2019 Reading Challenge Reviews - Books 32 & 33
For new readers, welcome! This year, I'm participating in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and finding it really useful towards my reading goals. Find out more in my Overview post or on the Pop Sugar website.
For those who have been keeping up regularly, thank you! You may notice that my reading challenge review posts have skipped book number 31. This is because book number 31 was an ARC (Advanced Review Copy) given to me by the publisher as an eBook via NetGalley that I have already discussed in it's own post. I did not read it as part of the Pop Sugar Challenge, so for tracking purposes I'm labeling it as "I've read more" on my challenge tracker. See my post on Magic Diary by Pat LaMarche for my review on book 31.
I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads, but it could easily have gotten 4.5.
The prompt I chose for this was "A book with Salty, Sweet, Bitter, or Spicy in the title." I know, I kind of stretched Sweet a bit to include Sweetie, but this book was too good not to bend the rules a little.
This book is actually a companion novel to When Dimple Met Rishi, but I think the two books can be read in either order. There's Something About Sweetie is also a good stand-alone book if you haven't, like me, read When Dimple Met Rishi (yet).
There's Something About Sweetie follows two Indian-American teenagers as they learn about themselves and love. Ashish is considered an attractive, basketball athlete (and brother to Rishi) who has never dated an Indian-American girl, but when his girlfriend dumps him and begins seeing someone new, he decides to challenge his parents to play matchmaker the way they did for his brother, Rishi. Sweetie is a confident track athlete from a traditional family who society believes is fat. Despite her love for herself, she has something to prove to the world, her mother, and maybe even a little bit to herself. The two of them begin to date, but have to follow a pre-set number and location for dates planned by Ashish's parents to help the two teens get to know each other, themselves, and their heritage.With each teen trying to prove something to themselves, will they be able to fall for each other or will the burdens they each bare become to much for them?
I thought this was a fun, cute, easy read and is perfect for summer (or anytime) reading if you're looking to pick something up. I liked that it showed a different cultural approach to dating (and now I wonder who my mom would have picked out for me in high school [hopefully my, still current, boyfriend but who knows]). However, regardless of cultural background, this was just an amazing book.
I loved how empowered Sweetie felt. Despite society trying to tell her that she was fat or unhealthy, she knew that she was beautiful and healthy and wanted to prove it to the world. I feel her plot and growth during the book is something that so many young girls should read and embrace for themselves. As someone who struggled with my body image in HS, a character like Sweetie really means a lot.
Overall, I thought this book was really cute, empowering, and should probably become a movie ASAP. (Hey Netflix, check it out!)
Book 33: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
I gave this book 2/5 stars on Goodreads.
The prompt I chose for this was "A book author from Asia, Africa, or South America."
I'll keep my review for this one somewhat short, because I really struggled with understanding it at times.
The book follows a young woman, Aomame, and a young man Tengo as they cross from 1984 into a world of magical realism with two moons and a very complicated and dangerous cult. Aomame works to stop domestic violence and child harm in her own way, while Tengo works with a young girl to rewrite her book. However, this puts the two of them on a path to reunite after many years, and brings them in close proximity to the dangerous cult and their (possibly magical) beliefs.
My friends wanted this to be our book club book a few years ago, but I had a hard time understanding it and didn't finish it in time to discuss it with them. If I had, I may have enjoyed it more after the discussion.
The first two thirds of the book, I was pretty confused; however, in the final third I felt like I was finally understanding and really enjoying some aspects of the book. However, I think this is due to my lack of understanding, not the book's lack of explanation.
That said, even if this book wasn't a hit with me, all of my friends in that book club loved it. I would still recommend it if you love magical realism, but I'm told that I should have read a shorter book by Haruki Murakami before jumping into this one.
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