It's Monday 12/9! What Are You Reading?

Whew, re-entry after vacation was extra-tough since we are suddenly in the midst of the holiday season! Last week was rush-rush-rush, putting together gift lists, online shopping on Cyber Monday, ordering cards, and getting a tree plus post-vacation catch-up like 700+ new e-mails, a big pile of mail on the counter, unpacking, and laundry. I also had a very long and exhausting out-of-state doctor's appointment for my son. The bottom line is that I was wiped out by Thursday and by Sunday, I was showing signs of the cold my family's been fighting since vacation ended. With our immune dysfunction, my older son and I rarely actually "catch" a cold or other virus, but being exposed can increase all our immune systems and make us very sick (sicker than those who catch the cold!). So, that's where I am today - trying to take it easy so I can ride out this "crash." Take-out for dinner last night, and take-out left-overs for dinner tonight!

The big question is...why don't I EVER do any of this holiday stuff ahead of time?? I am awed by people who get gifts early and are so organized that they can actually enjoy December!

One enjoyable item on my list this week is putting together a list of books I want to give as gifts and then going to our little local bookstore to order them.

In our own house, books provide comfort and escape no matter what else is going on! Here's what we've all been reading this week:

I am still reading Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe by Jane Goodall and am enjoying it very much. This 1990 book (with a 2010 updated preface from Jane) describes her thirty years spent researching, observing, and living among the chimps in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. She alternates between sharing details of chimp research findings and studies, her own life in studying them, and (mostly) narratives of the lives of the chimps themselves, each as individual and unique as humans are. It is a fascinating book that reads sort of like a chimp soap opera! The reader gets to know the chimps as individuals and follow their lives through births, adolescence, battles for primacy among the males, and tragedies. It is clear that chimps experience joy, grief, anger, and even depression, and Jane's insights are incredible. I was inspired to read this book after reading Threatened, a YA novel about an African boy who lives among chimps in Gabon. Both are highly recommended.

I squeezed in a quick middle-grade graphic novel after we got home. I had been looking forward to Sunny Rolls the Dice by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm, and it exceeded my high expectations! This series, including Sunny Side Up and Swing It, Sunny, about a pre-teen girl growing up in the 1970's is based in part on the authors' (a brother and sister team) childhoods, and the main character, Sunny, is almost the exact age I was in those years. All of the books address serious kid issues with a sense of humor and are very entertaining to read, with fun, colorful illustrations. In this one, Sunny feels baby-ish when her best friend is only interested in boys and fashion, but Sunny is learning to play Dungeons and Dragons and loving it. I also love seeing all the 70's references, including home decor, TV shows, fashions, and more. In fact, almost every outfit that Sunny wore in this latest book, I exclaimed out loud that I had the exact same shirt/sweater, etc. in middle school! Lots of fun, and a must-read for both middle-grade readers and nostalgic grown-ups like me.

I also finished The Woman I Was Before by Kerry Fisher for my neighborhood book group. I wasn't enjoying it at first because I found most of the characters unrelatable--phony and inauthentic--though it ended up growing on me, and I enjoyed the second half more. It's quite a bit lighter than our usual book group choices. The novel focuses on the differences between what people post on social media and what their real lives are like, which seems like a good topic to explore. But, at first, the women in the novel are just plain lying on Facebook. For instance, one will have be upset with her husband and then post a staged photo and #besthubbyever on Facebook. Who does that? So, as you can tell, I was annoyed with the characters at first (except for one who has a real reason for hiding her true self). Toward the end, the women evolved and grew emotionally, so that's a plus. Not surprisingly, this was not a big hit with our group, garnering mostly 6's and 7's (out of 10).

On audio, I finished listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama, which is just as wonderful as everyone said it was! The early chapters cover her childhood in Chicago's South Side, her family, and her early friendships and education. Then, it moves into her career, meeting Barack, having children, and, of course, the elections and their time in the White House ... but all from Michelle's perspective. She is honest, open, and warm, bringing the reader into her world and sharing not just the facts but also her thoughts looking back. It paints a picture of her as a person but also of the times she has lived through and the culture of the world around her. She is close to my age, so I can relate to much of that. As I heard from many people, the book is especially good on audio, read by the author in her lovely, familiar voice, and despite its long length, I enjoyed every moment of it and was sorry for it to end. I would have liked to hear about her life after the White House, but I respect that she and her family have certainly earned some privacy after their years in public life.

My husband, Ken is reading a birthday gift I gave him, The Witch Elm by Tana French. We are both huge fans of this Irish mystery/thriller author. Ken has read almost all of her Dublin Murder Squad series, and I recently read (and loved - review at the link) The Likeness (book 2) this fall. This is an unusual one for her, as it's a stand-alone suspense novel that was on lots of Best of 2018 lists. It's about a man, Toby, who is beaten and left for dead by some thieves one night. While recovering, he moves to his family's ancestral home to care for an aging uncle. Inside a tree in the yard, a human skull is discovered, and the police are called, as Toby realizes his past may not be exactly what he always thought it was. Ken is enjoying it very much, sometimes laughing out loud! He says it's different than her series but just as good.

Our son, 25, is currently reading The Mercenary Code by Emmet Moss, book 1 in The Shattering of Kingdoms series. It sounds like the kind of epic fantasy he loves, with revolutions, battles, and magic all set in an intriguing and original world. He explained to me that he won a bunch of Amazon credits playing online video games this summer ... so, of course, he's spending all those credits on books!


Not surprisingly, I didn't have much time for blog posts last week! Just one, though I hope to catch up this week:

Nonfiction Review: An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Resesabagina, with Tom Zoellner - a stunning, powerful true story that everyone should read (the movie Hotel Rwanda was based on this book).

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?

Son, me, and husband getting a tree! (other son away and our fave tree farm out of trees!)