Quiet Monday morning home alone, after a nice weekend with my family. Spent Saturday evening with my husband, then he left for a business trip Sunday, and I had both of my sons home for dinner and even some TV together - very nice!
Lots of good books last week, and I am really enjoying my annual spooky October reading!
- I finished The Three by Sarah Lotz for my R.I.P. X Challenge - I gave it to my husband and father last year and am glad I finally got to it. It's the story of 4 simultaneous plane crashes that left only 3 children as survivors and is told in a journalistic way, with accounts from many different people involved in different ways. It was very compelling and creepy!
- Now, I am reading The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann (one of my favorite authors!), a middle-grade dystopian fantasy about a world that favors usefulness where any child with a creative or artistic ability is labeled Unwanted and sent for Elimination, but there is a secret magical world focused on the arts. This is a different kind of October read but is very good so far.
- I finished the teen/YA audiobook The Cemetery Boys by Heather (Zac) Brewer and really enjoyed it. It combines an engaging, realistic story about a teen boy struggling with major changes in his life with some supernatural creepiness - another perfect fit for October and my R.I.P. X Challenge!
- Now, I am listening to a spooky classic: Dracula by Bram Stoker, a free download from SYNC this summer. It is excellent so far - such a creepy tone! The voices on the audio are great, especially that of the Count himself. In an odd way, it actually adds to the foreboding to know basically how the story goes.
- My husband, Ken, is reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This is one of our son's favorite books and is being made into a movie AND a TV show!
- Jamie, 21, is still reading The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin, book 2 in the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, another epic fantasy series. He really enjoyed book 1, The Summoner, so he is looking forward to the rest of the series.
Movie Monday: The Life Before Her Eyes, starring Uma Thurman, a haunting movie about friendship & tragedy, based on a novel
TV Tuesday: The Good Wife and Madam Secretary - two excellent shows about powerful women
Fiction Review: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, plus a discussion of the controversies
Saturday Snapshot - First signs of fall in my neighborhood
As you can see, I have added weekly reviews of TV shows and movies to my blog recently, so if like me, you also enjoy TV and movies as well as books, check out all of my media reviews!
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.
I read The Cemetery Boys a while ago and enjoyed it. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it, too, Kathy - it was great on audio!
DeleteENJOY your new week.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a good week last week.
Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My It's Monday, What Are You Reading
I just ran and pulled The Three off the shelf; thanks for the recommendation. Also, thanks for the Name of the Wind news. That book has been on my TBR list FOREVER. I guess it's time to bump it up! Have a great week! ~Megan
ReplyDeletehttp://wp.me/pzUn5-2pp
OK, good! Glad to help :) Hope you enjoy them both.
DeleteCurrently reading: The Digital Mom Handbook. I LOVE the movie The Life Before Her Eyes. Evan Rachel-Wood is such a great actress. I'm definitely going to follow TV Tuesday, I'm looking for a new series to start.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow - so few people have even heard of this movie! Glad you liked it, too.
DeleteHere are my past TV Tuesday posts, to help in your search for a good show:
http://bookbybook.blogspot.com/search/label/television
I read The Unwanteds earlier this year. It was ok. I can see why kids are devouring it, but it wasn't really my kind of book. The Cemetery boys sounds interesting, but probably to scary for me. My son introduced me to Netflix a bit ago. I became addicted to a British series called Broadchurch. Have you heard of it?
ReplyDeleteThe Cemetery Boys wasn't all that scary - just a bit :) Much of it is a realistic novel about a teen boys struggling with some major changes in his life.
DeleteI have heard of Broadchurch but haven't seen it yet (we don't get Netflix yet), but we did watch the U.S. remake, Gracepoint, which we all really enjoyed! I red that it has a different ending than the UK one.
Sue
I like how you read YA books as well and also talk about what your ohana is reading. That is interesting to hear about The Name of the Wind. I read the first book some time ago. It was good.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of our son's favorites! Yes, I like YA, middle-grade, and grown-up books - variety is the spice of life!
DeleteThe Unwanteds sounds like a good dystopian. I have started to watch Madam Secretary and did enjoy it, have quite a few saved to watch!
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying it so far, Kathryn - an interesting mix of dystopian and fantasy.
DeleteSounds like it's time for some binge-watching for you!
I think I would've really enjoyed The Unwanteds as a youth - I went to a school that very much emphasized maths and sciences, and I felt like a bit of an oddball for being a voracious reader who didn't want to be an engineer or doctor when I grew up!
ReplyDeleteMy sons go/went to a Math & Science Charter school that shares its building with an Arts school - two very different groups of kids! With my husband and I both engineers and our older son studying engineering in college now, our younger son says he wants to be anything BUT an engineer! lol The Unwanteds definitely puts an emphasis on the arts in a really fun way.
DeleteThe Unwanteds is such an interesting book! I hope you enjoy it :)
ReplyDeleteHappy reading this week! :)
Thanks, Kellee - it's good so far - I've been staying up too late reading every night!
DeleteI love your new challenge! The book I read this week (Burn, Baby, Burn) fits right in! I would join, but I am on a personal mission to finish my books for NCTE and my MustReadin2015 challenge books. Those are consuming me! I love your challenge craze and will join the next one!
ReplyDeleteha ha - I think you misunderstood, Ricki - I'm not hosting the RIP X Challenge, just participating! It's being hosted by The Estella Society :) I don't usually join new challenges mid-year, but since I always like to read spooky stuff this time of year anyway, it seemed like an easy one!
DeleteMy students love The Unwanteds because there is a 5th grade teacher who reads it to her class. I had to buy another copy of the first book to keep up with demand!
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of the first three books you just mentioned. Will check them out.
ReplyDelete