so I'll be reading 1-3 books (okay, I know, that's not REALLY challenging myself but hush!). But since I'm already reading
Life Of Pi and will read
Eleanor and Park soon, both of which qualify, I'll probably shoot for the next level. If you're interested in reading learning more about the people who braved a new life, check out the
Immigrant Stories Challenge at Books In The City. Colleen even gives you some book ideas and Goodreads has pages of ideas.
Books I'm also considering are:
Beautiful Maria of My Soul by Oscar Hijuelos
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
Heyday by Kurt Anderson
Which of these should I definitely read? There are several books that were big hits in 2013 that I will likely pick up in the next few months that will also qualify but I want to focus, for now, on what I already own.
Looks interesting. I'm currently reading The Shoemaker's Wife that could qualify for that challenge. It's not life-changing -- but it's a pleasant read.
ReplyDeleteWelcome! So glad you have joined the challenge! The Interpreter of Maladies is one of my all time immigrant fiction books so I definitely recommend that one! I look forward to checking out what you read throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. So that's my input.
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