Bookish Chatter | A Small Stack for a Rainy Week

Happy Wednesday, friends! I thought I would be able to read more last week thanks to all of the rain, but that didn’t seem to be the case. That’s okay — I managed to really enjoy reading when I was able to capture the time and that’s what matters. Today I’m sharing my last selection from this year’s Women’s Prize longlist, two bedtime readalouds, one book that I’m reading at a leisurely pace, and my two current books. As usual, I have a lot to say about them all!

Finished This Week:

The Bandit Queens, though humorous, started out slowly for me. I almost didn’t finish it when the loan was close to expiring and another highly anticipated loan became available. But thanks to lots of good advice, I stuck with it and ended up really enjoying it. This story is set in India around a group of women who are tied together thanks to a microloan. They have difficult lives, not made any easier by their “no good husbands.” And when they band together to start killing them off? Things only get funnier.

I enjoyed the writing in this book. I thought the imagery was bright and clear and Shroff included some very funny dialogue that had me laughing out loud several times. She also did a great job of showing how women get stuck in abusive relationships and that it’s usually not an easy decision to leave.

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Bronwyn and I finished Kit Learns a Lesson this week. Kit still hates having boarders at her house and wants to kick them out, but she learns how much her family needs them when she discovers that her father has been visiting a soup kitchen every day to cut down on their food costs at home. Kit is now fully invested in turning their home into a boarding house and she’s full of ideas to make it work.

I am really enjoying Kit and her spunkiness. I can see why she was chosen for her own movie!

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Bryce and I reread the tenth Captain Underpants this week: The Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers. This is another book that got lost under his bed so we hadn’t read it since last October, so it felt a little more fresh than some of the others we’ve been reading before bed. This has been our bedtime reading for so long that he waxes philosophical about the deeper meanings of these books and it’s hilarious. The kid could write a thesis on this series one day!

Slow & Steady:

I am still moving along with When I Was A Child I Read Books and am enjoying the essays for the most part. My favorite so far is the title essay, When I Was a Child. She unpacks some of her inspiration for Housekeeping, a novel that went straight over my head. I’ve added a reread to my fall list because I’d like to try it again with this new information and the Fiction Matters book club conversations that were held back in January. If I keep my current pace, then I’ll be able to finish it by next Wednesday!

Currently Reading:

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I was able to renew my loan on The Covenant of Water! How? I don’t know because there appears to be quite a waiting list but I returned it on Sunday morning and by Sunday afternoon it was available to borrow again. I had already used an Audible credit for it but was able to return the book and get my credit back. I’m 56% of the way through it and feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to finish it in this loan period (but won’t count my chickens). I’m enjoying this one so much and can’t wait to tell you more about it! (And I just realized that the cover blurb was by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers – author of the beautiful The Love Songs of WEB Dubois!!)

And Birnam Wood! This is totally worth the 2 month+ wait! I’m at 88% – my Kindle estimates that I can finish it under an hour – and I had to force myself to put it down last night despite being up hours after my typical bedtime. It’s such a page turner and I can’t wait to see how it’s resolved. More next week!

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I hope to be back on Friday with an update. I hope the rest of your week has no hiccups and you get some time for exactly what you need. Take good care!