It's Monday 3/6! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Last week was family week, with quality time spent with both of our sons. As I explained in last Monday's post, our older son was home visiting from NY. It was a short visit, mostly for doctors' appointments, but we got to enjoy two dinners with him (one including all four of us), a Star Trek Strange New Worlds (he watches the newer Star Trek series with my husband and I), and I had plenty of time with him in the car to catch up. Last night, our younger son and his girlfriend were here for dinner. He lives with us part-time, but his long-time girlfriend's been away at school and is home for spring break, so it was really nice to enjoy some time together. And I saw online that Saturday was National Sons' Day! I am very fortunate to have two such wonderful young men as my sons.

Sylvan Lake, Black Hills SD, 2005

My birthday, July 2019

My stamina is still quite limited (I have a doctor's appointment this week to hopefully adjust my meds again), but I did manage some short walks last week, taking advantage of some lovely, sunny days. Yesterday, I took a break from tax preparation, and my husband and I enjoyed a new-to-us hike along a local creek where we discovered a hidden pond.

 

Blue sky and clouds reflected in the water

Good to be outdoors on a lovely day!

__________

On the Blog

 Fiction Review: Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris - historical fiction set in 1964, with family drama and suspense woven in

__________

On Video

New book-related videos posted last week:

Booktube by the Numbers - quick shout-outs to 10 other Booktubers I enjoy - great for discovering new channels!

My March Reading Plans - including two reading challenges, a podcast read-along, and preparation for Booktopia 

__________

What We're Reading

 

I finished reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, a classic I've been wanting to read for ages that was perfect for Black History Month. It's about a woman named Janie who comes back into town after a year and a half away, and then tells her best friend her story--not only of the past 18 months but of her entire life. It was written in 1937 and the dialogue is all written in the Black dialect of Florida at that time, so it can take little longer to read than standard text. But that dialect and language adds so much to the story! The creative metaphors and similes used by the characters are often hilarious, in spite of the drama of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this engrossing novel. I talk about it more in my February Reading Wrap-up video, which will go up on my YouTube channel tomorrow.

 

 

 

My first book for March was a classic published in 1917, Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley. This was the first quarter read-along for the Book Cougars podcast (highly recommended). This year's theme for their read-alongs is Books About Books, and this was a wonderful start! It's about 39-year-old Helen McGill who has spent her life caring for her brother, a famous author, at their farmhouse. One day, a man comes along in what is basically a 1917 bookmobile, a wagon outfitted with shelves of books on both sides, and a cozy little living space inside. He was going to offer to sell the whole thing to her brother, but since he's not home, Helen decides to buy it with her savings and go off on her own adventure for a change! It's a wonderful little novel about the love (and benefits) of books, travel, and nature. Road trips, nature, and books? I want a Parnassus of my own!

 

On audio, I finished listening to The Upper World by Femi Fadugba, a YA science fiction novel. It's about parallel universes and time travel, some of my favorite kinds of plots, and it was described as "perfect for fans of Neal Schusterman." I'm in! Esso, a teen Black boy in a poor section of London, gets in an accident and is suddenly pushed into another world, "the upper world." Fifteen years later, teen girl Rhia has a new Physics tutor named Dr. Esso. Lots of secrets revealed and twisty plot points ensue. It was excellent and gripping, though its south London street slang dialect was sometimes a bit tricky on audio (but added to the story). 

 

 

 Now, I am listening to Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, as my first book for Middle-Grade March. Twelve-year-old Katrina (her latest name) is in the witness protection program with her parents, hiding from a dangerous drug cartel. She had a terrible accident three years ago, just before they went into the program, so she doesn't remember anything of their earlier "before" life. Their latest move is to an RV park in rural Georgia, a big change from the big cities they usually move to, to get lost in crowds. Here, Katrina might be able to have a little more freedom and even make a friend, like the boy living in the trailer next door. I am loving this very twisty audio book so far, filled with deep secrets, lies, and thriller action.

My husband, Ken, just started one of his Christmas gift books, Upgrade by Blake Crouch. We are both big fans of Crouch. I enjoyed Recursion, and Dark Matter is one of my favorite books. The TV series Wayward Pines and Good Behavior were based on his books. After Ken's finished with Upgrade, I definitely plan to read it also!

Our son, 28, finished reading Plague of Shadows by Michael Wiseheart, book 2 in the Aldoran Chronicles series. Now, he's moved onto book one, Banished, of different series by Wiseheart, Street Rats of Aramoor, that he realized is the prequel to Aldoran Chronicles. He likes this writer!

 __________

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.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week

Fiction Review: Anywhere You Run

I was looking through my large backlog of audio books last month to find something for Black History Month, and I found the perfect fit: Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris. This novel combines historical fiction, family drama, and suspense and was excellent on audio.

Violet and Marigold are two sisters living in Jackson, Mississippi, in the summer of 1964, aka Freedom Summer. In the wider world, busloads of people have traveled south to Jackson and other cities to help register Black voters, resulting in conflict and violence. Three of those northerners were recently murdered in Jackson. In the sisters' personal lives, though, just as much turmoil is happening, including the recent loss of their mother, father, and older sister, Rose. Violet is raped by a white man, whom she kills. Knowing that a Black woman who kills a white man--for any reason--will likely not even survive to go to prison, Violet leaves town and goes on the run. She ends up in a small, rural town in Georgia, where she changes her name and tries to start a new life, with a vague idea of maybe continuing to Washington, DC, someday. Meanwhile, Marigold finds out she is pregnant, and the baby's father has no intention of being there for her or doing the right thing. Single, pregnant, and Black, Marigold also feels in danger in Jackson. She heads north, hoping to find more equality and peace there. As Violet and Marigold each struggle with their own issues and dangers, they don't realize that a man from Jackson is tracking both of them, a man who is becoming increasingly desperate as his boss puts pressure on his own family.

There is so much to this engrossing novel: historical detail of time and place, intimate emotional depth, and a thriller-like thread of suspense throughout. Violet and Marigold are flawed but likable characters I was rooting for. Each of them encounters one challenge after another, with danger recurring just as they think they are safe. The man tracking them is also a three-dimensional character here, with his motivations and devotion to his own family clearly shown. The novel moves from Mississippi to Georgia to Ohio, with intricate details of what it was like in each place in 1964 for Black women. With multiple narrators for the well-done audio, this gripping story kept me rapt.

400 pages, William Morrow

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - A

Diversity Reading Challenge & February Mini-Challenge (Black pov)

Literary Escapes Challenge - Mississippi

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    

 

Or you can order Anywhere You Run from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 2/27! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Not much time today for an update because my son and I made our quarterly pilgrimage to nearby Lancaster County to see his two of his medical specialists. He came home yesterday and is leaving after dinner tonight. It's a short but very welcome visit since we hadn't seen him since Christmas. Though the four hours of driving and doctor's appointments wears me out, I enjoy the time with my son; we get to catch up in the car. Here's a picture of the traffic we encounter along the way:

 

 

__________

On the Blog

Movie Monday: CODA - Outstanding!

__________

On Video

 Friday Reads 2-24-23 - Overview of my recent reads

__________

What We're Reading

I finished Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger for my book group, though I missed our meeting. Last year, Krueger's This Tender Land was our All-County Reads book, and all of us loved it (it was my #2 book of the year!), so we were excited to read this one. It won the 2014 Edgar Award and is a standalone historical mystery, set in a small town in Minnesota in 1961. But it's mostly a coming-of-age story, with thirteen-year-old Frank at its center, along with his younger brother, Jake. At the start, the narrator (Frank as an adult) explains that four deaths occurred in town that summer. Those deaths change him and force him to grow up quickly. It was excellent! You can hear more about the book and my thoughts in my Friday Reads video.

 

Now, I am reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zore Neale Hurston, a classic I've been wanting to read for ages that's perfect for Black History Month. It's about a woman named Janie who comes back into town after a year and a half away, and then tells her best friend her story--not only of the past 18 months but of her entire life. It was written in 1937 and the dialogue is all written in the Black dialect of Florida at that time, so it can take little longer to read than standard text. But I've gotten into the rhythm of it, and it's an engrossing story. I'm really enjoying it.

On audio, I am listening to The Upper World by Femi Fadugba, a YA science fiction novel. It's about parallel universes and time travel, some of my favorite kinds of plots, and it was described as "perfect for fans of Neal Schusterman." I'm in! Esso, a teen Black boy in a poor section of London gets in an accident and is suddenly pushed into another world, "the upper world." Fifteen years later, teen girl Rhia has a new Physics tutor named Dr. Esso. Lots of secrets revealed and twisty plot points ensue. It's excellent, though it has its own south London slang dialect which is sometimes a bit tricky on audio. 

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson, a Valentine's gift from me, a thriller set in New Orleans, where we used to live. It's a re-release of one of her best-sellers, about two NOPD detectives investigating a serial killer, and it's part of a series. I didn't realize she wrote a thriller series set in New Orleans; this might be a new favorite series for my husband! Isn't it fun to read novels set in a place you know well?

 

Our son, 28, finished reading The White Tower by Michael Wisehart, book 1 in The Aldoran Chronicles, and is almost finished with book 2, Plague of Shadows.

 __________

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.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week

 

Movie Monday: CODA

As usual, we're a bit behind, but my husband and I finally watched the movie CODA last week. In 2021, it won Oscars for Best Motion Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (for Troy Katsur). Now we know what all the fuss was about! We both loved this funny, uplifting movie about a family of deaf fishermen in New England.

As a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA), Ruby, played by Emilia Jones, is the only hearing person in her deaf family. They live on the New England coast and make their living fishing. Early every morning, Ruby heads out in their boat with her father, played by Troy Katsur, and her older brother, Leo (played by Daniel Durant), before she heads into town for high school. For as long as she can remember, Ruby has been the interpreter for her father, brother, and mother, played by Marlee Matlin. Her family is quite isolated from the rest of the town, though they are very close-knit and loving. In her senior year of high school, Ruby signs up for choir on a whim. She has always loved to sing, but in the midst of her deaf family, she has no idea if she's any good. The music teacher, Bernardo Villalobos, played by Eugenio Derbez, immediately recognizes Ruby's raw talent. He begins training both her and Miles, played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo from Sing Street, another excellent movie), for their upcoming concert, as well as for an audition at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. He's convinced Ruby can get in, and the more she sings, the more passionate she becomes about it. But her family needs her more than ever, with several crises occurring in the local fishing community. Ruby is torn between following her dreams and finally becoming her own person and caring for the family she loves.

When I thought back to this movie, I realized it's a familiar coming-of-age movie theme: the adolescent finding her identity and learning to separate from her family. The setting, of course, is quite original: a hearing child in the midst of a deaf family who rely on her. That's not all that makes this movie special, though. The entire cast is outstanding, and glimpsing the interior lives of a deaf family is fascinating, especially in one scene completely from their perspective, with complete silence in the midst of a crowd. The writing is also excellent (and award-winning), with each character fully developed and plenty of humor blended with the drama. Even the physical setting, on the rocky coast in a fishing village, is beautiful and unique. All together, this makes for an engrossing package: a moving, inspiring, funny family drama that kept us rapt and left our hearts soaring.

CODA is an Apple original movie and is available on Apple TV.

If you are looking for other warm, inspiring, funny family dramas, try:

Captain Fantastic - warm, funny story of quirky family facing challenges

Lady Bird - tender, realistic, funny coming-of-age story

The Peanut Butter Falcon - Original, heartwarming & funny, about found family.

Grandma - warm, funny, heartbreaking movie about eccentric grandma & her granddaughter 

This is Where I Leave You – warm, hilarious adaptation of the novel

It's Monday 2/20! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

We enjoyed a week of celebrations, with Valentine's Day on Tuesday, and Mardi Gras celebrations on-going! Valentine's Day was celebrated with just a quiet evening with my husband and I. We cooked a simple but delicious dinner at home, with filets and roasted Brussels sprouts, and exchanged cards and goodies (we are fully stocked up on chocolate now!).

For the past 30 years, we have hosted a Mardi Gras party on the last weekend of carnival season. At one point, we had 50-60 people here for it! After I got sick 21 years ago, we scaled back to about a dozen close friends. With the pandemic the past few years, we've done a Zoom gathering, which works well since several of our old New Orleans friends have left this area in recent years. But we just weren't feeling it this year. So, we invited our closest friends over (who also lived in New Orleans when we did), ordered takeout from a fabulous, very authentic, local Louisiana-inspired restaurant, and added King Cake, Zapp's (great chips from Louisiana), and homemade bread pudding that they made. We enjoyed a nice celebration with just the four of us, great food, lots of laughs, and reminisces of our time in New Orleans together. We'll be going to their house tomorrow for our traditional Popeye's splurge for Mardi Gras Day (watch for a special Mardi Gras post here tomorrow).

King cake & a small part of our bead collection!

Catfish po'boy, gumbo & Abita beer

We didn't put up all our decorations but the purple fringe is a must!

My week was still not horribly productive. My laptop problems continued with another 2-hour phone call to Apple. Plus, I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Aetna to fix problems with seven claims--we didn't even resolve the first one. At least the computer problems seem to be fixed!

__________

On the Blog

TV Tuesday: Poker Face - Our new favorite show! 

Throwback Thursday: 17 Years of Blogging

__________

On Video

It took days to edit again, but I finally posted:

Friday Reads 2-17-23 - a brief recap of the books I just finished and was just starting

__________

What We're Reading

 

 I am still reading my next book group selection, Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. Last year, Krueger's This Tender Land was our All-County Reads book, and all of us loved it (it was my #2 book of the year!), so we were excited to read this one. It won the 2014 Edgar Award and is a standalone historical mystery, set in a small town in Minnesota in 1961. It's also a coming-of-age story, with thirteen-year-old Frank at its center, along with his younger brother, Jake. At the start, the narrator (Frank as an adult) explains that four deaths occurred in town that summer, and #3 just happened. It's great so far--and I need to finish it by Wednesday!

 

 

On audio, I finished listening to Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris, historical fiction that is also a mystery/thriller, and a good fit for Black History Month. It's set in 1964, and begins in Jackson, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer. Two sisters each decide to flee town for different reasons: one killed a white man who raped her, and the other is single and pregnant. One ends up in a small town in Georgia, and the other heads north, but they don't realize that a man is tracking both of them. It was excellent, with family drama, suspense, and great historical detail.

 

 

 

I have just started a new audio book, The Upper World by Femi Fadugba, a YA science fiction novel. It's about parallel universes and time travel, some of my favorite kinds of plots, and it was described as "perfect for fans of Neal Schusterman." I'm in! Esso, a teen Black boy in a poor section of London gets in an accident and is suddenly pushed into another world, "the upper world." Fifteen years later, teen girl Rhia has a new Physics tutor named Dr. Esso. I just started it on Friday (some of my computer problems involved downloading books to my iPod), and I am already engrossed.

 

 

Of course, I included a book in my husband's Valentine treat bag. I picked out Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson from the selection at the drugstore because it takes place in New Orleans! Perfect for this week. It's a re-release of one of her best-sellers, about two NOPD detectives investigating a serial killer, and it's part of a series. I didn't realize she wrote a thriller series set in New Orleans; this might be a new favorite series for my husband! Isn't it fun to read novels set in a place you know well?

 

 

Last I heard, our son, 28, was reading The White Tower by Michael Wisehart, book 1 in The Aldoran Chronicles, in preparation for book 2, Plague of Shadows, which he bought with a Christmas gift card. I'm guessing he's already started book 2, but he's working today, so I can't do my usual Monday check-in with him!

 __________

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.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week

 

Throwback Thursday: 17 Years of Blogging!

Two wonderful things happened 17 years ago today: my awesome nephew was born, and I started this blog!

I had recently begun reviewing books professionally, for Family Fun magazine, and I wanted to share my reading adventures with friends and fellow readers. You can read my very first blog post, Welcome to My Reading World. That post includes a bit of my reading history, plus some of my favorite books read recently.

And now, I have a 17-year record of all the wonderful books I have enjoyed!

I had fun looking back at the start of this 17-year blogging venture, and I hope you do, too!

Do you keep records of what you read?

Do you know what books you were reading 17 years ago?

TV Tuesday: Poker Face

My husband and I have a new favorite TV show that we are absolutely loving. Poker Face stars one of our favorite actresses and is suspenseful, funny, and just plain fun.

The fabulous Natasha Lyonne (from Orange is the New Black and Russian Doll, two other outstanding shows) stars as Charlie Cale, a woman with an unusual talent: she can tell when someone is lying. For awhile, Charlie made money playing poker, but she became renowned (or rather, infamous) rather quickly and was soon banned from high-roller poker games after winning too much money. As the show opens, Charlie is living a quiet life working in a small, family-run casino. No more poker for her; she's just earning her living as a waitress in the casino and living in a trailer. When a friend of hers turns up dead, and Charlie can tell someone involved is lying about it, she gets involved in finding out what really happened. Meanwhile, the casino's manager, played by Adrian Brody, wants Charlie to use her poker/truth-telling talents for his own gain, to watch a high-roller game being held at the casino and help his plant win. Let's just say that things go very wrong along the way. By the end of the first episode, Charlie is on the run, with the casino's muscle, Cliff (played by Benjamin Bratt), chasing her. From then on, each episode finds Charlie in some small out-of-the-way place, with a new job, just trying to live a quiet, peaceful life. In each place, though, she stumbles on another murder and feels compelled to make sure the bad guys pay and the good guys are redeemed.

This is something of a classic murder mystery show, with a twist. Charlie usually ends up solving each crime the old-fashioned way, by talking to people and finding clues, but there is often some sort of innocuous comment someone makes that Charlie knows is a lie and makes her realize there was a murder (versus an accident or natural death) in the first place. The mysteries are twisty and unusual. The best part of this show, though, is its star. If you've seen Natasha Lyonne in either of her previous big shows, you know she steals the scene every time. She's an absolute delight to watch on screen, and here, she is at her laid-back, snarky best. It's easy to root for her. Plus, each episode has some big name guest stars in fabulous roles, like Judith Light as an aging hippy in a retirement home and Ellen Barkin as a washed up actress who wants one last hit on-stage in a regional theater. Every episode is loaded with clever humor, great writing and acting, and a fun mystery to get to the bottom of. We very quickly caught up on the first six episodes and are anxiously awaiting the next one!

Poker Face is a Peacock original series and is available on Peacock exclusively, airing on Thursdays.