It's Monday 1/8! What Are You Reading?

Whew, this week passed in a blur. What I thought was bronchitis turned out to be that plus a really nasty virus, so I was down for 10 days total, though only completely non-functional for three of those days. I left the house this morning for the first time in 10 days - woohoo! I finally turned the corner yesterday and am feeling much better, though a bit stunned by the long list of stuff I intended to do last week that didn't get done! And now my husband has this virus - he's home from work today.

So, it was a bad week for just about everything...except reading! The silver lining of not being able to do anything else is more time for books. Here's what we've been reading this week:

• I finished Only Child by Rhiannon Navin, a debut novel due out February 6 that I reviewed for Shelf Awareness. It's about a school shooting and its aftermath from the perspective of a six-year old boy named Zach. It is gripping and powerful - seeing these events and people's reactions through the eyes of a child is truly remarkable. Though he is confused and grieving himself, Zach somehow manages to bring his parents out of the depths of despair - this novel was SO good! I'll share my review as soon as it is published.
• Next, I read a novel that was on many Best of 2017 lists: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. Wow, this was another amazing novel! Good start to the new year. This is a hard one to describe: it's a quiet, gentle story that follows both the evolution of a relationship and the evolution of a new world. The new world comes about because of the sudden appearance of mysterious doors that allow people to instantly move from one place to another, forever changing the meaning of immigration. It's a moving and thought-provoking book.
• I almost forgot - I also finished a nonfiction book I started in the fall: The Adrenal Reset Diet: Strategically Cycle Carbs and Proteins to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, and Move from Stressed to Thriving by Dr. Alan Christianson. A friend of mine who has the same disease as me (ME/CFS, an immune disorder) said this book helped her. Some interesting science here, but I already eat pretty much this way, so maybe just a few minor tweaks I can try.
• Now, I am reading 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 Edleweiss Pirates, resisting Hitler in their own ways. I just started it last night, but it's already interesting and engaging.
• And I am 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 a local mystery. It's warm and fun so far.
• I started my first audiobook of 2018: Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson, an adult novel. It's about an 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.
• 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!
• Our son, Jamie, 23, finished one of the hefty fantasy novels we gave him for Christmas, Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw, book 1 in The Wakening series. He loved it and read its 700+ pages in a week! (again, the plus side of a sick week). He's been at his apartment all week, so I'm not sure what he's reading now - something on his Kindle, I think - but the boxes from Amazon addressed to him are piling up here, so I think he's been spending his holiday gift cards on more books!

Last week's blog posts - catching up!

Movie Monday: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, an excellent addition to the canon!

Fiction Review: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, an eye-opening courtroom drama

Middle-Grade Review: The Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue, a fun, warm story with emotional depth

Fiction Review: Artemis by Andy Weir - science, suspense & humor, just like The Martian

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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