Required Reading 2013: JUNE

The month of May was a very good reading month for me - I was able to finish all the books on my reading list, which included two carry-overs from April. The full report:

• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri – Nine stories that hurt so good. 5/5

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz – Dominican Republic history + dry humor + the fuku. 4/5

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – All in the name of love. 3/5

• Smaller and Smaller Circles by F. H. Batacan – The book club’s book of the month, literary crime novel. 4/5

• The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen – Fluff and magic and sweets. 4/5

I managed to read all five books exactly one week before May was finally over, and so I give myself a pat in the back. Yay!

And then here comes the June bug!

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For this month, I am limiting myself to just a couple of books - no more ambitious lists for me, at least in the meantime. So for June, I am reading only these:

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - The book club's book of the month, to be moderated by the lovely Tricia. It's all about escape artists and comic books. Let's see how these two concepts are married in the novel. Chabon won the Pulitzer for this, so I have high expectations.

• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri - I am still reeling from Interpreter of Maladies, and I will probably need a breather in between chapters of Chabon's book, which is almost a chunkster at 600+ pages. So I am relying on Lahiri to do some pep-talking for me. :D

The inclination and eventual decision to pick only two books this month was also spurred by the fact that I've become sluggish when I started reading Chabon. It's taking me a while to become engaged in it, and I am hoping it'll pick up really soon.

What's on your reading list this month? :)