It's Monday 2/27! What Are You Reading?

Getting a slow start this morning, but I see bright sunshine and two of our four family members are off to school/work, so that's a good start!  Wow, what a weekend.  After a week with both of our sons home sick, I was feeling a bit stir-crazy and desperate for some quiet solitude, so I just left on Friday! 

Some friends loaned me their beach condo for a quiet getaway, and I drove down there to spend 24 hours on my own, taking care of no one but myself.  It was....weird, but good.  It took me a while to actually relax, but the downtime was a welcome respite.  What a strange world where doing dishes takes only two minutes (wash 1 plate, wash 1 fork), and I can do anything I want!  I got 3 hours of audio book time on the way there and back.  I didn't do as much reading as I'd planned because I stopped at the library on my way and picked up the entire 7-hour mini-series of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, which I read and loved last summer.  I didn't watch the entire series (still have 2 episodes to go), but it was fun to just lie on the couch and escape into the story!

Of course, I returned home to all the same stuff - messy house, sick kids, long to-do list - and spent the rest of the weekend working on some urgent things with looming deadlines, but the time away definitely helped.

So, here's what we read last week:

• I finished middle-grade novel The Whisper by Emma Clayton, sequel to The Roar which my son and I both loved.  I think the first book was a bit better, but this novel provided a satisfying ending.
• Yesterday, I finally started to read Skeletons at the Feast, a novel set in 1945 Europe by Chris Bohjalian, my neighborhood book group's choice for this month.  We meet on Wednesday, so I am afraid there is virtually no chance I can finish this 360-page novel before our discussion.  Since Bohjalian is known for his surprise endings, this could be trouble - I may have to lock myself in the bathroom for part of our discussion.  Damn that 7-hour mini-series!
• I am listening to an audio book, Falling Together by Marisa De los Santos. I enjoyed reading her earlier novel, Love Walked In, and am enjoying this one so far, too. It was fun to lose myself in the story during my drive this weekend, instead of my usual routine of listening in 10-minutes spurts.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading an e-book, Big Lake by Nick Russell, on his Kindle Fire, and Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman, a hardcover novel.
• Jamie, 17, is almost finished with Timeline by Michael Crichton, one of my favorites of Crichton's many exciting novels.  Despite several sick days last week, his reading has slowed down because he's hooked on a video game!  With his brother also home sick last week, they played non-stop (one of the things I was eager to escape from!)
• Craig, 14, is reading The Secret of Pirates Hill, a classic Hardy Boys book and is enjoying the familiar, fast-paced mystery.

I posted two new reviews last week: Breathless by Dean Koontz, a unique and mystical story very different from his horror novels, and The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin, a teen/YA novel about a wilderness reform school that I enjoyed.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, and a kidlit version is hosted at Teach Mentor Texts.) 

Quiet Solitude at the Beach