Immigrant Stories Challenge Wrap Up and 2012 Challenge

So a funny thing happened when I went to write this wrap up – I realized I never finished the challenge. d’oh! For whatever reason I thought that I had signed up for the lowest level of the challenge and that I was good with the 3 books I read earlier this year. But then I looked back at my post about signing up for the challenge and realized I needed at least 1 more book. Whoops. Luckily I had purchased a suitable book during the Borders sale so I was able to pick that up and read it. Good thing I started to write the wrap-up early!

So what did I read?

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America – Firoozeh Dumas – Read in January – 5 stars – I think this is one of my favorite books from this year. It is funny and insightful all at the same time. I loved reading about the author trying to get used to life in America while still being surrounded by her very traditional family. I’m also glad I read this because one day at work something about Farsi came up and no one knew what Farsi was – except me

 

Stealing Buddha’s Dinner – Bich Minh Nguyen – Read in January - 4 stars – I read this right after Farsi so I went into it expecting the same humor so it took me a bit to get into the right mind frame for this book. I thought it was very well written and very interesting.

 

Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad – Firoozeh Dumas – Read in January -4 stars – I liked this book. I thought it was funny and it was nice to see the way the author wrote about American things. I liked this one just a little less than her first one but still thought it was really good.

 

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents – Julia Alvarez – Read in December - 4 stars – I thought this was a very good book. The story was really interesting and the characters were very engaging. My only complaint is that I got a bit lost with the timeline and had to keep stopping to remember the year and the ages of the characters.

 

2012 Challenge

I’m so excited that Books in the City is bringing back the Immigrant Stories Challenge for 2012. I’ve already signed up and have decided to really go for it and try to reach the Fully Assimilated level which is 6+ books. Hopefully I won’t forget what level I picked this year! Anyone have any suggestions for books I should read?