It's Monday 12/26! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Merry Christmas to all who celebrated it yesterday!

We had a hectic few days, getting everything done and prepped and then hosting Christmas Day. It was a quiet morning, with just my husband, our younger son, and I having our traditional breakfast and opening presents. Our older son and his girlfriend arrived in the afternoon, my mom and her husband got here a couple of hours later, and our younger son's girlfriend joined us for a bit. Then, we had a flurry of activity with more presents, Christmas dinner, and then birthday presents and cake (plus pies!) for my mom's husband's birthday. It was exhausting but good to have everyone together. 

Christmas morning - "before"

Christmas morning. "after"!

 

 

All around the table for Christmas dinner!

And, most importantly, here are the books we each got for Christmas!

Our son's new books

My new books - it'll be an Anne Tyler year!

My husband's new books

__________

On the Blog

In spite of the hectic week, I was determined to do a little review catch-up. I'm so behind!

TV Tuesday: Kindred - this new TV adaptation of one of my favorite books of the year is outstanding so far! 

2 Nonfiction Mini Reviews: Pinball and The Reading Life - quick reviews of a vibrant graphic nonfiction history of pinball and a selection of quotes from C.S. Lewis about books and reading.

Fiction Review: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel - This unique, twisty, captivating story spanning 300 years was even better than my very high expectations!

__________

On Video

Two short, fun book/reading videos last week:

Friday Reads 12-23-22  - quick overview of what I was reading

 Naughty or Nice Booktube Tag - a fun holiday-inspired set of book questions!

 

__________

What We're Reading

 

I finished reading The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. I loved her first novel, The Age of Miracles. In this one, a mysterious illness hits a remote college in the California mountains. One student at a time falls asleep and doesn't wake up. It starts on one dorm floor, spreads to the town, and doctors can tell the sleeping students are dreaming, but they've never before seen anything like this. It was excellent--intriguing and engrossing.

 

 

Now, I am reading The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. This is unusual for me, as I rarely read romance novels or holiday-themed books, but this one is special. Both the author and her main character have the same immune disorder that I have, ME/CFS. It's incredible (and rare) to read about a fictional character dealing with the same issues as me. But fear not! This is not depressing but a classic rom-com, with plenty of warmth and humor. I'm enjoying it so far.

 

 

 

On audio, I finished listening to Hidden Picture by Jason Rekulak. He was a Booktopia author in 2017, and my husband and I both enjoyed his first novel, The Impossible Fortress. Here, a young woman who is in recovery from prescription drug addiction gets a job as a nanny. She lives in their guest cottage and cares for their sweet five-year-old son, Teddy. It seems ideal at first, until some odd things start to happen: strange noises at night, Teddy's somewhat menacing imaginary friend, and his increasingly gruesome crayon drawings. This was a twisty, suspenseful novel!

 

 

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger, book two in his Cork O'Connor mystery series, about a former sheriff in Minnesota. We both like this author, and he enjoyed the first book in this series.

 

 

Our son, 28, said he just last night finished reading High Mage, book 5 in the Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour. He's not sure what he's going to start next, but as you can see above, he has lots of great choices (plus a bunch of Amazon gift cards). It was nice to get this update over breakfast this morning instead of by text!

 

 __________

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?