Monday, December 03, 2018

It's Monday 12/3! What Are You Reading?

After 2 months of being stuck at home due to a relapse in my chronic illnesses, I am finally starting to see small signs of improvement - hurray! I was able to sit up more last week, tackle some overdue freelance writing assignments, and manage some laundry and cooking. I still have a ways to go to get back to my normal baseline, but I was able to go to the tree farm with my family yesterday to cut down our Christmas tree. We love our holiday traditions!

All this time on the couch adds up to more reading time, and I realized last night that I finished 11 books in November - absolutely unheard of for me! So, that's the silver lining. Apologies to my blogging friends, as I did not manage to visit any blogs at all last week. Between shopping on Cyber Monday, tackling those overdue writing assignments, and trying to catch up on book reviews, I pretty much used up all of my limited energy.

Here's what we've all been reading this past week, finishing up Nonfiction November:
  • I am still reading The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner. The subtitle is pretty self-explanatory - it's a memoir with chapters written by the three authors about the year they spent traveling around the world. The travel is fascinating, but I am also intrigued because they all worked in magazines/freelance writing (which is what I do, though on a much smaller scale). I didn't finish this one in time to count for Nonfiction November, but it is over 500 pages and I am really enjoying it. I am up to the last leg of their trip, to New Zealand and Australia. It's been an incredible journey, both personal and global.
  • On audio, I finished listening to Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old by John Leland. The author, a reporter, spent a year interviewing seven elderly people (ages 85 to over 100) and wrote about their lives and what he learned. It's fascinating, especially since my father-in-law is 93, and as someone living with chronic illness, I can personally relate to some of the struggles of the elderly, as well as their life lessons. I absolutely loved this book and reviewed it right away (see link).
  • Next, I squeezed in one last quick nonfiction audiobook for the month: Look Alive Out There: Essays by Sloane Crosley. I've been hearing about this author's amazing essay collections (she also wrote How Did You get This Number and I Was Told There'd Be Cake) for years, so I am thrilled I finally got to read/listen to one of them. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Her essay topics range from the trivial (her noisy neighbors, going to the wrong shiva) to the intensely personal and profound (fertility, developing a chronic illness). She tackled every subject with warmth and wit, often making me laugh out loud but also touching me.
  • My husband, Ken, finished a book I gave to him for his birthday, The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad, a thriller by an author he hadn't tried yet (who was at Booktopia 2018). He enjoyed it.
  • Now, Ken has belatedly turned his attention to nonfiction, too, reading Dead Wake by Erik Larson, the king of entertaining narrative nonfiction. He says this story of the sinking of the Lusitania is interesting so far, and he keeps reading facts out loud to me, saying, "Did you know this...?"
  • Jamie, our 24-year old son, is back to his favorite Wheel of Time series and is now reading the final book #13, Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.
Blog posts last week:
Nonfiction Review: Happiness Is a Choice You Make by John Leland - interviews with 6 elderly people on life lessons

Memoir Review: Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka - graphic memoir of growing up in the shadow of addiction, for teens through adults.

Memoir Review: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - powerful, thought-provoking & hilarious memoir of growing up in South Africa

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 
  

21 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear you are feeling better! I hope you can stop by:

    https://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-i-am-reading-12318.html

    Colletta

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    1. Thanks, Colletta - still good days & bad days but getting better, bit by bit :)

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  2. I hope you'll feel better and better every day. It's wonderful tradition to cut down your own Christmas tree.

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    1. Thank you, Klara - I appreciate the kind thoughts! Getting the tree and decorating it is one of our favorite parts of the season!

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  3. Hooray for improvement! I hope that you continue to get better as the days go by. Wow, 11 books in one month is great.

    My roundup!

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  4. I'm glad you are feeling better. You did have a good reading month too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  5. I find reading aloud facts with my husband one of the most exciting parts of reading nonfiction. That's also the way to tell if I'm actually enjoying it! LOL Now I'm going to run over and see the review link of Hey, Kiddo. I can't wait to read that one! Have a great reading week, Sue!

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    1. ha ha - yes, except I can get carried away so that my husband gets sick of having his own reading interrupted! lol

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  6. Glad you're on an upswing! Look Alive Out There was really, really good, wasn't it? Enjoy decorating for the holiday.

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    1. Yes, so good! Now I want to go back and read/listen to her earlier books. Definitely stood up to expectations from all the rave reviews.

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  7. I am so glad to hear that you are starting to feel better. One week of Strep Throat was enough for me, I cannot imagine feeling it most of the time. I am uncertain what to begin reading right now. I often feel that way after finishing a super good book and that's where I am right now.

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    1. Thanks, Helen - this has been a rough one, for sure. Sorry that you were down for a bit, too. Ah, you have a book hangover! Hope you have found your next great read by now.

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  8. I'm happy to read that you are improving. I'm sorry you're going through this. Our Christmas tree is typically a potted juniper bush. This year because of the move we need to select a new one. It's goofy but it works for us. My weekly update

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    1. Sounds nice! Thanks for the kind thoughts.

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  9. Hooray for improvement! I am so, so happy to hear that you are feeling a bit better! The Lost Girls looks absolutely fascinating. I am trying to read more nonfiction, and I am going to add this one to the top of my list!

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    1. Aw, thanks, Ricki! I am really enjoying The Lost Girls - makes me want to hit the road!

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  10. I love essay books, too, so you've given me a few more titles, Sue. And I have Dead Wake & would like to get to it some time. There are just too many books I want to read! Thanks for sharing all. I'm glad you're feeling better.

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    1. Linda - yes, I still need to get to Dead Wake myself - I actually got it in a book swap earlier this year!

      Same here - so many books, so little time!

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  11. Beautiful photo! I have been intrigued by Hey Kiddo for the longest time now. I have to find it soonest.

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