Friday Finds -- June 11, 2010

Despite so much going on over here between work, house projects, yard work, and just daily living challenges in this pandemic era, I've been able to squeeze in time to read as well, which I'm thankful for, because the news has been abysmal these past few weeks for various reasons and I'm continually worrying about where humanity is headed, even more so than I did before.

A library haul after months...My biggest highlight in books this past week was that the library opened for holds pickup. I'd been checking their website every week to find if next week was going to be the week it opened. So when the notice finally came through last week, I was beyond thrilled. I was also very unsure what books to request from the library since I had gotten very used to reading online. Still, I had a few requested when they called me to schedule a one-hour window for pickup. I did request a ton of books after that though, so I expect a bigger bag this week.

Some of these are books to rea…

Friday Finds -- June 11, 2010

Hosted by MizB at Should be reading, this meme asks you what great books did you hear about/discover this past week?

Not too many finds this week. I think I am finally getting very selective of what I add to my TBR! Probably has to do with the insurmountable size of it.

God Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe

I have to shamefully confess that I haven't read any of Mary Monroe books. I spotted this one for the first time when Barnes and Noble was giving this away as a free ebook. I read a few chapters of this book and I quite like it!

After her father left her mother for a white woman, Annette Goode has been overeating to get over her father's abandonment. When she is seven, Annette's mother asks Mr. Boatwright to be her daddy. Soon, he starts raping her. Believing that no one will believe her, Annette keeps silent about it and endures the abuse for years. Then she meets 13-year old Rhoda Nelson who changes her life.

The Wish Maker by Ali Sethi

I wish I remembered where I saw this one. I LOVE the cover and the title. It is based in Pakistan, has "sacrifice, betrayal and indestructible friendship". Enough to lure me in ..let me use that gift card.. This one released on June 1st.

Zaki Shirazi and his female cousin Samar Api were raised to consider themselves "part of the same litter." In a household run by Zaki's crusading political journalist mother and iron-willed grandmother, it was impossible to imagine a future that could hold anything different for each of them. But when adolescence approaches, the cousins' fates diverge, and Zaki is forced to question the meaning of family, selfhood, and commitment to those he loves most.

Everything Is Broken by Emma Larkin

Wendy at Caribousmom wrote an awesome review for this book. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should!

On May 2, 2008, an enormous tropical cyclone wreaked untold havoc in Burma, leaving an official toll of 138,300 dead and missing. But the Burmese regime, in an unfathomable decision of near-genocidal proportions, provided little relief to its suffering population and blocked international aid from entering the country. Emma Larkin, who has been traveling to and secretly reporting on Burma for years, managed to arrange for a tourist visa in those frenzied days and arrived hoping to help. She chronicles the chaotic days and months that followed the storm, revealing the secretive politics of Burma's military dictatorship and the bizarre combination of vicious military force, religion, and mysticism that defined its unthinkable response to this horrific event.

Check out what others discovered here!