Life
Big Book Summer 2025 is here!!
My annual reading challenge, now in its 13th year, officially kicked off on Friday and is already in full swing! I simplified it this year, with no sign-ups required--all the fun with less fuss. A Big Book is any book--any kind, any format--with 400 or more pages, you set your own goals even if that's just one Big Book, and you have all summer to meet them!
And I added a co-host, Melinda at A Web of Stories, who many of you may remember from her 15 years in the book blogging world (first as West Metro Mommy before she updated her blog--and now YouTube channel--to the new name). I needed the help because this fun summer reading challenge just keeps growing! This year, we also have a Storygraph group as well as the usual Goodreads group, so there are multiple ways to join the fun.
You can find all the details in my Big Book Summer blog post or my Big Book Summer video (or in Melinda's video).
So, that's what I did this Memorial Day weekend! My husband and I mostly stayed home and hibernated (with an exciting trip to REI and Home Depot yesterday) after a grueling two weeks of travel for family events. As I explained last week, we enjoyed a fun weekend with my whole extended family in the Catskills (was that just last weekend?). We came home Sunday night, and Tuesday morning, we drove back to New York State!
We drove to Long Island to help celebrate our son's girlfriend's graduation from SUNY Old Westbury. She actually finished her BS in Accounting in December and is already working on her MS in Forensic Accounting, but the graduation ceremony was in May, with the rest of the graduating students. I managed most of the 3+ hour ceremony, went back to our Airbnb for a nap, and then we went to her parents' house for a delicious dinner with friends and family to celebrate. We were thrilled to be a part of her special day, after all her hard work and determination, overcoming many challenges.
But, after the back-to-back trips, we were so happy to be home! Back on my comfy couch - ahhh!
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On the Blog
Big Book Summer 2025 - the official kick-off to this fun annual reading challenge. You can read all the details here, with links to the discussion groups, some great Big Book Recommendations, fun Big Book Summer swag, and more.
My 2025 Big Book Summer Plans - My own "pile of possibilities" for the summer. You only need to read ONE Big Book to participate, but I usually devote my whole summer to reading bigger books.
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On Video
The Phenomenal Woman Book Tag - a quick video about my picks for phenomenal women authors and characters, including some of my all-time favorite books
The 2025 #BigBookSummer Reading Challenge! Join the Fun! - all the details about Big Book Summer, including how it started, how to participate, and what I plan to read this summer.
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What We're Watching
Wicked - We finally watched this amazing musical Saturday night! It did not disappoint. It is an eye-popping spectacle of a movie, filled with gorgeous costumes, stunning sets, and of course, huge talents. I've read the book and seen the Broadway show, but my husband was new to the story. We both loved the drama, the music, and the humor. Just outstanding! It must have been incredible on the big screen!
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What We're Reading
I finished reading The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis. I LOVED THIS BOOK!! I also love Willis' Oxford Time Travel series, especially Doomsday Book, Blackout, and All Clear (those
last two are a two-book series). Those are among some of my all-time
favorite books; my reviews are at the links. This newer novel is not
part of the time travel series. It's premise sounds pretty silly: a
real alien abducts a bunch of people in and near Roswell during a UFO
Festival and makes them drive him (?) somewhere. But, in Connie Willis'
capable writing hands, it's a gripping story with equal parts suspense
and humor. As each new person is added to the group, there are
unexpected twists to the story. The alien is, of course, nothing like
what we've come to expect from movies, and the tone is somewhat farcical
at times (as are some of the characters), but with an undercurrent of
warmth, kindness, and suspense. It was a gripping novel that I read in record time, staying up much too late every night because I just had to know what happened next. And from the ending (which made me squeal out loud!), I think there might be a sequel. Perfect for fans of Project Hail Mary, another one of my favorite books.
This weekend, I started my first book for Big Book Summer, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, a classic I've been meaning to read for years (that's the best part about Big Book Summer). I'm not very far into it yet, but it begins with a man named Charles Bovary who is just an average, ordinary man in many ways: brought up on a farm, in the middle of his class at school, not especially charming. He manages to become a doctor in a small town in Normandy, France in the 1800's. The title character, Emma, is a young woman Charles meets while tending to her father's broken leg. The two are drawn to each other and marry, but Emma soon realizes her motivation was not love after all, but to simply escape her dull home life. From novels and stories from other women, Emma wants real love in her life, romantic love, but she finds her new life with Charles just as routine and boring as her old life. I don't think this will be an uplifting novel, but I'm enjoying the story so far.
I finished listening to Anxious People by Fredrik Backman on audio. I very much enjoyed Backman's A Man Called Ove on audio and Beartown
in print (very different books!), but I haven't read any of his other
novels, so I was looking forward to this one. The basic plot is
about a bank robber who ends up taking a group of people at an apartment
open house hostage, but the focus in this novel is solidly on the
characters: the older and younger police officers investigating and
searching for the escaped robber, the highly excitable real estate agent
who never stops selling, each of the other hostages, and the bank
robber. Each of them has a complex backstory that helps to
explain their behavior. As is typical of Backman, there is a warmth and
poignancy to the story, though it is also funny at times. It's a story about seeing past first impressions--of the crime scene and also of people. I was surprised by the many plot twists, and I enjoyed this novel on audio very much.
My husband, Ken, finished reading his Robert Crais novel that we picked up in a used bookstore on our road trip, Suspect. He's been enjoying getting reacquainted with this author and wants to read more from him. Now, he has started his first Big Book of the summer (yes, he participates, too!), Hunter by Tana French. She's one of our favorite authors, and he loves this new series of hers (book 1 was The Searcher and is now on my side of the to-be-read bookcase).
I finally had a chance to catch up with our son, 30, about books! He
is still rereading the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks, an old favorite of his, in preparation for the latest book (Beyond the Shadows). So, he's rereading book 1, The Way of Shadows, and will then reread book 2, The Shadow's Way. He hasn't had much reading time lately, but he trained someone new at work, which should give him more weekends off and more time to read!
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What are you and your family reading this week?
