Well, since the ball is about to drop, I thought I’d go ahead and reveal my January pick for Mama’s 2018 Reading Challenge.
January’s challenge was to read a book you’ve been meaning to read. Here’s how I interpreted this challenge:
Friend/family member/random stranger: Hey! Have you read (insert book title here)?
Mama: Ugh! No! I’ve been meaning to read that for so long now! Is it any good?
F/FM/RS: Girl! What have you been doing with your life?! Go home and read it immediately! (Alternative acceptable response: “Here’s a $20 Books-A-Million gift card. Go buy it right now!)
And so, without further ado, here is Mama’s first-ever reading challenge pick!
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Y’all. This book is EVERYWHERE right now. And, yes, it’s that book recently released as a movie with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. There are spin-offs in the forms of journals, daily words of wisdom, children’s books, extra chapters. This book was published in 2012. My county’s library has about 35 copies (regular and large print). There’s still a 15-person wait to get my hands on one. It’s astonishing (aka…I had to give Amazon more of my money to get a copy before January ends!).
Therefore, it’s time to finally read the original.
From all accounts, Wonder is the story of a fifth grade boy with a face deformity. August (Auggie) Pullman has never been in a mainstream school before, but he’s about to start. Apparently, he’s just a typical boy with an extraordinary face (GoodRead’s words, not mine), and wants to convince his fellow classmates that he’s one of them.
I don’t know, y’all. It doesn’t sound that “wonder”ful to me. However, I’m clearly going to be proven wrong, as the entire country loves, loves, loves this book. There’s not much better than making a judgment error and discovering something lovely at the other end.
If you’ve also been meaning to read Wonder or don’t have any other enlightened ideas where to start your reading challenge, join me! Keep me posted on your own experiences.
Therefore, as soon as I finish Beartown by Fredrik Backman (of A Man Called Ove fame), I’ll start reading Auggie’s story. If you’d like to join in, keep me posted on your progress! Comment on this post or on future reading challenge posts.
Happy reading!