It's Monday 12/26! What Are You Reading?

Hope you are enjoying this holiday season with your family!  We had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here with our sons, my father-in-law, and my mother and her husband. But I am exhausted!! The holidays are tiring for everyone, of course, but my chronic illness adds extra challenges - I know I spent WAY too much time on my feet the past few days. Would love to chill out and do nothing this week, but we have our annual cookie/Grinch party tonight with our oldest friends and then we have to travel to my hometown - Rochester, NY - later this week to visit more family! All lots of fun, but I am already worn out. I think the 7-hour drive will actually be relaxing (for me, in the passenger seat)!

Anyway, none of us had much reading time last week - and very little blogging time - but we are all still enjoying the books we are currently reading. And we got some great books for Christmas - I hope to post about those tomorrow! Here's what we've been reading, when we have a quiet moment:

• I am still reading To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, an acclaimed time travel novel published in the 90's. I LOVE time travel plots, so I am enjoying it - it's also got a good sense of humor, which I always like. I think I would describe it as farcical time travel (perhaps a new genre?) where things keep going wrong and the characters try to fix them and make everything worse. My husband gave me this novel for Christmas LAST year, so I have been trying to finish it so I can start on the new stack I got yesterday!
• I am still listening to LaRose by Louise Erdrich. I've been wanting to read this novel and have never read anything by Erdrich (a National Book award winner) before. It is the story of a Native American community in North Dakota. A man kills his neighbor's 5-year old son by mistake while out hunting and revives an old tribal custom by giving the family his own 5-year old son. It is a compelling, original story with great emotional depth, looking at what is happening from many different characters' points of views. It's excellent so far. I am almost done but time alone with my iPod is scarce this week! Clearly, this will be my last audio book of 2016.
• My husband, Ken, is hoping to finish up one of his 2016 reading goals before the end of the year - to read another classic. He is reading The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, a book he has been wanting to read for a while. I'd like to read it, too, because I grew up in New York state, learning about the tribes of the Iroquois nation. He described it as secrets and double-crosses in slow motion! ha ha I got him a few thrillers for Christmas, and he said he will need a nice fast-paced novel next.
• Jamie, 22, is still re-reading book 2, Crown of Midnight from Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series, which is a favorite of his. He's getting ready to read her latest book in the series.
• He forgot his book at home last weekend, so he also started a new one on his Kindle, The Castrofax by Jenna Van Vleet, first book in The Father of the Fifth Age series. He says it is right up his alley - epic fantasy with a Medieval feel to it - so he is enjoying that, too. He is now on break for six weeks, so he'll be reading a LOT!

 Just one blog post last week...then things got too busy!

TV Tuesday: Conviction - legal/crime drama with a unique premise & excellent cast

What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

Our sons on Christmas morning