Monday, May 23, 2011

It's Monday 5/23! What Are You Reading?

Huh?  What?  Monday already?  I was just sitting here trying to catch up on my 100 e-mails from the weekend, when I remembered it was Monday, and I was late writing my book post!  Slow start...

This time of year is just so busy, with all sorts of end-of-year school functions, last soccer games, overwhelming yard work needed, plus last-minute vacation planning before summer starts.  We spent our weekend on all of those, with more coming up this week.

Still trying to squeeze in some reading, as well!
  • I finished reading The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht (though not until the day after my book group discussion!).  It was well-written but a very complicated book - we all agreed it was a good thing we had each other to talk to!  I still have some lingering questions about it.  Definitely a literary novel.
  • As soon as I finished The Tiger's Wife, I moved onto my book group book for this week (sometimes they fall one right after the other like this!), The Condition by Jennifer Haigh.  I am loving this novel so far.  Haigh is one of my favorite authors - she is especially talented at writing about family relationships.
  • I finished Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton on my iPod, a fascinating memoir about a very unusual life.
  • I started a new audio, Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, a teen/YA novel about a troubled teen girl who becomes engrossed in the story of a teen girl during the French Revolution.  It's excellent so far.
  • My husband, Ken, finished Once a Spy by Keith Thomson and moved onto its sequel, Twice a Spy.  He's enjoying this author.
  • 16-year old Jamie is still working his way through a re-reading of the entire Redwall series by Brian Jacques.  We're planning a 3-week trip to California, and he's very worried about how to bring enough books.  On our usual road trips, he packs a whole duffle bag with nothing but books, but this time we're flying.  I think we'll ship a box out there to my aunt's house before we go!
I posted two reviews last week:  Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese here and Sapphique by Catherine Fisher at Great Books for Kids and Teens.  I also posted a link to an excellent radio interview with author Diane Ackerman that I really enjoyed last week.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

4 comments:

  1. Uh oh! I've been anxiously awaiting your review of Tiger's Wife since I've been fence sitting on this one. Your description of it as "literary novel" is the death knell for me. I NEVER like any book that is described as being "literary." I may have to leave this one off my tbr list. Thanks for helping me make up my mind.

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  2. We're on the fourth Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire. The family is addicted, esp. my almost 6 yr old!!

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  3. We all love Harry Potter, Peryl, but isn't it a bit scary for your 6-year old? Wow, my kids would never have made it through Harry Potter at that age. They made me stop reading A Wrinkle in Time when they were somewhere around that age. That's great that you are all enjoying it together!

    Sue

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  4. I really loved Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, and I listened to it in the audio format, too, but I must admit that I got tired of the whiny voice of the reader and decided that I probably would have liked it better if I read it myself. Let me know what you think. I especially liked it when it focused more on the French Revolution.

    I, too, am in two book clubs and sometimes just feel like I can never catch up with one club before the book for the second starts screaming at me. Ugh.

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