April Reading Challenge

You guys, how did it get to be April??? I blinked after Christmas and landed soundly in spring! It’s also April Fool’s Day, so I was tempted to make this month’s reading challenge something like “read a novel about an inanimate object” but I figured you’d probably take me seriously and go find one of those and I’d have to eat my words.

April’s actual challenge is to read a book written by someone of a different faith. Please note that it isn’t “read a book written about someone of a different faith.” The reason I chose this option is because, as authors, we often write things that are not explicitly religious, but our religion influences our world view even in non-religious books. It’s an interesting exercise in how knowing biographical information changes the details you pick up in a book on a first read.

My pick for this month’s challenge is the Arabian fantasy The City of Brass by Muslim author S.A. Chakraborty. I’ve been getting tired of Western fantasies, so I’m really excited to see what new worlds await with this one! (Adding to the interest in this book is the fact that the author is an Italian-American convert to Islam, which I didn’t know at the time I chose it. I imagine that will give an interesting perspective to the story as well.)

As always, you can see all the monthly challenges here. Don’t forget to hashtag your posts and reviews with #carlasreadingchallenge2019 so we can all follow along.

Tell me in the comments, what are you planning on reading this month? Are you using this as an opportunity to broaden your reading horizons?

Tags: reading challenge, religion