The Book-a-Week Challenge

One of the main reasons I decided to start this blog was because of a goal I recently set for myself: to read a book a week. This aspiration was motivated by an article I came across last autumn in The New York Times about a woman who reads a book a day. While my ambitions are a little more modest (read: sane), I like the idea of taking some quiet time every day to enjoy a great read and to keep pace of life in a more lyrical way than the other things we do weekly, like take out the trash or go to the food store.

Honestly, now that I'm out of the deep, dark tunnel known as thesis and have yet to find full-time employment, reading a book or two a week has happened naturally. However, I am sure that my schedule will pick up when I finally do find a job (fingers crossed!) so committing myself now to a realistic reading goal that I can maintain seems like a good idea...and I'm counting on this blog and its followers to hold me accountable!

My plan--since I'm the kind of person who always need to have a plan--is to introduce a book every Wednesday that I plan to read over the next week, and then of course to chat about that book the following Wednesday...giving a review, posing some questions, discussing similarities to other titles, etc.

Of course you, my faithful readership (aka Sarah), are more than welcome to take the book-a-week challenge with me! In fact, if anybody does choose to board this book train with me, there might be some incentives for sticking to it! Think old school Book-It and its wondrous partnership with Pizza Hut. YUM!

So! What is the very first book of the week? Drum roll please....Little Bee: A Novel, by Chris Cleave.

This selection was made on a bit of a whim, really. I was browsing the New York Times bestsellers at Border's yesterday looking for something new and this bold cover caught my eye. Now, good packaging is often all the more I need to select a bottle of wine, but with a book I usually display slightly more discernment. What really sold me on the book was its impish description. You know how usually on the back of paperback books one can find a short summary of the book and then reviews? Well this book jacket was totally unique:

"We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this: This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again--the story starts there...Once you read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds."

How about that? I was totally hooked--I mean, the book was talking to me! Certainly invitation enough to pick it up and give it a whirl, and besides all that reviews for the book have been exemplary. So wish me luck, because the book-a-week challenge has officially commenced!