When She Woke

It has been absolutely grey and rainy here for days which is the perfect weather for baking (made these yesterday - delicious!).  So, as I wait for dough to rise I take advantage of the time to read.  For the past few days I've been awaiting a few books that were ordered (through both the library and amazon) and because I'm keeping a few books on my shelves as summer reads, I decided to grab something out of my daughter's bookcase.  I always read voraciously and carry books with me whenever I know I might be waiting for some time so I can read almost anything.  This past year I read all the 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' series, the 'Outlander' series by Diana Gabaldon (I'm waiting for her to finish book number eight), 'The Hunger Games', 'The Help', along with numerous others including the books I've mentioned here previously, almost anything by Canadian authors (Jane Urquhart, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Lawrence - 'The Stone Angel' is a favorite, Elizabeth Hay, Joseph Boyden, Carol Shields, Miriam Toews, David Adams Richards, Thomas King, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Mary Lawson, Alice Munro, Rohinton Mistry...not Margaret Atwood) and much non-fiction particularly inspirinational writing (books on creativity) and biographies of creative people.  Working at a library eight hours a week doesn't seem like much, but I get so many recommendations from staff and patrons that my reading list is always full.  Beside my bed is a pile that includes 'Before I Go To Sleep' and 'The Night Circus'.  The last book I finished:

When She Woke
by Hillary Jordan

This is an unusual story, set in a dystopian world where a convicted felon's skin color is altered genetically to reflect the crime for which they were convicted.  Though the book is compared to 'The Scarlet Letter', to me it felt almost like an adult version of 'The Hunger Games' as the entire lives of these criminals is publicly displayed on television after they are isolated  and then placed in society to survive on their own.  Hannah, the protagonist of this story, who was raised in a strictly religious environment and taught that this form of punishment was acceptable, learns through her own experience that human life isn't about absolutes.