It's Monday 11/12! What Are You Reading?

Ahhh...enjoying the quiet solitude of a Monday morning, though it was wonderful to see both of our sons this weekend.

I had another rough week - if anything, even worse, as this "crash" or relapse of my chronic illness continues. I felt MUCH better Friday and thought I was finally done with it but was back on the couch feeling awful Saturday. This sort of thing used to be common in the early days of my illness, but a bunch of different treatments I've found have helped me to feel better and become more functional, so this current downturn has been hard to deal with.

So, that means that I spent most of my week too sick to do anything but READ (and watch a little TV). Plus, at one point, I was waiting - and waiting - for a book to come in at the library, so I read a couple of short books, each day thinking my book group book would finally come in. Bottom line? It's a long list of books this week, all of mine focused on Nonfiction November!

Here's what we've all been reading:

• I finished Seven: In the Lane of Hope, an inspirational memoir written by Michael J. Marini, who is my massage therapist! He and I often talk about writing while he is working the knots out of my back and shoulders, and I was thrilled to hear his book had just been published. It's about his remarkable family of 13 and particularly his seven sisters. It was poignant, moving, and funny - his family is pretty amazing!
• Next, thinking that book group book would arrive at the library any day now, I squeezed in a graphic memoir, Hey Kiddo by Garrett Krosoczka, a National Book Award finalist this year. It was excellent, a coming-of-age story of the author's very unusual upbringing by his grandparents, with his mother in and out of prison and drug rehab and his father unknown. It's a moving story of identity, family, and growth, and the illustrations bring it all to life.
• My book was still not in at the library and I didn't want to start anything too long, so I re-read an old favorite: the classic Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a book of essays. One of my best friends gave it to me decades ago, with a lovely inscription, and I read it back then, but I think I got more out of it now, as an older woman who has been through almost 30 years of marriage, raising children, etc. The author so beautifully captures the essence of life and our struggles for balance that I dog-eared almost every other page - this might just fill up my Quotes journal! Most amazing is that so many of her words, written in the 1950's about "modern" life, are just as applicable (maybe more so) today. It's a beautiful, thoughtful book.
• I finally gave up on that library book (having also realized I can't go to book group this week anyway) and dug into a longer book from my huge nonfiction TBR pile: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This book has been on my bookshelf for decades. It was published in 1994, and my mom lent me her hardcover edition, so you do the math! Do you think she still wants it back? Anyway, my husband read it way back then, and I am thrilled to finally get to it, after hearing so many accolades over the years. It's a true crime story set in Savannah, GA, and I am already enjoying the descriptions of Savannah and its quirky citizens.
• Finally, during my long days on the couch, I made my way through The Lyme Solution: A 5-Part Plan to Fight the Inflammatory Auto-Immune Response and Beat Lyme Disease by Darin Ingels, ND. I've had Lyme before (and suspect a recurrence may be behind this horrible relapse now) and my son has been fighting Lyme plus 2 other tick infections for 10 years now. Despite all my knowledge on the subject, I learned a lot from this book. I filled it with Post-It tabs and notes to talk to our Lyme specialist and dietician/biochemist about. It's actually given me some hope for a better future for my son for the first time in many years.
• I am still listening to Born a Crime by Trevor Noah on audio, and LOVING it!! My favorite book podcast, Book Cougars, is doing a readalong this month. Don't be put off if you don't like his TV show or often raunchy stand-up routines. This is a memoir of his childhood growing up in both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, and it is stunning, fascinating, moving, and of course, very, very funny. His insights into race and poverty, having grown up poor as a mixed-race child in a country that was divided into white and black, are brilliant. And he is just a great storyteller, often making me laugh out loud and replay certain excerpts for my husband and son. Highly recommended.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading one of his birthday gifts from me, The Outsider by Stephen King. It's a suspenseful thriller that he's been looking forward to, and he's explained to me that since it is King, it's not just a thriller but has an element of the supernatural in it, too. He's been enjoying it.
• Jamie, our 24-year old son, is back to his favorite Wheel of Time series. I think he finished book 12, The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, and is now reading book 13, Towers of Midnight.
• Jamie's girlfriend has a severe concussion, and she is under strict restrictions (no screens, no reading, etc.), so they have turned to audio books (which my son normally shuns these days because he says they are too slow). They are re-listening to an old favorite from my sons' childhood, Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater, a hilarious middle-grade novel that our family has listened to dozens of times - and still makes us laugh! I also lent them She Rides Shotgun, my favorite audio book from this year (and an Edgar Award winner) and the CDs for Born a Crime.

Very little blogging last week, but I did manage two quick book reviews (trying to catch up!):

Fiction Review: The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal - great start of a new thriller series

Middle-Grade Review: The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier - graphic novel adventure series, with pirates, seas creatures, and more.

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?