Monday, November 04, 2013

It's Monday 11/4! What Are You Reading?


Eeek! November already? It seems to sneak up on me every year, on the heels of all the Halloween excitement. I had another week sick on the couch, which was very frustrating. "Just" a flare-up of my chronic illness this time, but that makes almost a full month of not being very productive. So, I am hoping that November is a fresh start! And it's certainly been good so far...my son was invited away for the weekend with a friend's family, so my husband and I got away together for a mini 24-hour getaway to the beach. We've been trying to do this for over a year, so we thoroughly enjoyed the little break and the time together.

Sick time always means plenty of reading time for me (the silver lining) - here's what we read last week:
  • I closed out Dangerous Reads Month and finished In the Woods by Tana French, a compelling mystery that is also beautifully written. Here's my review.
  • I am now reading (and almost finished with) Tell Us We're Home by Marina Budhos, a middle-grade novel about three young girls who bond as friends because they are all daughters of maids in a very wealthy town where their classmates' families are their mothers' employers. It's been a very engaging story about the experiences of recent immigrants - can't wait to see how it ends today.
  • I am still listening to Rotters by Daniel Kraus, a teen/YA audio book that won the Odyssey award for audio excellence. While it fit in well with Dangerous Reads Month (it deals with grave-robbing), I was surprised to learn that it is also about bullying. Its very good so far - I just started Part 2.
  • My husband, Ken, was away on business last week, so he chose a book on his Kindle, Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley, a mystery/suspense novel, to read while he was traveling.
  • Now that he's back home, he's returned to Ghost Man by Roger Dobbs, a birthday gift from me last month. It's a fast-paced thriller by a first-time author, and he's enjoying it so far.
  • Jamie, 19, is still reading Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks, book 2 of the Night Angel trilogy. He loves this series but hasn't had much reading time at college lately.
  • Craig, 15, has been reading Beowulf for his Brit Lit class; I saw he had written an essay about the novel last night, so I think they are almost done with it.
Last week, I posted two new reviews:

In the Woods by Tana French

UnWholly by Neal Schusterman

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.)

And, remember, Book By Book is now on Facebook, so you can get updates and join in some fun bookish conversations there.  

And now Great Books for Kids and Teens has its own Facebook page, too! 

My husband and I at Rehoboth Beach this weekend.

3 comments:

  1. Rotters was not my favorite audiobook. I was shocked that it won the award. I think it is very good on the topic of bullying.

    Sorry about the chicken pot pie not behaving. It is so much work to bake something as complicated and then to have it not cooperate it is a bummer. Glad it tasted good, though.

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  2. I am enjoying Rotters and find it compelling but it is much darker than I expected. I mean, I knew it was about grave robbing so I expected THAT kind of darkness/creepiness, but it is actually a very serious and sad story so far. I had wanted the family to listen to it on our road trip this summer - good thing the kids said no - they would have hated it!

    Sue

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  3. I have been meaning to read Tana French for forever. I'm heading over to read your review!

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