Monday, May 17, 2021

It's Monday 5/17! What Are You Reading?


This week was Work in the Garden Week here. Inspired by the excellent book Nature's Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy (my review at the link) and a great discussion with my neighborhood book group, I may have possibly over-bought at our local nature center's annual Native Plant Sale! I spent all week weeding our beds (which are seriously neglected after my year+ of not being able to do anything), and we picked up our plants and two trees Saturday morning.

Our native plants (and trees in the back seat!)

We spent the rest of the weekend weeding, digging, and planting! Our son came by to help for a bit, but he's a busy young man with an active social life (I am hugely grateful to him for all the digging, which I couldn't have done). About half of the plants are in now, and I'm headed out in a few minutes to get some more of them into the ground. The beds are still pretty weedy, but I want to at least get all the new stuff planted. We have a very hot week coming up (going from highs in the 70's to the 90's!), so we'll be watering a lot this week.

6 new plantings among the older daffodils

Our Mighty Oak! (a Scarlett Oak)

Our older purple irises are in full bloom now!


My itty bitty azalea bush finally growing & blooming after 10 years!

We also had a lovely picnic celebration for my father-in-law's 96th birthday! He tends to go downhill in evening, so we opted for a lunchtime picnic at a local park. He really enjoys spending time outdoors, and it seems to life his spirits and improve his cognition, so we also had him over this weekend to watch us work in the yard. We celebrated his birthday with Popeye's, watermelon (his fave), amazing cupcakes from a local bakery, and gifts.

A fun picnic celebration for 96 years!!

With all that, I didn't quite finish editing and uploading my April Wrap-Up video, but that will go up this week. In the meantime, you can check out my brief Friday Reads video, where I gush about Clock Dance and Becoming!

 

And, just a reminder that it's almost time for Big Book Summer 2021!! My annual reading challenge officially starts every year on Memorial Day weekend, so the kick-off this year will be Friday, May 28. You only need to read one "big" book of 400 or more pages by the start of September (Labor Day in the U.S.) ... or you can read as many as you want! I am already pulling together my stack of Big Books (more than I can possibly read in one summer, as usual) to choose from, so look through your TBR shelves and list and get ready for some summer reading fun! If you haven't participated in the past, you can read the rules from the 2020 Big Book Challenge here--it'll be the same (easy-going like summer), except for the exact dates.

And, here's what we've all been reading this week:

I finished one of my Mother's Day gifts from my son, Clock Dance by Anne Tyler. My husband and I both enjoyed some of Tyler's earliest novels but then sort of lost track of her, so I've been wanting to read her more recent novels. The novel opens to the story of a young girl named Willa growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, with a little sister, a kind father, and an unreliable mother. The novel revisits Willa's life at four different points--1967, 1977, 1997, and 2017--and Willa has a chance to change her life at each of these major turning points. I'd forgotten just how amazing Tyler's writing is! This novel is warm, immersive, funny, and uplifting, all about community and found families. I loved every minute of it, and even though the ending was perfect, I was so sad to leave Willa and her friends behind. I'm still thinking about it and missing it several days later, so that should tell you something!

Now, I am reading Force of Nature by best-selling author Jane Harper, another of her Australian thrillers centered around Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk. Five women go into the woods (the Australian bush) for a weekend-long corporate backpacking retreat, a mandatory team-building activity. The men's group returns on time Sunday, but when the women's group finally staggers out of the forest, many hours late, there are only four women. One of them, Alice, is missing. Falk and his partner get called in because Alice just happens to be their main informant in building a case against her company. As the search for Alice continues, the higher-ups urge Falk to finish obtaining the necessary evidence against the company. Did Alice merely get lost? Did her prickly personality go too far and get her in trouble with her fellow hikers? Or is something more sinister going on? It's great so far!

On audio, I've been re-listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama. One of my book groups discussed it on Zoom last week, and since it was still on my iPod, I thought I'd just re-listen to some parts of it to remind me of the details. Well, I am still listening! This is not a political book; it's the very personal story of Michelle's own life, from her childhood through to 2017, as they leave the White House. It covers her experiences growing up on the South Side of Chicago, going to Princeton and Harvard as one of few Black students in the 1980's, her zigzagging career path as she tries to figure out what to do with her life, her experiences as a mother, and yes, her support of Barack's political career, as he strives to find bigger and better ways to make a difference in the world. Despite the fact that she was a First Lady, her tone (the audio is read by her) is warm and friendly, and her story is surprisingly relatable. I am only one year younger than her, so I could especially relate to many of her experiences. I'm loving this audio all over again! It's like listening to a good friend tell you about her life.

My husband, Ken, finished A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, a novel which garnered multiple awards and accolades when it was released in 2013. I read this book back in 2015 with one of my book groups and loved it (my review). It was quite a departure from Ken's usual thrillers. It takes place during the Chechnyan wars. A newly orphaned eight-year-old girl is taken by a kind neighbor to the local hospital, which is mostly bombed out. A doctor named Sonja remains there, working by herself day and night to care for anyone who manages to find their way there. The girl and the neighbor are still in danger from those who killed her parents, and they hide out at the hospital (he is a doctor so pledges to help Sonja in return). It's all about connections between people and how love and hope can survive in the worst circumstances. It's a powerful, moving novel, and Ken enjoyed it very much.

Now, Ken is reading a book I put into his Easter basket (oops, I mean from the Easter bunny!), Camino Island by John Grisham. It takes place on a quiet island off the coast of Florida, where Bruce Cable owns a small bookstore and also deals in rare books (which are occasionally not completely legal). A young novelist with writer's block, Mercer Mann, is paid a lot of money to go undercover and infiltrate Cable's circle of literary friends, to discover his secrets. It sounds like a fun book-centric thriller! He's enjoying it so far.

Our 26-year-old son is immersed in one of his favorite series, Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. He's now onto book 4, Rhythm of War, which is a mere 1232 pages ... and hardcover! He loves epic fantasy, the longer the better, and he thinks my annual Big Book Summer Challenge (coming up in two weeks!) where I read 400+ page books each summer is pretty funny. When he was twelve, we were halfway across the country on a day-long journey through airports when we realized he'd stuffed the hardcover edition of the complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle into his backpack for the trip! That's our boy.

 

Blog posts from last week:

Fiction Review: Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss - parallel narratives set in Israel that explore the characters' inner lives

Fiction Review: Astray by Emma Donoghue - outstanding collection of short stories, each based on a nuggets of real-life historical news 

Summary of Books Read in April - a great 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?

20 comments:

  1. Oooh I love your shots of your in-progress garden beds! I too am just a little bit obsessed with plants, and tend to overbuy hahaha. Also thank you for reminding me that I still haven't borrowed BECOMING from the library. Off to get that done. Happy reading week!

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    1. Thanks, Jessica! Our yard has been badly neglected for sooo long - it's nice to finally be making some improvements!

      I recommend getting Becoming on audio - it's so good read by Michelle herself.

      Enjoy your books this week!

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  2. Your garden looks so pretty—that's awesome that you all were able to work on it! And I'm glad you had a nice celebration for your father-in-law.

    These books all sound excellent! Clock Dance sounds especially good—I have a family member who just finished another book by Tyler recently. And of course, I'm also intrigued by Becoming—I would definitely be curious to know more about Michelle Obama!

    By the way, I had a chance to buy two of the graphic novels you've recommended recently, Twins and Flamer—they're being completely ridiculous about the shipping for Flamer, but Twins showed up today! I'm looking forward to reading them over the summer. Thanks so much for the great post!

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    1. Thanks! It's been a lot of hard work, but it feels so good to be able to work! We're getting there - still a lot of weeds, but little by little ...

      Clock Dance was wonderful - I so enjoyed it!

      Hope you enjoy Twins and Flamer - both were very good!

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  3. Force of Nature and Constellation of Vital Phenomena sound really interesting. I don't think I've read anything about the Chechen conflict--and I love anything set in or near Russia.

    Your garden is lovely, and your get together with your father-in-law looks like a lot of fun.

    I love the Big Book Challenge idea. Maybe I will join. I always like to do reading challenges in the summer, when I have more time to read.

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    1. Yes, I learned a lot reading that book, and so did my husband.

      Yes, that's the idea of the Big Book Summer Challenge - more time to read! I hope you'll join the fun! It's super-easy.

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  4. I've been thinking about your Big Book challenge and which big books I want to read. I have Force of Nature on my summer list so I look forward to seeing what you think of it.

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    1. Just finished Force of Nature and loved it, Helen - great suspense and I loved the wilderness/backpacking setting.

      I already have a stack of Big Books much higher than I will ever finish! ha ha

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  5. It is so easy to spend up large with plants even at a sale! Worth it though. I see the thriller you are reading, hope it is living up to your expectations.

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    1. Force of Nature was great, Kathryn! Super twisty :)

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  6. Your garden's look great. It was really hot here last week and I ended up killing one of my seedlings by forgetting to take the mini greenhouse (a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off) off in the morning. I am excited about the Big Book Challenge and already have a list ready to choose from!

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    1. Aw, sorry - VERY hot here this week, too - ugh. Already feels like the dead of summer. I like the cooler temps in spring and fall!

      So glad you're planning to join Big Book Summer again!

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  7. I'm so glad you are doing your Big Book Challenge this summer again, Sue. I will try to put up my post for it soon.

    We have also spent time on our beds in the last few weeks. I also made a trip to the native plant nursery, and I plan to make one more trip.

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    1. Wonderful, Deb! And thanks for including it on your post.

      Glad you are also enjoying your gardens and planting, too!

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  8. I'm making a list of books I want to listen to on our upcoming road trip to California and back. Three of us will be in two cars, so we I will need at least three audiobooks. One for me alone when I am in a vehicle by myself. One for me and my daughter when we are together alone. And one for me and my husband when we are together in a vehicle. I want them to be vastly different so I can keep three stories straight in my head as I move from one vehicle to the other. Anne Tyler sounds like a good choice.

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    1. Wow, that sounds complicated but fun, Anne!! I am SO dying to get out for a road trip, but my FIL needs daily help from us.

      Good luck juggling 3 different audiobooks at once! I agree totally different genres/tones/etc is the way to go. I bet Anne Tyler would be great on audio. Louise Erdrich is another of my faves on audios - she reads her own books. The Night Watchman was excellent - family, small town, Native American, and historical fiction. And maybe something with some suspense? My husband and I always enjoy mysteries and thrillers on car trips.

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  9. Oh, run out to your garden store and purchase some fertilizer for your azalea. Don't feed it while it is blooming, but afterwards. Azaleas like acidic conditions so get a specific fertilizer for rhodys and azaleas. I can tell it needs it by the color of the leaves.

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    1. Thanks for the advice!! So, we KNEW that azaleas liked acidic soil, which is why we planted them in that bed - it used to have 2 huge pine trees, so LOTS of needles fell over the years, and the soil should be plenty acidic. BUT ... this one has barely grown at all in 10 years, the second one is half dead (I keep cutting back more dead branches every year), and the 3rd one died entirely. So, I appreciate the advice and will try it!

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  10. Your garden looks beautiful. It must be so satisfying to be able to work on it again.

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    1. Thanks, Beth! Yes, it feels great to be able to get out there again :)

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