It's Monday 9/24! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

Wow, last week flew by in a blur! It was a busy week, with several medical appointments, two writing assignments due, and lots of catch-up from our few days away (you can see some photos of our vacation on my Saturday Snapshot post). The weekend was similar, with a LOT of home catch-up, paying bills, filing, going through the mail, and finally clearing my accumulated e-mails. I did make time for some fun this weekend, too, though. Saturday evening, we went out to dinner with friends and to a local production of Fun Home that was AMAZING! I loved the graphic memoir the play is based on when I first read it and was disappointed to have missed the Broadway show that closed last year after winning 5 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. But I was stunned by the quality and professionalism of this community theater production (grown-up Allison was played by one of our kids’ old band teachers!). The show was moving, powerful, and funny; I literally laughed and cried. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch for a local production near you.

Even on a busy week, we always make time for our books! Here’s what we’ve all been reading this week – I am really enjoying the RIP Challenge:

• I finished reading Still Life by Louise Penny for one of my book groups. It’s the first novel in her Inspector Gamache mystery series. I’ve heard great things about Penny’s novels for years, so I was glad for the chance to finally try one. It’s a classic mystery/police procedural set in a small town in Quebec. Though I don’t read a lot of mysteries these days, this novel really grew on me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We discussed in book group that it is unique in making the villagers primary characters (instead of just the investigators, as is more common in mysteries) – apparently, all 12 books in this series take place in this village (that’s a LOT of murder in a small place!). I would definitely read another in the series.
• Next, I blew through a quick middle-grade novel that’s been getting a lot of good press lately: City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab. This one was perfect for the RIP Challenge, as it is a ghost story, about a young girl named Cass who almost died and can now see ghosts all around her and can cross through the Veil, her word for the thin barrier between this world and the spirit world. Cass’ parents write books about ghosts and now have a TV show, so the family travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, for the show. I really enjoyed this novel and am excited that it is the first of a series – I can’t wait to read more!
• I just started reading reading Waking Gods, book 2 of The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel. My husband, Ken, and I both loved book 1, Sleeping Giants, and he just finished reading book 2, so now it’s my turn! It’s a suspenseful and thought-provoking trilogy about a giant hand found buried that is definitely not human-made. I am so excited to get back to this fabulous series!
• On our road trip, Ken and I started listening to Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter, a YA thriller. We went with a YA novel because it was a short trip (even so, we haven’t quite finished it yet), though my husband has little patience for the teen romance angle! Luckily, it is mostly a suspenseful survival thriller set in Alaska, with the President’s son getting kidnapped while visiting an old friend. We just have a few chapters left.
• Ken finished reading a book I gave him for Father’s Day, The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen, which the cover says is the “First Department Q Novel.” Ken says it’s about the dark underbelly of Denmark, and it was really good.
• Ken is now reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, a book I read for Big Book Summer this year and LOVED! It’s the story of a group of people, including some Jesuit priests, who travel to another galaxy in search of extraterrestrial life. Something horrible and tragic happens during that mission, and only one man returns (not a spoiler). The novel begins with the present (2060), after the mission, and flashes back to the first ideas of the mission, ironically in 2019 (the book was published in 1996), and gradually fills in what happened in between. It is compelling and completely unique – a very powerful and thought-provoking novel. He’s just at the beginning, and it starts kind of slowly, with lots of character development, but I told him it picks up its pace once the mission begins.
• Our son, Jamie, 23, had to set aside book 12 of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, The Gathering Storm, co-authored by Brandon Sanderson, because he didn’t have it with him. Instead, he started reading Words of Radiance, which is book 2 in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. He loved book 1, The Way of Kings, and has been looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Blog posts last week:

TV Tuesday: Goliath – a legal thriller starring Billy Bob Thornton

My Sign-Up for Readers Imbibing Peril 13 – I love the RIP Challenge every fall!

Fiction Review: The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian – a creepy suspense story

Saturday Snapshot: Natural Beauty in the Berkshires – photos from our recent trip

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.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog’s page.   

What are you and your family reading this week?