It's Monday 7/17! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

My week alone was lovely! As always, I didn't get nearly as much done as I'd planned, but I did have a productive week and had some fun, too. Last weekend, I decluttered and organized some messy areas I'd been meaning to get to for ages. I took a walk with a local friend mid-week and enjoyed catching up with her. 

On Friday, my oldest and dearest friend, Michelle, came to visit from Ohio. We've been friends since she was 4 and I was 5, and even though we don't see each other much these days, we fell right back into our comfortable friendship. We had some nice meals, took a walk along an idyllic creek (like the ones we used to play in), and talked nonstop!! 

Playing Dress-up circa 1971

 

White Clay Creek

Reunited!

We watched Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, a favorite book when we were kids and a movie that recreated our '70's childhood. We also played games, which was fun because we were the Game Queens as kids, playing 27 games of Clue in a row or a Monopoly game that lasted for five days. Nothing that extreme this time, but my husband isn't a fan of games, so I enjoyed having someone to play with! She left yesterday, and I rested and recovered. My husband arrives back home this afternoon. He had a great time golfing with his best friends from high school in their hometown in Oklahoma.

Yahtzee for old times' sake!

__________

On the Blog

Middle-Grade Review: The Strangers (Book 1 of Greystone Secrets) by Margaret Peterson Haddix - twisty sci fi mystery/thriller featuring three siblings who discover they have dopplegangers

 2023 Reading Challenges Update:

Since we are just past the midway point of the year (and I had time last week to update my challenges page!), here's my progress on my reading challenges:

Mount TBR Challenge - My goal is 36, and I've only read 12 from my own shelves so far! (you're allowed to count e-books and audios, but I only count physical books)

Monthly Motif Challenge - I've gotten 4 of the 6 month's motifs so far (missing March and April)

Classics Challenge - my goal is to read 6 challenges, and I've read 3 so far - right on track!

Alphabet Soup Challenge -I already have 18 of 26 letters! The remaining 8 are the tough ones, though. Any recommendations of books starting with Q, X, or Z?

Nonfiction Reader Challenge - my goal is 12, and I've read 4 so far (Nonfiction November is coming up!), and I have filled in 4 of the 12 categories.

Diversity Reading Challenge - My goal is to read 45 diverse books this year, and I've read 21 so far. I also filled in all 6 Mini-Challenges for the first 6 months.

Travel the World in Books - I have read 10 books set outside the U.S. and visited 12 different countries in my books so far.

Literary Escapes Challenge - I've visited 20 of the 51 states (including DC) so far in my reading.

Big Book Summer Challenge - As of last night, I've finished 5 Big Books so far this summer (and the challenge is still open, if you want to join the fun! It runs through early September, and you only need to plan to read one book of 400 or more pages between now and then.)

__________

On Video

June Reading Wrap-Up - reviewing the books I finished last month, plus a quick overview of the books my husband read, too! 

Friday Reads 7-14-23 - my brief recap of what I am currently reading 

__________

 What We're Reading

 

 

Last night, I finished reading Scythe by Neal Schusterman, which was just as good as everyone said! We are huge Schusterman fans at our house. My husband, son, and I all loved his Unwind series, which is original, brilliant, and compelling, and I've been hearing great things about Scythe for years. This YA dystopian novel takes place in a future world where life is perfect: there is no disease, no government, no middle seats on airplanes. Nanites in the body immediately heal any injury or pain and even protect humans from negative emotions like despair. In order to control population in an immortal world, some people are chosen as Scythes who "glean" (i.e. kill) selected people. Two teens, Citra and Rowan, have been chosen to train as Scythe apprentices and learn all about the dark side of a perfect society. As with all of Schusterman's novels, it was gripping and thought-provoking, with a sense of humor and great characters. I will definitely be reading the rest of the trilogy!

 

 

 On audio, I have almost finished listening to Everything the Light Touches by Janice Pariat. This novel has been compared to Cloud Atlas and Cloud Cuckoo Land (also on my Big Book stack). It consists of four parts, stories of different people in different time periods, beginning in modern day India and moving back through time to Lapland in 1732. Two of the featured characters, Linnaeus and Goethe, are real-life historical figures. The connecting thread through all of the stories is the natural world, plants, botany, and human connections. It's beautifully written, engrossing, and thoughtful.

 

 

 

I'm guessing that my husband, Ken, didn't have much time for reading on his golf trip with his friends, but he brought A Time for Mercy by John Grisham, book 3 in his Jake Brigance series, along on his trip. We both loved the first two books, A Time to Kill and Sycamore Row featuring Jake, so this should be another good one.

 

After I posted last week's Monday post, my son let me know that he had, in fact, finished Shadowmage, book nine of the Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour--it was only 800 pages! Now, he's reading book 10, Necromancer. He's been tearing through this fantasy series.

 __________

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?