It's Monday 10/2! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

 Life

Life slowed down considerably after all that travel in such a short time! We had some quiet time at home last week and enjoyed some fun, too.

Wednesday evening, we met our Australian friends for the first time in person! I first met Annie about 13 years ago when I started an online support group for parents whose kids had similar chronic illnesses to ours. We bonded over our shared challenges, supported each other, and became good friends. She was one of the first parents in the group that helped me as an admin when it got to be too much for me alone. She and her husband are here to visit their son who's doing a semester abroad in D.C., and we were thrilled to meet for dinner on their way through our area. We talked for hours! We share a very special bond, and it meant a lot to us to finally meet in person.

Saturday was our 34th anniversary, and we enjoyed dinner at a unique restaurant, located in a greenhouse as part of a huge farmer's market/garden center. Our son gave us a gift certificate after he and his girlfriend discovered it. They rightly guessed that I would love the focus on delicious, fresh food, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner (that clay pot on the table contained fabulous sourdough bread baked in the pot). We rarely eat in restaurants anymore, due to my immune disorder, so this was a special treat in beautiful surroundings.

And I enjoyed a walk on yet another cool, cloudy day midweek, though by Saturday evening, the remnants of the tropical storm that sat on top of us for over a week finally cleared out, and we are enjoying perfect fall weather now!

 

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On the Blog

Not much blogging time last week, after being away so much, but I did manage one review:

Fiction Review: A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson - I loved this gripping, action-packed outdoor thriller featuring a wildlife biologist

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On Video

September Reading Wrap-Up - my summary of the eight books I enjoyed last month, for the R.I.P. Challenge and Series September.

Trip to Elk Neck State Park, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay - in this 3-minute video, enjoy some peaceful, relaxing nature photos from our recent trip.

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 What We're Reading

I am still reading for the R.I.P. Challenge this month.

 

 

I finished reading Bang by Lisa McMann, book 2 in her Visions trilogy. I read book 1, Crash, earlier this month. Lisa McMann is an old favorite author of mine (YA series Wake, standalone Cryer's Cross, and middle-grade series The Unwanteds, links to my reviews). This YA paranormal thriller trilogy is another engrossing hit! In the first book, sixteen-year-old Jules was experiencing strange, terrifying visions of a horrific accident where a snow plow hits a restaurant, and the whole place explodes. Her vision--which she saw everywhere--ended with eight body bags in the snow. She had to figure out what was going to happen, and where and when, to try to stop the tragedy before the visions drove her crazy. Now, in book two, someone else Jules knows is seeing different--but equally horrifying--visions, and the two of them are caught up in the same kind of nightmare again. As with McMann's other books, this trilogy is fast-paced, unique, and completely engrossing.

 

 

I am now reading Upgrade by Blake Crouch. My husband and I are big fans of Crouch's sci fi thrillers (Recursion was excellent and Dark Matter is my favorite), as well as his TV shows, Wayward Pines and Good Behavior (and, oh my gosh, I just found out they're making Dark Matter into a TV series!!!). Upgrade takes place in a near future where genetic manipulation is illegal due to a devastating famine that resulted from earlier experiments. Logan is an ex-genetic scientist who now works for the GPA, Genetic Protection Agency. During one raid of a lab, he's badly injured and exposed to something the doctors can't pinpoint. But, soon, he begins to feel different: growing smarter, faster, stronger every day. Is Logan's "upgrade," which is planned to expand to all people, truly the evolution that will save humanity? Or is it a terrible mistake that needs to be stopped? As always, Crouch starts his novel with a bang and an intriguing premise, and the suspense and action never let up.

 

 

 

I finished listening to Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie. Ex-detective Luke Fitzwilliam is traveling to visit a friend when he sits near an older, chatty woman on the train, who introduces herself as Mrs. Pinkerton. She tells Luke that she thinks a murderer is at work in her quiet English village of Wychwood. Luke doesn't put much credence in the woman's wild stories of multiple suspicious deaths or her prediction that the local doctor will be next. Soon, though, Luke reads in the newspaper that Wychwood's Dr. Humbleby has died ... and that Mrs. Pinkerton was killed by an automobile in a hit and run. Luke goes to the village to investigate. I admit it: Christie got me again! Toward the end of the novel, I was certain I had it figured out ... nope!

 

 

My husband, Ken, just finished another Christie novel, And Then There Were None (my review at the link),  a book I've been telling him he'd like for years. I think this closed-room mystery is one of Christie's best. He just finished it last night, and--like me--was fooled and taken by surprise by the ending!

 

Our son, 29, has been enjoying the Art of the Adept series by Michael G. Manning, and is now reading the newest book, #5, The Wizard's Crown.

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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?