 |
| Hosted by The Book Date |
Life
Whew, what a whirlwind fun-filled week! I spent Wednesday and Thursday getting ready to launch the Big Book Summer Challenge (see below). Thursday evening, my cousin and her husband arrived for a visit. We had a wonderful time with them. She and I have known each other all our lives, but we've never had the chance to spend time together like this, just us, and it was great! We took them on a hike along White Clay Creek, to show them some of Delaware's natural beauty.
 |
| Great Blue Heron in the creek |
 |
| My husband and I with my cousin & her husband |
 |
| Beautiful day along White Clay Creek |
In the evening, we celebrated her birthday with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, seated on the second-floor deck overlooking the river. They left Saturday morning, and our son and his girlfriend arrived at dinnertime! We enjoyed some relaxed quiet time with them, catching up and hearing all about our son's new job.
 |
| With our son and his girlfriend |
Last night, we watched the daughter of our closest friends get married on Zoom! She and her girlfriend were visiting New Orleans, where they met, and decided on an impromptu wedding in that wonderful place. We were glad to be a part of their special day and share in their happiness.
Our son and his girlfriend just left (hopefully the traffic back to Long Island won't be too terrible). I managed this very active long weekend well but have been pretty wiped out for the past few days! It was worth it to enjoy such fabulous family time.
__________
On the Blog
Big Book Summer Challenge 2023 has begun!
With all of our visitors, I kicked the challenge off a bit early this year, on Thursday evening, and there are already about 25 people signed up! If you signed up this weekend, I was offline most of the time, so I will be visiting blogs and YouTube channels and replying to sign-ups in the Goodreads group today as I catch up.
This annual reading challenge is super simple and easy-going for summer (or winter, if you're in the southern hemisphere!). You set your own goals, whether that's reading one big book or two or however many you want. You have from now until September 4 (Labor Day in the U.S.), and a big book is any book with 400 or more pages. Everything counts: e-books, audios, YA, middle-grade, graphic novels, fiction, nonfiction. As long as the print edition is at least 400 pages, it's a big book! If you don't have a blog or YouTube channel, no problem--just sign up in the Goodreads group or even by leaving a comment on the challenge page. We have some great book discussions in the Goodreads group all summer long!
All of the details are on the Big Book Summer Challenge page, including a links list for bloggers and YouTubers.
Hope you'll join the fun, too!
Here on the blog last week:
Fiction Review: Brother and Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella - a Booktopia selection about family, adult siblings, and trauma.
Big Book Summer Challenge is Here! - all the details
My Big Book Summer Plans 2023 - check out my pile of possibilities for the summer. What should I read first??
__________
On Video
Just one video last week - you guessed it:
Big Book Summer Challenge - details about the challenge, what I plan to read this summer, and plenty of Big Book recommendations, too
__________
What We're Reading
I have not yet started a Big Book because I haven't had much reading time with all the visitors. Today, I will be finishing The Reading List
by Sara Nisha Adams, the second quarter readalong pick for the Book Cougars podcast (and episode 182 includes an interview with me about Big Book Summer). It's about a list of eight books that 17-year-old Aleisha finds stuck in
a library book while working at her new job in the library. She's not
much of a reader, but she begins reading the books on the list (classics
and modern classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Kite Runner).
Things are tough at home for Aleisha, as she helps her brother care for
their mother. When an elderly widower named Mukesh comes to the library
looking for a book, in an effort to connect with his late wife and his
young granddaughter (both avid readers), Aleisha passes him To Kill a Mockingbird, which leads to them reading and discussing each book on the list and becoming friends. This is a story about the
power of books to soothe and comfort and to connect people. I've loved it!
I will also be finishing my audio book today (and picking a Big Book audio), Into White by Randi Pink, a YA novel I downloaded during a previous SYNC summer (this year's program, with two free audiobooks each week, at the link). LaToya Williams is a Black girl in her mostly white Alabama high school, where she endures discrimination and bullying from both white and Black students. She wonders how her life would be different and prays one night to wake up "anything but Black." Her prayers are answered when she wakes up as a beautiful blue-eyed blonde. I wasn't sure about this one at first, with its magical transformation and seemingly silly premise, but it ended up having plenty of emotional depth and being a thoughtful and thought-provoking novel.
My husband had to set aside A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates (a Booktopia selection this year) for now, after our great-nephew's death last week--it's a great book but just too dark for his state of mind. Instead, he's been reading one of my all-time favorite books, Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais, a past two-time Booktopia author. Robin, a nine-year-old white girl in Johannesburg, South Africa, is orphaned and goes to live with her single aunt, who works as a flight attendant. Since she's often not at home, the aunt hires Beauty, a 50-ish Black Xhosa woman who has come to the city to search for her missing teen daughter.The two isolated, damaged people slowly bond, as Robin begins to heal with Beauty's help. This beautifully written novel has it all: suspense, drama, and a wonderful sense of humor. I love to hear my husband laughing out loud as he reads it. This book has heart. And it's a Big Book! (My husband participates in the challenge, too.)
Our son, 28, has gone back to the Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour, which he loves! He's currently reading book eight, Court Wizard.
__________
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?
It sounds like you've gotten to enjoy yourself this week, Sue! Getting to visit your cousin, then your son sounds wonderful, and popping in for a wedding on Zoom seems like the cherry on top of the weekend. I do hope your energy returns soon, after so much busy-ness!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's so exciting that Big Book Summer has begun! I'm not sure if I'll be able to participate this year, just because it's felt almost miraculous to finish reading short books lately—but I'm really glad you're bringing back this fun way to spend the summer!
And all the books you and your family have been reading look excellent, especially Hum If You Don't Know the Words. Thanks so much for the thoughtful post, Sue!
Thanks, Max! I'm worn out, but it was a very fun weekend :) And remember you can always join Big Book Summer at any time in the next 3 months if you realize one of your books is 400+ pages - graphic novels count! Hum If You Don't Know the Words is just such a wonderful novel :)
DeleteI really enjoyed The Reading List. Your thoughts brought it all back to me. Your family time sounds really great, hope now you are recovering. All the best for the big book challenge, it looks like it is all ready off to a very good start.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathryn - yes, this has been a rest & recover week!
DeleteI'm definitely going to join Big Book Summer again! I'm wiped out from a family weekend, with lots of time on the road. Thank goodness it's only a four-day work week to get through! Glad you're enjoying so much activity and family time!
ReplyDeleteWonderful! I look forward to seeing which Big Books you read this summer :)
DeleteThanks for reminding me about The Reading List. I got some good recs from the Book Cougars podcast.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to at least read their Readalong books this year, though I haven't made it to one of the Zoom discussions yet. I've enjoyed both selections so far this year.
DeleteOh, Hum is such a good book! I hope your husband likes it. And it sounds like you had a wonderful time with friends and family; how fun to have an impromptu wedding!
ReplyDeleteYes, one of my favorites! I'm delighted that he's enjoying it so much and keeps reading passages out loud to me - Robin's interpretations of the world are so great!
DeleteHum It You Don't Know the Words is such a good book. I'm pretty meh about The Reading List. I'll be curious to see what you think.
ReplyDeleteYes, one of my favorites! I loved The Reading List, maybe partly because it was the right book at the right time for me, gently addressing loss and grief with just the right amount of comfort and uplift just when I needed it.
DeleteHmm. I have such unplanned reading that I'm going to wait until I finish a big book and then jump in to the challenge.
ReplyDeleteYour son should be in -- doesn't he read almost exclusively big books?
That's fine, Beth - you don't have to choose your Big Book(s) ahead of time - plenty of people just join and decide what to read as they go along :) Like I said, it's easy-going and you set your own goals. Lots of people just say, "I'm in!" and update during the summer as they see what appeals to them. My son thinks Big Book Summer is hilarious since he thinks books with LESS than 400 pages aren't usually worth reading lol.
Delete