It's Monday 1/15! What Are You Reading?

Ahhh...back home, in my recliner near the window (though no sunshine today) and resuming "normal" life. I had an insanely busy week and even more hectic weekend. My extended family gathered this weekend for a late Christmas celebration, plus it was my youngest son's 20th birthday (yes, my YOUNGEST son is now 20 - sounds impossible to me). I spent all last week getting ready - wrapping gifts, running errands, packing, and - mostly - finishing a DVD of my son's entire childhood. It was supposed to be finished for his high school graduation, so I am 18 months behind, but that's an improvement - my oldest son got his on his 21st birthday! The DVD contains slideshows of every year, from birth through high school graduation, with thousands of photos and with each slideshow set to a medley of music. It was lots of work, but a labor of love.

He had a nice birthday with his cousins and then went out with his friends when we got home last night. It was good to see my family, but weekends like this are absolutely exhausting for me because of my chronic illness. I am normally lying down by 7pm most evenings and in bed (reading) by 9:30, but one night we didn't even eat dinner until 8:30! So, that makes it tough for me. I was very relieved to get home to my couch last night! And I am happy to be returning to normal life this morning, though I have a LOT of catching up to do. Oh, and I am still coughing and blowing my nose a lot, though I am feeling better. My husband caught that nasty virus after I did and had to stay home this weekend - he wasn't able to go to work all last week, either. It's a bad one! We both seem to be on the mend now.

Even with all that craziness, we always find time to read - our books keep us sane and provide a respite. Here's what we've been reading this past week:

• I finished a new YA novel, The Pirates of Cologne by Dinah R. Mack (the friend of a friend). It's about a group of teen boys in Cologne, Germany, in 1942 who are part of the Edelweiss Pirates, resisting Hitler in their own ways and eventually joining the official Resistance. I know I often say I have had enough of WWII stories, but this was excellent - interesting, engaging, and suspenseful.
• This weekend, I finally started my book group's selection for this week: Circling the Sun by Paula McLain - my chances of finishing it by Wednesday are slim! I'm about 80 pages in and enjoying it very much so far - more than I expected to. It's a novelization of the real-life story of Beryl Markham, a female pilot. I really enjoyed the first part of the novel, about her childhood in Kenya in the early 1900's with her father.
• I am still reading a middle-grade graphic novel on the side, Cici's Journal: The Adventures of a Writer-in-Training by Joris Chamblain and illustrator Aurelie Neyret. Cici is a budding journalist who investigates mysteries in her neighborhood. It's warm and fun so far.
• I'm still listening to Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson, an adult novel on audio. It's about a 19-year old girl who is pregnant and joins a strange sort of Utopia experiment, where a group of parents and babies all live together and bring up their children together, with the kids not knowing who their parents are until age 5. Yeah, it sounds a little weird, but it's intriguing so far. I'm enjoying it.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading a birthday gift from our son: Cephrael's Hand by Melissa McPhail, book 1 in A Pattern of Shadow and Light series. This is one of our son's favorite fantasy series, so he wanted to share it with his dad. It's 780 pages long, so it's keeping him busy! It was a good companion for a long sick week.
• Our son, Jamie, 23, is rereading a favorite fantasy series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. He is currently reading book 3, Memories of Ice, so I assume he also read books 1 and 2 in the past two weeks. He's on winter break and making good use of his free time!

I only had time to write one blog post last week (in addition to my Monday post) - I told you I was busy! I am hoping to catch up this week and finally write my 2017 summaries of books, TV, and movies (no promises). Last week:

Teen/YA Review: America Street by Ibi Zoboi - a captivating story of immigration and the dark side of the American dream - excellent on audio

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.


What are you and your family reading this week?  

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