It's Monday 5/13! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

Whew – whirlwind busy week & weekend…and still continuing! We had one more trip (my 5th in 5 weeks!!), this time to CT this weekend with our sons. Saturday was my mom’s birthday, Sunday was Mother’s Day, and we rushed home yesterday in the pouring rain because today is my father-in-law’s 94th birthday! This is always a very hectic week for us. Steak dinner (Granddad’s favorite) tonight here, more cake and presents, and my son and his girlfriend will be here, too (the other son has to work). Then, I think I will collapse.

We have also been struggling with some extra health challenges. My older son (who has the same immune disorder as me plus Lyme disease and two other tick infections) has been in really bad shape for the past few months. He and I drove to see a new Lyme specialist Friday (we still love our old one but are desperate for some new ideas). It was a great visit, and she provided the fresh perspective we were hoping for. Now, he has loads of testing to get done, forms to fill out, etc. and then we’ll meet with her (and her genetic specialist) again. We have some hope for the first time in months, so that’s great, but this weekend was still very, very rough for him (and for us, worrying about him).

Even my reading has been stressful since I have three book commitments for this coming week (yeah, I recognize it’s impossible to finish them all in time!). But, of course, our books also provide much-needed comfort at times like this. Here’s what we have all been reading:

• I finished another Booktopia book, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor. I know that’s a strange title – and it’s an unusual novel – but stay with me here. Paul, the main character, is a shape-shifter who can change from male to female and back again, also changing his physical traits, becoming taller or more muscular, etc. He’s a college student struggling with identity and where he fits in the world. The author uses the unique premise of shape-shifting to explore gender fluidity, queer culture, and sexual exploration, giving the reader the perspectives of many different people, all through one main character. I ended up really enjoying it. It was warmer and sweeter than you might expect and completely immersive. (note that it does contain adult language and graphic sex).
• Next, I moved on to a novel due out on June 25, Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes. I will be interviewing Linda this week, and I am REALLY excited because she is the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour, one of my all-time favorite podcasts! I feel like I already know her from listening to her in my earbuds every week, so I am looking forward to the interview very much. This is her debut novel, about a newly widowed young woman who rents a room to a professional baseball player who washed out in a big, public way. Yes, there is romance, but it is mostly a story of healing. I loved it from the very first chapter – Holmes has a wonderful writing voice, filling with warmth and wit. I’ve only got a few pages left to read today.
• And then I will be starting (more than a little late!) Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman for my neighborhood book group this week. I’ve been wanting to read this novel for ages, so I am excited to dive in, even though I definitely won’t finish by Wednesday!
• On audio, I finished listening to my final Booktopia selection, The Guest Book by Sarah Blake. I really enjoyed her novel The Postmistress, and this new one is equally engaging. It’s the story of multiple generations of a family, the Miltons, who own a small island in Maine and run a successful financial institution, from the 1930′s, in the shadow of the rising Nazis, through the 1950′s and the first inklings of civil rights to present-day, where one of the grandchildren, Evie, a history professor and now an older woman herself, learns more about her own family history. I like novels that weave together stories from different characters and different times and enjoyed this one very much.
• My husband, Ken, finished a book I recently bought for myself, True Grit by Charles Portis, the classic western that the movies were based on. I got it for the Book Cougars podcast read-along, though I haven’t had time to read it yet with everything else! He was excited to read a western, something a bit different for both of us, and enjoyed it.
• Now, Ken is reading Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones, another Booktopia book that I read recently and passed onto him. You can read my review at the link – it’s a fast and funny thriller about an ex-cop in Detroit who stumbles onto a crime involving young undocumented immigrant women.
• Our son, Jamie, 24, just finished book 4, Kingdom Blades, of the series A Pattern of Shadow and Light by Melissa McPhail. He said he loves this series – he put it on a par with Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time – high praise and good company!
• Now, Jamie is reading a novel that we put in his Easter basket, The Wolf, by Leo Carew, book 1 in the Under the Northern Sky series. I picked it out for him at an awesome indie bookstore at the beach in Delaware, Browseabout Books, because the epic fantasy sounded right up his alley. He’s loving it so far!

Just 2 blog posts last week, amid the chaos:

TV Tuesday: The Fix – a new legal thriller we are loving!

Fiction Review: Soon the Light Will Be Perfect by Dave Patterson – a sad, funny, hopeful coming-of-age novel

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?