It's Monday 12/23! What Are You Reading?

Whew. Things have been super busy here, as I’m sure is true for most of you, too! We’ve been traveling so much that all of our Christmas preparations got put off until this weekend, so we put up our tree (after it spent two weeks in the garage!), decorated it, put up our outdoor lights, decorated the house, hung the wreath, finished shopping, began to wrap gifts, and began to write out cards (which I bought back in November!). Today, I finished the grocery shopping, and we will bake cookies. Like I said, whew!

We still enjoyed some good books last week, though, amid the holiday hubbub:

• I am still reading Monsters of Men, the third and final book of the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, and it is just as fabulous as the first two books. I am near the end now and staying up much too late each night reading!
• I FINALLY finished listening to Rotters by Daniel Kraus, a teen/YA novel. It was one of the strangest and most disturbing books I have ever read…and I used to read a lot of Stephen King and Dean Koontz! It took me over two months to finish it. It’s a good story but very dark.
• I have just started listening to The Real Boy, a middle-grade novel by Anne Ursu (on my way home from the store this morning, after I finished Rotters). I’m only on chapter one but am enjoying it so far. Anne Ursu is a favorite author of mine.
• My husband, Ken, finished World War Z by Max Brooks. Now we can watch the movie!
• Ken also read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn this week. This is the third of Flynn’s novels that he’s read, and I think he liked this one best.
• Jamie, 19, finished Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, Book 1 in The Broken Empire series. 
• Now, Jamie is reading Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan, volume one of The Riyria Revelations on his Kindle. He says it’s very good – he’s been reading a lot while he’s home from school!

I actually managed quite a few blog posts last week, in an effort to catch up:

Top Ten New To Me Authors Read in 2013

Top Ten New To Me Kid/Teen/YA Authors Read in 2013

Review of When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Review of The Dumbest Idea Ever! by Jimmy Gownley

Summary of Books Read in November (better late than never!)

Weekend Cooking post, with several easy, tasty, and healthy weeknight recipes.

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

What are you and your family reading this week?