It's Monday 1/25! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

Monday morning & life returning to normal after a big snow storm this weekend! Delaware got dumped on…and this state goes crazy when they get a few inches! We had high winds and heavy snow from Friday evening to middle of the night Saturday and were snowed in for two days. We made the best of it! I totally gave up on getting anything productive done – a rarity for me. My son and his girlfriend were here through the storm, so the four of us cooked lots of comfort foods (they even treated us to homemade crepes Sunday morning), played games, and binge-watched a lot of TV! We just got Netflix last week (good timing). My husband and I finished season 3 of The Wire (such an amazing show) and started watching Orange is the New Black. We are totally hooked! And my son and his girlfriend came in while we were watching the first episode…and they got hooked on it, too! Soooo good!

Of course, we had plenty of time for reading, too:

• I finished my next review book for Publisher’s Weekly, Work Like Any Other, a debut novel by Virginia Reeves, due to be published on March 1. It’s about an electrician in 1920′s Alabama whose illegal power lines kill a man. Sent to jail for 20 years and separated from his family, he must carve out a new life for himself. It was thoughtful and compelling – really pulled me into the story.
• Next, I started (way too late!) a book for my neighborhood book group meeting this week, The Art Thief by Noah Charney. My chances of finishing this on time are pretty slim, but I am doing my best! It’s a literary mystery about an art thief who steals multiple valuable paintings seemingly all at once from three different locations. I know absolutely nothing about art, but it is interesting so far.
• On audio, I am still listening to The Cost of All Things by Maggie Lehrman, a teen/YA novel. It is intriguing, about a teen girl who lives in a world where spells can help you overcome life’s challenges – make you prettier, more popular, less sad. The main character, Ari, seeks a spell to help her forget her boyfriend, Win, who died, but all spells come with a cost. I thought it was a little weird at first, but it’s been very engaging so far.
• My husband, Ken, is reading Broken Harbor, the fourth book in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series. Once again, he says he is blown away but what an amazing writer French is! He is really enjoying this novel, as he did her others. I’ve only read the first one so far, so I have some catching up to do.
• I’m not sure, but I believe that Jamie, 21, is still reading The Brethren Prince: Piracy, Revenge, and the Culture Clash of the Old Caribbean by Ira Smith. It is historical fiction about real-life pirates in the mid-17th century Caribbean – he started it for our trip to Jamaica over New Year’s. I bet he didn’t read much this weekend – he was snowed in with his friends at college!
• Craig, 18, is reading The Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka for his World Lit class. His older brother didn’t like it, but Craig is enjoying it so far. That’s a classic I haven’t read yet – maybe I will finally get to it this year!

I still haven’t posted my 2015 reading summary (I know, I know), but that is first on the list for this week! I did finish writing my 2015 reviews, my December summary,  and these other posts on the blog last week:

Movie Monday: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – the perfect mix of old and new

TV Tuesday: How to Watch? - comparing the options for watching TV shows & movies

Middle-Grade Review: George by Alex Gino, a novel about a transgendered child

Summary of Books Read in December - a great reading month for me!

What are you and your family reading this week?    

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.