- How to Pronounce Knife – Souvankham Thammavongsa (McClelland & Stewart, 2020)
- On Reading Well – Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press, 2018)
- Land-Water-Sky/Ndè-Tı-Yat’a by Katłıà (Roseway Publishing, 2020)
- Eggshells – Caitriona Lally (Melville House, 2017)
- Indians on Vacation – Thomas King (Harper Collins Publishers, 2020)
- Salt Houses – Hala Alyan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017)
Currently Reading:
Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
A Book of Luminous Things ed. by Czeslaw Milosz
Wuhan Diary – Fang Fang
Butter Honey Pig Bread – Francesca Ekwuyasi
2021 Goals:
Books Read: 10/100
Books Reviewed: 9/10
Asian-Canadian Literature Challenge: 1
A Virtuous Challenge: 0
Current TBR: 211 (previously 206)
Thoughts:
I’ve continued to set myself weekly reading goals and it’s continued to work quite nicely. Except for Tom Jones. On the one hand, I am enjoying this book a lot more than I expected. On the other hand, it’s 800 pages long and it’s dense and I’m getting a bit tired of it. I’ve renewed it for the final time from the library and I’m not sure if I’m going to get through the last 200 pages before I have to return it.
A Book of Luminous Things is a poetry collection so although I am including it in my weekly goals, I’m not in any rush to get through it. I read a couple of poems from it per day. I’m quite close to finishing Wuhan Diary and aim to finish Butter Honey Pig Bread this week too.
Reading highlight of February was probably Salt Houses. I’ll have a review up for that one later this week.
What’s Next:
It’s not looking like I’ll get any of my library holds any time soon but that’s okay because I have a few ARCs to work my way through. I hope to begin Satellite Love once I finish Butter Honey Pig Bread (which is not an ARC but they are both e-books and I can’t read more than one e-book at a time!) Speaking of ARCs, I have a physical copy of The Push and I’m so curious about it but have also heard it’s quite dark so am a little nervous to start. Am waiting for the right time to read that one. I also have a borrowed copy of Shuggie Bain that I should begin once I finish Wuhan Diary. Kazuo Ishiguro is one of my favourite authors and his newest book Klara and the Sun comes out this week. I already have it on pre-order so that might bump some others lower down the TBR.
Other Reading:
We’ve read The House at Pooh Corner this month with the girls which was a definite hit. We’ve read many of the individual stories with them before but not the whole thing and there were a few chapters that were new to them.
In my Bible reading plan, I’ve finished Ephesians, Philippians, Exodus, Leviticus, and Hebrews in February. I’m currently reading Numbers and Colossians.
Karissa Reads Books 
I am so curious to know what Wuhan Diary is about … is it related to the pandemic at all? Also, you go through the Bible so quickly!!! I have been reading Ecclesiastes for a couple of weeks now and it’s only 12 chapters, and I’m only halfway through!
Yes, it is! It was originally published on-line by a Chinese writer during Wuhan’s lockdown last year. It’s just been translated into English.
I’m following a plan to read the whole Bible in a year so this is definitely an accelerated pace for me. I read between 2 and 6 chapters each day, a mix of Old and New Testament. It’s much faster than I would normally read but I’m also really appreciating the big picture perspective it’s giving me.
Oh, good! You answered Claire’s question, which was the same as my own. I also wanted to comment about your Bible reading, specifically Exodus, as I recently finished reading Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale Hurston. I know you’ll have some super smart comments on my review when it is published later this month!
Now it feels like there’s pressure for me to be super smart! Moses is a really interesting character, I think. A very reluctant, very flawed leader. Is the book actually about him or simply references Moses?
No pressure; I know you’re an education person, especially about your faith. The book is all about Moses, and I thought it was really well done, though of course I can’t compare it to Biblical translations of Exodus because I haven’t read Exodus. But he felt like a reluctant, knowledgeable, and also unforgiving (for good reasons) leader.
It does sound like something I’d be interested in, especially with Exodus fresh in my mind now. Moses is a pretty complicated character who was always kind of an outsider from the Israelites, even as he led them. I can definitely see why a writer would be drawn to exploring his character.
I think you would like it. Here’s your push!
How is your Bible reading plan structured? My Biblical textual knowledge is so patchy—largely what I remember from childhood, reinforced by the bits that tend to get set to music, because of my choral background—and I’d quite like to have a go at getting more of it under my belt, but it has always intimidated me terribly!
It’s 2-4 chapters from the Old Testament, usually a Psalm, and a chapter from the New Testament each day. The Old Testament books are read in order while the rest move around and seem to fit in with the OT readings. For example, I just finished reading the New Testament book of Hebrews, which was written for an audience of Jewish Christian converts. It references a lot of the laws of Moses, which I am also reading about in Leviticus and Numbers. So the plan gives a good picture of how the Bible as a whole works together and connects. It’s been a good way to read large chunks at a time. I feel like it would be a lot to take in if I hadn’t already read the Bible quite a bit but it does also create a nice flow that sometimes makes it easier to understand. When I was in university, I took a Bible as Literature course and learned so much in that and most of our readings were chapters at a time like this is.
Sounds an excellent strategy. Is there a website or online resources for it anywhere?
Click to access Bible%20Reading%20Schedule%202021.pdf
That should be a link to the plan I’m following. I found it based on the recommendation of the author of a devotional I read last year.
Thank you!
It’d be a pity not to finish Tom Jones when you’re so close, but these long classics can sometimes begin to fell like drudgery after a while. Hope you find a sudden spurt of renewed enthusiasm for it!
I know! I don’t want to not be able to count it but I’m feeling that library due date breathing down my neck!
You could always download a free Kindle copy if you run out of time. There’s bound to be one on Project Gutenberg.
That’s a really good point! I had actually started the book with an e-copy from the library. I found it harder to read that way but if I really need to I could always finish it up like that.