It's Monday 2/6! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

I'm pleased to say that my health has gradually improved this past week. For much of the week, I was feeling better but still sleeping a LOT (10-11 hours at night plus a nap), but I got managed to get up at a semi-normal time yesterday and today - yay!  I think the new thyroid meds are finally stabilizing things and bringing an end to my 6-month-long relapse. 

On Friday, I was even able to meet up with my two closest local friends for a short walk and lunch. Our three sons, all named James, have been best friends since Kindergarten (they're now 28), so we've been friends for decades. But it had been a very long time since the three of us had all gotten together. We talked for three straight hours!

 

COLD but sunshine and blue skies!

Together again!

This weekend, I wasn't sure enough of my health situation to book a weekend getaway like I wanted to, so my husband and I enjoyed a staycation Friday night through Sunday morning! I declared it a no-work zone (more for me than for him, as I tend to pick up the laptop and squeeze work into every moment). We enjoyed Reubens for dinner Friday night (a real treat for me--bread, cheese, AND a half beer!), went to a Saturday matinee at the theater, got takeout Chinese Saturday night, and had fires in our fireplace all weekend (and extra reading time, of course). Our son was home much of the weekend, too, instead of out with friends, so it was nice to have extra time with him, too.

TGIF - Reubens!

In the theater - with popcorn!

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On the Blog

In keeping with my new goal to put less pressure on myself, I did not review every book I read in January (6 total), but I did enjoy writing reviews of two novels that both blew me away:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - thoughtful and laugh-out-loud funny.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - one of her best! Outstanding coming-of-age story set in 90's Appalachia, told with a unique voice.

And here's my Reading Challenges Update for January:

(Details on my 2023 Reading Challenges page) 

Mount TBR Challenge - 3 so far!

Monthly Motif Challenge (a book with a directional word in the title) - just barely squeaked by with Lessons in Chemistry 

Classics Challenge - book by a female author - The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - D, G, L (I can't believe I already had 3 repeats so early in the year!)

Diversity Reading Challenge - 4 and January's mini-challenge of Non-Western Setting

Travel the World in Books - Canada (Ontario), China, Mexico

Literary Escapes Challenge - California, Maine, Virginia

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On Video

Best YA and Middle-Grade Books Read in 2023  - last of my Best of 2023 videos

Friday Reads 2-3-23 - my quick recap of what I was reading this weekend

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What We're Reading

 

 

I finished reading A Serpent's Tooth by Matty Dalrymple. This is book 5 in her Ann Kinnear series, about a women who can sense and communicate with spirits. Each book has a mystery at its heart and thriller-type action, but with a supernatural twist that I love. This one takes place at a family-run winery located in southeastern Pennsylvania (about 15 minutes from where I live!). I love her writing, the characters, the suspense, and how she makes each location an integral part of the story. Book 6 was just released, and I have that one, too, to look forward to now!

 

 

Yesterday, I started reading Dead of Winter by Stephen Mack Jones, book 3 in his August Snow series. I first met Stephen at Booktopia 2019, and I enjoyed his first two novels, August Snow and Lives Laid Down (which was featured at Booktopia). Snow is a half-Black, half-Mexican ex-cop who made a lot of money in a lawsuit that took down dirty cops in Detroit, where he lives. This makes him unpopular among most of the police force. In each book, Snow takes on some sort of mystery in his hometown, usually focused on cleaning up the city. These are action-packed thrillers with a great sense of humor, and my husband enjoys them, too.

 On audio, I started listening to Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris, historical fiction that is also a mystery/thriller, and a good fit for Black History Month. It's set in 1964, and begins in Jackson, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer. Two sisters each decide to flee town for different reasons: one killed a white man who raped her, and the other is single and pregnant. One ends up in a small town in Georgia, and the other heads north, but they don't realize that a man is tracking both of them. It's great so far!

 

My husband, Ken, is reading book 3 in the Ann Kinnear series, The Falcon and the Owl by Matty Dalrymple. We had a mysterious, spirit-sensing Ann Kinnear weekend! He enjoys this series, too. This one also takes place near us, in southeastern PA, at a small airport where Ann is taking flying lessons. Murder, ghosts, and mystery ensue! I read this one last fall (my review at the link).

 

Our son, 28, is still reading The White Tower by Michael Wisehart, book 1 in The Aldoran Chronicles, in preparation for book 2, which he just bought with a Christmas gift card. He's discovered new updates to an old favorite video game that is taking up some of his reading time!

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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?