Weekly Wrap-Up 04/22/13

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 58 Comments

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey. 

Another snowy week. You guys, I don’t even mind winter most of the time. But this? This is getting ridiculous. 

Considering the tragic events of the past week the weather is certainly the least of my concerns. But no negativity my little chickadees! I won’t allow it here. This is our safe, sweet, reading place.

There’s a lot of bookish goodness to talk about today. Let’s steam ahead!

Reviews:

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

The Clover House by Henriette Lazaridis Power

However Long the Night by Aimee Molloy

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley

Read:

Upcoming:

Your guess is as good as mine! Perhaps this? 

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline


Or this? 

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey


Bloggish Business:


World Book Night is on this coming Tuesday, yahoo! I picked up my box of books from Redbery Books and I’m very excited to give them all away. (I’m giving The Handmaid’s Tale) Please click on the link to learn more about this event. 

Upcoming blog events to look forward to:

Weekday Read-a-thon
Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon 
Saturday, April 27
Monday, May 27 – Sunday, June 2, 2013

Be sure to click the links above to sign up/register/get the info



Have a beautiful week!
Source

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 22 Comments

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: April 2013
Categories: Literary, Contemporary Women, Religion
Source: Little, Brown and Company via Netgalley
Description:

A mother and her daughters drive for days without sleep until they crash their car in rural Oklahoma. The mother, Amaranth, is desperate to get away from someone she’s convinced will follow them wherever they go–her husband. The girls, Amity and Sorrow, can’t imagine what the world holds outside their father’s polygamous compound. 

Rescue comes in the unlikely form of Bradley, a farmer grieving the loss of his wife. At first unwelcoming to these strange, prayerful women, Bradley’s abiding tolerance gets the best of him, and they become a new kind of family. An unforgettable story of belief and redemption, Amity & Sorrow is about the influence of community and learning to stand on your own.

My Thoughts:

A few of my favorite bloggers have had wonderful things to say about this book recently. After reading their reviews I had a feeling that this would be a book I could sink my teeth into. I requested it from Netgalley, was approved, and started reading it immediately. 

I love when I’m right. I did sink into this tale and rarely lifted my eyes from this book until I was finished.

Amity & Sorrow describes a life that I can only imagine. Amaranth’s daughters have been so sheltered that reading their experiences outside of the polygamous cult was like seeing the world through the eyes of much younger children. 

Amity is open to her new experiences. She is eager to learn about this new place she’s found herself in. Sorrow, on the other hand, is extremely disturbed and wants nothing more than to go back to the life she had with her father. 

This story is sometimes disturbing. What was started as an idealized way to live and love devolves into an alarming lifestyle. (The consummation of every new wife is witnessed by all previous wives, etc.)

As the author, Peggy Riley, says in the video below: Amity & Sorrow is a book about God, sex, and farming. How can you resist that? 

Other bloggers thoughts:

That’s What She Read
Words for Worms
BermudaOnion’s Weblog
The Picky Girl
Linus’s Blanket (An interview with Peggy Riley)