Whatcha reading?

One of my goals in the past few months of reclaiming my life back has been to read more. This avid reader turned parent and slacker had a rough time carving out just 10 minutes a day at first to sit down and read. I don't know, maybe it was the countless amounts of articles, textbook pages, and fetal monitoring strips I had to read in school or the lack of sleep that comes with parenting that left me quite un-enthused about opening up a book for pleasure. I hemmed and hawed while creating a book club with a good friend, grunted and whined during the first 100 pages of our first book, and am now thoroughly enjoying my new, old hobby again! Reading stats for the year 2011:

AND

If you're looking for something to read, I highly recommend the former of these books. It touches on life in the South just after Rosa Parks did her thing on the bus and just prior to MLK's time. I thoroughly enjoyed Stockett's unabashed look at morality, ethics, and life as "The Help" during those years. I also enjoy how each couple of chapters is written in one of three characters' voices; this helped move the book along and kept my attention. I also thought she was able to write each individual character in a different voice convincingly. Put simply: it was an amazing read. The Book Thief however was great in the beginning and had a wonderful last 100 pages. It's the middle that lacked and this is why it would not be one that I would immediately lend to you off of my bookshelf. Zusak seemed to experiment with different literary devices while using foreshadowing a bit too much (in my humble opinion) and this is what made me more frustrated than anything as I turned the middle sections' pages. The book has won many accolades which makes me ponder what the hell is wrong with me as the reader - still, it was only OK.

Currently I am reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. So far, I am quite sure I am not going to enjoy the novel but am giving this masterpiece center stage for the month of March. What are you reading? Anything you think I have to get my hands on in the future?