It's Monday 12/15! What Are You Reading?

Another dark, gray day here in Delaware - we haven't seen the sun in weeks! It's been pretty gloomy inside our house, too - both of our sons are still home from school. College son has mono, high school son has a concussion, and both are still feeling pretty crummy. And our post-Christmas vacation to the Keys is hanging by a thread. We are just taking things one day at a time right now.

As always, books are a comfort! Here's what we've been reading:

• I am still reading Hild by Nicola Griffith, even though my neighborhood book group met last week to discuss it. It's set in seventh century Britain and includes both a map and a family tree filled with unpronounceable names at the front and uses a lot of Old English words with a brief glossary at the back...so it was slow-going at first, with a lot of flipping back and forth. But, as one of my neighbors told me, it's like a rollercoaster and the second half goes much faster. I'm glad I stuck with it through the difficult beginning because it's a great story about the childhood of a real-life woman who became a saint.
• I finished Us by David Nicholls on audio, the story of a marriage falling apart amidst a family vacation across Europe. I LOVED this book, and it was fantastic on audio - warm and real and sad at times, but with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. One of my favorites of the year.
• I started a new graphic novel, my first-ever for adults: Blankets by Craig Thomspon. I'd read and heard many times that it's one of the best graphic novels ever published, and I'm enjoying it so far. The beginning is about the main character's difficult childhood.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. This is one of our son's all-time favorites. Ken had trouble at first, reading it while he had the flu, because it's a complex story, but now he's enjoying it.
• Jamie, 20, finished Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburn. His concentration has been poor due to the illness, but our avid reader can now read again, which he's happy about! 
• He also read a new middle-grade book we received as an ARC last week, Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A. Nielsen. He said it was kind of light, and he didn't enjoy it as much as her earlier series...but he does realize that at 20, he is no longer the target audience for middle-grade novels!
• Last night, he just finished Cephrael's Hand by Melissa McPhail, book 1 of the series, A Pattern of Shadow and Light. He enjoyed it very much.
• Craig, 16, is very limited because of his concussion - no screens, video games, school, homework, computer, or anything on his phone. No reading, either, but he doesn't normally enjoy reading anyway. He's been so bored that he's been listening to audio books! Mostly, he's listened to an old family favorite, Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater, several times this week! I'm trying to get him to try something else, but this is his favorite...the equivalent of bookish comfort food.

I'm getting very busy with the holidays and the boys home, so just a few blog posts last week:

Review of Sisters by Raina Telgemeier, a middle-grade/teen graphic memoir

Review of  The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, a novel

Summary of Books Read in November

This week will be even busier!


 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.