It's Monday 4/17! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

I’m back! I missed last week’s Monday update because my husband and I took a little week-long vacation to Virginia with our camper. We were home for two days and then packed up again for Easter weekend with my family – 13 people in one house! It was great to see everyone, but pretty exhausting for me. This morning, my chronic immune disorder is flared up badly, so I am lying on the couch as I type this and planning on a very low-key day.

Our vacation was relaxing, though, and much-needed! We took some short hikes, went out kayaking twice, visited Richmond on our one rainy day, and capped off the week with a visit to my college roommate and her husband (who also went to school with us) in Williamsburg – lots of talking and laughing, as you can imagine! Of course, our trip included plenty of downtime and lots of reading. Here’s what we’ve all been reading the past two weeks:

• I finished Lab Girl by Hope Jahren for my neighborhood book group. It’s a memoir by a woman scientist, starting with her childhood playing in her father’s lab at the local college. I knew I’d enjoy the science-y aspects of this, as a former chemical engineer, but it also turned out to be a very powerful memoir of some massive personal challenges she’s faced. It was excellent.
• Next, I resumed my reading for Boooktopia, an awesome annual event in Vermont, where book lovers get together with authors for an intimate weekend of discussing and celebrating books – so much fun! My mom and I went two years ago and are going again the first week of May. I am reading Edgar and Lucy by Victor Lodato, one of the authors I’ll be meeting at Booktopia. This is a hefty book, so I’m still reading it. It’s the story of a young albino boy named Edgar who’s had a rough life so far. His father died when he was just a baby, which devastated his mother, Lucy. They live with his beloved grandmother, but things continue to get more and more difficult for Edgar. I’m trying not to give away any spoilers, but it’s a compelling, emotional novel.
• On audio, I am listening to another Boooktopia novel, Celine by Peter Heller, a light mystery about an older woman named Celine who is a PI specializing in reuniting families. She is hired by a woman whose father was thought to have been killed by a grizzly bear many years ago, though his body was never found. It’s good so far – I’m just a  few chapters in.
• On our road trip, my husband and I were listening to The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle, which was billed as an engrossing thriller, but we had some trouble with it and finally gave up on it on the way home. For a thriller, it is very slow-paced and not very compelling, though it does have some interesting points. It’s about an elderly man named Roy who meets a woman named Betty and moves in with her. Roy is clearly lying about a lot of things, though Betty seems to take him at face value. The book goes back and forth between present and past, delving further and further back into Roy’s life and lies. I haven’t decided yet whether I will finish it on my own, once I finish my Booktopia audio.
• My husband, Ken, finished The Red Hunter by Lisa Unger. As best as we can remember, he and I have only read one other Unger novel, Beautiful Lies. He likes thrillers a lot and enjoyed this one.
• Next, Ken read a book I gave him for Christmas, Run by Andrew Grant, another fast-paced thriller. He said it was very complicated and sometimes hard to follow, but he enjoyed it overall.
• Ken has just started reading The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, a popular YA post-apocalyptic novel that was made into a movie last year. We’ve had this book in our house for years, but none of us had read it until last week! Our son just finished it, so he passed it onto his Dad.
• Jamie, 22, read The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, as I just mentioned. He’d forgotten his current book at a friend’s apartment so finally picked up this long-neglected novel. He said it was great! I’ll have to read it next.
• And now, Jamie is back to reading The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin, book 2 in the Dreamblood series, which he got back from his friend last week. He loved book 1, The Killing Moon, a few years ago and is happy to have finally gotten to book 2 (which we gave to him for Christmas last year).

Just a couple of blog posts last week, in between trips – I will be getting back to my normal blogging routine this week. Two reviews of Booktopia books:

Fiction Review: The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak – a warm & hilarious novel about a teen boy set in the late 80′s

Fiction Review: The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck – about 3 WWII widows in Germany after the war

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.

What are you and your family reading this week?