It's Monday 5/2! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday - not only back to the work week for us but back to real-life after our 10-day spring break trip to Oklahoma.  Re-entry is always tough.  I so enjoy the break from every day life, having very few responsibilities or obligations, able to just go with the flow, hang out with my husband and kids, and allow my mind to rest and wander.  Now it's back to laundry and writing and very long to-do lists!!  If anyone knows the secret to bringing a bit of that vacation mindset back home, let me know.

We enjoyed some good books while we were away:

• I am still reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  It's a looong book!  You would think I'd have MORE time to read while on vacation, but of our 10 day-trip, we spent 6 days in the car, and I can't read in the car without getting sick.  Anyway, I'm enjoying the novel very much - it's just as good as everyone has said.
• My husband, Ken, finished Eyes of the Innocent by Brad Parks, a thriller in the humorous style of Janet Evanovich, and enjoyed it.
• Ken is now reading Fear, a thriller by Jeff Abbott that I picked up in the 50 cent pile at the library's used book sale.  He says it's fascinating because the plot revolves around a scientific breakthrough of using beta blockers to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, an especially interesting premise for him since I started beta blockers in January.
• 16-year old Jamie read another 3 or 4 of his old favorite Redwall books by Brian Jacques this past week.  I quit even trying to keep track of the exact titles because he was flying through them so quickly and had brought so many from the series with him on the trip!  Jamie can read in the car and does so almost non-stop (though he had homework to do on the way home).
• Craig, 13, finished Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain for his English class.  I wanted so badly to be able to stop in Hannibal, MO, on the way home to show him Mark Twain's boyhood home and the town and cave that inspired Tom Sawyer, but with 1400 miles to cover in only 3 days, we had no extra time to spare!  We had to settle for admiring the Mississippi River as we crossed through St. Louis.
  
• Craig and I have also been reading aloud from 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson, a middle-grade novel about kids finding alternate worlds through cupboards in their attic.  I really appreciated having the extra leisure time to enjoy a read-aloud with him - something that has become increasingly rare in our busy lives.  We used to read with the boys every single night before bed; now we don't usually have time unless we're on vacation.
• We've all been listening to Sapphique by Catherine Fisher in the car.  Last spring break, we listened to the first book in the series, Incarceron, on our way to Louisiana and loved it.  We are on the last CD now, and this second book has kept our rapt attention all throughout our long drive.  Now we have to find time to finish it!

No reviews last week, since I was on vacation.


I do want to take a moment for an overdue thank you to Books Kids Like, a wonderful book blog that awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award a few weeks ago.  Though I have already accepted this award previously, I very much appreciate the thought.  Please take a moment to visit Books Kids Like, a fabulous blog filled with reviews of books for kids of all ages!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you treading Monday is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.)

Back to real life.  Wishing we were still in our little camper...