It's Monday 9/5! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Happy Labor Day to those in the U.S! 

Today also marks the official end of 2022 Big Book Summer Challenge. I finished my last big audio book last night and am on track to finish my very last Big Book of the summer later today. Your Big Book reading has to be finished today in order to count for the challenge, but the links list will be open until the end of the month for your Big Book reviews and/or end-of-challenge wrap-ups (neither is required, but if you do a post or video for the challenge, be sure to link it up so others can find you). The Goodreads group is still open, too, so you can share your Big Book reviews and wrap-ups there as well. We've had some great book discussions there all summer!

I will post official Big Book Summer wrap-ups later this week, here on the blog and on my YouTube channel. I haven't done my final count yet, but we had a wonderful Big Book Summer (it's 10th anniversary!), with lots of participants, including bloggers, Booktubers, and regular readers. I'll announce the TWO winners of the end-of-summer giveaway in that last post.

Welcome Fall!

While I have, as always, enjoyed Big Book Summer, I have to admit that I'm very glad summer is over, and it's September - yay! Like many other places all over the world, we had a horrendously hot and humid summer, and I have been missing my outdoor time. Fall is my favorite season, both for the weather and colorful foliage, and for the change in reading seasons ...

September 1 marked the beginning of the annual R.I.P. Challenge (Readers Imbibing Peril), now in its 17th year #RIPxvii (details at the link) This challenge is super easy-going, with no official sign-ups. The idea is simply to read (or watch or listen to) darker stuff in September and October and then post on social media (or your blog) about it. There are different categories, so you can read book(s), read short stories, watch TV shows or movies, and/or listen to audio books or podcasts--all with darker themes like mystery, suspense, thrillers, horror, Gothic, true crime, or anything supernatural. Fun, right?

I love the R.I.P. Challenge because our bookshelves are filled with mysteries, suspense, and thrillers. Those are the genres my husband prefers, I buy him a stack of books for every holiday, and most of them are books I'd like to read, too! But I read a lot of other books, too, so they pile up.

You can hear all about my plans for the R.I.P. Challenge (and see my big stack of books) in my video:

Fall Into Reading and R.I.P. Challenges - Fall Into Reading is another easy fall challenge, with a book bingo card, so check that out.

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

Today, I will be finishing my final #BigBookSummer book, Sycamore Row by John Grisham. It is also a cross-over book that fits with the R.I.P. Challenge. I haven't read a Grisham novel in years, but this one pulled me right in. It's set in the same town as his first novel, A Time to Kill, and focuses on the lawyer from that novel, Jake Brigance, and the town of Clanton, Mississippi, in 1988. A wealthy man who is dying of cancer commits suicide. The day before, he handwrote a new will and mailed it to Jake, cutting out his ex-wives and horrible adult children and leaving everything to his Black housekeeper, Lettie. This sets off a massive war between the family and Lettie, with Jake in the middle and the whole town watching (and gossiping). It's been gripping and intriguing, and the ending, during the trial, has been especially compelling.

 

Last night, I finished listening to my last audiobook for Big Book Summer, The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny, another cross-over book for both Big Book Summer and the R.I.P. Challenge. This is book 17 in her Inspector Gamache series. I enjoy this mystery series set in Quebec but have not been reading them in order. I read book 1, Still Life, and then skipped to #15, A Better Man and now this one. This novel deals with a fictional controversial woman in Canada who is proposing a shocking solution to some of the world's problems (and one that affects Gamache's family personally). When she comes to a small university near Three Pines to speak, violence breaks out, and she is almost shot. Then, a murder occurs near her. The story deals both with her extremist theories and the controversy, as well as Gamache's team's investigation of the crimes. It's very thoughtful as well as suspenseful, and as with all Penny books, includes all the quirky characters in town.

 

My husband, Ken, is reading The Survivors by Jane Harper, one of those many 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!

 

I'm not entirely sure what our son, 28, is reading right now! His health has been great lately (unlike mine), so he's been out having fun this weekend, which makes my heart so happy. Last I heard, he was rereading Charmcaster, book three of the Spellslinger series by Sebastien de Castell to prepare for reading books four and five! He loves that series--I first heard about from Beth Fish Reads blog and have been gifting him the books!

Last week's blog post (almost caught up on reviews!):

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Button Pusher by Tyler Page - an intriguing graphic memoir about growing up with ADHD - educational and entertaining!

Fiction Review: Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King - one of King's best! Interconnected novellas and short stories set in the real world, with in-depth characters and emotionally-complex and thought-provoking stories. Outstanding! (and not horror)

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?