It's Monday 6/2! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

 I finally had a full week at home, with no travel or family obligations, but it was a super busy catch-up week! I had two medical appointments and a haircut (and it was only a 4-day week), so that kept me out of the house more than usual. But the haircut was overdue, and I finally got my new sets of Invisiline (at my last check-up, the orthodontist said they weren't fitting right, so they rescanned me and ordered new ones). The good news is that these definitely fit better and don't affect my speech as much (it was getting pretty bad!), but the bad news is that now I have another 13 weeks to go, instead of just four more. So, I was upset about the extended time, but I'm glad they fit better. Making videos with a bad lisp was getting challenging!

 

I fit in a stock-up trip to Trader Joe's after the orthodontist (I rarely go food shopping anymore, so this was a treat!).

 

After before my massage therapy appointment, I squeezed in a quick walk in a beautiful area tucked into the middle of the suburbs--even just 15 minutes spent surrounded by birdsong and lush greenery is rejuvenating!

 

Saturday morning at 4 am (!), my husband left for his annual golf week in his hometown with his two best friends from high school. He already arrived last night (record time for driving from Delaware to Oklahoma!), and they're heading out for their first round this morning. He looks forward to this all year. And so do I! We spend a lot of time together, so I appreciate a week of quiet solitude to myself. As usual, I planned WAY too much for myself, thinking I could get SO much done home alone--I never learn! I had a good, productive weekend, but I definitely pushed myself a bit too hard and was wiped out by last night. On the plus side, I learned to use my new Go Pro and tested it out on a hiking trail yesterday, so I'll share the video next week. And today, I am meeting a good friend that I haven't seen in over a year for a walk at a local park. 

Just a reminder that we are now a week into the 2025 Big Book Summer Challenge! We've already got over 50 participants in our Goodreads group, about 40 in the Storygraph group, about 30 Booktubers, and a half dozen bloggers. If you're not on any of those platforms, no worries; you can post updates on any social media using #BigBookSummer. Everyone is welcome to participate, and you only need to read one book (though you can read more) of 400 or more pages by September 1 to join the fun! Details on the Big Book Summer page

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On Video

 

The Booktuber Bio Tag - in this fun tag, I answer questions not just about my Booktube channel and some of my favorite books but also personal background about myself.

 

Friday Reads 5-30-25: Starting My Big Book Summer Reading - in this brief recap of my reading week, I talk about 4 excellent novels: two that I just finished (and loved!) and the two books (in print and on audio) that are kicking off my own Big Book Summer.

 

2-Minute Review of The Road to Roswell - in this mini review, I talk about this wonderful novel by Connie Willis. 

 

Immersed in Nature in the Middle of the Suburbs - Turn up the volume and enjoy this 1-minute nature respite, with birdsong and a babbling creek.

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 What We're Reading

 

 

 

I'm still reading 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). 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 or ambitious. 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 to simply escape her dull home life. Based on reading a lot of novels, Emma concludes she's not in love with Charles and 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. She embarks on a series of affairs but is never happy for long. I have about 100 pages left in the novel now. While I find Emma really frustrating and not at all sympathetic, the novel is well-written and engrossing. I suspect Emma will not come to a happy ending!

 

 

 

 On audio, I started Big Book Summer with a YA historical novel, Artifice by Sharon Cameron. It's set during World War II in Amsterdam, and while I often think I have read about every possible aspect of WWII, I have once again been surprised to learn of a whole different piece of the war that I knew little about. A young woman named Isa was brought up surrounded by art and artists in her parents' small art gallery, where they both painted and collected works of art. The Nazis occupy The Netherlands and are confiscating as much Dutch art as they can find. Desperate to pay the taxes so she and her father don't lose their home in the closed gallery, Isa sells a fake Rembrandt, painted by her talented father, to the Nazis. The success of the exchange, plus finding out that her best friend is involved in the Dutch resistance, put Isa on a dangerous path involving forgery, the resistance, and a young Nazi soldier who says he wants to defect. This is not only excellent historical fiction, but the novel is full of action and suspense, as Isa and her friends try to stay safe and help their beloved country. It's very good on audio, and I can't wait to hear what happens next.

 

 

 

My husband, Ken, has been reading 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). However, I doubt he'll read much this week, while on his golf trip!

 

 Our son, 30, 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 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.

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  What are you and your family reading this week?