It's Monday 9/2! What Are You Reading?

Happy September! Fall is my favorite season, so I am happy that September is here. We had another very busy week, capped off by a frantic Friday after my college son spent much of the previous night/early morning in the ER. Just stupid college stuff! Thank goodness, his injury isn't quite as bad as first thought, and it looks like he won't need surgery, but he has a torn tendon in his finger that needs to be kept splinted for 6 weeks. Both he and his brother spent the holiday weekend at the beach with friends, so my husband and I had a lovely, quiet respite for a few days - just what we needed! They both return today (college son only long enough to do laundry and refill his medicines), so we will be returning to the real world, but we enjoyed our quiet downtime together.

Not a lot of time for reading last week, but we all managed some:

• I finished The Ask and the Answer (see my review) by Patrick Ness and loved it as much as the first book. This Chaos Walking YA trilogy is fabulous! I can't wait to read the third and final book.
• I squeezed in a short middle-grade novel before turning to my book group obligations for September. I read Charlie Bumpers vs. Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley, one of our all-time favorite authors/singers/storytellers. It was excellent - reading it was like listening to Harley tell one of his stories from his own childhood.
• I am now reading Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge, a memoir for my library's discussion group. The author was taken from his young, mentally ill mother at the age of 7 and grew up in foster homes and horrible child welfare institutions. Amazingly, he grew into a caring, intelligent adult who is devoting his life to helping abandoned and foster children. I'm a little more than halfway through, and it is both horrifying and hopeful.
• I am still listening to a teen/YA audio, A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, the post-apocalyptic journey of a teen sister and her younger brother across the country to find their remaining family. It's been excellent all the way through - I'm on the last CD now!
• My husband, Ken, finished Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag and enjoyed it.
• Ken is now reading Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs, one of the novels that inspired the TV show Bones (a favorite in our house). We've been meaning to try the series for ages and found a couple of Reichs' novels in the bargain bin on vacation.
• Jamie, 19, is still reading Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling, book 1 of The Nightrunner series. I doubt he had much reading time this weekend at the beach with all of his best friends! Now that he's back at school, his reading time will be filled with chemistry and calculus instead of fantasy.
• Craig, 15, finished The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa just in time before school started on Wednesday! He didn't love it, but he said it was OK- I want to read it when he's done using it for school. He won't read anything unless it is assigned to him, so I am hoping his Brit Lit teacher this year will come up with some good novels for his class!

Thanks to school starting up again, I was able to get back to some writing this week, including these posts:

I signed up for Two Writing Challenges to help jump-start my fall writing season (kids back in school - yay!)

Book Adaptations on TV - looks like a good season coming up!

Weekend Cooking, with a couple of quick, healthy dinner ideas for back-to-school time.

 Review of Defending Jacob, a suspenseful and disturbing legal drama.

Review of The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, book 2 in the Chaos Walking YA trilogy.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

If you have been participating in the Big Book Summer Challenge, summer is officially over after today! Be sure to add your links for any Big Book reviews to the review link list on the challenge page. Later today or tomorrow, I will post a summary post with another link list for your own wrap-up posts.