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Life
I spent much of last week still on the couch, resting through my chronic illness relapse. That paid off, and my symptoms weren’t quite as bad for the weekend.
It was our annual fall lake house weekend with our sons and their girlfriends (though just one could make it this time). We look forward to this quiet, relaxing time together, just us, every year.
I rented a house on Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey, and it was a beautiful home with fantastic outdoor spaces.
Great views from my bedroom!
We got out on the water for a bit but mostly just relaxed, played games, shared meals, had campfires, and talked and laughed together. I love this time together and already miss everyone (we just got home).
There was still a lot of green in the trees, but we did see some pretty fall colors there:
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I’ve almost finished reading The Housemaid by Freida McFadden for my neighborhood book group this week. I’ve been hearing so much about this thriller for years, so I’m glad to finally be reading it. Millie has just gotten out of prison and is struggling to find a job, until wealthy Nina hires her as a live-in housekeeper. The tension is high from the first pages, since a prologue tells you there’s a dead body in the attic, and Nina treats Millie horribly from day one. It’s been a very propulsive story, and I’ve enjoyed it. But I predicted several of the biggest twists before they were revealed … and I never do that! My husband is the one who usually guesses what will happen (in books and movies, too - it’s annoying!), and I am normally taken completely by surprise by mystery, suspense, and thriller novels. It was fun this weekend because my son’s girlfriend already read it, so I could talk to her about it.
On audio, I finished listening to a fabulous YA novel, Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel. When my son was in middle-school, he and I enjoyed Oppel's novels like Silverwing and its sequels and Airborn (winner of the Printz Honor in 2005). This new novel is truly unique, a survival thriller with some surprising twists. Thirteen-year-old Xavier reluctantly accompanies his dad and his dad's new wife, Nia, to the family cabin at the lake for a weekend, leaving his mother and older brother behind. The three of them wake up the next morning at the cabin to find that the lake is gone, and the cabin has somehow been transported someplace entirely different, seemingly in the middle of a small farm. The cabin hasn't changed, but everything around them has, and there are no roads or other people. Exploring over the next few days shows they are in a dome with no way out. Oh, and Nia is very pregnant. As the family settles into their new life and learns how to survive, they wonder where they are and who is responsible for putting them there. This novel is so compelling that I listened to it in record time, plugging in my earbuds every spare moment! Mysterious, suspenseful, and twisty with lots of surprises.
My husband, Ken, is now reading The Spider by Lars Kepler, a husband and wife team (which I didn't realize before), that I gave him for Father's Day. It's the 9th book in their Detective Joona Linna series (oops, sorry honey, I didn't realize that!). In this Swedish thriller, the detective is after a serial killer. I'd heard good things about the author(s), so I thought he'd like it.
Our son, 31, finished reading A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall, a fantasy novel. He said this weekend that he hasn't had a chance to start a new book, and he forgot to bring one with him. Instead, he was enjoying a Age of Empires game on his Switch during quiet moments this weekend.
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What are you and your family reading this week?
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