It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

A dark, dreary Monday morning here – we have rain, sleet, I think a bit of snow early this morning, and very slippery roads. I had to go out in that mess this morning for a doctor’s appointment, but the silver lining is that I had extra reading time while in the waiting room! Back home now, grateful to be inside our cozy house and a hot cup of herbal tea next to me.

We’ve all had a good reading week:

• I finished Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt (though not in time for my book group – I left the room when they discussed the ending!). I liked it very much and thought there were a lot of different, interesting aspects of it to discuss. It starts in the 1950′s in a middle-class suburb of Boston, where a divorced Jewish mother is raising her son. When her son’s best friend goes missing, the lives of all who knew him well are dramatically changed forever.
• Next, I moved on to an old favorite, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I first read it in 1999 and have considered it one of my top 5 books ever since. I am re-reading it as part of The Posionwood Bible Readalong, hosted by Tanya at Mom’s Small Victories, as part of her Travel the World in Books Challenge. So far, it is just as good as I remember it – compelling, intriguing, and so very clever. If you’ve never read it before (or even if you have!), there’s still plenty of time to join the January Readalong and enjoy this unique and powerful novel about a Southern Baptist missionary family living in the Congo in the 1960′s.
• I started a new audio book and am enjoying The Secret Sky by Atia Abawa, a teen/YA novel set in rural Afghanistan. It is engaging and emotionally powerful so far.
• I also started a new graphic novel and am almost finished: the highly-regarded Smile by Raina Telgemeier, a middle-grade/teen novel about orthodontia and growing up. It’s excellent so far, just like Sisters and Drama were.
• My husband, Ken, finished Just After Sunset, a book of short stories by Stephen King.
• Ken is traveling this week, so he chose a smaller paperback book to bring with him, Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo. He has enjoyed Nesbo’s novels in the past, so I gave him this one for Christmas.
• Jamie, 20, finished reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, a novel we’ve been telling him he’d like for years! He had some minor complaints (just because he prefers straight-up traditional fantasy), but he immediately started its sequel, The Twelve, so I think he’s enjoying this complex thriller/sci fi/fantasy series.

I kept up with plenty of blog posts last week:

Summary of Books Read in December (2014 Year-End Summary coming this week!)

Review of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, adult fiction

Review of Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, a graphic novel for adults and YA

Saturday Snapshot, with some really cool sky photos

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.