Indie Block Party: Day 5 - What Are You Reading?

Welcome back to the Indie  Block Party! If you haven't had a chance to read the previous posts, check out the links below and be sure and click on the linky at the end of this post to visit my neighbors.

We're kicking off Week Two with "What Are You Currently Reading?" 

Week 1: August 19-24
Post 1: Introduce Yourself
Post 2: Introduce Your WIP (Work in Progress)
Post 3: Interview one of your characters (I'll be featuring Sondra from "Live and Let Die")
Post 4: Interview one of your neighbors (I'll be interviewing Contemporary Romance Author, Susan Ann Wall)

Week 2: August 25-30
Post 5: What are you currently reading?
Post 6: Top 5 Books
Post 7: Writing Tips
Post 8: Social Media and Networking Tips

Also, check out the linky below and hop around to visit my neighbors!

Currently, I'm reading "Beloved" by Toni Morrison.  The description from Amazon:

Image from Examiner.com

 

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.

I'm reading it for a book group and it's not exactly a beach read.  If I had it to do over again, I would have urged that we pick something lighter for the summer months. 

One reviewer described it as a "dense, complex novel," and they're not joking.  Toni Morrison is a master of words and the prose has an undeniable poetry to it.  However, it's not the easiest read and I understand the mixed and frankly somewhat vehement reactions to the narrative style - this is not a book you will breeze through, due to the non-linear and "magical realism" nature of the storytelling. 

Still, I'm glad that I've read it, as it is a thought-provoking story. 

Next up on my docket to read is "Dark Places," by Gillian Flynn.  I received it as a gift for Christmas and am finally getting around to reading it.  After two deep books in a row, I'll be ready for something trashy.  Perhaps I can find something from this list?  

40 Trashy Novels You Must Read Before You Die