It’s Monday, what are you reading?—a weekly blog meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
We had a very nice weekend here in KC—went to a Royals game and a T-Bones game, stopped by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, spent time with friends, and talked to our fathers for Father’s Day. I also made sure to Skype with my little brother, who celebrated his very first Father’s Day yesterday!
As for reading… well, it was busy and I didn’t get much time in. I decided to DNF The Shore by Sara Taylor. I gave it a good try—100 pages, about a third—but it just wasn’t grabbing me the way I expected it to, judging by how much everyone seems to be loving it. It could be a couple of reasons: 1) I didn’t realize it was really short stories and not a novel. Threw me off a bit. OR 2) I’m overloaded on fiction right now. I’ve been craving more good non-fiction after finishing Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson on audio.
So! I started Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time and figured, why not now? I’m behind on my reading challenges but I don’t really care. Speaking of those, I started We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo for my ebook challenge, and it’s pretty good, but I’m not really blown away (again, maybe I just need non-fiction right now!) and I also still have Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix from the library that I have to finish up by the end of the week before it’s due back. My husband is almost done reading it! Lastly, I read the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson over the weekend, while I was waiting to pick up my husband from a recording session. A tiny little tale that holds a big impact!
What are you reading this week?
my little heart melodies 
Well, I am reading A Necessary End by Peter Robinson and Spock Must Die by James Blish. If you are into crime fiction, must take a look into Peter Robinson’s detective agent Alan Banks world.
Cool, I will check that out!
I just finished reading Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum. I am gutted. I won’t read anything else today so I can take in what I just read. What a great book.
Yes! I loved that one as well, read it a couple months ago. One of my favorites of the year so far.
Ah, yes! I just read your review of Hausfrau. I agree with… All. Your. Words. 🙂
😀
I’ve been on the fence about The Shore, so it’s good to hear your perspective.
As for me, I’m finishing up Neil Smith’s Boo, which I really like. I have no idea what I’ll read next.
Yeah, I skimmed and skipped around to the end after I decided to DNF, and decided it was okay that I stopped. It wasn’t bad, just not for me at this moment. I’ve seen Boo popping up around blogs lately—I’ll have to check it out. 🙂
I highly recommend Boo! It’s very funny (and yet dark). I’m hoping to have a review of it on my blog either by the end of this week or the beginning of next (depending on how much time I have for blogging).
Oooh! I’ll keep my eye out for your review 🙂 Thanks!
There’s also going to be a Socratic Salon discussion about Boo in July.
PS. of course, that discussion will have spoilers (which you might want to avoid if you haven’t read the book yet)!
Of course! I’m really enjoying Socratic Salon, it’s hard to hold off looking at some of those posts before I’ve finished the books 😉 I like that they have other bookish/readerly discussions too.
I know! I’d love to participate more in the discussions, but I like to wait until I’ve read the books. I think I’ve only read one of the books they’ve discussed so far (Dept. of Speculation). It’s a great idea for a blog.
Agreed!
It’s frustrating when things don’t work for you, especially when you are sure that they’ll be awesome. I’ve had a weird time of it lately, too. I’ve tried a few different books that I thought were going to be great nonfiction books and turned into more of a memoir thing and booooo. It’s not that the books were bad exactly, but they were not what I wanted at the time. I hope you continue to enjoy Behind the Beautiful Forevers..whew, loved that one!
Totally. I’m reading a lot but still feel like I’m in a slump—it’s weird! And I’m a mood reader but I love making lists and plans for my next books to read. BLAH! High hopes for my summer reading. And yes I’m enjoying Beautiful Forevers… need to make more time for it this week!