It's Monday 6/5! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

After a nonstop, chaotic May filled with travel, family, and friends, last week we did ... nothing! I had literally nothing on my calendar, and I think I only left my house twice: for a short hike with my husband and a quick trip to our local natural food store. I was pretty worn out all week. Not badly "crashed" as we say in the chronic illness world, but just really run-down. I'm still sleeping late and low in energy, so it's been rest and recover time. Here are the highlights from last week:

Extra reading time on our screened porch

Mmmm ... enjoying the brief season for local strawberries!

Dinner with our son on Friday evening

Our favorite Sunday morning treat

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On the Blog

Big Book Summer Challenge 2023 is in full swing! 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. 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!

 I'm still behind on visiting all of the blogs that have signed up (and other blogs, too), as I try to balance limited energy with a huge backlog of things to do, but I'm working on it!

Here on my blog last week:

TV Tuesday: The Company You Keep - this heist show combines suspenseful crime with forbidden romance and is a lot of fun!

Fiction Review: The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate - I absolutely loved this fascinating historical fiction that takes place in 1875 and 1987 Louisiana

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On Video

Just one book-related video last week:

Friday Reads 6-2-23 - my weekly update on what I'm reading - Big Books this time!

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 What We're Reading 

I like to kick off Big Book Summer with a fast-paced read, and Billy Summer by Stephen King has been the perfect book to start my summer. I think I'm already about halfway through this unique novel about a hitman who's agreed to one last job (with a huge payday) and is then planning to retire. King's amazing talent for creating in-depth characters that feel real and compelling plots you can't look away from is on full display here! Like many of his best books, this is not horror. I've been calling it a thriller, but it's not even very action-packed (yet anyway). It's well-titled because Billy, the hitman, is at the heart of this novel; it's the story of his life, and by the first couple of chapters, you are already rooting for Billy and hoping things turn out well for him. I am loving it and staying up much too late every night reading it!

 

My first Big Book on audio this summer is The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara. This unique novel chronicles the lives of a group of gay and transgender teens in NYC in the late 70's and 80's. The novel begins with different chapters each focusing on a different child/teen who knows that he/she is different and is trying to find their place in the world. I'm just getting to where some of these initial characters are beginning to meet each other, so I think the novel is ultimately about finding community--and family--for these isolated young people who feel like they don't fit in. The audio production is wonderful, and the narrative is engrossing so far.

My husband, Ken, just finished 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 loved hearing my husband laughing out loud as he read it and reading the funny parts aloud to me. 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.

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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?