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| Hosted by The Book Date |
Life
Well, last week sucked. That flare-up of my chronic illness that started last Sunday does seem to be the start of my usual fall/winter relapse. The flu-like aches, recurring sore throats, and low energy continued all week. I did manage to vote in Delaware's primary on Tuesday (thanks to my handicapped parking placard and my husband driving!), but I skipped my neighborhood book group Wednesday. Then I got a message that my beloved primary care doctor left the practice; they gave us no prior notice. Online, I found her at a concierge practice in a nearby town. I may have to pay the fee to see her again, if her replacement can't help with my very complex disease, but our system is seriously broken if you can only get access to good doctors if you are able to pay high annual fees to see them. It was so upsetting.
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| I voted! |
My son's wedding is this Sunday, so I am resting as much as possible, in the hopes that it will help. That means spending as much time as possible lying flat on the couch (I'm typing this lying down in bed). Despite that, I felt much, much worse this weekend, so I also started going to bed earlier (even under the best of circumstances, I need a lot of sleep). My energy is better this morning, though the flu-like aches are still there. My dear friend swapped podiatrist appointments with me (mine was Friday - sore toe and dress shoes are a bad combo!), so I'll go to that today. The rest of the week will be Operation Aggressive Rest! I should be able to get some extra reading done at least.
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| Resting with a view! |
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| Tickseed in bloom in the garden |
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| September means asters in bloom! |
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The Big List of Shorty Recommendations Book Tag - Here, I recommend 5 short books (under 250 pages & some under 100 pages) that are less well-known, both fiction and nonfiction. What's your favorite short book?
Weekly Reading Wrap-Up: So Many Good Books! - As one viewer commented, my reading month so far is really fun! I am flying through shorter books with a darker tone: mystery, thriller, sci fi, and more.
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I'm enjoying fall reading, with several fun reading events I always look forward to: RIP XXI (Readers Imbibing Peril - my 11th year!), Shorty September, Series September, and Sci Fi September.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was my favorite book as a child, and I read (and still own) several books in the series. I realized that although I've reread the first book several times as an adult, I hadn't done the same with the rest of the series, so I am rereading book 2, A Wind in the Door. In it, the main characters from the first book, Meg (the big sister), Charles Wallace (the genius little brother), and Calvin (Meg's friend) are faced with a new challenge: Charles Wallace seems to have some sort of mysterious illness, affecting his mitochondria and leaving him exhausted and unable to function. They once again meet some unusual non-human beings who help them in their new quest to cure Charles Wallace. I loved being back in this world with these characters. I had completely forgotten about Charles Wallace getting sick in this novel and was stunned by the similarities between what's happening to him and my own illness (in which the mitochondria are heavily involved), so that added an interesting twist as an adult. I just love this series!
Now, I am reading Bear Tooth by Callan Wink for both Shorty September and RIP XXI. It was recommended by the booksellers at Northshire Bookstore in Vermont, at Booktopia, that fun book weekend I attend every year. This outdoor suspense novel sounded great, so I gave it to my husband for his birthday last year. Two brothers in their mid-twenties live off the grid in the Bear Tooth Mountains, near Yellowstone National Park. Their father died recently, and the older brother is struggling to pay the medical debt from his father's illness and to keep the log cabin properly maintained. When their truck needs a costly repair, they enter into an agreement with a dangerous man and embark on an illegal mission. It's been excellent so far, with in-depth character development and a growing tension, as they get deeper into trouble.
My next pick on audio qualified for all four reading events this month! A Warp in Time by Jude Watson is book 3 in the Horizon middle-grade series of sci fi thrillers. This is one of those kids' series where each book has a different author. Book 1, Horizon, was written by Scott Westerfeld, and book 2, Dead Zone, by Jennifer A. Nielsen. In book 1, a group of kids on their way to a robotics competition survive a plane crash and find themselves in an unusual place. Plants and animals are different than anything they've ever seen or heard of, and they encounter strange technology, like a device that can control gravity. The stars in the night sky look the same, so they assume they are still on Earth but nothing is familiar. The group of kids are walking through this bizarre terrain, trying to find a way to get home or be rescued. Here, in book 3, they encounter another group of kids, also stranded from a plane crash, for the first time, but something is different about these kids. As the title indicates, this novel plays with time, which is a favorite trope of mine, so I enjoyed it very much. In fact, this fast-paced, twisty, suspenseful novel was my favorite of the series so far.
Next, I listened to another dark middle-grade novel on audio, Ghost in the Night by Tiffany D. Jackson (her books are always winners for me, especially in fall). Twelve-year-old Harmony recently lost her grandmother, so when her dad, a jazz musician, goes on tour, she joins him. Harmony misses her grandmother, her friends, and her home in Harlem. Something strange happened in their apartment before they left, and Harmony's become fascinated by ghosts, so she goes on ghost tours in the cities they visit (the opening scene is in New Orleans). They end up in Savannah, which is renowned as the most haunted city in the nation. On this ghost tour, Harmony, a budding photographer takes a photo of a "haunted" house and sees something strange in a window. She and her two new friends investigate. I think this was also my favorite of Jackson's novel so far, a mystery thriller with lots of suspense and a ghostly theme but also plenty of heart and emotional depth.
For my next audio, I wanted more sci fi--and specifically time travel--so I picked a novel pretty randomly from Libby! I'm listening to The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi. Beth is a scientist who figured out time travel. She and her husband founded a company to test out her theories, but her husband died, leaving Beth with their young daughter, Isabella. The time travel machine they invented with their team sends a person's consciousness back to re-experience a memory from their life, for just 90 seconds. It seems entirely random which memory is chosen. As with all time travel plots, this one is already thought-provoking: what memory would you want to travel back to again? I'm enjoying it so far, and I'm looking forward to see where it goes.
My husband finished reading 52 Pickup by Elmore Leonard. He enjoys Leonard's noir thrillers, and a friend on Booktube recommended this one, so I gave it to him for Father's Day. He enjoyed it.
Ken is now reading Hi Five by Joe Ide, book 4 in his IQ series of thrillers set in L.A., another Father's Day gift from me. He loves this series!
Our son, 32, is still reading Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson, book 5 of his famed Stormlight Archive series. He said he loves the way that Sanderson weaves connections among all of his Cosmere books. Can't wait to see him at his brother's wedding this weekend!
Our daughter-in-law-to-be finished reading Dust, by Hugh Howey, book three in his Silo series that began with Wool, after finishing Shift, book two (my reviews at the links). I'm happy she enjoyed this fabulous series as much as we did, and she and our son are now on season 2 of the TV adaptation, Silo, and are loving it! My husband and I are currently watching season 3. After hearing all of us talk about it this weekend, our older son said he wanted to see the TV show ... but first wants to read the books! I love when books make their way through our whole family.
She texted me when she finished and said the ending was great, but she hated to leave the characters and this world. I gave her the good news that Howey wrote a collection of short stories, Machine Learning, that includes three Silo stories! When she dropped off my hemmed dress, I lent it to her.
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