It's Monday 11/4! What Are You Reading?

I am stunned that it's November already! Where did the year go? Three weeks to Thanksgiving and then another 3 weeks to Christmas - makes my head spin! I did just have a nice surprise, though. Even though I changed all the clocks in the house Saturday night/Sunday morning, I forgot about my watch. I ran out the door this morning for a 10:00 am meeting at the library (I am volunteering for their Book Buddies program, to bring books to housebound people). I was shocked to glance at my watch when the meeting ended and see it was already noon, and the morning was shot...until I looked at my cell phone a few minutes later and remembered the time change. It was only 11 am! I got to experience that feeling of gaining an extra hour all over again.

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I once again didn't have time for much blog visiting (or anything else) last week. My editor sent my book back for a third (and final!) edit. She said I only had to review the new changes, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and ended up re-reading the whole manuscript one last time. She has it again now for the last changes/formatting, and I need to figure out the nitty-gritty details of how to self-publish! My first book was published traditionally, so this is new to me, even though I've been trying to learn as much as I can about the process. I am hoping to announce its release in the next two weeks. The title is Finding a New Normal: Living with Chronic Illness.

We had a very busy weekend, with a lot of work around the house and catching up. But, we did enjoy dinner out with friends Friday night and a nice family dinner here on Saturday, with both sons, one girlfriend, and my father-in-law.

As always, we also enjoyed our books! For me, last week marked the end of my dark and creepy reading for the RIP XIV Challenge and the beginning of Nonfiction November (sign-up post to come). Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

After I finished The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld on Monday, I did manage to squeeze in one last suspenseful book for RIP XIV. I read Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, book one of his acclaimed and award-winning Easy Rawlins mystery series, which my husband enjoys. It was different than I expected, since I didn't realize this series is set back in the 40's, post-WWII. Easy Rawlins is a young black man who served in Europe during the war. He's originally from Houston but now lives in Watts, an African-American community in Los Angeles. Thanks to a reference from a friend, an older white man approaches Easy to ask him to find a woman named Daphne Monet, who looks beautiful in the photo he's shown. It feels a little shady, but Easy agrees because he just lost his job, and it's important to him not to lose the house he owns. That begins a twisty, dark, suspenseful mystery that leads Easy all over the city, as the bodies pile up. I enjoyed this fun, quick read for Halloween week.

I also finished one last dark and creepy graphic novel (I sort of fit those into spare moments here and there) for October, Grimoire Noir by Vera Greentea (author) and Yana Bogatch (illustrator). It's a spooky YA story about a teen boy named Bucky whose little sister goes missing, in a town called Blackwell where all of the females are witches with magic powers. An invisible barrier prevents anyone with "magick" from leaving town, in order to preserve their secrets. As Bucky tries to find his sister, he begins to learn some of those secrets, including the town's dark history. I was immediately taken in by the gorgeous pen and ink illustrations, done mostly in shades of brown and black but with tiny, bright splashes of color here and there. The illustrations are enchanting, and the story is intriguing and suspenseful. I enjoyed it, and it was perfect for the season!

I also finished listening to one last creepy audio book, Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson. I know she is a very popular fiction author, with many fans, but this was the first Jackson novel I read or listened to. It's about a new neighbor in a typical suburban community who may not be who she seems. Angelica Roux is sexy and enigmatic as she inserts herself into a group of moms by coming to their book group. Instead of their usual quiet discussion of a classic, Roux pours the drinks freely and convinces the women to play her version of Never Have I Ever, volunteering the worst things they have each done yesterday, last week, last month, and in their whole lives. Amy, happily married with a new baby and a sweet step-daughter, wants nothing to do with Roux's games because she wants her secrets to stay safely in her past. Roux's nefarious purposes slowly become clear as she insinuates herself into the neighborhood, while Amy tries to protect herself and her family. This suspenseful suburban drama features LOTS of unexpected twists that I never saw coming. It was excellent on audio.

And then it was November 1 and time to shift gears, from dark and creepy to nonfiction! For my first read for Nonfiction November, I chose a book that has been on my TBR shelf for a very long time, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson. My husband and I enjoy the way Larson takes real-life historical subjects and tells their stories in a compelling, fiction-like way. We both loved his Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (award-winning and highly recommended), and I think I bought him the Berlin book many years ago. It's been sitting on my side of the TBR bookcase ever since he read it! It's the real-life story of William E. Dodd, who was appointed Ambassador to Germany in 1933, just as Hitler's power was growing. The book focuses on the experiences of Dodd and his family (especially his adult daughter who had worked in journalism) in the odd environment of a rapidly changing Berlin that could appear fun and entertaining one day and horrifying the next. It's engrossing so far and fascinating to know what's coming historically, when the main characters do not.

For my first nonfiction audio for November, I chose Lost Child: The True Story of a Girl That Couldn't Ask for Help by Torey Hayden, after reading an interesting review of it at Helen's Book Blog (one of my favorites blogs - check it out!). The author is an American therapist who ends up working with a little girl, Jesse, in Wales who was unwanted by her parents. The young child is unpredictable, unable to trust others, and sometimes even violent. She was brought up with no rules or boundaries, pretty much left to run wild, and is now in a home for troubled children. Hayden begins working with Jesse, which is quite difficult, since she lies a lot and behaves inappropriately. The book chronicles their time together, Jesse's journey, and the power of patience and love. I'm just a little ways in so far, but it's absorbing.

And, to kick off Nonfiction November, I also started a new middle-grade graphic memoir, Guts by Raina Telgemeier, one of my favorite graphic authors! I loved her memoirs, Smile and Sisters, and her graphic novel, Drama. She is a talented writer and illustrator, and her memoirs, based on her own childhood, are warm, funny, realistic, and thoughtful. In this one, pre-teen Raina is struggling with stomach pains and increasingly disruptive anxiety and fears. Her loving parents get her started with therapy, and she begins to dig down to the roots of her issues, while events in her family, at school, and with her friends continue to evolve. It's wonderful so far, and though I usually read graphic novels/memoirs in 5-minute chunks of time, I am having trouble putting this one down!

After finishing Finders Keepers by Stephen King last week, my husband, Ken, started reading The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran. It's Gran's third novel featuring detective Claire DeWitt. This is the first novel he's read in the series, but I heard lots of accolades about this particular book, so I gave it to him for his birthday. In this novel, someone is trying to kill Claire, and in order to save herself, Claire will have to revisit two old, cold cases that she was involved in years ago, in Brooklyn and L.A. The three stories, from three different periods of Claire's life, are intertwined and gradually come together. Ken says it is a little disjointed at the beginning, as he's just starting to learn about these three different situations and timelines, but the story should start to coalesce soon. I love novels like that with disparate threads that gradually weave together, and I hope he enjoys this one.

Our son, 25, is reading a book we gave him for Christmas, Defender by Robert J. Crane, book 1 of The Sanctuary Series. It's a shorter novel than the epic fantasies he usually reads, which is probably why he didn't read it sooner. The setting and plot, though, are right up his alley: "The world of Arkaria is a dangerous place, filled with dragons, titans, goblins and other dangers." He says he's almost finished with it and has really liked it. That's great news because there are at least eight books in the series for him to continue with!






Blog posts from last week:

Middle-Grade Graphic Novel Review: The Midwinter Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag - a fun third book in this series about a family of witches

Fiction Review: Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land - a super-dark phsychological thriller

Teen/YA Review: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro - a fun, suspenseful mystery about modern-day teen descendants of Holmes & Watson

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?