It's Monday 7/29! What Are You Reading?

Things have changed dramatically at our house since this time last week. My husband lost the vision in one eye while away on business last week. Something similar happened a few years ago when he had a couple of retinal tears, so he went to the ER. After he got home, I took him to his own retinal specialist who decided he needed to do surgery to get to the bottom of this - there is still too much blood in the eye for him to clearly examine it visually. So, today is surgery day, tomorrow is a post-op appointment, and chances are good that we will be cancelling our vacation to Maine for which we are supposed to be leaving later this week. We've waited over a year for this trip!

So, it's been a rough week, and it looks like our summer will turn out much differently than we expected. We should know more after the post-op appointment tomorrow.

Of course, we continued to read this week:

• I finished The Knife of Never Letting Go, Book 1 in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, and loved it! It's hard to categorize this popular YA trilogy: it's somewhat post-apocalyptic, with some dystopian elements and overall a fast-paced suspense novel. I can't wait to read the next two books!
• I had a nice surprise last week. I turned in two brief book reviews for my local library's adult summer reading program and got to pick out two new books for myself! One of the books I picked was Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich, so I started that a few days ago. This is perfect reading for a stressful summer week - light and fun and fast-paced, with plenty of humor.
• I am still listening to the teen/YA audio book A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, a post-apocalyptic story about a sister and brother making their way across the country after a devastating pandemic. It's very good, though I may not have as much time to listen now that the kids are back home!
• My husband and I had to drive back to Connecticut this weekend to pick up our kids after a week of sailing with their grandparents, so we listened to a new audio book release of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I've never read this classic before and am really enjoying it. We'll probably finish it today and tomorrow going back and forth to the hospital and the doctor's office.
• My husband, Ken, was told not to read or look at screens for too long this week, so I helped him put a couple of audio books on his iPod. He has been listening to Fugitive by Phillip Margolin, a thriller. He's enjoying it and finding listening to audio before bed very relaxing.
• Jamie, 18, is still enjoying The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins on his Kindle. He finished Book 6: The Sorcerer's Abyss and also read Book 7: The Sorcerer's Return. While away on the boat, he said he also read 3 other free books on his Kindle that he enjoyed.
• Craig, 15, was thrilled to be on vacation and not have to read at all! Yes, they were brought up in the same household.

My husband gave me a Kindle for my birthday last week, so I will have to see what's available in e-books!

Very little time for writing last week, so I just managed two posts:

Weekend Cooking 7/27

Review of Game Changer by Margaret Peterson Haddix, a middle-grade/teen novel about an alternate universe.

There is still a month of summer left, so plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge and squeeze in a Big Book this summer! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. There are still six weeks of summer left, so lots of time to read a big book (or two). Join the fun!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)