It's Monday 7/2! What Are You Reading?

It's July?? How'd that happen? It feels sudden but on the other hand, we were glad to say good-bye to June. It was a pretty rocky month around here. Here's to smooth sailing the rest of the summer!

Our youngest son is recovering wonderfully from his concussion - much quicker than expected. He says the headache is mostly gone, no nausea or motion sickness, and he's feeling much better. Just a bit of lingering fatigue and spaciness - like when I burned my hand cooking dinner last night and asked him to bring me the aloe. He went upstairs for about 15 min, came down and looked at me blankly when I asked if he'd found the aloe! He said, "See what I mean?" ha ha But overall, he is doing great and recovering faster than expected. He even moved into his new college duplex last week, to join his friends. So, life is returning to normal. In fact, we are suddenly back to an empty nest, as our other son left to stay with his girlfriend for a while.

Lots of catching up last week around the house, with my writing, etc., but we always have time for our books! Here's what we've been reading this past week:

• I am still reading my second Big Book for my Big Book Summer Challenge: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (book 2 in the Outlander series). This 700+ page chunkster has been in my plans the past three years for Big Book Summer, so I am glad to finally be reading it. And it is just as compelling and engaging as Outlander was. It's quite different, since much of it takes place in 1744 Paris, rather than the Scottish Highlands, but Claire and Jamie are just as wonderful. Since I also recently finished watching season 1 of the TV show, they now feel like old friends. I am nearing the end now (well, it's all relative with such a long book!).
• On audio, I am listening to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, a freebie from SYNC one summer. I thought that since my book reading is focused on Big Book Summer, and I haven't read a classic for my 2018 Classics Challenge in a few months, audio would be a great way to fit one in. I last read this novel in 9th grade and remember enjoying it. I am loving it this time around - I'd forgotten that Dickens had a good sense of humor! My neighbors probably thought I was crazy last week - walking around my neighborhood with my earbuds in, laughing out loud! I may have even snorted once or twice.
• My husband, Ken, is also reading his second Big Book of the summer and one of my all-time favorites, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. This was one of my Big Book Summer reads a few years ago, and Ken gamely watched the movie adaptation with me, even though he found it pretty confusing. It's a complicated but engrossing book, with multiple interwoven stories that show how we are all connected across space and time. He didn't have much reading time last week, since he was away at a business conference.
• Our son, Jamie, 23, finished book 9, Winter's Heart, of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. He has now moved onto book 10, Crossroads of Twilight. It's Big Book Summer all year-round for him; he rarely reads a book with under 400 pages! 
• And our younger son Craig, 20, makes another rare appearance here: he normally doesn't like to read (I would claim he was swapped at birth but he looks just like me), but the restrictions post-concussion (no screens, no noise, no reading) left him with nothing to do. Like with his last concussion, he turned to the Harry Potter audio books, not only to ease his boredom but also to provide the comfort of favorite old stories and characters. I think he is still listening to The Goblet of Fire, but since he is feeling better and I see the old cassette player & tapes in his room here and not at school with him, I suspect he is back to his non-reading status! 

Last week's blog posts -

Movie Monday: Every Day - based on David Levithan's popular YA novel

TV Tuesday: For the People - a new legal drama from Shonda Rhimes

Teen/YA Review: They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera - a moving, original story

Saturday Snapshot: Family Road Trip Memories - Just a few highlights of our 15+ years of road trips - feeling nostalgic!

And speaking of road trips, one of my essays, The End of the Road, was published in the July/August issue of Your Teen magazine. You can read an online version here.

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.

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

What are you and your family reading this week? 

The 2018 Big Book Summer Reading Challenge is on, and there is still plenty of time to join! It's easy-going, like summer - you only need to read one book with 400 or more pages sometime between now and the end of summer (early September) to participate (though of course, you can read more Big Books, if you want to). It's great motivation to tackle some of the bigger books on your shelves or TBR that usually get overlooked. Check out the details at the link and join the fun!