It's Monday 5/15! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

(Please note: For those that know me IRL, we got word today of a horrible tragedy in our family. Since I had already written this post, I decided to go ahead and post it because I may not be online much the next couple of weeks.) 

Last week was a whirlwind of recovery/catch-up in between Booktopia weekend and Mother's Day weekend, but I managed to go to my book group meeting (and made it to the end!). It was great to see everyone, and we had a wonderful discussion.

Then, it was back in the car to drive back to Connecticut, for both Mother's Day and my mom's birthday. I couldn't participate in a lot of the fun stuff, but it was wonderful to celebrate my mom, be with my niece and nephew, and to see the four cousins together, having fun.

 

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On the Blog

Fiction Review: Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett - my favorite Booktopia selection, this warm, thoughtful novel about addiction and death is also very funny.

 Fiction Review: A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates - creepy psychological suspense with plenty of emotional depth

Remember that Big Book Summer, my annual summer reading challenge kicks off in less than two weeks, at the start of Memorial Day weekend! Check out last year's challenge page for details, pick out a Big Book (400 or more pages) or two, and join the fun! A new challenge page and Goodreads group for sign-ups will go up either May 25 or 26.

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On Video

Booktopia 2023 Vlog - video clips and photos of Booktopia, held in Vermont every May, plus a quick overview of the books and authors featured there this year. 

 Friday Reads 5-12-23 - weekly update on what I am currently reading

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What We're Reading

 

I finished both reading and listening to The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate for book group. My book group previously read--and loved--Wingate's novel Before We Were Yours. This is another historical fiction book that spans both past and present. In Louisiana in 1875, a former slave named Hannie is now 18 years old and wants to find her family. Her mother, aunt, and eight siblings were each sold off separately in Louisiana and Texas during the war, when Hannie was just six years old. She's the only one that ended up back on their home plantation. In 1987, Bennie Silva is a first-year high school English teacher in that same town, struggling to engage the kids in her classes, who are distracted by extreme poverty, family members in prison, and other daily struggles. The "lost friends" of the title were real-life letters published in a southern church newspaper from enslaved people searching for their families, and Wingate has included these real (and very moving) letters throughout the narrative. I was completely engrossed in both narrative threads of this outstanding novel and loved the way they wove together in the end. The rest of my book group enjoyed it, too.

 

I mentioned to my family that I like Anne Tyler, so I received three of her novels for Christmas! I am reading one of those, Ladder of Years. Delia is the wife of Dr. Grimstead, who took over her father's medical practice, and the mother of three grown and almost-grown children. She still lives in the house she grew up in, and her life is quiet and predictable. So, it's a shock to everyone--including Delia herself--when Delia takes a walk down the beach on a family vacation ... and never returns. On a whim, she settles in a small, rural town and starts a new life; she rents a room in a boardinghouse and gets a job as a secretary--her first paid job ever (she's been working as her father's and then her husband's secretary her entire life). As Delia starts from scratch, with nothing, she begins to discover her own identity, separate from her family, for the first time. I'm enjoying this novel so far, with Anne Tyler's renowned warmth and subtle humor (the newspaper article about Delia's disappearance in the first pages says it all).

 

I'm almost finished with a YA audio book I've been meaning to listen to for years, The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater. This nonfiction book tells the story of two teens in Oakland whose paths cross on a city bus one day, changing both of their lives forever. One is seen as a criminal and the other as a victim, but both of their stories are far more nuanced than that. Richard is a black boy whose silly, thoughtless prank changes both of their lives. Sasha is a white agender youth who becomes a symbol of tolerance and kindness internationally. It's a stunning story about race, class, gender, and our criminal justice system. A high school friend of mine who now teaches high school English recommended it, and it's been riveting so far.

 

My husband, Ken, just finished reading Armada by Ernest Cline (author of the fabulous Ready Player One and its sequel, Ready Player Two). This is an earlier novel, where a teen obsessed with video games witnesses a real alien invasion--sounds like a lot of fun, with Cline's trademark humor woven in. He said it was enjoyable but not as good as Ready Player One and had the feel of a YA novel.

 

Our son, 28, is still reading book 4, The Tunnels Beneath, of The Aldoran Chronicles by Michael Wiseheart. He said his new job is keeping him very busy! 

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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?