It's Monday 7/17! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

Life

My week alone was lovely! As always, I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d planned, but I did have a productive week and had some fun, too. Last weekend, I decluttered and organized some messy areas I’d been meaning to get to for ages. I took a walk with a local friend mid-week and enjoyed catching up with her. 

On Friday, my oldest and dearest friend, Michelle, came to visit from Ohio. We’ve been friends since she was 4 and I was 5, and even though we don’t see each other much these days, we fell right back into our comfortable friendship. We had some nice meals, took a walk along an idyllic creek (like the ones we used to play in), and talked nonstop!! 

We watched Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, a favorite book when we were kids and a movie that recreated our ’70′s childhood. We also played games, which was fun because we were the Game Queens as kids, playing 27 games of Clue in a row or a Monopoly game that lasted for five days. Nothing that extreme this time, but my husband isn’t a fan of games, so I enjoyed having someone to play with! She left yesterday, and I rested and recovered. My husband arrives back home this afternoon. He had a great time golfing with his best friends from high school in their hometown in Oklahoma.

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On the Blog

Middle-Grade Review: The Strangers (Book 1 of Greystone Secrets) by Margaret Peterson Haddix – twisty sci fi mystery/thriller featuring three siblings who discover they have dopplegangers

 2023 Reading Challenges Update:

Since we are just past the midway point of the year (and I had time last week to update my challenges page!), here’s my progress on my reading challenges:

Mount TBR Challenge – My goal is 36, and I’ve only read 12 from my own shelves so far! (you’re allowed to count e-books and audios, but I only count physical books)

Monthly Motif Challenge – I’ve gotten 4 of the 6 month’s motifs so far (missing March and April)

Classics Challenge – my goal is to read 6 challenges, and I’ve read 3 so far – right on track!

Alphabet Soup Challenge -I already have 18 of 26 letters! The remaining 8 are the tough ones, though. Any recommendations of books starting with Q, X, or Z?

Nonfiction Reader Challenge - my goal is 12, and I’ve read 4 so far (Nonfiction November is coming up!), and I have filled in 4 of the 12 categories.

Diversity Reading Challenge – My goal is to read 45 diverse books this year, and I’ve read 21 so far. I also filled in all 6 Mini-Challenges for the first 6 months.

Travel the World in Books – I have read 10 books set outside the U.S. and visited 12 different countries in my books so far.

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On Video

June Reading Wrap-Up - reviewing the books I finished last month, plus a quick overview of the books my husband read, too! 

Friday Reads 7-14-23 – my brief recap of what I am currently reading 

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After I posted last week’s Monday post, my son let me know that he had, in fact, finished Shadowmage, book nine of the Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour–it was only 800 pages! Now, he’s reading book 10, Necromancer. He’s been tearing through this fantasy series.

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