Movie Monday: Hunt for the Wilderpeople

We were scrolling through Netflix and Amazon this weekend, as one does, searching for a movie we both wanted to see. There were plenty I was interested in that my husband wasn't, neither of us wanted anything too dark, and it seemed like we'd already seen all "the good ones." Then my husband suggested Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which I had scrolled right past earlier; he'd read about it online and thought it sounded good. What a great choice! We both loved this funny, warm-hearted adventure set in New Zealand.

As the movie opens, a social worker named Paula, played by Rachel House, is delivering an overweight young teen boy named Ricky, played by Julian Dennison, to a new home in a remote, rural area. Bella, played by Rima de Wiata, welcomes Ricky warmly, in spite of the long string of previous problems that Paula recites to her. Hec, played by Sam Neill, also lives there, and Bella tells Ricky he can call them Auntie and Uncle, if he wants to. After being shuffled around for years and generally unwanted, Ricky is understandably doubting and distrustful. He even tries to run away, but Bella's warmth and kindness eventually win him over. Then tragedy hits, and through a series of events, Ricky ends up in the bush (wilderness) with Hec, who's been injured. The two of them work together to make a camp for themselves until Hec's ankle heals enough that they can walk back home. When they're on the move again, though, six weeks later, they discover that there is a national manhunt going on ... to find the two of them! As the authorities have completely misunderstood their absence and want to take them both into custody, the pair decide to just stay out there. Many adventures follow!

We loved absolutely everything about this unique movie! The pairing of a difficult teen and a grumpy old man might seem a bit trite, but it is wholly original here, with the actors playing Hec and Ricky both doing an outstanding job in their roles. The more time they spend together alone, the closer the two misfits become, as they help each other to heal. This is truly an adventure movie, action-packed with plenty of suspense, but there is wonderful humor woven into every scene and a warmth that made us both smile throughout the film. I think this is my favorite movie of the year! We both laughed and enjoyed every moment of this uplifting movie. I think we could all use a little Ricky and Hec right now.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is currently available on Netflix or to rent on Amazon, starting at $2.99 (or $6.99 to own) - definitely worth it!

It's Monday 11/30! What Are You Reading?

Tomorrow is December! How did that happen??

I hope that everyone in the U.S. enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving, even if it was different than usual. We had both of our sons home for a socially-distanced dinner with the windows open and masks on when not eating! And we had a nice Zoom gathering with extended family in the morning--we miss them all very much, and it was lovely to see their smiling faces.

Happy Socially Distanced Thanksgiving!

 

Unfortunately, the smallest turkey I could find was 20 pounds ... for just 5 of us (and it was the second dinner for my son and his girlfriend). So, we had leftovers for two days after Thanksgiving, and yesterday, I made a big pot of Turkey Wild Rice Soup (my recipe at the link). 

Turkey Day 4 - Turkey Wild Rice Soup

 

On Thanksgiving Day, everyone left before dessert, so we were left with two and a half pies for just my husband and I! Our older son helped the next day, thank goodness, but I've pretty much been stuffed since Thursday and am looking forward to getting back to a more normal diet!

It was a busy, busy, busy week with all that shopping, cooking, and cleaning. We went to a local tree farm to pick out our tree on Saturday. We usually wait until the first weekend in December (at least), but the past two years, they were sold out by then! With everyone so eager to start the holiday season early this year, we figured we better go early. It was different than usual, of course, with no hayride or popcorn and cocoa, but we found a great, freshly-cut tree (nice and fat, the way we like!), and our older son will be back in town next weekend so we can all decorate it together. It's our favorite part of the holiday season!

We found our tree!

 

Amidst all that crazy, hectic activity, we managed to enjoy our books, too (always!). Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

I finished H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, an unusual memoir about how she dealt with her father's sudden death by getting and training a goshawk, known to be one of the more difficult hawks to train. Helen was already an experienced falconer, but training a goshawk was a different experience for her. The memoir follows the parallel paths of her grief over the loss of her father and her training of Mabel, her new goshawk. It also weaves in all kinds of history of hawks and falconry, including the experiences and writings of T.H. White, author of The Once and Future King, and other acclaimed books, who also trained a goshawk--and wrote a book about it--while dealing with personal emotional pain. It was a slow read for me (or maybe I was just too tired at night and at naptime to read much!), but it was very interesting and moving. I know nothing at all about hawks, so I learned a lot, but, like Helen, I did lose my father about five years ago, so I could certainly relate to her grief.

I have also been enjoying another nonfiction middle-grade graphic "novel" in the History Comics series, The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes by Kate Hannigan and Alex Graudins. I absolutely loved The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery in the same series, so I've been looking forward to this one. It's about the famous Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that burned for two days and destroyed a huge portion of the city. The narrators are a young sister and brother who get separated from their parents and spend two days running from the fire with crowds of people and trying to find their family, which puts the disaster in perspective for kids reading the book. It ends with a section on the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the Columbian Exposition, in which the city was able to celebrate its rebirth. As with the Roanoke book, I am learning a lot (like the fact that Mrs. O'Leary's cow did not start the fire!) and am enjoying reading it.

My current print book is also my current audiobook! I don't usually do this, but I got both the print and audio versions of Educated by Tara Westover from the library. This highly-acclaimed memoir is the December choice for one of my book groups. Of course, I have heard all about this best-selling book since its release almost three years ago, so I am thrilled to finally be reading/listening to it. The author describes her unusual (and often horrifying) childhood growing up isolated in the mountains of Idaho with her survivalist father. She and her siblings did not attend school, were not homeschooled, and were made to work in their father's scrap business, which was extremely dangerous. They also did not receive any medical care, except from their mother's herbs, even when horrible accidents occurred while scrapping. At seventeen, Tara left to attend college, which was a stunning experience for her. She'd never written an essay, taught herself algebra and trig, and had never heard of the Holocaust. So far, it's a fascinating, engrossing story that I am enjoying in both forms--perfect for #NonfictionNovember!

My husband, Ken, is reading one of my top reads of 2020 (maybe THE top one), Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I'll let my Monday update from August speak for itself here: "I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was amazing, and I just want to tell everyone to read it! I always enjoy time travel plots, and this book is part of her Oxford Time Travel series, which also includes To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I also enjoyed (they are loosely related and don't have to be read in order). This time, in 2155, a young female student, Kivrin, has traveled back in time all the way to the 1300's, in England's Middle Ages. It's the first time they've sent anyone back that far, and there are all sorts of concerns since so little was recorded about that era. Hours after Kivrin leaves, though, a contemporary emergency occurs when one of the techs working on the project comes down with a devastating virus, and says that something went wrong with the time travel, just before he passes out. This shouldn't happen, given the high-tech medical precautions used in this future (no one even gets colds), so there is a scramble to figure out what the virus is and where it came from. Meanwhile, the team at Oxford doesn't realize it, but the reader knows that Kivrin arrived in the Middle Ages with the same debilitating symptoms. What a premise--a contemporary woman horribly sick in the Middle Ages and all alone. The action goes back and forth between the present-day and the past, and the suspense is incredibly compelling. The mystery in the present and the happenings in the past continue to evolve and intertwine, and I came to care about the characters so much that I can't stop thinking about them, a week later. Ok, yes, there are two epidemics involved in this novel, and some similarities to our present situation (the book was written in 1992) are a bit unnerving, but the story, characters, and suspense are so great that I didn't care.  I loved every minute of it! (My review is at the link above)." Ken is loving it, too, especially the humor, and is almost finished.

Our son, 26, had to set aside The Demon Cycle series by Peter V. Brett after finishing book 2, The Desert Spear, because he didn't have book 3! He was going to stop at his favorite used bookstore on the way out of town yesterday. So, he has moved back to the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind with book 4, Temple of the Winds. It sounds like the series is filled with murder, swords, treachery, and a unique magical world--yup, that ticks all his boxes! He has been powering through each long book, so they must be really compelling. He loves this kind of stuff. And hopefully, his stop at the bookstore yesterday was a fruitful one. I'm going to finish my book gift list this week--can't wait to choose some awesome fantasy novels for our son!

 

Blog posts last week:

Middle-Grade Graphic Novel: One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks - boarding school drama with a touch of fantasy

Summary of Books Read in October - an excellent, spooky reading month for me!

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?

Books Read in October

Our jack-o-lanterns, ready for Halloween!

Poor health in October got me WAY behind in writing reviews, but it meant lots of extra reading time! So, I'm a little late with the summary, but here are the books I finished in October:

• Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor (AZ) - adult fiction on audio
• The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (MI) - adult fiction

• The Witch Elm by Tana French (Ireland) - adult fiction
• All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban - YA fiction on audio

• The Sense of Death by Matty Dalrymple (PA) - adult fiction
• August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones (MI) - adult fiction

 

• Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (NY) - adult fiction on audio
• Trespassers by Breena Bard (WI) - middle-grade graphic novel

• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - classic adult fiction
• One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks - middle-grade graphic novel

Wow! I finished 10 books last month, which is close to a record for me (though two were middle-grade graphic novels, fit between the cracks). As you can see, it was an all-fiction month for me and an all-dark and creepy reading month, too! I love reading for the season. Otherwise, it was a good mix, with three audio books and seven read in print. Though I read mostly adult fiction, one book was YA and two were for middle-graders. All of these were great; I really enjoyed my months of spooky reading. I'm going to cheat and pick three favorites: a three-way tie! My favorites last month were The Lock Artist, The Sense of Death, and The Haunting of Hill House. Each well-written, compelling, and suspenseful in its own way.

Progress in 2020 Reading Challenges:
You can see all of the reading challenges I am participating in and full lists of the books read for each at the challenges link. I have some fun ones going this year!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2020 - I read eight books from my own shelves last month. #RIP XV Challenge is always good for our TBR shelves.

2020 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - October was Thrills and Chills, which means every single book fit! I chose The Sense of Death by Matty Dalrymple, since it includes actual ghosts/spirits.

Back to the Classics 2020 - I read another classic! The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson brings my 2020 classics total to five.

PopSugar Reading Challenge - this is a unique one! Most of my categories are filled now, so I didn't add any new ones last month.

2020 Nonfiction Reader's Challenge - No nonfiction last month.

2020 Diversity Reading Challenge - Four of my books were diverse last month.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I only traveled globally to Ireland in my books last month (where I'd already been this year).

2020 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added two new states, Arizona and Wisconsin, which is tough to do at this time of year.

2020 Big Book Summer Challenge - Ended in September, with a grand total of ten for me this year.

RIP XV -  All 10 of my books fit the challenge, for a total of 14 books this season.

And finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! Stop by to print out this month's Bingo card and play along. In October, I filled 15 spaces on my bingo card:

  

 

Spaces Filled:

 

Sycamore - not in a series, bicycle

The Lock Artist - trick or treat, black on the cover

The Witch Elm - read a physical book

All Your Twisted Secrets - skeletons (figurative), audio book

The Sense of Death - in a series, kidnapper

August Snow - landscape on the cover, shelf love

Leave the World Behind - free book

Haunting of Hill House - made into a TV show or movie, cursed

Free Space

 

What was your favorite book read in October?

Middle-Grade Graphic Novel Review: One Year at Ellsmere

I recently enjoyed reading the middle-grade graphic novel One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks, a realistic boarding school novel with just a hint of magic mixed in.

Juniper (Jun, for short) has just arrived at Ellsmere, an exclusive boarding school. Jun, the daughter of a single mother, is their first scholarship student, and she's happy to have the opportunity since their graduates go on to attend some of the most prestigious universities. Jun is smart enough to be there, but she can see right away that she doesn't exactly fit in. The other girls all come from wealthy families and immediately snub the new girl and "charity case." Emily is the meanest of the mean girls, but Jun puts her in her place on the first day, which creates a powerful enemy. Luckily, Jun has a very sweet roommate named Cassie, who is one of Emily's favorite targets. Cassie welcomes Jun with open arms, and the two girls are soon inseparable. One day while out on the grounds, Cassie tells Jun a rumored story about a mysterious creature that lives in the woods, from before Ellsmere was even a school. The girls help each other through Jun's first year and protect each other from Emily and the other mean girls.

Sample pages from One Year at Ellsmere

 

Clearly, this novel deals with a lot of classic issues in kids' books: bullying, friendship, disparities in wealth, and more. But it also has that touch of magic, which comes as a bit of a surprise when it enters the story. Jun and Cassie's friendship is warm and kind and provides a wonderful example of two kids from very different backgrounds connecting with each other. The drawings are realistic, with a bit of a Japanese anime look to the characters' faces (especially around the eyes). It's a fun, immersive story of real-world boarding school ups and downs, with just a dash of fun fantasy. This book felt like the beginning of a series, so I hope there will be more adventures to come for Jun and Cassie!

 

171 pages, First Second

 

You can purchase One Year at Ellsmere from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

 

You can also buy through indie bookstores using Bookshop.

 

Or you can order One Year at Ellsmere from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 11/23! What Are You Reading?

It was a week of ups and downs for me. I had a big victory last week when I managed to go shopping at Target and Trader Joe's (they are both about 30 min from us) for the first time in many months! I stocked up since we hadn't been in ages ... though I was surprised to find empty shelves in the paper towel/toilet paper aisle. Really? We're doing this again? Looks like people learned nothing this spring! Luckily, we already had paper towels at home, and I prefer the toilet paper at Trader Joe's (and they had plenty). I also manage a bit of weeding two days last week, which is desperately needed here! Our yard is like a jungle.

Unfortunately, I "crashed" after that big shopping trip and also after each weeding attempt, which tells me I am still not quite back to my normal baseline (I have a chronic illness and relapsed this spring), and my stamina is still lower than normal. So, the weekend wasn't nearly as productive as I'd hoped, but I did manage a short hike with my husband at our local nature center. we were glad to take advantage of the unusually warm day! 

A nice warm day at our local nature center

We also enjoyed an outdoor visit with my father-in-law and a lovely Sunday drive to a farmer's market about 30 min away to get some decorative gourds (having so much trouble finding them this year!) and their fabulous freshly-made cider donuts. I had to settle for a few mini pumpkins and some edible squashes from our fridge in our cornucopia, but I think it looks OK! I still need to get the rest of our Thanksgiving decorations up. Like I said, not as productive as I'd like. We are preparing for our two sons and their girlfriends to be here for Thanksgiving (one of our sons just moved out a few weeks ago), so trying to plan to keep things safe! We'll be seating each couple at a separate table, wearing masks, having the windows open (I told them to bundle up!), etc. We finally decided against trying to have my FIL here, too, and he agreed it was too risky. We were hoping to do an outdoor dinner at lunchtime, but it looks like it will be raining.

Thanksgiving cornucopia

 

Meanwhile, of course we are all enjoying our books, too, even in this busy season! Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

My next choice for #NonfictionNovember (though I didn't officially sign up for the challenge!) is a memoir that my husband gave me several years ago, H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. Reading challenges always help with my packed To-Be-Read bookcase! It's an unusual memoir about how she dealt with her father's sudden death by getting and training a goshawk, known to be one of the more difficult hawks to train. Helen was already an experienced falconer, but training a goshawk was a different experience for her. The memoir follows the parallel paths of her grief over the loss of her father and her training of Mabel, her new goshawk. It also weaves in all kinds of history of hawks and falconry, including the experiences and writings of T.H. White, author of The Once and Future King, and other acclaimed books, who also trained a goshawk--and wrote a book about it--while dealing with personal emotional pain. It's a slow read for me so far (or maybe I've just been too tired at night and at naptime to read very much!), but it's very interesting. I know nothing at all about hawks, so I'm learning a lot, but, like Helen, I did lose my father about five years ago, so I can relate to that.

I finished the nonfiction graphic "novel" for middle-graders called The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery. It is part of the History Comics series. As usual with books about history, I learned so much! Why didn't they teach any of this in school?? It tells the story of not only the colony itself (which was established 100 years before the pilgrims arrived) but also the background of what was happening in Europe and why Queen Elizabeth I sent people to the New World to start the Roanoke Colony--believe it or not, the purpose of the colony was to provide a base of operations for privateers (i.e. pirates) to raid Spanish ships! The narrators are two young Native American men who went back to England with the first scouts to learn English and share knowledge and then returned with the ill-fated colonists. It is fascinating and filled with interesting historical details about history, lifestyles, and culture on both sides. I loved it and can't wait to read the next book in the History Comics series, which I have here waiting!

On audio, I finished listening to The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, a historical and literary classic written in 1903. Du Bois was an African-American who graduated form Harvard in 1895 (a feat in itself at that time) and was a renowned historian and sociologist. This famous tome reviews a portion of U.S. history with respect to African-Americans. Coincidentally, at the same time I was reading White Trash, I was also listening to Du Bois' narrative about the same periods of history--for instance, the post-Civil War era--from two different perspectives: that of Blacks, both freemen and freed slaves, and of poor, rural whites. It's been fascinating to fit these two different points of view together, as both are a far different story of U.S. history than what I learned in school! I especially like the chapters where Du Bois shares some of his own experiences, as a teacher and later, a father. I enjoyed it and learned a lot. Apparently, this book is considered an important book in the study of sociology (which Du Bois helped create), and it feels especially important to read it at this moment in time.

Now, I am listening to an audiobook I have been waiting for with excitement, No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michel J. Fox. I read his first memoir, Lucky Man, while visiting my mother-in-law, who also had Parkinson's disease. And I listened to his second memoir, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, on audio and loved every minute--I laughed and cried, and felt understood and lifted up. As with those first two memoirs, this new one also deals with his experiences with a debilitating chronic illness, which I can relate to (though now, later-stage Parkinson's is a whole different ballgame), but he also writes about life, with its ups and downs, loves and losses, joys and sorrows. I am already loving this memoir, and I keep pulling out my earbuds to play certain parts for my husband. As with Fox's earlier memoirs, I am laughing and crying and loving every minute of it. I highly recommend listening to this one on audio, read by the author in his instantly-recognizable voice. For a little preview, check out his interview from Sunday Today with Willie Geist that aired yesterday. More tears and laughter!

My husband, Ken, is reading one of my top reads of 2020 (maybe THE top one), Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I'll let my Monday update from August speak for itself here: "I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was amazing, and I just want to tell everyone to read it! I always enjoy time travel plots, and this book is part of her Oxford Time Travel series, which also includes To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I also enjoyed (they are loosely related and don't have to be read in order). This time, in 2155, a young female student, Kivrin, has traveled back in time all the way to the 1300's, in England's Middle Ages. It's the first time they've sent anyone back that far, and there are all sorts of concerns since so little was recorded about that era. Hours after Kivrin leaves, though, a contemporary emergency occurs when one of the techs working on the project comes down with a devastating virus, and says that something went wrong with the time travel, just before he passes out. This shouldn't happen, given the high-tech medical precautions used in this future (no one even gets colds), so there is a scramble to figure out what the virus is and where it came from. Meanwhile, the team at Oxford doesn't realize it, but the reader knows that Kivrin arrived in the Middle Ages with the same debilitating symptoms. What a premise--a contemporary woman horribly sick in the Middle Ages and all alone. The action goes back and forth between the present-day and the past, and the suspense is incredibly compelling. The mystery in the present and the happenings in the past continue to evolve and intertwine, and I came to care about the characters so much that I can't stop thinking about them, a week later. Ok, yes, there are two epidemics involved in this novel, and some similarities to our present situation (the book was written in 1992) are a bit unnerving, but the story, characters, and suspense are so great that I didn't care.  I loved every minute of it! (My review is at the link above)." So far, Ken is loving it, too, especially the humor.

Our son, 26 (and recently moved out), was very sick last week (COVID-19 test was negative, thank goodness; just his usual bronchitis and he's doing better now on antibiotics), so he had plenty of reading time. He finished reading The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett, book one of The Demon Cycle. Amazon says it's a series about humans versus demons, in a world where humans must live in magical wards to protect themselves from the hordes of demons that come out every night. But the demons are winning, with more humans killed every night. Three young people dare to stand up to the demons and sleep outside the magical ward in a desperate attempt to rediscover the secrets of the past that used to keep people safe. Our son loved book one and immediately moved onto book two, The Desert Spear. It's good to have some great fiction to escape into when you don't feel well!

Blog posts last week:

TV Tuesday: Yellowstone - modern Western drama we are loving!

Middle-Grade Graphic Novel: Trespassers by Breena Bard - realistic story of friendship plus a myster, set at a lake house

Fiction Review: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam - unique and suspenseful story of two families and a mysterious global tragedy

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?

Fiction Review: Leave the World Behind

After hearing lots of buzz (including as a pick for Read with Jenna on the Today Show Book Club) about the new release Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam, I decided to listen to it on audio for my #RIP XV Challenge last month. This Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in Fiction defies easy categorization, telling a unique story of a mysterious tragedy in the larger world while two families try to cope with its effects.

Amanda and Clay and their teen kids, Archie, 15, and Rose, 13, are fighting the traffic from NYC to Long Island for their summer vacation. Amanda found a great house online for them to rent for what is hoped to be a relaxing getaway. When they arrive, they are all pleased to find that it's a beautiful home, complete with swimming pool and hot tub, though a bit out of the way. The four of them settle in and enjoy their first 24 hours there, with a relaxed day at the beach and making themselves at home in the lovely house. A late night knock on the door breaks their peaceful respite, though. They open the door to find an older Black couple who explain that they are the owners of the home and just drove from the city (and their high-rise apartment) to escape a widespread blackout. George (G.H.) and Ruth tell Amanda and Clay that something has happened "out there" but they don't know what it is, and they ask if they can stay at the house, in the basement apartment, with the vacationing family. Reluctantly, Amanda and Clay let them in. After all, it is their house. But are they who they say they are? And are they exaggerating about this blackout emergency? Here on this remote part of the island, they still have power, though cell service, WiFi, and television have all gone out. The two families, cut off from everyone else (and truth be told, lost without their phones or WiFi), awkwardly begin to establish a new routine, as strange things start to happen in the glimpse of the larger world that they have from the house.

This is an original premise as clearly something big--but unidentified--is happening on a large scale but neither the characters nor the readers know what it is. It's an interesting and thoughtful character study, focused on the microcosm of the two families, strangers to each other, in the house while some mysterious tragedy is occurring in the wider world. There is plenty of tension here, especially toward the end, though some of the suspense comes from simply waiting for something to happen. It's a slow burn, filled with uncertainty, and the readers are as much in the dark as the characters. I enjoyed the audio book, narrated by Marin Ireland as Amanda, and was eager to find out what would happen next. More than anything, this unique novel is an intricate examination of human nature, especially when people are exposed to unexpected pressures. 

256 pages, Ecco

HarperAudio

From the Today Show website, here are 9 Questions to Consider After Reading "Leave the World Behind" (yes, best left for after you read the book).

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/ordownload it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

Middle-Grade Graphic Novel: Trespassers

I had a long dry period with no graphic novels because I got behind this year while I was feeling so poorly. But in early fall, I responded to some of the publishers' latest catalogs and requested a stack of graphic novels. I'm so glad to have them back in my life! I started with a middle-grade graphic novel, Trespassers by Breena Bard, a mystery and realistic novel. I loved it!

Gabby is headed up north with her parents and older sister, Morgan, and younger brother, Simon, for their annual summer vacation. Every year, they go to the same cabin on a lake in Wisconsin (where her mom went as a child), complete with a back deck overlooking the water, canoes and kayaks, a hammock, and a pontoon boat--classic summer fun! One thing is different, though, this year: a new family is in the cabin next door. They are from Chicago, and they have two kids, Paige and Bryan, who are close in age to Gabby and Simon. Gabby prefers to spend all her spare time reading--especially mysteries--but her parents want her to reach out to Paige. Paige is kind of morose, very sarcastic, and definitely doesn't want to be there, but the four kids start hanging out together. There's a giant, beautiful house up on a hill with the entire side facing the lake in glass, and when Gabby asks her mom about it, she says that the wealthy couple from Chicago who lived there disappeared one summer when she was a little girl. The house has been empty ever since. It's a mystery what happened to them, and Gabby loves a mystery! She starts writing a fictional story based on what her mom told her, filling in what might have happened to the missing couple. Paige and Bryan are interested in the house, too, with its big gate and wealthy look, and they convince Gabby and Simon to climb the fence and poke around. Paige even helps Gabby with her story. Sneaking around and trespassing make Gabby feel uncomfortable, but Paige is very convincing and she does want to know what really happened.

Sample page from Trespassers, as the family drives to their lake cabin

Sample page from Treespassers, of the gorgeous lakefront

 

This is such a fun book! I absolutely loved the setting and the beautifully drawn pictures of the classic lake house and the activities the family enjoys while there--it all felt very real and made me want to go there myself. There are two stories here: the mystery of the wealthy couple's disappearance and the on-again, off-again new friendship between Gabby and Paige, who are very different from each other. The girls do enjoy working together to solve the mystery and come up with some pretty wild theories about what happened, looking for clues at the old house on the hill. This reminded me of when I was a kid and played Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden with my best friend, Robyn. We would have loved a real-life mystery to solve--there weren't many mysteries in our quiet suburban neighborhood! The combination of intriguing story and brightly-colored, realistic drawings made this graphic novel a winner for me! I'm sure that middle-graders will love it, too.

250 pages, Graphix (Scholastic imprint)

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. I always thought listening to an audio of a graphic novel would kind of defeat the whole purpose of the book, BUT this one sounds pretty good, with a large cast of voice actors for each character.

 

You can purchase Trespassers from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

 

You can also buy through indie bookstores using Bookshop.

 

 

Or you can order Trespassers from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

TV Tuesday: Yellowstone

After hearing several friends rave about the TV series Yellowstone, my husband and I decided to try it. We loved the first two seasons of this modern Western drama and can't wait to see season 3 when it starts this week!

Yellowstone is the name of an enormous ranch in Montana, headed up by patriarch John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner. John has three grown sons and a daughter but lost his wife tragically when they were still kids/teens. He is getting older but is still fiercely committed to protecting his huge ranchlands, from the constant threat of land developers and the local Native American tribe. John's plan is for his oldest son, Lee (played by Dave Annable), to take over the ranch eventually, and Lee's been training for that. His next son, Jamie (played by Wes Bentley), was sent off to Harvard to become a lawyer so that he could protect the ranch legally, so he works in town. The youngest son, Kayce (Luke Grimes), was in the military--which clearly left some emotional scars--and is married to Monica (played by Kelsey Asbille), a beautiful Native American woman. They live in a small house on the reservation with their young son, Tate, and Kayce is trying to make a living training horses, which is a special talent of his. John's only daughter, Beth (played by Kelly Reilly), is a bit of a mess, to put it mildly! She drinks way too much and is quite promiscuous, including with the ranch's longtime manager, Rip (played by Cole Hauser), who John treats almost like another son. Thomas Rainwater, played by Gil Biirmingham, is the well-educated newly-returned leader of the local Indian tribe, who is determined to return some of the Dutton's land to its original owners. Plus, there are evil brothers in development, and a wealthy guy new in the area who desperately wants some of the Dutton land for his new luxury hotel, golf course, and ritzy housing development.

In case you can't tell from that basic description, every episode is a rollercoaster of secrets, lies, deceipt, behind-the-scenes machinations and deals, plus a healthy helping of sex and violence. It's basically a complex soap opera set among cowboys in the West. Costner plays the consummate cowboy, though he will do anything to hang onto his lands and keep his ranch together. The rest of the cast is excellent, too, though many of the actors were unfamiliar to us. The ranch house is rustic but luxurious, and the land in and around the ranch is breathtakingly gorgeous. There are constant surprises and plot twists, keeping each episode action-packed and suspenseful. It's a riveting drama that kept us captivated through its first two seasons, and we can't wait to watch season 3!

Yellowstone is a Paramount Network show, so you can watch the new season 3 free on their website. It is also being shown (all 3 seasons) on Peacock, with season 3 starting this Sunday, which is also free (we watch it on Peacock through our cable service On Demand, but you can also watch it directly from the website). Finally, Yellowstone is also available on YouTube, with a subscription, or on Amazon for $1.99 an episode or $12.99 for the first season. Lots of ways to watch!

Have you tried this compelling Western drama yet? 

 

It's Monday 11/16! What Are You Reading?

Wow, November 16? Almost Thanksgiving? Where has this year gone? Oh, yeah, don't remind me. 

I had another decent week health-wise last week and have gradually been resuming my own version of "normal." I went to the grocery store for the first time in six weeks, and it felt like a huge victory! Very exciting. My husband was celebrating, too, since he's had to do all the shopping lately. Best of all, I have been able to start taking walks again. I soaked in all the fall colors at the start of the week, before two days of rain brought all the leaves down. This is my favorite tree in the neighborhood:

Red maple & brilliant blue sky!

And I was able to take a short hike with my husband on Saturday, after treating ourselves to take-out lattes and scones and before we enjoyed a nice outdoor visit with his 95-year-old father. It felt glorious to be outdoors on such a lovely day and soaking up the sunshine!

Sunshine selfie while enjoying a hike

 

Of course, I always make time for reading, too, and also enjoyed a Zoom book group discussion last week. Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

Just last night, I finally finished reading White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg. It starts by busting the myths of the U.S.'s original colonies that we all learned in history class: the staid, hard-working Pilgrims who came here seeking religious freedom and established a successful, class-less society. Instead, the author cites a wide variety of historical documents that show that the first settlers brought England's strict class society with them, with landed gentry given access to the property here and ships full of vagrants, criminals, homeless children, and other poor people sent here to provide labor for building and planting. The book goes through each period of U.S. history, revealing what life was really like for poor whites and what leaders' (and the general population's) attitudes were toward the lower class, right through to modern times (one chapter is called Deliverance, Billy Beer, and Tammy Faye!). It was absolutely fascinating from start to finish, and I drove my husband crazy interrupting his own reading to tell him random, crazy facts I'd never heard before. I learned so much; it's a very thought-provoking book. Now I need to choose my next pick for #NonfictionNovember.

I also finished When All Is Said by Anne Griffin, a novel set in Ireland, for my book group that met last week. It's an unusual framework for a story, with an 84-year-old man sitting at a bar in the town he grew up in, "talking" (in his head, I guess) to his son who lives in the U.S.  in what seems to be a good-bye speech. He makes a series of five toasts, with five drinks, to five people who have been an important part of his life. Each toast is a different chapter in which he explains who the person is/was and how they influenced his life, delving back into his childhood, his married life, and more, and including a long-buried secret. Most of us agreed it was very good, an interesting and unique way to tell the story of a life. It reminded me a bit of the concept behind Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, though the story itself is quite different.

Meanwhile, in between books, I have been reading a nonfiction graphic "novel" for middle-graders called The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery. It is part of the History Comics series. As usual with books about history, I am learning so much! Why didn't they teach any of this in school?? It tells the story of not only the colony itself (which was established 100 years before the pilgrims arrived) but also the background of what was happening in Europe and why Queen Elizabeth I sent people to the New World to start the Roanoke Colony--believe it or not, the purpose of the colony was to provide a base of operations for privateers (i.e. pirates) to raid Spanish ships! The narrators are two young Native American men who went back to England with the first scouts to learn English and share knowledge and then returned with the ill-fated colonists. It is fascinating and filled with interesting historical details about history, lifestyles, and culture on both sides.

On audio, I am still listening to The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, a historical and literary classic written in 1903. Du Bois was an African-American who graduated form Harvard in 1895 (a feat in itself at that time) and was a renowned historian and sociologist. This famous tome reviews a portion of U.S. history with respect to African-Americans. Coincidentally, at the same time I was reading White Trash, I was also listening to Du Bois' narrative about the same periods of history--for instance, the post-Civil War era--from two different perspectives: that of Blacks, both freemen and freed slaves, and of poor, rural whites. It's been fascinating to fit these two different points of view together, as both are a far different story of U.S. history than what I learned in school! I especially like the chapters where Du Bois shares some of his own experiences, as a teacher and later, a father. I'm enjoying it so far and learning a lot. Apparently, this book is considered an important book in the study of sociology (which Du Bois helped create), and it feels especially important to read it at this moment in time.

My husband, Ken, is reading one of my top reads of 2020 (maybe THE top one), Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I'll let my Monday update from August speak for itself here: "I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was amazing, and I just want to tell everyone to read it! I always enjoy time travel plots, and this book is part of her Oxford Time Travel series, which also includes To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I also enjoyed (they are loosely related and don't have to be read in order). This time, in 2155, a young female student, Kivrin, has traveled back in time all the way to the 1300's, in England's Middle Ages. It's the first time they've sent anyone back that far, and there are all sorts of concerns since so little was recorded about that era. Hours after Kivrin leaves, though, a contemporary emergency occurs when one of the techs working on the project comes down with a devastating virus, and says that something went wrong with the time travel, just before he passes out. This shouldn't happen, given the high-tech medical precautions used in this future (no one even gets colds), so there is a scramble to figure out what the virus is and where it came from. Meanwhile, the team at Oxford doesn't realize it, but the reader knows that Kivrin arrived in the Middle Ages with the same debilitating symptoms. What a premise--a contemporary woman horribly sick in the Middle Ages and all alone. The action goes back and forth between the present-day and the past, and the suspense is incredibly compelling. The mystery in the present and the happenings in the past continue to evolve and intertwine, and I came to care about the characters so much that I can't stop thinking about them, a week later. Ok, yes, there are two epidemics involved in this novel, and some similarities to our present situation (the book was written in 1992) are a bit unnerving, but the story, characters, and suspense are so great that I didn't care.  I loved every minute of it! (My review is at the link above)." So far, Ken is enjoying it, too!

I texted our son, 26 (and recently moved out), to see what he's reading now. He set the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind aside temporarily (but just bought book 4, so he'll be back to it before long!). He's now reading The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett, book one of The Demon Cycle. Amazon says it's a series about humans versus demons, in a world where humans must live in magical wards to protect themselves from the hordes of demons that come out every night. But the demons are winning, with more humans killed every night. Three young people dare to stand up to the demons and sleep outside the magical ward in a desperate attempt to rediscover the secrets of the past that used to keep people safe. He must be enjoying it because he already bought book two!

Blog posts last week:

Movie Monday: Rebecca - creepy & suspenseful adaptation of the classic Gothic novel

Teen/YA Review: All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban - super-twisty teen thriller

Fiction Review: August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones - action-packed suspenseful thriller

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?