It's Monday 10/7! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

 

Life

At Home

Last week was another busy one, with lots of medical appointments (highlights: mammogram's all clear, and I might need braces/Invisiline at age 59!). But most of the week was leading up to the big event: my husband's 70th birthday on Friday! I planned a BIG surprise for him, and we somehow managed to keep it a secret (his friends and our son helped). He knew I had something planned, but I think he suspected a party. Friday morning, I revealed what was going on: his best friend from high school was arriving from Texas at our local airport soon, they had a round of golf at a local course booked for that afternoon, and they, plus our son and a local friend, would be leaving Saturday morning for a golf weekend on Maryland's Eastern Shore. I had booked an Airbnb right near the water, plus two gorgeous golf courses (one of them right on the Chesapeake Bay). He was thrilled, and everything went off without a hitch! By all accounts, it sounds like they had a fabulous weekend.

Surprise!

The foursome in Maryland

The Chesapeake Bay, a 1-minute walk from the Airbnb

Changes

Back here at home, I took advantage of the brief lull in the chaos to do some deep thinking about what I want out of my life and what I want to do with my career. Between my husband's 70th birthday and the way I've been feeling constantly overwhelmed and stressed lately (even with improved health in the first six months of the year), I knew I had to make some changes, but I wasn't sure what. I brainstormed and made a bunch of lists (the way I think best!), including "What's Working" and "What's Not Working" (the second list was much longer). 

My lightbulb moment was when I realized that my concept of how I wanted to "retire" in 5-10 years--lots of travel, and focusing my writing/career on travel--actually needs to happen now (or soon). So, I'll be making some changes. One of those is with my blogs. I've written these two blogs (the other one on chronic illness) for over 18 years now, and while I love the interaction, I just don't have the time to do what I used to do anymore. I'm spread too thin and trying to do too much. But I'm not going anywhere! Here on the book blog, I'll be focusing just on my Monday posts because I enjoy writing them and really love interacting with all of you. Writing reviews (books, TV, and movies) will take a backseat for now. My Monday posts include mini reviews anyway, and I've noticed other bloggers who just post once a week. Since I haven't had time to write a review in a month anyway, you probably won't notice much difference.

A huge thank you to all of you who read my blog and especially those who take the time to comment. I'm not ready to give it up completely yet because I really enjoy "talking" with all of you about books and hearing about what you're reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the changes I'm making or if you have any questions.

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On Video

I intend to keep posting videos to my YouTube channel since that activity works quite well with travel. Speaking of travel:

Travel & Camping Vlog: 2 New York State Parks - come along on our recent trip to two new-to-us beautiful state parks in NY state, including camping, hiking, kayaking, and two bookstore visits!

Friday Reads 10-4-24 - my brief weekly update of what I am reading & listening to

September Reading Wrap-Up: my quick recap of the 5 books I read last month

 

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 What We're Reading

 We're enjoying the RIP (Readers Imbibing Peril) season!

I finished reading The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin. My son--the one who does not enjoy reading--was assigned this book in middle school and loved it. He told me I should read it, too, and here I am, only 13 years later, finally reading it! This modern classic middle-grade mystery features a mysterious will, a possible murder, a group of 16 seemingly random potential heirs, and a puzzling contest to see who will inherit. I enjoyed it and can see why my son liked it. Besides R.I.P., this book also qualified for Shortie September.

 

Now I am reading Chances Are ... by Richard Russo. For Christmas last year, I gave my family a list of authors I've never read and requested any books from them, and my older son picked this one out for me because it has a mystery at its center. Three men--Lincoln, Teddy, and Mickey--were roommates and best friends in college in Connecticut. When they graduated in 1971, they each went their separate ways to very different lives. Now, at age 66, they've reunited at the same Martha's Vineyard cottage where they spent Memorial Day weekend together after graduation, along with a girl named Jacy who was a close friend of theirs. After that weekend, Jacy disappeared and was never heard from again, not even by her parents. Now, back on the island, the events of that long-ago weekend haunt them, as they each remember what happened and puzzle over the mystery of Jacy's disappearance. I'm enjoying it very much and can see that Russo is excellent at developing interesting characters.

 

I started--and finished--an audio book, If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay. I've been hearing great things about Finlay for the last few years, so I wanted to try this new novel that came out in May. In Leavenworth, Kansas, Ryan and Ali are prom king and queen and are in love, after being together for four years. Parked out on the local "lover's lane" on a rainy night, their romantic evening is interrupted when a man opens the car door and grabs Ali. Knocked on the head, Ryan doesn't see what happens next, but Ali was never found. Now, five years later, Ryan has never recovered from the trauma of that night when he hears that police have found new evidence in Ali's case. It's a twisty, suspenseful ride, and I really enjoyed how the story came together through multiple narrators.

 

My husband finished reading one of the books he picked up in a used bookstore in NY, Split Images by Elmore Leonard, a classic mystery/thriller. This one is from 1981, and he enjoyed it. I've forgotten what he picked for his next book, but I guarantee he didn't have time to read this weekend!

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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?

It's Monday 9/30! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Happy 35th anniversary to us!

Did you miss me? I haven't posted a Monday post since September 9 because we took a much-needed vacation. We traveled with our little camper to New York state (my home state) and stayed in two state parks we'd never been to before, plus explored a bit of the local towns ... including two bookstores! The trip was very relaxing, with lots of downtime. I'll be posting a trip vlog with lots of videos and photos (of both nature and bookstores) tomorrow on my YouTube channel.

We started our vacation at Taconic State Park, which is east of the Hudson River, along the Massachusetts border. We'd been to the park's Bash Bish Falls before, but from the Massachusetts side. While there, we visited the Copake Iron Works National Historic Area (the park is on land that used to be part of the iron works), which was fascinating from both historic and engineering perspectives, and we enjoyed a short walk along Bash Bish Brook behind it. The next day, we took our kayaks out on Rudd Pond, in the southern portion of the park, and on our last day, we took the easy trail to Sunset Rock, with beautiful views overlooking the Hudson Valley and the Catskills to the west.

Ahh! Relaxing at our campsite

Copake Iron Works' enormous furnace

Walking along Bash Bish Brook

Kayaking on Rudd Pond

Great blue heron looking for lunch

Nothing better than reading while camping!

Gorgeous views from Sunset Rock

Just a few early touches of fall color in the mountains

On moving day, we stopped in East Chatham, NY, to visit the Librarium used bookstore, a really cool place in an old house, crammed floor to ceiling with books of all kinds, including some antiques. We have an entire bookcase of waiting-to-be-read books at home, so we didn't plan on buying anything ... but of course, we did! And we stopped for lunch down the road at The Gnome Bistro, where my mom and I stopped on our way to Booktopia this spring.

The sign looks beat up but there are treasures inside!

My husband browsing

Delicious food at The Gnome Bistro, plus a bit of kitsch!

My picks!

Our next campsite was in Gilbert Lake State Park, just west of the Catskills, midway between Albany and Binghamton. Our nephew just started his freshman year at SUNY Binghamton, so we really enjoyed meeting him for dinner one night and seeing his campus. While in the park, we walked around the (very small) lake, kayaked, enjoyed the first glimpses of fall color, and went into the town of Oneonta. It's a great town, with lots of restaurants and cool shops, including a wonderful indie bookstore, Green Toad Bookstore. All in all, it was a very relaxing trip, though re-entry has been tough!

Some early fall color around Gilbert Lake

Beautiful, easy hike around the lake

Perfect place to read this!

Kayaking on Gilbert Lake

Fall color near the water

Reflections in the lake

Great indie bookstore in Oneonta!

I'm missing this view in the morning!

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On Video

Travel & Camping Vlog - Promised Land State Park, PA - that's from our last camping trip, a shorter one but another beautiful park

Friday Reads 9-13-24 - my brief weekly update on what I am reading (before our trip)

The Nightclub Book Tag - this was a fun one, with some great bookish questions for me to answer!

Friday Reads 9-27-24 - a two-week catch-up after our vacation, including print books and audios

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On the Blog

Fiction Reviews: The House in the Cerulean Sea and Somewhere Beyond the Sea - I loved listening to these two novels by TJ Klune that were both full of humor, hope, and joy.

Big Book Summer 2024 Wrap-Up - living up to my life motto of "Better late than never," I finally posted my wrap-up of the annual summer challenge. This was the biggest year yet for the 12-year-old challenge!

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 What We're Reading

 

 

It was all R.I.P. (Readers Imbibing Peril) fall reading while camping! I finished reading Holly by Stephen King, which I've been looking forward to. Readers have been fascinated by the character of Holly Gibney since her first appearance in Mr. Mercedes, her continued role in the rest of that trilogy, and her reappearance in The Outsider. The cool thing is that King says he was, too! Holly was meant to be a bit character in that first book, but the author says he couldn't stop thinking about her either. Here, she's the star of the novel, as a private detective with Finders Keepers, the agency she started with Bill Hodges. A distraught mother asks Holly to look into the disappearance of her twenty-something daughter. That leads Holly down a dark path of uncovering other disappearances in town. This one has a gruesome premise, but like all King novels, it was gripping and had in-depth character development. It's not horror or supernatural--more a straight-up mystery/detective procedural. P.S. The cover glows in the dark!

Next, I read the perfect book for outdoor reading: The Last Ranger by Peter Heller. Like his other outdoor thrillers (The River, The Guide, Celine), this one features action and suspense but also gorgeous nature writing. Ren works as a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park, so he's used to dealing with tourists with a lot of questions (and those who do stupid things). But now there's a poacher at work in the park, threatening not only the animals, but the park employees, too. As Ren investigates the mystery, a good friend who works in the park as a wolf researcher is in danger. The mystery and suspense were good, but I really enjoyed the details of the life of a park ranger (including plenty of humor) and the beautiful writing. To read about Ren lying in his bed at night listening to the wolves howl, while I was lying in my bed in the camper with all the windows open, listening to coyotes howl and owls hoot was absolutely sublime.

 

 

 

Now, I am reading one of the oldest books from my TBR bookcase, The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin. My son--the one who does not enjoy reading--was assigned this book in middle school and loved it. He told me I should read it, too, and here I am, only 13 years later, finally reading it! This modern classic middle-grade mystery features a mysterious will, a group of 16 seemingly random potential heirs, and a puzzling contest to see who will inherit. I'm almost finished with it now and have enjoyed it. Besides R.I.P., this book also qualifies for Shortie September.

 

 

 

On audio, my husband and I began listening to Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman on our road trip. We always enjoy a suspenseful Lippman novel on audio. This one is set in the 1960's and begins with a dead woman (the title character) narrating. Besides this unnamed (at first) character, the other focus is on Maddie, a well-off wife and mother who leaves her husband and wants to become a reporter. When no one else seems interested in investigating the death of the lady in the lake (because she was Black and dated a lot of men), Maddie becomes obsessed with finding answers. Besides those two, the book features lots of short chapters from minor characters, and I'm really enjoying the different perspectives gradually weaving the story together, especially on audio. 

 

 

My husband, Ken, read a Father's Day gift from me, The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. He enjoyed this classic noir mystery.

 

 

 

Next, he began reading one of the books he picked up in the used bookstore in NY, Split Images by Elmore Leonard, another classic mystery/thriller author. This one is from 1981, and he's enjoying it so far, though his reading time has greatly decreased since we got home now that it's football season!

 

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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?