It’s Monday 7/14! What Are You Reading?

Life

We’ve already been on the road for a week, and we are having a wonderful vacation so far! I have been posting videos on my YouTube channel @SueJacksonDE.

Our first stop was Cooper’s Rock State Forest in West Virginia, a beautiful park we’d stopped at before but never stayed in. We had a beautiful, quiet campsite, and we enjoyed the fabulous views from Cooper’s Rock Overlook.

After the overlook, we took a fun hike on part of the Rattlesnake Trail. It was surrounded by huge boulders in all shapes and sizes.

Next, we had a few long, hot days of driving across the Midwest (OH, IN, IL, and IA) and staying in state park campgrounds at night. We found some really great lunch stops, including this waterfront restaurant just outside Indianapolis.

We spent the weekend at McIntosh Woods State Park in northern Iowa. The weather was perfect (cool and comfortable!), and the small park on Clear Lake was beautiful.

After driving all day today, we are in South Dakota and almost to our waterfront campsite on the Missouri River for the next two nights.

What We’re Reading

I’m still loving The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy for Big Book Summer. It’s just as good as everyone told me: in-depth characters, completely engrossing, and incredible writing. Family drama? Whew, this is one seriously dysfunctional family! It digs deep into some difficult, dark topics but with a thread of humor and gorgeous writing. I laughed so hard one night (the funeral home chapter) that I was shaking the whole camper!

Yes, I’m STILL listening to The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky! I was hoping to finish it before the trip, but I’m up to about 84% now. The second half has been more engaging and suspenseful, with one of the brothers falsely accused of murder (and all the evidence against him), and I’m now into the courtroom drama (though I don’t have much time alone to listen).

For our first road trip audiobook, we started with Walk the Wire by David Baldacci, a Big Book. Neither of us has historically been a big fan of Baldacci, but I was looking for thrillers set in Montana, and it popped up. It’s also set in North Dakota, another place we’re visiting on this trip. It’s good so far, about two FBI agents sent to North Dakota to investigate the murder of a young woman. As with most thrillers, it’s complex with a lot of moving parts and is more complicated than it first appears.

My husband is also reading a Big Book. He just started Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry, which I recently finished.

What are you and your family reading?