Rating:
♥ =  Never Again
♥♥= OK
♥♥♥= Good
♥♥♥♥= Amazing
♥♥♥♥♥= Compelling
                                       FEBRUARY 2019
A Thousand Splendid Suns ~ Khaled Hosseini ( 415/415 Pages)
Daily average: 9.02 pages/ day
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
I actually started this book in late January, and finished it in the first week of March. A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the story of an Afghani women named Mariam, who is an illegitimate child, and struggles from the social stigma surrounding her and abuse. Laila who is comparatively privileged during her youth, soon experiences a series of traumatic events as well. Their lives intersect as volatile events involving war and violence take over and they face the cruelty of the world and their husband together. I was inspired to read this novel after I had read the The Kite Runner in Grade 11, because I fell in love with how this author portrayed his stories -with so much intricacy and sentiment. This book overall was a rollercoaster of emotions and was intriguing throughout. I can affirmatively say that it’s probably my all- time favourite book that I have ever read. The characters struggling to survive and still trying to find happiness made me feel as a reader fearful, but also hopeful and inspired by the strength and courage that these women had, especially during that time period, whilst in the middle of a tragic war and with limited power. It was ultimately a real, vulnerable and powerful story that in my mind is timeless. For next month, I hope to increase the amount of reading done because I am a slow reader and want to improve my pace while also understanding everything. I have already started a new novel, called, Secret Daughter. Lets see how far I can go!
                                         MARCH 2019
Secret Daughter~ Shilpi Somaya Gowda ( 185/ 339 pages)
Daily Average: 6.9 pages/day
Rating (so far) : ♥♥♥
I started this book on the second week of March, after juggling with a few others that I couldn’t personally stick to. What intrigued me to start this specific book and continue reading it was that its actually written from the point of view of an Indian women, where one story follows Kavita, who is conflicted by conforming to traditional ideals in past/modern India. Whereas the other story follows Somer from California who breaks the stereotypes and instead portrays more of the modern ideals but still struggles with acceptance of being in an interracial marriage. Both stories deal with finding true happiness and struggling to raise an idealistic family, and soon enough their lives will be brought together by a special child. I think what sparked me the most to keep reading this novel, was that I can resonate with both of the characters, and see myself in each of them. Especially because it portrays Indian ideals/ societal norms that I have have personally felt and have witnessed so regularly. I have fallen back this month quite a bit, and did not increase the amount of pages I’ve been reading from last month. I thought I would get a lot more done over the spring break, but it turns out that I was a lot busier with other school work, so it was hard for me to find time to prioritize some reading. I had also read the prose form of Hamlet in March, so I took some time out of my days to finish reading that as well. I hope next month to finish reading this novel as well as start the book, And the Mountains Echoed, and get more reading done overall.