Monday, February 10, 2014

It's Monday 2/10! What Are You Reading?


Another busy week - more snow and ice (check out my ice storm photos), my older son still horribly sick with his chronic illnesses, and my husband out of town. This morning things are looking up a bit. Our son did move back onto campus last night, but he's still not in good shape, and we are very worried about how he'll manage. We spent a lot of time last week and this weekend consulting with various medical professionals and are trying some new, fairly radical changes to diet, medicines, and supplements this week in the hopes that it will help him.

BUT, for now, I am blissfully alone in a quiet house this morning (still worrying, but one step at a time!). As always, our books provided distraction and comfort last week:
  • I finished Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, the February choice for my online family book group. I was captivated by this compelling fictional story based on historical fact about a leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i. Here's my review.
  • Next, I picked up another book group read, The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides, for my library's book discussion on Wednesday. There's no way I will finish it in time, but I am enjoying it so far - the first of Eugenides' novels I've read.
  • I finished my audio book, Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo, a middle-grade novel about a young girl and a poetry-writing squirrel superhero. Yes, I said squirrel. It was fun and silly and warm - classic DiCamillo.
  • I started a new audio book, The Good Sister by Wendy Corsi Staub, this one a grown-up novel. I'm only on the second chapter, but it seems to be about family secrets.
  • And I am still making my way - slowly but surely - through 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam. It's been interesting so far, but I have been focused on my book group novels.
  • My husband, Ken, finished Jo Nesbo's The Bat on his Kindle and enjoyed it.
  • Ken has now started Sycamore Row by John Grisham, a Christmas gift from our son. It's a follow-up novel to Grisham's A Time to Kill, which we both read about 20 years ago and barely remember!
  • Our oldest son, Jamie, 19, was still reading The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, Book One in The Obsidian Trilogy this week but was struggling with it. He said it was very long and fairly slow-paced, so it wasn't keeping his attention, especially given how sick he was. I finally convinced him that it was OK to set it aside and read something else!
  • I suggested a fast-paced teen/YA novel to him, so he picked up The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater which I read recently and loved. He needed some comfort reading!
  • Craig, 16, just started reading MacBeth by Shakespeare for his Brit Lit class.
Despite the hectic, stressful week, I actually managed quite a few blog posts:

Coming Soon: Your Favorite Books as Movies 2014, about some of this year's most hotly anticipated book adaptations on the big screen.

My 2014 Reading Challenges - yes, I finally found time to sign up for some challenges!

Review of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, a wonderful historical novel set in Hawaii

Review of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, a teen/YA novel

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.

4 comments:

Andrea said...

Sounds like some good reading! I hope your son likes The Raven Boys. I just finished The Dream Thieves. It's such a great series already!

Lindsey said...

I hope your son is feeling better soon. I can't imagine that it is any easier when your kids are older than it is when they are small!

I'm going to check out your review of Moloka'i. I enjoyed Brennert's book Palisades Park.

Ricki said...

You have been a busy lady this week. My house has been anything but quiet, so my reading time wasn't so long. I hope the situation with your son improves.

I always enjoy your blog posts. :) Thanks for sharing! Have a great reading week.

GatheringBooks said...

Hello there Sue. Glad to see you've read and enjoyed Flora & Ulysses. I'm looking forward to reading this one with my 12 year old girl. I'm hoping your son would feel better soon, sounds very stressful indeed. And yes, books do offer a measure of comfort. :)
Have a great reading week.