It's Monday 2/3! What Are You Reading?

Happy February! This is a fun month--short but with lots of little celebrations built in, including Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras (our favorite). Hope that everyone in the U.S. enjoyed Groundhog Day and the Superbowl last night. The best ad was definitely the one that combined the two "holidays," featuring Bill Murray reprising his Groundhog Day role, though I also loved the Mountain Dew ad with Bryan Cranston as Jack in The Shining (hmmm...just noticed those were both based on movies). Oh, and the game was good, too! Very exciting. We had a couple of friends over last night to enjoy the festivities with us, so it was extra fun.

That was the very nice end to a very bad week! Stress and pain both escalated. It's a long story, but the person I hired to format my book said she could do it in three hours, ended up spending three weeks on it, and then quit last week abruptly without finishing it. It was extremely upsetting, and I am now back to square one on the book formatting--I had hoped to publish in early Janiuary. At the same time, my hip and back pain from Lyme disease (I am certain now that's what it is) got much, much worse. My low back muscles started spasming Wednesday, with intense pain--it felt like childbirth, only in my back! I guess with all the hip pain on one side, I was favoring that side and moving funny, sitting weird, etc. until my back decided it was tired of carrying all the weight. Muscle relaxants, massage therapy, loads of anti-inflammatories, and lots of heat helped, and by yesterday, I was feeling up to having our friends over. But I ended up not getting much done last week because the pain just totally wiped me out. I have huge respect for those who live with chronic pain all the time. I'm feeling quite a bit better today, so here's to a new week and a fresh start!

As always, books provide a welcome distraction! Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

I finished a library book I borrowed for the Book Cougars podcast readalong: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones). Sounds like a really cheery title, right? Actually, it's a line from a William Blake poem, and the novel is quite funny! This book was originally published in Poland and has garnered a lot of recognition. It was short-listed for the International Booker Prize, long-listed for the National Book Award for Translated Literature, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature! It's about an older woman named Janina living in a remote rural area in Poland, near the Czech border. Her quiet life of caretaking for the summer residents and working on her astrology projects is disrupted when her neighbor dies suddenly, soon followed by another death, ruled a murder, nearby. Janina, a staunch vegetarian and animal lover, personally thinks the local animals are taking revenge on hunters, but the police don't put much credence in her theories. It's a bit quirky, but I enjoyed this unusual, amusing, and thoughtful novel.

Now, I am reading An Indigenous People's History of the United States for Young People, the YA version of the nonfiction book of the same name by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortis. This (the adult version) was the January choice for one of my book groups, but the meeting got postponed until March. I actually have both versions of the book here, from the library, so I am mostly reading the YA version but also dipping into the adult one sometimes, if I want more detail on a certain topic. A friend clued me in that the YA version includes maps, graphic, photos, and other visual information that really enhances the book; I don't know why they wouldn't include all that for adults, too! The maps are especially helpful. The book is just what its title suggests: a history of the U.S. from the perspective of Native Americans. As you might expect, it is absolutely horrifying but also quite enlightening. Did you know that it was actually the colonists, not Native Americans, who began the practice of scalping? Leaders of the new colonies offered cash for scalps (i.e. proof of killing an Indian), including those of children. Ugh. This is such an important book, but it is very heavy reading.

I started a new audio book, another very popular novel I've been meaning to read for ages, 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. I am still early in the book--Marina has just arrived in Brazil--but it's already a very intriguing story with in-depth characters. I'm sure there will be plenty of interesting plot twists as Marina heads into the Amazon to search for her former mentor (I am sensing some Heart of Darkness themes here).

My husband, Ken, finished The Lying Game by Ruth Ware, a book I put in his Christmas stocking. He and I have both enjoyed other Ware novels, including The Woman in Cabin 10 and In a Dark, Dark Wood. This one is about four women who attended boarding school together, playing what they called The Lying Game, telling lies to their fellow students and even the staff at every turn. Now they are adults, and one of them texts the other three that she needs them. The four women converge on the seaside town where they went to school, as the secrets from their past threaten to emerge. He enjoyed reading it, and I'm looking forward to it as well (this is why my TBR shelves never get any less full, in spite of reading 45 TBR books last year!).

Now, Ken has moved onto another Christmas gift from me, Blue Moon by Lee Child. This is Ken's all-time favorite author and series, so he was excited to read this latest book (number 24!) about Jack Reacher, just released in October 2019. According to the blurb, this one involves an elderly couple who get into financial trouble, both Ukrainian and Albanian gangs, loan sharks, thugs, and assassins! Ken enjoys the writing and the suspense and action of these novels. He is loving this one so far, immersing himself in his favorite fictional world.

Our son, 25, had a tough choice last week. He had just gone on a shopping spree at Barnes & Noble with his Christmas gift card and had three new books to choose from, all of which he couldn't wait to read! He settled on The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, book 1 in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. 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. This first book is almost 700 pages, so that should keep him busy.


Last week's blog posts:

Fiction Review: Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center - I enjoyed this unique novel on audio about a female firefighter.

Fiction Review: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - Another audio hit - warm and funny

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?