Thursday, September 29, 2022

Fiction Review: The Witches of Moonshyne Manor

I am a huge fan of Bianca Marais and loved her first two novels, Hum If You Don't Know the Words (one of my Top 10 of all time!) and If You Want to Make God Laugh. Those were both historical fiction, family/friendship dramas with a good sense of humor, set in South Africa during and just after apartheid. Her third novel, newly released, The Witches of Moonshyne Manor is a complete departure for her, but her excellent writing is here, along with her insights and sense of humor. It's the story of six octogenarian witches trying to save their old manor house and land.

As the novel opens, Ursula wakes with an ominous feeling. Checking all of her usual tools of foretelling the future--tarot cards, palms, and her crystal ball--she sees nothing but disaster ahead. Soon after, an angry mob of men, armed with a wrecking ball instead of torches and pitchforks, arrives at their old manor house, threatening to knock it down. Queenie, the mechanical genius and inventor of the group, admits to the rest of the witches that they've fallen way behind in their mortgage payments. They need an enormous sum of money to save their manor, their distillery, and the beloved forest surrounding them ... and they only have a week to pay. Ivy, another of the witches, has a talent for plants, and Jezebel has unusual sexual talents, while Tabitha is the animal specialist among them. But Tabitha is dead, and her ghost, who can not leave the manor, speaks through her familiar, a crow named Widget. What would happen to Tabitha if the sisterhood had to leave the manor? They are all counting on Ruby, who's been in prison for 30 years, to save them. Ruby is being released in two days and apparently knows some sort of secret that can save them and their home. She is gender-fluid, in the most literal sense of the term, and can morph from male to female and back again. But whatever sent Ruby to prison 30 years ago caused a rift (and Tabby's death). Ruby refused to see any of them when they visited, so will she be willing to save them now? Luckily, given their advanced ages, they have one more person on their side, a fifteen-year-old girl named Persephone, who is a staunch feminist, Tik Tokker, and wants to support the sisterhood. She offers to help them with their social media presence, though the witches have no idea what she's talking about.

That plot description feels way too bland for the liveliness and humor of this very original novel. The author has a wonderful sense of humor that is woven throughout the book, but--as in her earlier novels--she also tackles some serious, real-life issue like aging, feminism, found family, and friendship, all while making you laugh. The very clever story even has parallels to the events of the Salem witch trials. The antics of the aging witches are a whole lot of fun, though their problems are very real. And while you're laughing, she sneaks in so many thoughtful insights about life and aging and family that my book is filled with marked passages I want to remember. Adding to the intrigue of the witches and their powers, the end of many chapters include recipes for cocktails, salves, potions, and tonics, some of which you could actually make and some that have rather unusual ingredients you probably can't get (like rhino urine). All in all, this novel is a fun, sexy romp with suspense, a mystery, and real-life emotions woven into it. It will make you cherish your female friendships. 

400 pages, MIRA

Harlequin Audio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge - W (finally!)

Diversity Challenge

R.I.P. Challenge

Fall Into Reading Challenge - Fantasy


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.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the start of the novel, and/or download it from Audible.

 

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!


    

 

Or you can order The Witches of Moonshyne Manor from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Middle-Grade Review: Mysteries of Trash & Treasure: The Secret Letters

I always enjoy Margaret Peterson Haddix's middle-grade novels, so when I saw she had a new book out that was the start of a new series, I knew I wanted to read it! I listened to Mysteries of Trash & Treasure: The Secret Letters on audio and thoroughly enjoyed this fun mix of mystery, friendship, family drama, and historical fiction.

Colin and Nevaeh are both spending the summer before middle school working for their parents, and though the twelve year olds don't know each other yet, their parents are fierce rivals. They are both in the junk-clearing business but with vastly different approaches. Colin's mom takes a Marie Kondo-like approach to helping people streamline their possessions, and the home the two of them share reflects this minimalism. Nevaeh's dad's business is called The Junk King, and the stuff their customers don't want often ends up in their own home! He lives by the adage that one person's trash is another's treasure. Nevaeh, the youngest in the family, has finally joined her many siblings in working for the family business. While helping to clear out someone's attic with some hired movers, Colin finds an old shoebox full of letters hidden. Though most stuff is getting thrown out, Colin secretly brings the letters home. His mom would be appalled, but Colin is fascinated and wants to read the letters. They turn out to be letters written from one twelve-year-old friend to another from the 1970's. Soon, Colin and Nevaeh meet, and she is also fascinated by the letters, though they know they need to keep their friendship secret from their rival parents. The two new friends read the letters written by two old friends. They're entranced not only by the close friendship that Rosemary and Toby shared back then but by the fascinating details about the times. Toby often writes about his favorite TV shows; Rosemary is a budding feminist who writes about Women's Lib and the Battle Between the Sexes. Colin and Nevaeh decide to try to find present-day Toby and Rosemary, but they both seem to have disappeared. 

There is so much packed into this novel! At the center of the novel is the main mystery, as Colin and Nevaeh read the letters, look for clues, and do research to try to find the now-grown-ups who wrote them. Nevaeh's dad is also trying to figure out what happened to a storage area he bid on that turned out to be empty, and he blames Colin's mom. The two kids have to hide their own growing friendship from their parents, even though they don't understand why heir parents hate each other. Meanwhile, both kids are dealing with issues inside their own families; this is a summer for revelations. And finally, though I hate to admit that the 1970's count as historical, there is fascinating history here for today's kids (nostalgia for me!) about the pop culture, sports, current events, and politics of the 1970's. Colin and Nevaeh learn lots of things during their own research, but there is also a glossary at the end to explain various '70's terms. The audio book was narrated by two separate narrators as Colin and Nevaeh, and the whole package was entertaining, fun, and interesting. I can't wait to read the rest of this wonderful series! Haddix has done it again.

400 pages, Katherine Tegen Books

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

R.I.P. Challenge

Fall Into Reading Challenge - mystery or thriller

 

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the excellent audiobook here, with two narrators, and/or download it from Audible.

 

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!


Or you can order Mysteries of Trash & Treasure: The Secret Letters from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

TV Tuesday: Fall TV Preview


My husband and I are excited for the fall TV season, bringing back some of our favorite shows with new episodes, along with a few new shows for us to try. We still watch a lot of network shows via cable On Demand, but most of them are also available through streaming channels and/or on the network website, so I'm including both network and streaming shows in this post. Click the links to read my past reviews. Here's what we're looking forward to:

Returning Favorites:

Medical Shows

The Resident, starring Matt Czuckry, started its sixth season last week. We were fans of Czuckry from The Good Wife, and have enjoyed watching him in this hospital drama set in Atlanta. It was questionable last spring whether it would be renewed for a sixth season, so I figured this was its last ... but the one of the co-creators was quoted as saying, "It could go on and on" like E.R., so who knows?

New Amsterdam stars Ryan Eggold (who we enjoyed in Blacklist) as the super-enthusiastic, "we can do anything" head of this fictional NYC hospital. This is one my husband is tiring of, but I still enjoy the actors, humor, and drama. It returned last week for its fifth and final season.

Grey's Anatomy returns next week for its 50th season ... ha ha, just kidding! It's only season 19! This is still a favorite of mine. During my recent relapse of my chronic illness, I have been amusing myself while stuck on the couch by starting back at season 1 and rewatching old Grey's Anatomy, and I just love it so much! It has everything: drama, humor, suspense. It makes me laugh and cry! The past two seasons have been a bit depressing--which I'm sure is what my husband dislikes (I personally like a good fictional cry)--but the trailer for this new season looks like they will once again be focusing on a new set of interns and getting back to a lighter touch, which is how the show started, so this should be fun!

 

Action and Suspense

My husband still watches the medical shows mainly for my sake. What he likes best are shows with action, suspense, and maybe a bit of science fiction. I like those, too. Here's what we're excited to see again:

The Rookie came back for its fifth season on Sunday, and I can't wait for my husband to return from his business trip so we can watch it! This is our current favorite show. It stars Nathan Fillion as a 40-ish rookie with the LAPD (though at this point, he's past his rookie stage). Yes, it's a police drama featuring crime, mysteries, action, and suspense, but it's also about the lives of the police officers and has a wonderful sense of humor. If you haven't watched it yet, give it a try!

Big Sky came back last week for its 3rd season. This is a crime drama featuring two female detectives in the big sky country of Montana. Each season has an on-going mystery/investigation. Season 1 dealt with human trafficking and a creepy serial killer, Season 2 focused on two drug syndicates. Season 3 kicked off with a missing hiker and some mysterious goings-on at a local outdoor resort where Reba McEntire plays the resort's host. Good suspenseful start!


La Brea
is back for its second season starting tonight. The premise is that a giant sinkhole opened up in LA where the La Brea tar pits are, and a bunch of people fell through ... and into a prehistoric world. Those down there want to figure out how to get back to the modern world, while they try to survive, and those left behind are trying to figure out how to get them back. We always enjoy these kinds of suspense/action shows with a sci fi twist, but they have a bad track record of not lasting long enough for a satisfying conclusion! So, we're glad this one is back for a second season.

Yellowstone returns in November for its fifth season. We love this modern western about a ranching family in Wyoming, starring Kevin Costner, but it airs on Paramount Network (which is, apparently, different from Paramount Plus??). It's quite confusing, but we know we'll have to wait a month or two until it's available On Demand or though streaming. It's worth the wait!

Amazing Race offers a different kind of action and suspense! It returned last week for its 34th (!) season. We watched it with our sons when they were young (great for families), then skipped a bunch of seasons, but we got back into it last season. My childhood best friend also loves the show, and last season we discovered the fun of texting each other while we watch it from our separate states! This is the only reality TV show we enjoy.

Handmaid's Tale is back for a fifth season ... and they've just announced a sixth season is coming! This is one of the best shows on TV ... ever. Seriously. Elizabeth Moss stars as Offred, the main character from Margaret Atwood's well-known dystopian novel. Everything about this show is outstanding: the writing, the acting, cinematography, twisty plot. The first two episodes of this new season blew our minds!


New Shows To Try:

I know, that's already a lot of shows to juggle! But there are always shows ending, and it's fun to watch some new ones. We're not bingers. We still like to watch TV the old way, watching one episode a week so that every night brings something different. Variety is the spice of life! With that in mind, we plan to try these new shows:

Quantum Leap premiered last week. This classic show from the 80's/90's has been rebooted and modernized with a whole new cast. You probably know the premise: a scientific team has developed--but not perfected--time travel technology, and one of their team, in this case played by Raymond Lee, is stuck "leaping" through time and space, where each time, he needs to figure out how to save someone in order to leap again. I love anything to do with time travel, but I never watched the original! We enjoyed the first episode set in 1985 last week.


So Help Me Todd is a detective/crime show with a twist: it features a mother-son team. Marcia Gay Harden plays a high-powered lawyer who helps out her son, played by Thomas Cadrot, by hiring him as an investigator for her firm. It's a great cast and it looks like it has a sense of humor (always a plus), so we're going to give it a try.

 

Alaska Daily premiers next week on October 6. It stars Hillary Swank as a journalist who moves to Alaska to start over and ends up investigating the case of a missing girl. It looks great, and we love this sort of thriller/crime drama.

 

Reboot is something different for us, a comedy (we're also currently enjoying Hacks on HBO Max). This is about the behind-the-scenes of a reboot of a 90's sitcom. It has an all-star cast, including Paul Reiser, Keegan-Michael Key, Rachel Bloom, Judy Greer, and more. It got good reviews from the crew at Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, it's from the co-creator of Modern Family, and the trailer looks like fun:

 

 

What shows are you looking forward to this fall?

Monday, September 26, 2022

It's Monday 9/26! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

 Life

 Life last week was more of the same for me. My chronic illness is still stuck in a severe relapse. The first treatment protocol didn't work, even though it has in the past. This week, I am trying something new, based on recent research. It's only Day 3 on that, but for the first time in about seven weeks, I woke up this morning at my "normal" time, about 7:45, and felt well enough to get right out of bed! Symptoms began creeping in again by 10 am, so I am back on the couch--but sitting up!--and hoping this is a sign of better days ahead.

I was determined to break out of my rut this weekend. My husband took me on a lovely drive Saturday, out to a favorite farm market in rural Pennsylvania. It was a gorgeous fall day, and it was wonderful to be outside, looking at the blue sky! And, bonus ... we got hot, fresh apple cider donuts at the market, sat on rockers outside, and even enjoyed some live music. It was a wonderful outing and a nice change of pace!

Local apples & fresh donuts!

A lovely fall day!

Saturday evening, our oldest friends (we all used to live in New Orleans back in the 80's) came over, brought takeout from a local brewpub, and we had a campfire in our firepit. I was able to lie down in a lounge chair, and I SO enjoyed their company (and being outside).

__________

 On the Blog

One review last week:

The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill - a dark, historical family drama 

 

And some big news:

I started a monthly newsletter in September!

It includes a book quote of the month, a blog of the month--someone new to discover, an update on my reading life, a look back at my blog from previous years, and more bookish fun!

To receive my once-a-month newsletter, you can sign up here or by clicking the Subscribe button in the blog's sidebar. Sign up now, and you'll get October's newsletter next week.

 __________

On YouTube

Two new videos:

Traveling with Books Tag - a fun video all about traveling & reading - including some travel pics!

Friday Reads 9/23/22 - my brief weekly wrap-up 

 

__________

What We're Reading: 

Totally immersed in the R.I.P. Challenge for fall!

 

I finished reading The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais, a friend, two-time Booktopia author, and one of my favorite authors! I absolutely loved Bianca's first two books, Hum If You Don't Know the Words (in my top 10 of all time) and If You Want to Make God Laugh. This new novel is quite different but just as fabulous! It's about five octogenarian witches trying to save their beloved home and land, as both the bank and an angry mob threaten them. It's about witches and magic, yes, but it's also about friendship, aging, sisterhood, and feminism. As with all of Bianca's novels, she tackles some difficult topics with a wonderful (one might say wicked) sense of humor. This book is lots of fun and was the perfect pick-me-up for a sick week! 

 

Now I am reading The Falcon and the Owl by Matty Dalrymple, book three in her Ann Kinnear Suspense series. I don't often read series, but I love this one! I previously read books one and two, The Sense of Death and The Sense of Reckoning, and I enjoyed them both, as did my husband. Ann, the main character, can sense spirits and gets hired--sometimes by the police and sometimes by a grieving loved one--to learn what secrets someone took to the grave. This time, two men, both excellent pilots, have died in a plane crash. Ann gets hired by the business partner of one of the men to find out where he hid a contract, but the man's wife is also interested, since she has secrets to keep related to her husband's death. I love the suspense and the unique mysteries in these books, with a supernatural twist.

 

I started a new audiobook for the R.I.P. Challenge: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. I've been meaning to try out his unique series of mysteries for adults for ages. He himself is one of the main characters! His real self, with his real writing credits and history, has in this novel agreed to work with a fictional detective, Hawthorne, to write a true crime book about him solving his latest murder case. A woman walked into a funeral home, planned and prepaid her own funeral, and then was murdered six hours later. Horowitz and Hawthorne move around London, interviewing witnesses and suspects and visiting crime scenes. The two have a kind of Sherlock-Watson vibe. I'm enjoying it so far.

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, which I loved this spring (my review at the link). In fact, it is one of my top books read this year so far. This is the story, beautifully told, of four orphans who escape from an abusive facility during the Depression and make their way downriver in a canoe. They encounter all kinds of people and situations as they head toward the Mississippi and uncertain futures. This wonderful novel includes history, suspense, family drama, humor, and so much more. So far, he's enjoying it as much as I did.

 

When our son, 28, was visiting last week, he went to the used bookstore and bought books eight through eleven of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind - he obviously likes this one! I'm sure he's well into book eight, Naked Empire, by now, and maybe even further!

__________

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?















Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Fiction Review: The Butterfly Cabinet

For its September selection, my neighborhood book group chose The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill. I'd never heard of the novel or its author, but when I picked it up from the library and saw the dark sky and Gothic castle on the cover, I figured it would be a good fit for the fall R.I.P. Challenge (Readers Imbibing Peril). It was, and I enjoyed this dark family drama, though it seems I was the only one in our group who did!

In 1968 Ireland, a young woman named Anna visits her old nanny, Maddie McGlade, who mostly brought her up and now resides in a care home, ironically located in the old castle where Maddie first worked as a household servant for Anna's family. She was there--and only a child herself--when Anna's grandmother, Harriet, was pregnant with her mother, Florence. And she was there in 1892 when pregnant Harriet was sent to prison for the death of her daughter, Charlotte. During their visit, Maddie shows Anna something she found in Harriet's old butterfly cabinet (a small chest of tiny drawers where Harriet kept her butterfly collection): a diary that Harriet wrote during her year in prison. The story unfolds gradually, with chapters alternating between Maddie talking to Anna about their lives back then in the 1890's and excerpts from the prison diary written by Harriet. Maddie explains how she started to work at the castle when she was only twelve years old, what it was like for the servants back then, and all about the grandparents and uncles and aunt that Anna never knew, including Harriet's harsh control and punishment of her eight unruly children. In Harriet's chapters, written from prison, Anna (and the reader) learns about Harriet's own childhood, how she met and married her husband, Edward, and their early years together in the castle. Both women also tell the story of that fateful day when Charlotte died, from their own perspectives. In this way, we gradually learn the full story of what happened to Charlotte, plus some long-held family secrets.

The cover was accurate; this is a very dark story about some disturbing events that changed a family forever. Although we know from the beginning that Harriet was convicted of killing her daughter, Charlotte, the details--and all that led up to it--come out gradually, so there is some mild suspense here. Mostly, though, this is a novel of family drama and relationships, looking closely at how the different family members interacted and how the actions of characters affected the family for generations. There is also plenty of historical detail of a wealthy manor house in the 1890's. I was astounded to read in the Author's Note that much of the novel was based on real-life events that occurred in Ireland in 1892. 

I wasn't able to attend our book group discussion due to illness, but I rated the book a 7 out of 10. I heard back later that the average rating in the group was a staggering 3.9 (a low record, I think, for us) and that my 7 brought it up a bit! I wish I could have been there to hear what everyone else disliked so much about it. I suspect that the disturbing subject matter (child abuse) had something to do with it, as well as how unlikable Harriet was. For me, I found the prison diary sections illuminating, as they shed some light onto Harriet's own cold upbringing and her reasons for being so strict with her children (not that it excuses what she did). I'm not normally a big fan of Gothic novels, but this one engaged me and kept me interested, with a few unexpected plot twists. It also helped me that it ended with healing and hope, as Anna--who grew up with Maddie's tender care--expects her own baby soon.

227 pages, Free Press

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Travel the World in Books - Ireland

R.I.P. Challenge

Fall Into Reading Challenge - Historical Fiction

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

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!


 

Or you can order The Butterfly Cabinet from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Monday, September 19, 2022

It's Monday 9/19! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

 Life

Arrrgh! Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! Celebrate appropriately!

My health has continued to rule my world recently. I was even sicker last week than the week before and confined to the house (and mostly, to bed and the couch). I talked to my specialist in NY on Friday, and we discussed possible causes and treatments for this unexplained flare-up. She's amazing and always there for me, and as usual, she had some ideas to try and immediately called in four new prescriptions. I started two of them this weekend. My energy is a bit better, but I still have awful flu-like aches, a sign that my immune system is still in overdrive and I still need to rest.

So, last week involved a lot of old Grey's Anatomy episodes! I recently started re-watching the series from the beginning, and it makes me smile and laugh (and sometimes cry, which can be good, too). Excellent sick-day watching. I think I lived more in the world of Seattle Grace Hospital last week than I did in the real world, which was just fine. I'm also enjoying my books, of course, as you'll see below.

The highlight of my week was our older son coming home for a visit yesterday. This was just a quick 24-hour visit (he has a dentist appointment here today), but it's always wonderful to see him. It made me very happy yesterday to see the brothers back together and enjoying each other's company and for all four of us to be around the dinner table together. 

Brotherly Love 1998
Brothers 2013


No new videos or blog posts from last week. 

__________

What We're Reading

 

I finished reading The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill, a Gothic novel set in a castle in Ireland between 1870's and 1960's. It's all about long-held family secrets, a mother sent to prison, and how characters' actions affect later generations. I enjoyed it and found it dark and intriguing. I missed my book group last week, but apparently, I was the outlier. My book group rated this novel 3.9 ... out of 10! That's the lowest rating I can ever recall in our group, though I'm not sure what the others disliked so much.

 

 Now, I have moved onto a new release, The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais, a friend, two-time Booktopia author, and one of my favorite authors! I absolutely loved Bianca's first two books, Hum If You Don't Know the Words (in my top 10 of all time) and If You Want to Make God Laugh. This new novel is quite different but just as fabulous! It's about five octogenarian witches trying to save their beloved home and land, as both the bank and an angry mob threaten them. It's about witches and magic, yes, but it's also about friendship, aging, and sisterhood. As with all of Bianca's novels, she tackles some difficult topics with a wonderful (one might say wicked) sense of humor. This book is lots of fun and the perfect pick-me-up for a sick week! 

 

Continuing with the R.I.P. Challenge, I finished listening to Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Secret Letters by Margaret Peterson Haddix, one of my favorite middle-grade authors. This is the start of a new series for her, being released on September 20. It's about two kids whose parents each own their own businesses clearing out people's houses ... but with very different approaches. Colin's mom takes a Marie Kondo-type approach to curating possessions, while Nevaeh's dad's business is The Junk King, and all her siblings work for him. Their parents are fierce rivals, but when Colin finds an old shoebox of letters between two kids from the 1970's, Colin and Nevaeh team up to solve its mysteries. Each book in the series will examine people's relationship to their stuff and focus on a different era of history. I absolutely loved this fun, intriguing novel!

 

 My husband, Ken, has started reading This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, which I loved this spring (my review at the link). In fact, it is one of my top books read this year so far. This is the story, beautifully told, of four orphans who escape from an abusive facility during the Depression and make their way downriver in a canoe. They encounter all kinds of people and situations as they head toward the Mississippi and uncertain futures. This wonderful novel includes history, suspense, family drama, humor, and so much more.

 

Our son, 28, just finished reading The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind, book seven in the Sword of Truth series, which he loves. In fact, while he was home, he visited our huge used bookstore this morning and bought the next four books in the series! Plus he picked up the birthday books he forgot here on his last visit, so he's set for a while. 

__________

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?

 

Monday, September 12, 2022

It's Monday 9/2! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

I don't like to focus too much here on my chronic illness (my book blog is my happy place!), but I just wanted to mention that things have been bad for me the past few weeks. I've spent a lot of days in rough shape (what we call a "crash"), including the past two weekends. It's getting old. So, I apologize for not getting around to visit as many blogs as I wanted last week. I used my limited energy to wrap up Big Book Summer!

Back to book talk--the good stuff!

I posted two new book videos last week:

Friday Reads 9-9-22 - my brief weekly recap of what I'm reading

Big Book Summer 2022 Wrap-Up - I review the Big Books I read for this summer's challenge - so many outstanding books this year!

Since last week's Monday update was focused on the end of Big Book Summer and the start of the R.I.P. Challenge for fall, I didn't include my usual end-of-month challenge stats. I also forgot to do it last month and was away the previous month, so here's where my 2022 Reading Challenges stand, as of the end of August (click the link to see the details of my challenges):

Mount TBR Challenge - This summer, I read 7 more books from my own shelves, bringing me to 18 for the year so far--still a far cry from my goal of 48!

Monthly Motif Challenge - June was Pride month, and I read a book that fit, but it's a spoiler so I won't tell you which one. July was Summer Lovin' for love stories, so Lucky Turtle by Bill Roorbach fit. And August was Quick Lit - since I had been reading entirely big books, I squeezed in a graphic memoir, Button Pusher by Tyler Page .

Back to the Classics 2022 - I added one classic this summer, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, for a total of 5 so far this year--my goal is 6!

Alphabet Soup Challenge - I added just two letters this summer, O and P, for a total of 19 so far (of 26). It gets harder once the common letters are used!

Nonfiction Reader Challenge - I added just one nonfiction book this summer, Button Pusher by Tyler Page--that counted under the category Medical Memoir.

Diversity Challenge - I'm now up to 34 diverse books this year! My goal is 40, so I'm doing well with this one.

Travel the World in Books - I added France (The Count of Monte Cristo) for a total of 9 countries so far this year.

Literary Escapes Challenge - I added 3 more states for a total of 18 of the 51 states (including DC) so far. This one also gets more difficult once you get the more common states, like NY and California.
 
Big Book Summer Challenge - I read 11 Big Books in June, July, and August (and another 2 in September).

And here's what we are all reading this week:
 

I wanted to jump right into the R.I.P. Challenge (I love fall!), but I needed to read a book for my book group. Luckily, it's a perfect fit! The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill has a creepy-looking cover and a Gothic setting, in a castle in Ireland between 1870's and 1960's. It's all about long-held family secrets, a mother sent to prison, and the how characters' actions affect later generations. I'm enjoying it so far; it's dark and intriguing.
 


I finally set up my new iPod and chose an audiobook that fits with the R.I.P. Challenge. I hadn't read a middle-grade book all summer, so I picked Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Secret Letters by Margaret Peterson Haddix, one of my favorite middle-grade authors. This is the start of a new series for her, being released on September 20. It's about two kids whose parents each own their own businesses clearing out people's houses ... but with very different approaches. Colin's mom takes a Marie Kondo-type approach to curating possessions, while Nevaeh's dad's business is The Junk King, and all her siblings work for him. Their parents are fierce rivals, but when Colin finds a mysterious shoebox of letters from the 1970's, the two kids team up. Each book in the series will examine people's relationship to their stuff and focus on a different era of history. It's great so far!
 


My husband, Ken, is still reading The Survivors by Jane Harper, one of the many books I gave him recently as gifts! He and I both enjoy this series of mysteries/thrillers set in Australia (I have a Jane Harper in my R.I.P. stack also). This one, like her first, The Dry, is about a man returning home, where a terrible tragedy occurred years earlier. It's a seaside town, and while his family is vacationing there, a dead body washes ashore that stirs up old secrets. Sounds like another good one!
 


Our son, 28, has also been home sick this weekend, so he's enjoying some extra reading time! He finished three books in the Spellslinger series by Sebastien de Castell last week: book 3, Charmcaster, book 4, Soulbinder, and book 5, Queenslayer. And he just finished reading The Torch That Ignites the Stars, book 3 in the Arcane Acsension by Andrew Rowe.

Blog posts from last week (all caught up!):

Movie Monday: The Lost City - action, romance, humor, and a whole lot of fun!

Fiction Review: The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny - another intriguing and thoughtful mystery with Inspector Gamache

Fiction Review: Sycamore Row by John Grisham - suspenseful, twisty legal drama

2022 Big Book Summer Wrap-Up - a great season of reading for me and 50 other people!

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?