It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Another busy week but a good one. Both sons are home from college for winter break, and we got to spend a little time with each of them this weekend, including having 8 young men here for breakfast on Saturday! Piles of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. It was great to have them all here, back together - felt like old times! I had a very social week myself, with my neighborhood book group on Wednesday and a lunch meeting with our local chronic illness support group on Friday (that's a lot for me in one week). Still plenty of time for reading, of course.

Here's what we've all been reading last week:

• I finished The Whip by Karen Kondazian, a novel based on the real-life story of Charley Parkhurst, a woman who moved out West in the 1800's and pretended to be a man in order to work as a stagecoach driver. It was very interesting, though also heartbreaking to read about the losses she suffered. Most in our book group enjoyed the story, though some thought the writing was too simple and shallow, so this one got mixed reviews from our group. I enjoyed it - review to come!
• I also finished a review book (due out in May), 'Round Midnight by Laura McBride, author of the highly acclaimed We Are Called To Rise (which I haven't read yet). This new novel is about four women in Las Vegas whose lives are intertwined. I would definitely recommend this one - it was warm and absorbing and fascinating to see the surprising ways that these very different women's lives intersected over time.
• I forgot to include this one last week: I read a middle-grade graphic novel, Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke. I like graphic novels because you can squeeze them in when you don't have much reading time! This one was very good, a modern take on Jack and the Beanstalk, a fantasy story about a boy and his mute sister who grow a very unusual garden with the help of a neighbor friend. Both story and pictures were very well done, and I look forward to the next book in the series.
• I just started another middle-grade book, Friends for Life by Andrew Norriss, about a boy who becomes friends with a ghost. It's great so far - I am really enjoying it.
• On a bit of a middle-grade binge, I am still listening to a middle-grade audiobook, The Scourge by Jennifer Nielsen. It's about a dystopian world where a disease is ravaging its citizens and one young girl learns some secrets while being held in a quarantine colony. It's good so far.
• My husband, Ken, is reading a Christmas gift from me, The Trespasser by Tana French, the latest (#5, I think) in her books about the Dublin Murder Squad. He loves her literary murder mysteries, though he's been laughing over some of the Irish slang! I have only read the first one so far - I have some catching up to do!
•  Jamie, 22, has been reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. He is up to book 3, The Dragon Reborn, and enjoying it.

I'm not yet completely caught up on blog posts (still need to sign up for 2017 Reading Challenges), but I did manage quite a few posts last week:

Movie Monday: Mr. Holmes, an elderly Sherlock Holmes with dementia looks back on his last case

TV Tuesday: Mercy Street, a Civil War drama set in a hospital, with a great cast

Fiction Review: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - I loved this mind-bending thriller!

Best of Books Read 2016 - Finally! My 2016 book summary

Saturday Snapshot: Sunshine and Blue Skies - a rare glimpse of blue skies this week!

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.