It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? March 25, 2013
It’s Monday, What are you Reading? Here’s what I finished last week, what I’m currently reading and other book related posts. As usual, linking up with Book Journey today to recap and visit other bloggers to see what’s on their reading lists. It’s a great way to get new book recommendations, discuss good books and meet new bloggers.
Last week I Finished
For my in-person book club, we are reading Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. The book describes France during World War II and their roundup of Jews on July 16, 1942 at Vel d’Hiv.  When French Police knock on the door to roundup Sarah and her parents, she hides her younger brother Michel in a cupboard and promises to come back and rescue him.  Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist living in France and married to a Frenchman, learns about the horrors of the roundup, the atrocoties the victims faced and tries to find out what happens to Sarah and her family.
Although this was a piece of historical fiction based on an actual event in France, Ms. DeRosnay skillfully transported me to that time and the heartbreaking plight of Sarah and her family and the horrors they endure. It’s not easy to experience what they go through but it is an amazing story and I think worth a read. It gives a glimpse of what it must have been like for those Holocaust families, both those that perished and the ones they left behind. Â It’s a book I couldn’t put down and a very emotional journey through time for two families decades apart. Â It deals with all kinds of grief for characters spanning in age from the journalist’s young daughter to her elderly grandmother in-law and how Sarah’s life impacted them all, without her knowing it.
I didn’t realize this was a movie as well so we may get our book club together to watch it. Â Have you read the book or seen the movie?
Over the weekend, I participated in the full version of Bloggiesta, a book blogging marathon where we work on our blogs, network with other book bloggers and complete mini-challenges in order to improve our blogs both on its appearance and behind the scenes organization. Â I worked hard Friday and Saturday getting a lot done and proud to share my list of goals and accomplishments with you.I still have some goals to work on but I made a pretty good dent in my list. Visit my updated Contact/About Me page for an easy to use contact form if you’d like to contact me directly with a question or comment. I would love to hear from you.
This Week I’m Reading
After something as intense as Sarah’s Key, my book club’s selection for next month is hopefully something more light-hearted and fun. Â We are reading Wicked so I’m getting started on that – I didn’t realize it was 500 pages long when we picked it! I haven’t seen the musical either so hopefully we are in for a real treat. Â As the cover says, we all know Dorothy’s side of the story of what happened on her trip to Oz, but Wicked gives the witch’s side of the story. Â I am about 10 pages in so the Witch has seen Dorothy and her gang from a distance and eavesdrops on the gossip they share about the Witch. Â Entertaining and clever so far.
Other upcoming bookish events – April is gonna be a big and busy month!Â
I signed up for the Spring Reading Thing which is an opportunity to link up what I plan to read from now through June 20th. I will write a wrap up post at the end in order to be eligible for a prize giveaway.
The Book Blogger Twitter Con hosted by Parajunkee is coming up April 1 through April 7. They have sessions during the day and in the evenings so I hope to participate in the evening at least.
I will be reading Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice for this Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon hosted by Seasons of Reading from April 22-28, 2013. This will be hopefully the first book in the classic vampire genre that I complete and is on my Classics Club reading list as well.
I learned about a Weekday Read-a-thon hosted by Love at First Book and The Book Wheel that will take place on April 24th. I need to add that to my events calendar as well. Â No book in particular on the agenda, just whatever I need to finish up for book club or the monthly keyword challenge.
Well,that’s what I’ve been up to. What are you reading this week? Have you read any of the books in my post? What did you think? Tell me in the comments and let me know. Hope you link up or visit Book Journey too and see what other book bloggers are reading. Happy reading and have a good week!
I’ll be interested to read your review of Wicked… I loved that book… right up until the very end… and I hated the end so much. XD But a lot of people really love this book.
http://littlesqueed.blogspot.com/2013/03/its-monday-what-are-you-reading_25.html
Hi Heather, well I’m having a hard time getting into Wicked and about 70 pages in. It’s much more disturbing and twisted than I thought it would be but I am interested in where the story will go. I hope I start liking it more or else it’s going to take me forever to get through it and I don’t like not finishing.
I’m sorry that you hated the ending, what a bummer. So much of my overall rating depends on the first and last impressions of the book. I felt about Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter the way you felt about Wicked, I loved the beginning and then really disliked the end.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me and I hope you are enjoying what you are currently reading.
Thanks for visiting my blog last week (100 days of happiness).
Sarah’s Key was intense! I didn’t love Wicked but I don’t enjoy watching the Oz movie (I know I’m alone here…) 🙂
I love the layout of your blog, It’s so clean and easy to use. Have a wonderful night, Mari
Thanks so much Mari for the compliment on my blog’s layout. Wicked is…different than what I thought it would be for sure. I’m not very far into it and hope to get lots of reading done this long weekend. Happy Friday!
Good luck with Wicked. I couldn’t get through the first few chapters, but my daughter loved it. She enjoys all of Maguire’s novels.
Congrats on the Bloggiesta! Something to be proud of. 🙂
Rabid Reader
Thanks Mardel, let’s hope I can plug through Wicked. About a year ago when I really started to read more, I didn’t hesitate about not finishing a book. Now it’s harder for me to do, I get some weird satisfaction at changing the status from “currently reading” to “read” on my Goodreads checklist.
Thanks about Bloggiesta, do you participate? They are talking about having the next mini-one in May. Yippee! I need these events to help keep me on track and catch up, I’m always falling behind.
LOL – Nope. It’s all I can do to keep up with It’s Monday posts, the occasional Tuesday Teaser and a review here and there. I used to be more with it on the blogging thing, but never very ambitious. I end up reading or playing around on the internet, or vegging out on t.v. (Love Modern Family). I’m always in awe of other people’s accomplishments – whether it’s writing novels, blogging regularly, or even doing laundry on a regular basis! lol – I’m very low tech and low key. 🙂
I just might pick up Wicked soon. I have it on my list for the Once Upon a Time challenge. I’ve been meaning to read it for years.
Great choice for my read-a-thon. Anne Rice is my favorite! I’ve read that one and others in the series (up to The Tale of the Body Thief) twice and the third book, Queen of the Damned, four times. Yup, I’m an Anne Rice fanatic! I’m going to be reading The Exorcist for sure during the read-a-thon. I picked it up when it was on sale for Kindle a couple of weeks ago.
Hope you enjoy your reading this week. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on Sarah’s Key.
Thanks Michelle, I hope I enjoy Anne Rice as much as you do and another couple of my book club friends recommended them to me as well. The Exorcist was a book? I did not know that. Glad you were able to pick it up on Kindle, on sale to boot.
Wicked is starting slow and I got to a part where the imagery is shocking and kinda awful. Mr. Maguire accomplished “shock and awe” pretty early, I am glad visitors are warning me this is a dark and difficult book to get through.
I can’t wait to get the review of Sarah’s Key up, just gotta find some time to write it.
Sarah’s Key is a fabulous story. Gorgeously written yet heartbreaking.
Have a lovely reading week 🙂 What are you reading this week @ the Brunette Librarian’s Blog
I absolutely agree Brunette Librarian! Thanks for stopping by.
With such a busy weekend behind me, I need to get back to actually reading! I’m still on Quiet by Susan Cain
You’ve been working on Quiet for awhile, hope things are “quiet” enough this week to allow you time to finish it.
Well that settles it–I’ll put Sarah’s Key on my TBR. I’ll be curious to see how you feel after finishing Wicked. It was very different from what I expected. I enjoyed some parts, hated others, and felt kind “meh” overall about the book. I was really surprised when it became a musical (that people actually liked)–turns out the musical takes a way different tone then the book! It’s a good read, just not of my favorites.
Uh oh, commenters are making me nervous about reading Wicked, my book club members and I mistakingly assumed it’d be an easy read since it is a musical.
Sarah’s Key is very emotional but one of those books that stick with you. I hope you enjoy it.
I didn’t know that Sarah’s Key was made into a movie! I’m going to have to look for that! Thanks for the heads up 🙂
Have a fab week girl!
I didn’t either till my book club member mentioned it. And she said it’s a couple years old. Normally I don’t watch movies till they are out on DVD. I am too fidgety and cold and can’t sit still in theaters.
Hope you have a fab week too!
Thanks for the shout out! As always, I love how you showcase the events so I know what is coming up!
No problem, I love to give credit where it’s due and help connect bloggers with each other and fun events. I am thinking now I need to use Picmonkey to maybe collage the events, cause this was a whole lotta pictures in one post this time. Not normally so picture intensive but i love putting buttons into the post that people created.
When I first read Wicked I thought it would be light and fun because it is a musical. It isn’t. The musical came later. The book is very dark. I found it very thought provoking and it is one of my favorites but it absolutely is not what I expected.
Yea, I’m starting to hear that…uh oh, hope book club members and I still like it. Glad it’s one of your favorites, I suppose I should warn them tonight when we get together to discuss Sarah’s Key. I haven’t seen the musical, have you? Thanks for stopping by Heather!