It's Monday 10/1! What Are You Reading?

Wow, October already? It feels like we completely skipped September because it's usually one of the best months weather-wise, but we had nonstop rain for weeks and it still felt like summer - hot & humid - until just a few days ago! Guess we are jumping right into October now. It's still supposed to be low 80's here this week, but at least it's tolerable now and the rain has (mostly) stopped.

We took advantage of the break in the weather and rare sunshine and FINALLY went camping this weekend! We just went to a nearby state park in Maryland that's one of our favorites. We took a couple of nice walks - to a driftwood-covered beach (more evidence of recent storms) and a lighthouse out on a point overlooking the Chesapeake Bay - and relaxed and enjoyed the warm days and lovely, cool nights. Our son and his girlfriend joined us on Saturday. So, we had a wonderful weekend.

Of course, we enjoyed our books this week, too! Here's what we've been reading:

• I finished Waking Gods, book 2 of The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel this weekend. My husband, Ken, and I both loved book 1, Sleeping Giants, and he just finished reading book 2, so I had my turn. It's a suspenseful and thought-provoking series about a giant robot hand found buried that is definitely not human-made. To say any more would spoil all the twisty surprises, but book 2 ended with the best last line EVER! Now, I can't wait to read book 3.
• Next, I started reading The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher, a YA novel about a teen girl named Emily whose dad, suffering from PTSD, emerges from the woods one night carrying the dead body of Ashlee, one of her classmates, and is unable to remember anything. Police think he murdered her, but Emily doesn't believe he is capable of that. It's good so far - suspenseful and dark. I loved Christopher's first novel, Stolen.
• Ken and I finished listening to Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter, a YA thriller on audio. It's a suspenseful survival thriller set in Alaska, with the President's son getting kidnapped while visiting an old friend.We enjoyed it, though Ken had no patience for the teen romance angle woven in!
• I started a new audio book (well, actually, a very old one): Macbeth by Shakespeare. It's a full production by L.A. Theater Works with multiple actors, but I was having a little trouble (toil and trouble - ha ha) understanding the language and following the story since it's not one I ever heard/read/saw before, so I have also picked up a paper copy that my son used in high school, and I paused in my listening until I catch up with the written word. Just the right choice for the season, now that I am understanding it better!
• Ken is now reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, a book I read for Big Book Summer this year and LOVED! It's the story of a group of people, including some Jesuit priests, who travel to another galaxy in search of extraterrestrial life. Something horrible and tragic happens during that mission, and only one man returns (not a spoiler). The novel begins with the present (2060), after the mission, and flashes back to the first ideas of the mission, ironically in 2019 (the book was published in 1996), and gradually fills in what happened in between. It is compelling and completely unique - a very powerful and thought-provoking novel. He felt it was a bit slow at the beginning (lots of character development), but they have now picked up the aliens' radio transmission, so he's getting to the part where the pace picks up considerably.
• Our son, Jamie, 23, finished Words of Radiance, book 2 in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. He loved book 1, The Way of Kings, and has been looking forward to reading the rest of the series. He's now reading book 3, Oathbringer, a big brick of a book at 1250 pages (and he's reading the hardcover!). He loves these epic fantasy series.

Blog posts from last week:

Movie Monday: Ocean's 8 - an all-female crime caper

Fiction Review: Still Life by Louise Penny - book 1 of her popular Chief Inspector Gamache series

Fiction Review: Red, White, Blue by Lea Carpenter - a quiet look at the inner life of a CIA spy

Middle-Grade Review: City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab - fun, spooky story of a girl who can see ghosts - I loved it!

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?