It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Last week, I ... did nothing! ha ha It was my recovery/catch-up week after our lovely vacation. I actually worked a lot and got a lot done, both for work (writing) and for home, but I only left the house once, for massage therapy on Monday, and the only photos I took all week were of the sky for my #sky365 project. It was cloudy and rainy almost every day! Kind of boring, but I enjoy looking at the clouds--every day is different.

We did do something fun (and long overdue) on Friday evening, though I still didn't leave the house! Since my chronic illness was worse than usual the past few years, our good friends have hosted us for dinner--oh, probably 12 or 15 times in a row--without any reciprocation (they're those kind of amazing friends). Since I've been feeling a bit better recently, we were finally able to host them at our house! It was wonderful, and we had a fun evening together, with good food, my husband's signature cocktail, and lots of conversation, catching up, and laughs.

I might actually leave the house this week.

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On the Blog

Fiction Review: The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams - I loved this poignant, emotionally complex novel about how books can help people connect and build community.

Fiction Review: Billy Summers by Stephen King - my first #BigBookSummer read was outstanding, an intricate, gripping character study of a hit man with a moral code, on his last job. 

And, remember, there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Reading Challenge! It runs until early September, and you only need to read one 400+ page book between now and then to participate. There's a whole community in our Goodreads group with fun Big Book chat all summer long.

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On Video

Catskills Travel Vlog: Camping, Kayaking, Local Towns, Food and Drink, Books and a Bookstore! - come along with us on our recent vacation to enjoy the natural beauty and fun of this wonderful region, with lots of video clips and photos.

Friday Reads 6-23-23 - brief update on what I have been reading

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 What We're Reading

 

I am still reading my biggest book of the summer, Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, book 3 of the Outlander series. At over 800 (large) pages, this is an intimidating Big Book, and it's been on my shelf for two years and was in my Big Book Summer stack last year! But as soon as I started reading it, I thought, "why did I wait so long?" She writes such fascinating, detailed historical fiction, with a touch of time travel and an epic love story at the center of it. The series is about a British woman in 1945 who goes back in time to 1700's Scotland. This book is no exception and was completely engrossing from the very first pages. I'm past the halfway point now, but I'll be reading this one for a while yet!

 

I've started my second audio book for #BigBookSummer Challenge, The Strangers, book one in the Greystone Secrets series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, one of my favorite middle-grade authors. Her books are always engrossing, with twisty plots and in-depth characters. This one focuses on three siblings: sixth-grader Chess (short for Rochester), fourth-grader Emma, and second-grader Finn. They are shocked to come home from school one day and see their mom watching the news, which is reporting that three kids--with their same names, ages, and birthdays!--have been kidnapped from another state. Then their mom takes off urgently on a business trip, and nothing seems right. It's excellent so far and already gripping.

 

My husband, Ken, is also enjoying Big Book Summer. He finished one of his biggest books, Matterhorn, a novel about the Vietnam War by decorated Marine Karl Marlantes. He said it was, of course, pretty grim, but an excellent, well-written book. 

 

Now, Ken has started one of his Father's Day gifts from me (and another Big Book, though just barely), The Quiet Boy by Ben H. Winters. He and I are both fans of Winters' The Last Policeman trilogy, but he says this novel is entirely different, a legal thriller with two trials woven together, one in the past and one in the present, involving malpractice and murder.

 

 Our son, 28, just finished the 1200-page book eight, Court Wizard, of the Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour.  He loves this series so much that he's diving right into book nine, Shadowmage, tonight. This one is only about 800 pages long!

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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?