It's Monday 12/12! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

And the calendar keeps hurtling toward Christmas! Remember when you were a kid, and it seemed to take SO long for Christmas to get here? Now, the time just flies by, and it feels like there is never enough time.

So, with that intro, you can probably tell, I am fully immersed in holiday preparations. I have to do most of my shopping online, and I think I am almost finished now. Just a few last things to pick up locally (like gift cards). So, that's a big relief! My husband and son brought our tree into the house yesterday and got it into its stand ... but then none of us had the energy to decorate it! We'll do it next weekend.

Oh, right, that's the big news. Our son tested positive for COVID on Thursday. He'd been congested and not feeling well since Sunday, but after two negative COVID tests, he figured it was just a cold. He tested again Thursday when he came home for dinner, and ... positive. Lesson learned: one (or two) negative test does NOT mean you don't have COVID! Luckily, he wasn't too sick, and so far, we are both in the clear, though I did test myself this weekend! A bit of understandable paranoia ...

In a case of really bad timing, we are in the midst of re-doing our living room (where the tree goes!). Keep in mind our old furniture was 35 years old, so this is not a typical process for us! We ordered new furniture Labor Day weekend, but it was just delivered last week. There's still one piece left to be delivered, and the new blinds will have to wait until January because the tree goes in front of a window. But my husband did a fabulous job repairing the walls where some huge fabric-covered cornices used to be, and we are beginning to put the room back together. This is what it looked like mostly bare, with the two new pieces of furniture: 

 

New furniture!

And I did manage a short walk at the nature center last week:

Lovely day at our local nature center

__________

On the Blog

For the fourth week in a row, I only managed one book review. Somehow, I am always SO far behind by the end of the year! I may have to do what I did back in 2020, and do one December review post that includes all of my books read this month. So, last week's review:

Middle-Grade Review: History Comics - The National Parks: Preserving America's Wild Places by Falynn Koch - wonderful graphic nonfiction for all ages!

__________

On Video

 Nonfiction November Wrap-Up - a summary of the great nonfiction books I read last month

Friday Reads 12-9-22 - my quick weekly update on what I am reading 

__________

What We're Reading

I'm trying to clear my bookshelves of past gifts to get ready for new books for Christmas!

 

 

I finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel and loved it! I enjoyed her novels Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel and have been greatly anticipating this novel ever since its release earlier this year. It's not a sequel, but there are some characters and settings from The Glass Hotel that appear here. It's about time travel, which I LOVE, and it was just as fabulous as I expected! Timing ranges from 1912 to 2400, with different characters in each time encountering similar things and crossing paths with the same man. It was completely engrossing, thoroughly compelling, and my only complaint is that it wasn't long enough!

 

 

Now, I am reading Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I think I got it for my birthday ... last year! Also, it's my first Reid novel, after listening to everyone I know rave about her books for years now. Of course, I was immediately pulled into this story about a band in the 70's, and a young woman, Daisy, who joins the band. It is very immersive and hard to put down.

 

 

 

I am still listening to an outstanding book on audio, Horse by Geraldine Brooks. It's the choice for my neighborhood book group this week. Brooks is one of my favorite authors (along with Mandel and Hillenbrand). Ironically, having just finished Seabiscuit, Horse is also about a famous racehorse, though like Brooks' other books, it's historical fiction. It involves a painting of a horse and a horse museum skeleton, both recovered in 2019 by two different young people, and an enslaved Black boy in 1850 training a racehorse in Kentucky. From what I've read, most of the history of the horse and his owners is based on historical fact. As always with Brooks, this story that didn't sound interesting to me is told in a fascinating, gripping way.

 

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading The Verifiers by Jane Pek, an author I met at Booktopia. Jane sat at our table at dinner one night, so I got to know her a bit--she's excellent at book trivia! This is a classic mystery in a modern setting with an awesome female protagonist, with a hefty dose of humor, plus family drama. I thoroughly enjoyed it (you can read my review at the link), and he's liking it so far.

 

I think our son, 28, finished reading Spellmonger by Terry Mancour, the first book in the Spellmonger series. He's now reading the second book in that series, Warmage, and is enjoying the series.

 

 __________

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?