Family {Monthly Motif Nov Check In}

Welcome to another month of the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge! If you haven’t yet- make sure you add your October {New or Old} book reviews to the Link Up. Now, on to November {Family}.

Family

“Read a book featuring family dynamics.”

Our Choices

+ Kim … Books featuring family drama/dynamics are actually my very least favorite books to read. Because of that, I had a really hard time finding a book for this month. I decided to browse the Goodreads Choice Award nominees for 2018 and came across Sadie, Courtney Summers. The book is about two sisters; one who ends up dead. It’s a stretch, but I’m going to go with it.

Sadie, Courtney Summers

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

+ Tanya … I wasn’t sure which book I was going to go with for this topic – and then serendipity stepped in. One of the library holds that just came in is Erotic Stories for Punjabi Women. I already started reading it, and realized it’s the story of family and community dynamics in the immigrant Indian Punjabi community in Southall  London. It’s the story of Nikki, a “modern” woman, her relationship with her more traditional parents, her dutiful sister, and when she decides to teach a community writing course at the Sikh center of her community – it’s about her relationship with the elder women of her community.

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal

Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a “creative writing” course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community. Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories.

Tell us what you plan on reading in the comments – and then Remember to use the linky below to link up to your reads for this month and make sure to check out the other links as well!