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May Challenge - I Finished!
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Title: The Glass CastleAuthor: Jeannette Walls
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological
Would you recommend? Yes (trigger warning for sexual abuse, domestic violence, alcoholism)
Title: The DescendantsAuthor: Kaui Hart Hemmings
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? A biological family.
Would you recommend? Yes!
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Author: Lauren Wilkinson
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? A biological family. The book is written as a journal or letter from a mother to her young sons, explaining what happened before they were born, when she was an FBI/CIA agent, and how those events lead up to the events that just occurred (a man breaking into their home, which is how the book opens). It also involves her sister and their parents, as well as her son's father, and her sister's husband.
Would you recommend? YES! I LOVED this book!!! It was not at all what I expected it to be. I thought it was just going to be another spy thriller (and I like spy thrillers), and it does involves spies, but it's so much more than that.
Title: The Joy Luck ClubAuthor: Amy Tan
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Both
Would you recommend? I wasn't as wowed by this book as I was hoping, but still a good read.
Title: The Mother-in-LawAuthor: Sally Hepworth
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? This was about a biological family and the kids' spouses.
Would you recommend? Definitely! It wasn't your typical mother-in-law story because it's told from both perspectives - the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law which I really liked.
Title: verity Author: Colleen Hoover
The story is an author coming to finish novels for another author after an accident. She moved in with the family to go through the study.
The family story is the main novel and how it unravels through the new author. I loved it, definitely a psychological thriller type and 100% recommend it. I finished it in a day!
Title: The Fifth ChildAuthor: Doris Lessing
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors?
A biological family (view spoiler)
Would you recommend? Yes, it was short, sharp and spooky but also brought up a lot of questions about family and parenting
Title: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and InheritanceAuthor: Barack Obama
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological
Would you recommend? Yes, I really enjoyed it. Obama was asked to write a book shortly after he graduated from law school because he had been the first African-American Harvard Law Review editor. It was about his mother and his grandparents, but mostly it was about wanting to know his father and his father's family in Africa and what it meant to be black when raised by whites.
Title: You'll Miss Me When I'm GoneAuthor: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors?: A biological family, but they are not all close at the point where the story takes place.
Would you recommend?: Yes
Title: This is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbours:? The family in this book was quite a large one, and they all had a really close bond with one another.
Would you recommend?: Yes! I found this book very insightful and it was so nice to read a story where the family were all immediately so supportive and accepting.
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We Are Okay
They Were Sisters
The Book of Hidden Things
The Atomic Weight of Love
The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family
The Dry
Two Can Keep a Secret
Chocolat
Wait For Me, Jack
Beartown
Uprooted
Call Me By Your Name
The Night Circus
The Witch Elm
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Beautiful Bad
The Truth According to Us
Nose Down, Eyes Up
Pachinko
Title: This is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological family
Would you recommend? Yes.
Title:In the Midnight RoomAuthor:Laura McBride
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors?
Both
Would you recommend?
Probably not
Title:GingerbreadAuthor: Helen Oyeyemi
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? A little of both, but also not. It's hard to explain.
Would you recommend? It depends. The writing is beautiful and the story has promise but it also felt like the writer wasn't sure what kind of book she was trying to write.
I'm still deciding which book I want to use for this prompt, but for now:Title: Witchmark
Author: C. L. Polk
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological, but not close-knit. It involves a runaway son, a grasping father who wants him to come home and help carry on the family business/further the family's ambitions, and a daughter who's caught in the middle. (She's heir to the family business, having inherited her father's magic powers, so the family's ambitions are also her ambitions. But unlike her father, she's not an asshole and wants her brother to have a happy life.)
Would you recommend? No, unfortunately. I couldn't get attached to the characters - I felt sorry for the son but didn't like him aside from that - and the main plot moved too slowly. I did like the worldbuilding (bicycle culture!) and story concept (secret mage society! conspiracy!) but that's not enough to carry a book.
Title: The Ice-Cream MakersAuthor: Ernest van der Kwast
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? It was about a biological family.
Would you recommend? Probably.
Title: Far From the TreeAuthor: Robin Benway
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? It's about 3 biological siblings reuniting after being given up for adoption as babies. Also examines their relationships with the families who have adopted or fostered them.
Would you recommend? Yes. :)
Title: This is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? A biological family.
Would you recommend? Surprisingly, I struggled to stay engaged with this for a bit, but would still recommend it! We definitely need more discussion and narratives on gender non-conforming children and the overall idea of gender and identity.
Title: This is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Close knit biological family
Would you recommend? Yes, yes, yes! I loved this book. I really didn't think it would, but I loved loved loved this book.
Title: This is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological Family
Would you recommend? Yes, highly.
Title: By Fire AboveAuthor: Robyn Bennis
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Both. There was Josette and her strained relationship with her mother (resolved by getting her airship sent to free the hostage city her mom lives in). There was Bernat and his relationship with his elder brother (the only one who gets to inherit the title and fortune) and the found family of the airship Mistral (which was the most interesting family)
Would you recommend? Yes with a but. This is a military steampunk series and this is book two. WIthout book one you'd be pretty lost. That said I love the series.
Title: Bleeding KansasAuthor: Sara Paretsky
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Basically two biological families with kind of a Montague/Capulet slant
Would you recommend? Yes, if you can read a book where the majority of the characters aren't likeable and not roll your eyes too much at over-the-top plot developments.
Title: Muse of Nightmares Author: Laini Taylor
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Something in between - distant relatives who grew up together in the same house.
Would you recommend? Very much so. It's a sequel to Strange the Dreamer, which is a YA fantasy about the underdog winning by just being a better person, so if you like that, it's worth a try.
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Author: Laurie Frankel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological-though they ended up bonding with their next-door neighbors and were virtually one large family with both combined!
Would you recommend? Definitely! Very highly recommend! Everyone should read this one!
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Author: Min Jin Lee
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological-though they bond with others who are not biologically related as well as not bonding with biologically related others...it's complicated!
Would you recommend? Definitely! Very highly recommended! While there is action, this is, IMHO, a very character-driven historical fiction novel depicting the various challenges for Korean immigrants to Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea and afterward...
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Author: Rita Williams-Garcia
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Biological, but also "found" friends who become like family.
Would you recommend? Definitely! An absolutely perfect depiction of children, IMHO! And some insight into the Black Panther organization and its support of communities. I cannot wait to read the other two in the trilogy and then pass along to my grandchildren.
Title: This is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Close knit biological family AND “found” family of friends and neighbors.
I would recommend this book because it makes you think about gender norms and gender identity.
Title:Everything Here Is BeautifulAuthor: Mira T Lee
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? It was an estranged biological family. Sisters
Would you recommend? Yes!
Title: Number One Chinese RestaurantAuthor: Lillian Li
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Some of both, the book is about a family owned restaurant so many of the characters are biologically related but there is also a "restaurant family" for the servers and carvers who have worked at the restaurant for years.
Would you recommend? Yes, the characters were complex and well written. I'd recommend to people who enjoy literary fiction (readers who want plot heavy books might not like this one as much).
Title: The Shadow of the WindAuthor: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? Way more complicated than either of those two choices.
Would you recommend? Yes.
Title: This is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Would you recommend?: I have actually recommended this book to our book club! We put it on our list of books to read this fall! This book was very well written. I love how the family stuck together and really supported each other!
Title: Ask Again, YesAuthor: Mary Beth Keane
Was it about a biological or a found family? Most biological or really two biological families.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, it was a very heavy story at times, and I wound up making predictions that ended up being correct as well as making predictions that turned out completely off base. If you want a book that really tackles family issues good, bad, and ugly then this is your book.
Title: This Is How It Always IsAuthor: Laurie Frankel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? close knit biological family
Would you recommend? YES!! This book was amazing. I loved the story of Poppy and her family. We can all learn lessons from their unwavering love and support.
Title: My Real Name is HannahAuthor: Tara Lynn Masih
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? A biological family--a Jewish family in hiding during WWII.
Would you recommend? Yes! This family (Hannah and her immediate family, plus an aunt, uncle, and cousins) held tight to each other in a horrible situation. It gives me hope.
Title: Fun Home: A Family TragicomicAuthor:[author:Alison Bechdel
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? This is a biological family, but I would definitely not say "close knit"
Would you recommend? Absolutely! This is only the second graphic memoir -- graphic anything -- and I loved it! Very literate, very moving. The author really finds connections between her disparate family members.
I had dreaded this prompt what with my dysfunctional family of origin, and now I can't wait to read Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama
Title: A Court of Frost and StarlightAuthor: Sarah J. Maas
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors?
This book is about a holiday celebration. Some of the characters are actually related and the rest are chosen family.
Would you recommend? I would only recommend it to people who have read the 3 book series before this novella.
Title: Little Fires EverywhereAuthor: Celeste Ng
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? A bit of both.
Would you recommend? Yes! Brilliantly written.
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Author: Celeste Ng
Was it a close knit biological family, or a "found" family of friends and neighbors? A bit of both.
Would you recom..."
I LOVED this book as well as her debut novel Everything I Never Told You, which would also fulfill this prompt!
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Everything I Never Told You (other topics)Little Fires Everywhere (other topics)
Little Fires Everywhere (other topics)
A Court of Frost and Starlight (other topics)
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Celeste Ng (other topics)Celeste Ng (other topics)
Sarah J. Maas (other topics)
Lillian Li (other topics)
Robyn Bennis (other topics)
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