It's Monday 11/27! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the U.S! I hope you enjoyed a nice holiday. We drove to Rochester, NY, my hometown, for a whirlwind long weekend of family gatherings, covering every branch of my extended family! We stayed with my step-mom, spent Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, met for lunch with my aunts and cousins on my dad's side Friday, and saw a wide range of family and friends at an outdoor cabin party on Saturday.

My family on Thanksgiving

With my aunts and cousins

My husband & I with family members we don't get to see often!

My sons (and I) playing cards with their Grandma

It was great to see everyone, though my health is still very up and down. A second nap in between dinner and dessert helped me manage Thanksgiving, I rested as much as possible in between events, and my husband and I left early when we needed to. I am very grateful I was able to get to every gathering and catch up with everyone.

In fact, I actually made it to my 40th high school reunion Friday night!! My illness often doesn't make logical sense, and I don't usually have any control over it, but I actually felt good Friday evening and had so much fun! It was a blast reminiscing and catching up with old friends. In fact, many of the people there I had not only gone to high school with but also elementary school, so we'd known each other since we were five or six years old--so many funny stories and fun memories! And I learned that one of my classmates, Karen Odden, has written a series of historical mysteries.

Some of my friends at the reunion

 

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On the Blog

On this travel week, I only had time to schedule one quick post:

My Book on Sale Through Monday - an announcement of my Black Friday sale - all e-book formats and the paperback from Amazon are still on sale through tonight (and insider tip: while most of the e-book formats will revert to normal pricing at midnight, it'll probably take Amazon a day or two to update my prices). And Bookshop has reduced prices and free shipping today!

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On Video

The Booktube Watching Tag - all about my YouTube viewing habits 

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 What We're Reading

 I'm enjoying Nonfiction November!

 

 

I finally finished reading The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman, a book I've been meaning to read since its release in 2007. Wow, what a stunning book! It's the true story of a husband and wife who ran a zoo in Warsaw, Poland, when Germany invaded and saved hundreds of people from the Nazis during WWII. The author used a lot of primary sources like diaries and letters, and it is a very moving, powerful narrative. The horrors of the Holocaust are even more shocking when described by people who were there, in the thick of it. And the bravery, compassion, and strength of the people in the resistance is truly inspiring. Part of the reason it took me a while to finish the book is that I kept picking up my iPad to look things up; it's that kind of fascinating nonfiction that makes you want to learn more.

 

 

 

I am now reading We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby, a collection of essays. I've been hearing about Irby for years, and my husband gave me this one for my birthday. She doesn't pull any punches! Her essays are honest, poignant, and funny. Some are on topics I can't really relate to, like dating in the modern world, but other topics are universal. And I was surprised to learn that she also has a chronic immune disorder, Crohn's. It's not a focus of her writing here, but as with any chronic illness, it's an integral part of her life, so it affects everything. I'm enjoying the book.

 

 

 

On audio, I am listening to The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates. I hadn't seen the subtitle, so I thought this book was another inspiration/self-help kind of book, like her first. I was surprised to find that it's all about her charitable work. I'm about halfway through, and it is both fascinating and inspiring. Her work mostly focuses on the lives of girls and women, here in the U.S. and around the world, with a special focus on availability of birth control and education, two aspects that she learned had a profound effect on women and on their communities. She includes lots of stories about girls and women all over the world (which is pretty eye-opening), as well as data and research and how her foundation tries to help. It's excellent so far.

 

 

 

My husband, Ken, finished reading The Last Ranger by Peter Heller. He said it was quite different from Heller's previous outdoor thrillers (Celine, The River, and The Guide), but he enjoyed it. Now, he has moved onto another birthday gift, Holly by Stephen King. I want to read both of these!

 

 

Our son, 29, didn't have much reading time this weekend, but he is fortunate to be able to read in the car, so he finished re-reading book 3, Hero of the Ages, of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. And now, he has moved onto the main event: Sanderson's just-published The Sunlit Man, which takes place in the same Cosmere universe. For his birthday last year, I signed him up for Sanderson's big Kickstarter, and this was the fourth book he received. It's a gorgeous embossed hardcover, and he's happy to be immersed in this world again.

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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?