It's Monday 2/24! What Are You Reading?

You may have noticed I haven't been posting much here lately ... or visiting many blogs (even my favorites!). I am still neck-deep in trying to get my new book fully published. As I posted last week, I did manage to publish the e-book (on all the popular platforms), but I am still struggling with the print book. I keep thinking it is ready, and it'll be uploaded TODAY, and then I run into another challenge. Like today! After weeks of messing around with Word to format the half-finished document my hired formatter left for me when she quit abruptly, I was so thrilled on Friday (victorious!) to have figured out all the weird Word problems. I saved it as a pdf and also worked out those problems that cropped up from the switch. Then, I finally tried to upload it to Amazon ... error! It kept telling me my ISBN number didn't match. I figured that glitch out this morning, finally uploaded the cover and the manuscript, and ... more errors to correct. Apparently, the size of my cover graphic was off by 0.01 inch or something, so I had to go back to my cover designer to wait for her to revise it. Back in waiting mode, and once I get the cover accepted, I am sure that some errors will come up in the inside formatting, but at least I can fix those myself! You can read more about my book and order the e-book on all platforms (Kindle, Nook, Apple, etc.) here.

Our house is fully decorated for Mardi Gras!

Meanwhile, it's Mardi Gras time! We hosted our annual Mardi Gras party Saturday. We used to live in New Orleans, so we have hosted a Mardi Gras party since we moved north in 1990. When we were younger and I was healthier, it was a wild, late-night blow-out that grew to 50-60 people! These days, post-illness, it is a quieter affair with just our closest, oldest friends (some of whom also lived in New Orleans when we did). It's still a lot of work, but we always enjoy it ... and we've been living off left-overs of shrimp, jambalaya, and red beans & rice since!

I love the shiny purple fringe on our kitchen doorway!

So, we haven't had a lot of time for books this past week, but here's what we have all been reading:

I started my first-ever Ian McEwan novel, Saturday (can you believe I've never read him before?). It's a somewhat slow novel, describing in detail a typical Saturday in the life of a London neurosurgeon. It's interesting to read an entire novel within the limits of one day, though it includes his memories of the past, too. McEwan includes both the mundane details of any Saturday for the surgeon, as well as some really unusual and unsettling things that happen this particular day, so it somehow manages to tackle both the personal and the global. It's a fairly slow-moving story, and some sections--like the very detailed description of his squash match, which I know nothing about (including the terminology)--feel boring to me. Other passages, though, really seem to hit on some intriguing thoughts or universal truths, so my copy has quite a few dog-eared pages with quotes I want to write down. I'm about halfway and am enjoying it overall.

On audio, I finished listening to State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Somehow, I missed it when it was published in 2011 and just found the audio files sort of hidden on my laptop and unlabelled--a pleasant surprise! It's the story of Dr. Marina Singh, a pharmaceuticals researcher from Minnesota who has been tasked with traveling to a remote area of Brazil. Another researcher at her company, Dr. Annick Swenson, has gone missing there and cut off all communication with the company, and the first guy sent to find her has now died. It's a very intriguing story with in-depth characters and an immersive and fascinating sense of place. There are lots of unexpected plot twists as Marina heads into the Amazon with her former mentor and plenty of surprises. I really enjoyed listening to it, and it's made me eager to read more of her novels (this was my first since Bel Canto over a decade ago!).

I thought I could use some YA mixed in, so I am now listening to Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess. I have been hearing rave reviews of this YA novel for years, but for some reason, I didn't think it would be for me. I am loving it! It's about a teen boy named Blade whose father is a renowned rock star, equally famous for his music and his addictions and outrageous behavior. It's a tough way to grow up, and Blade's mother died when he was only eight years old. His dad keeps saying he's changed but then everything falls apart again. In addition, Blade is in love with a girl whose father hates him (because of his father). The novel is written in verse, which may be part of why I avoided it. I'm not a huge poetry fan, generally. But, on audio, I wasn't even aware of the way this was written; it just sounds impactful and rhythmic and tells a story with emotional depth. Even better, with his musical family, the audio includes music, including Blade's own songs, which adds greatly to the wonderful experience listening to it.

My husband, Ken, has been reading a Christmas gift from me, End of Watch by Stephen King. This novel is the end of the trilogy that began with Mr. Mercedes and continued with Finders Keepers, so he said he wanted to read book three while the rest was still fresh is his mind from last fall. According to the blurb, it's about a serial killer with a traumatic brain injury who is in a persistent vegetative state. Behind his still body, though, his mind is working fast thanks to a new experimental drug, and he is scheming to get revenge on those who crossed him, including retired police detective Bill Hodges, the hero of the trilogy. After reading The Outsider last year and realizing that one of my favorite characters in that novel was from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, I now want to read this series, too!

Our son, 25, is still reading The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, book 1 in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, one of the books he bought recently with a Christmas gift card. Sounds like this one features dark sorcery, an elf-like race, royals and servants, a deadly riddle, and plenty of swords--all right up his alley! I can't remember, but I don't think he's read this author before. He's enjoying it so far, but like I said, it's been a really busy week, and this is a hefty one!
 




Blog post last week:

Nonfiction Review: An Indigenous People's History of the United States by by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese) - this YA version of the hot book is powerful, horrifying, and enlightening - a must-read!

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?

My husband and I (on the right) with my mom and her husband, Mardi Gras 1988