It's Monday 9/7! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

 

Life 

 

Happy Labor Day in the U.S.! And happy last day of Big Book Summer 2026! I just recorded my wrap-up video, which I hope to post tomorrow, and I have about 30 pages left of my last book for Big Book Summer.

Last week was a bit crazy. My chronic illness was flared up to begin with, then we lost power Tuesday evening, and it was out for over 24 hours! It was "only" 82 Wednesday (but still humid), but the forecast was for 90's Thursday, and the power company estimated our power wouldn't be back on until Friday afternoon. I had just found a room available at a hotel for Thursday evening when the power came back on - whew! We did both sleep on couches on the first floor Tuesday night because it was too warm upstairs, so I slept poorly, which made me feel even worse. By Thursday, I was starting to improve a little, so we kept our appointment to check out the rehearsal dinner venue for our son's wedding, then we ate lunch there. The wedding is now less than 3 weeks away! I also chose my dress and found shoes so making progress.

We had a wonderful weekend with both of our sons home for most of it, plus our daughter-in-law-to-be and our grandpuppy. Our older son came home from NY, and we all enjoyed spending time together. Luckily, I felt better on Saturday because we did a lot of cooking! We just relaxed at home all day and enjoyed catching up, with lots of laughter, as always. Chester was full of energy all day, but he finally wore out by evening.

Sleepy Chester

When he gets tired, her becomes boneless dog!

Sleepy puppy heading home

 

Sunday, we made breakfast for our sons, then the four  of us (five with Chester) took a short walk along our favorite creek. The temperatures and humidity finally dropped, and it was a lovely, comfortable day. It was so nice to spend time outdoors after the hot summer (it's not over yet but this is a nice respite). Chester is just learning to swim and had a blast going in and out of the creek. He does a great doggie paddle!

 

So happy to all be together!

Great doggie-paddling!

Chester loved jumping in the creek

Beautiful day along the creek

Lovely hike along the creek

Our son left this morning (trying to beat the NY traffic). It was so good to spend time together. And we'll all be together again in 3 weeks!

 

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 On Video

 

September Reading Plans - My pile of possibilities for RIP XXI (Readers Imbibing Peril - my 11th year!), Shorty September, and Series September. It will be fun to fly through some short books after Big Book Summer!

 August Reading Wrap-Up - the 5 books I read last month, in print and on audio, including both fiction and nonfiction and my favorite audio of the year so far!

 

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 What We're Reading

 

I've been reading my last book for Big Book Summer 2026 (which I'll finish today) and my first for RIP and Series September: Burn by Nevada Barr. This is part of her wonderful Anna Pigeon series, about a National Park Ranger where each mystery/thriller is set in a different national park. These are usually outdoor thrillers in natural setttings, but this novel is very different from the others in several ways. It's set in New Orleans, where Anna is on vacation (she is also on leave from her job for both mental and physical recovery). The National Historic Park in the French Quarter is mentioned at the beginning, but this is a very dark, gritty urban novel. Anna Pigeon is always encountering violence and murder in these novels, but this one tackles an even darker subject: child sexual slavery (not under-age teens but children). At the start of the novel, a mother in Seattle comes home to find her children missing, and when she goes across the street to check with the neighbors (and her children's best friends), her house explodes and burns to the ground. Much to her surprise, the firefighters carry out two small, dead, badly burned bodies (and that of her husband), saying the girls were still in their beds ... though she knows they weren't. Her search for her daughters takes her to New Orleans, where she eventually crosses paths with Anna. As always with Barr's novels, Burn is fast-paced, action-packed, and gripping; I've read this 470-page book in about a week and stayed up much too late many nights reading it. There are no graphic descriptions of what happens to the children, but it is a tough subject, and I sometimes had to take a break. The author says she wrote this novel because this is something that happens in the real world that more people should know about. It certainly opened my eyes.

 

I finished My Friends by Fredrik Backman on audio, and I absolutely loved it! Backman's novels are always great on audio, and this one is my favorite so far. It centers on a teen girl, Louisa, who is about to age out of foster care at age 18 and has just lost her best (and only) friend, Fish. Her most cherished possession is a postcard her mother sent her, many years ago, before she died. On the front is a beautiful painting. Most people think it's a painting of the sea, but Louisa sees more. She sees the three teen friends on the pier, laughing, and knows that it's really a painting about them. She hears the painting will be auctioned locally and sneaks in so she can see it in person. But things never go smoothly for Louisa, and that act is the beginning of a wild adventure for her, where she ends up actually meeting one of the people depicted in the painting. Though they are both loners and completely different from each other, Louisa and the man begin to talk, and he tells her more about the painter and his teen friends (Louisa was right about the painting). I loved the character of Louisa: she is enthusiastic, kind, and talks a lot when she's nervous (which is most of the time), but she has been through some terrible things in her short life. I wish I could tell you more about the other main character, but I don't want to spoil anything because this novel is an absolute delight as it unfolds. Backman is at his best here: hilariously funny, heart-breaking, and heart-warming. It's a novel about friendship and found family but also about life and loss, joys and sorrows, and how early friendships influence the rest of your life. I never wanted it to end! It was outstanding on audio. 

 

My husband finished reading Thunderhead by Neal Schusterman, book 2 in his Arc of a Scythe trilogy. It's a fabulous YA science fiction thriller trilogy that I just finished this summer. He is now reading 52 Pickup by Elmore Leonard. He enjoys Leonard's noir thrillers, and a friend on Booktube recommended this one, so I gave it to him for Father's Day.

 

Our son, 32, said he is still reading Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson, book 5 of his famed Stormlight Archive series. He said he loves the way that Sanderson weaves connections among all of his Cosmere books. He hasn't had a lot of reading time lately because of work, but he also admitted that a new video game his brother gave him has been occupying his limited free time!

 

Our daughter-in-law-to-be is reading Dust, by Hugh Howey, book three in his Silo series that began with Wool, after finishing Shift, book two (my reviews at the links). I'm happy she's enjoying this series as much as we did, and she and our son are now on season 2 of the TV adaptation, Silo, and are loving it! My husband and I are currently watching season 3. After hearing all of us talk about it this weekend, our older son said he wanted to see the TV show ... but first wants to read the books! I love when books make their way through our whole family.

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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:

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  What are you and your family reading this week? 

It's Monday 8/31! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

 Life

I'm not sure how I feel about the end of August. On one hand, the summer seemed to last forever (and not in a good way!) because of the constant heat & humidity, plus I didn't feel well so we didn't travel as much as we normally do. On the other hand, how is it fall already and the year is almost over?! My son's wedding is in less than a month, and there's still so much to do. Our fall calendar is very full, so I know it will fly by, and I still have so much left to do this year. Eek! 

I do have some good news to report. I felt better last week, after stopping one of my recent new medications. I "crashed" Tuesday because I did too much last Sunday, but I felt pretty good the rest of the week and was able to be quite active (always a challenge with this disease). I finally got out for a little shopping to look for a dress for my son's wedding. I have two good options (that I ordered when I got home, based on what I tried on) to choose between. One arrived yesterday, and one will be here this weekend. Then I need to find shoes! 

That was a big day for me and I had some mild immune symptoms the next day but didn't crash - yay! I had another big day Friday when I was finally able to run some errands in town (in the convertible) and visit my elderly book buddy who just moved to assisted living. It's a beautiful, brand-new complex (though the food was disgusting), I brought her some books, and we had time to catch up.

This weekend was my younger son's bachelor weekend, hosted at an Airbnb in the Poconos by our older son. I haven't heard anything yet, but I'm sure they had a great time! We puppysat Chester for a few hours on Friday until our daughter-in-law-to-be got out of work. My husband picked him up from doggy daycare, so he was more tired than usual! But he did enjoy going outside to watch the kids in the neighborhood ride their bikes.

We spent a weekend at home, working on putting our basement and garage back together. It's a long, very slow process. I found a box in the basement that is so old, the box itself was from Girl Scout cookies--the ones I sold! Among other things, it contained some old cassette tapes, a Snoopy stuffed animal (I was obsessed with Snoopy as a kid--I also still have a smaller one), my dance costume from when I was 16, and a signed baseball from the Rochester Red Wings (farm league team for KC Royals). Cal Ripken played with the team when I was a kid, so I was really hoping his name would be on it, but no luck.

 

It was a lot of hard work (and very hot in the garage) this weekend, but we did find some quiet moments to relax.

 

Our resident squirrel, Twitchy, paused to appreciate the water we set out

Relaxing on the porch Sunday morning

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 On the Blog 

 Labor Day is late this year, so we have one more week of Big Book Summer left! I'm just about finished with both my print and audio books, so maybe I can squeeze in one more of each! 

September 8, I will dive into RIP XXI (my 11th year!), Shorty September, and Series September. Here are some possibilities I pulled from my shelves: 

 

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 On Video

Would You Rather Book Tag - My fun answers to some questions with really bad choices!  

Weekly Reading Update - We are enjoying some great books for Big Book Summer! 

 

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 What We're Watching

 

We finished watching the first season of the adaptation of The Testaments last week. We both read the novel (scroll down to read my review) for Big Book Summer this year. My husband enjoyed the book, but I really loved it. It's the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (my review of the book at the link), her response, 30+ years later, to people constantly asking her what happened next and how did Gilead eventually fall? 

To me, the ideal time to watch an adaptation of a favorite book is several years (or more!) after you read the book, so we suffered a bit from "but that's not what happened in the book!" But The Handmaid's Tale TV series (my review at the link) is one of our all-time favorite shows; we both feel that it is outstanding in every way--cast, writing, cinematography, and more. All of that is continued here in The Testaments, where the story focuses on the girls in the Aunt Lydia School, where the aunts teach the commanders' daughters how to be good wives. There are big celebrations when they each get their period, as they are then eligible to be married off to some old man commander (yeah - ick). As in the book, the TV series covers the stories of 3 females: Agnes, a student in the school; Daisy, who is undercover for Mayday (the rebel organization) at the school as a Pearl Girl (a young woman who chose to leave her outside life to join Gilead); and Aunt Lydia herself, as we finally get to see her origin story. The show is excellent in all the ways I mentioned, though the writers changed one big thing from the book that really bothered us! That's more of an us problem. If you enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale series, you will definitely like The Testaments. And if you haven't watched The Handmaid's Tale yet, what are you waiting for?

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 What We're Reading

 

 I'm almost finished with another Big Book Summer Read (and a buddy read with my BBS co-host, Melinda at A Web of Stories), The Fraud by Zadie Smith. In February, I read my first novel by Smith, White Teeth (scroll down for my review), and I loved it, so I've been excited to try another. This novel is quite different, set in Victorian England and centered around a real-life event: the trial of the Tichborne Claimant. A man returned to England from Australia, claiming to be the long-lost heir to the Tichborne baronetcy. Apparently, there were two big year-long trials that captured the attention of the entire nation. The novel focuses on Eliza Touchet, who works as a housekeeper for her cousin, William Ainsworth, a successful novelist. They're both around 70, though William just married the 26-year-old maid with whom he fathered a child, and William's three grown daughters also live with them. This unusual household is at the center of the novel, as they follow the news about Tichborne and argue about the case. Much of the novel takes place in England, but some of it takes place in Jamaica, when it was a British colony and enslaved Blacks, taken from their African homes, worked in the British sugar plantations. As you read, you learn more and more about Eliza, William (who were both real historical figures), and their family (the situation is even stranger than it first appears!). I have less than 10 pages left (just could not stay awake any longer last night), and I think now that while it is about truth and fiction, it's also kind of a coming-of age novel about Eliza, in her 70's, as she grapples with her role in the world, what she wants from the rest of her life, and how she can make the world a better place. As always, Zadie Smith weaves in discussions of race and class and other serious issues but also has a great sense of humor. I've enjoyed it very much, and I learned a lot of history I wasn't familiar with.

 

 

I've been listening to a Big Book on audio, My Friends by Fredrik Backman, and I am absolutely loving it. Backman's novels are always great on audio, and this one is perhaps my favorite so far. It centers on a teen girl, Louisa, who is about to age out of foster care at age 18 and has just lost her best (and only) friend, Fish. Her most cherished possession is a postcard her mother sent her, many years ago, before she died. On the front is a beautiful painting. Most people think it's a painting of the sea, but Louisa sees more. She sees the three teen friends on the pier and knows that it's really a painting about them. She hears the painting will be auctioned at a local gallery and sneaks in so she can see it in person. But things never go smoothly for Louisa, and that act is the beginning of a wild adventure for her, where she ends up actually meeting one of the people depicted in the painting. In alternating chapters, the reader also gets to know the painter and his teen friends (Louisa was right about the painting). I love the character of Louisa: she is enthusiastic, kind, and talks a lot when she's nervous (which is most of the time), but she has been through some terrible things in her short life. I wish I could tell you more about the other main character, but I don't want to spoil anything because this novel is an absolute delight as it unfolds. Backman is at his best here: hilariously funny, heart-breaking, and heart-warming. It's a novel about friendship and found family but also about life and loss, joys and sorrows, and how early friendships influence the rest of your life. I never want it to end! It's outstanding on audio.

 

Funny story about my husband's current read: I had just finished The Toll by Neal Schusterman and recommended it, saying it's a great wrap-up to the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. I gave him a summary online of book 2 that helped me to refresh my memory before I read book 3. He started reading it, but was very confused and kept asking me basic questions. He didn't even know who one of the main characters was! We realized that he never read book 2, Thunderhead (scroll down at this link for my review), last summer after I finished it! So, I dug that out for him, and he's almost finished with it. He says it's making a lot more sense than that quick update did! He's enjoying it. This is a fabulous YA science fiction thriller trilogy.

 

Our son, 32, is still reading Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson, book 5 of his famed Stormlight Archive series. He said he loves the way that Sanderson weaves connections among all of his Cosmere books. I know he hasn't had a lot of reading time lately, but he also admitted that a new video game his brother gave him has been occupying his limited free time!

 

Our daughter-in-law-to-be is reading Dust, by Hugh Howey, book three in his Silo series that began with Wool, after finishing Shift, book two (my reviews at the links). I'm happy she's enjoying this series as much as we did, and she and our son have started watching the TV adaptation, Silo, and are loving it! My husband and I are currently watching season 3. I know she read a lot more this weekend, while our son was away. 

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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:

Facebook on my blog's page

Instagram

Threads 

Twitter 

 

 What are you and your family reading this week?