It's Monday 5/7! What Are You Reading?

I'm back from Booktopia 2018! Wow, what an amazing weekend (again). This annual event held at the wonderful Northshire Bookstore in lovely Manchester, Vermont, and is an entire weekend devoted to books, where readers and authors talk about books, get to know each other, and even enjoy meals and games together! It's completely unique, as the authors comment every year, and a lot of fun. I will recap the weekend, the authors, and the books later this week (after I catch up a bit).

As much as I love Booktopia, it is also exhausting! My mom and I always go together (this was our third), and she said she was exhausted, too, so with my chronic illness, I am really wiped out today. In addition to the weekend, I spent all day Thursday driving up there and all day Sunday driving home - luckily, my mom's house is about in the middle of the trip, so I could stop to eat and nap. I am in my recliner now - yawning and counting the minutes until my massage therapy appointment because my back is killing me!

But Booktopia was worth it, and I can't wait to tell you all about it and share my photos. For now, here's what we've all been reading this past week:

• Last week, I quickly finished a Booktopia book, All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson. I chose this mystery/suspense novel next because I was in the mood for something fast-paced - and this really fit the bill! It's the story of a recent college graduate who returns to his hometown in Maine when his father dies only to find his much-younger stepmother coming onto him and a mysterious young woman wandering around town who seems to be involved somehow. The lies and secrets pile up in this suspenseful novel. I enjoyed it, and the author was very entertaining this weekend!
• Next, I started (and am still reading) another Booktopia selection, My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues by Pamela Paul, the editor of the New York Times Book Review and host of its weekly book podcast. I'm enjoying this memoir told through books and can relate to some of her experiences. It's been weird reading her memoir - and then seeing her this weekend - because I hear her voice in my ear every week when I listen to the podcast!
• On audio, I finished the middle-grade novel, Posted by John David Anderson, about a middle school that bans cell phones. A boy nicknamed Frost and his three misfit friends start a trend of using sticky notes to communicate, and a new girl named Rose changes things for all of them. I enjoyed it very much, with its warm, funny, and poignant story about finding your tribe.
• Next, on my road trip this weekend, I started listening to The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (it seemed that this big trip called for a big book!), a novel I have heard rave reviews of. It's excellent so far, and easily kept my attention on that long last stretch last night! It's set in 1974, about a family that moves to Alaska. The husband/father was a POW in Vietnam and is clearly suffering from PTSD (though that diagnosis didn't exist back then) and moves the family to a remote cabin in Alaska impulsively. Things go well at first (it's summer!), but now winter is starting, and his mental condition is deteriorating rapidly. It's compelling so far, and I love the 13-year old girl who is the main character.
• My husband, Ken, finished Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne, a thriller with an intriguing plot: a man has been put into Witness Protection and moved to a community on Catalina Island in CA, but he doesn't remember what dangerous information he knows. I need to ask him what he thought of it.
• Now, Ken is reading The Troop by Nick Cutter, a thriller I gave to my dad as a gift that was among the many books we inherited from him when he died three years ago. Ken and I both love reading his old books because he shared our love of reading. I have heard this one is a bit gruesome, but my dad loved it!
• I'm guessing that our son, Jamie, 23, is still reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. He is on book 7, A Crown of Swords. Graduation is just three weeks away, so he is super busy with both school and job hunting.

Blog posts from last week - just a few since I left on Thursday:

Movie Monday: A Quiet Place - unique film that combines family drama, suspense, horror & sci fi - we loved it (and I don't watch horror movies)

TV Tuesday: Rise - new show about high school drama club

Fiction Review & Author Interview: The Optimistic Decade by Heather Abel - I interviewed this Booktopia author, and my mom and I both loved her novel!

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?  
 
You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

 

My mom and I at Booktopia this weekend!