Book Completed

I finished reading The Rain God by Arturo Islas. It was a confusing book for me, the way the family characters came in and out of the story. Perhaps there weren't that many, but I couldn't grasp the family tree as well, which I think took away from my enjoyment of the novel. I think it is representative of a type of Mexican family living in the U.S, but it wasn't similar to mine. Perhaps that's why I felt I was reading somebody else's life and I wasn't able to lose myself in the book. Maybe because it was so short, I didn't get to connect to each character well enough. I enjoyed the book but not enough to enthusiastically recommend it. It was a complex mixture of sexuality, family dynamics, and death. Thinking now about it, it's interesting how the entire book focuses on the family rather than outsiders effect on the family. It's a good book, very deep, and "unapologetic". This book would have been good for a discussion because of the numerous relationships to unravel. Happy I read it, although I was supposed to have done so about a year ago. Sorry Dr. M.

I haven't chosen a next book to read, but I'm also looking into submission deadlines. I need to take care some of that before I go reading more. Doing more this year, I'm serious. I took about a 6 month break from being "creative" and I missed it. I always need a bit of a push, but I think it's time I put myself out there a bit more, lost some of that fear of failure (in respect to conferences and my place in the scholarly worlds).

Also, I'm almost a lecturer, right? Well, I might be getting a new full-time job within the next few months. I hope so. I need some change. imu