It's Monday 12/29! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season with friends and family. Our plans changed drastically – we were supposed to be in CT celebrating Christmas with family last weekend and in the Florida Keys right now, enjoying a beach vacation, but with one son with mono and the other with a concussion, we had to cancel all those plans. Instead, we are making the best of things and enjoying a rare quiet holiday season at home!

We had a very Bookish Christmas, as always, and I hope to catch up on some of my reviewing backlog this week so I can start the New Year fresh!

Here’s what we’re reading this week:

• I think I saved the best for last this year – I finally started Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, a highly-acclaimed novel that I’ve wanted to read ever since it came out last year. This unique story about a woman who keeps dying and getting reborn (my favorite kind of plot! See my favorite book, Replay) is so far living up to expectations, and I’m enjoying it immensely.
• I finished listening to The Jewel by Amy Ewing on audio. It’s a teen/YA novel, the start of a new dystopian fantasy series, and was fast-paced and intriguing. I already reviewed it! How’s that for a fresh start?
• I finished Blankets by Craig Thompson, my first-ever graphic novel for adults. I’d read and heard many times that this is one of the best graphic novels ever published, and I enjoyed it. It’s an autobiographical story of a boy’s difficult childhood and adolescence, and it has a lot of emotional depth.
• My husband, Ken, read a fun, light book for the holiday week, Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich. We’ve both read the entire Stephanie Plum series, though he’s gotten behind by a few books. I heard him laughing out loud, so I think he enjoyed it – we are both partial to Grandma Mazur and Lula.
• Last night, Ken started Stephen King’s Just After Sunset, a book of short stories that my Dad lent to him (we are a whole family of readers!).
• Jamie, 20, is still recovering from mono but showing signs of improvement. He finished reading book 2 in Melissa McPhail’s A Pattern of Shadow and Light series, The Dagger of Adendigaeth. He’s really loving this series.
• I think Jamie finally started The Passage by Justin Cronin last night, a book we have been telling him he’ll love for years! He said he had to be in the right mood for it since lately he’s been reading mostly Medieval-type fantasies.
• Craig, 16, was on “complete brain rest” for his concussion for three weeks, so he turned to audio books in desperation! He claims to hate reading and audio books, but with nothing else to do, he ended up really enjoying listing to the Harry Potter series on audio again. Last week, he finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and then immediately started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He may never finish that one, though, because on Christmas Day, with a new video game and about 6 days headache-free under his belt, he declared brain rest was over and went back to video games! He started out slowly and cautiously, and thankfully seems to still be doing well (check-up with the concussion clinic tomorrow).

I managed a good bit of blogging last week, in spite of the holiday, because I was home with no travel to get ready for!

Review of Us by David Nicholls on audio, one of my favorite novels and audios of the year!

Review of The Jewel by Amy Ewing, teen/YA audio – dystopian fantasy

A Bookish Christmas – books we gave and received

Saturday Snapshot – a few pics from a walk in the sunshine this week

What are you and your family reading this week?    

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