What Am I Reading This Week?

June 19 – June 25, 2022

 

Holy Bible – New Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition: Every morning, for the past 166 days, I have listened to the podcast, The Bible In A Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz. We are reading through the Bible according to Ascension’s Bible-in-a-Year reading plan, then Fr. Schmitz gives commentary on what has been read. It has become a habit for me and I HAVE to do it even if I have to get up at 5 AM to get it in before other commitments. Right now we are reading 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and several Psalms. New things that I don’t remember reading before come up every day!

 

New this week: As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

I am back in the head of Pip Fitz-Amobi, the heroine of the first two books in this series, and I didn’t realize how much I missed her. Same feelings, same rush, same What-will-happen-next vibe. So exciting. I’m going to have a giant book-hangover when I’m done. Holly Jackson, you are doing it again! This book will complete this series for me!

 

Continuing: The Complete Persepolis by Mariane Satrapi – Continuing to read this graphic novel chapter-by-chapter. My daughter, who gifted it to me, can’t understand why I don’t just read the whole thing. I have other books to read, too! If I don’t read it little-by-little, I may not read it at all. And I don’t want that.

 

Book Lovers by Emily Henry – I just started this one. My library hold came in and I rushed over to the library to pick it up. I have the advantage of living in a small town, so I didn’t have to wait long. This book is one of the selections in the Summer Reading Guide on the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club website. I’m on page 25, so I can’t really say what I think about it except I like it so far.

 

National Velvet by Enid Bagnold – 7% in on this one. I may have mentioned it is my Childrens’ Classic for the month. Reading this one a chapter-at-a-time, too. There were a couple of days last week that I didn’t get to these because I had to watch my granddaughter, but I’m picking them back up now.

 

Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott – continuing this one in the same manner. I am enjoying it. I am looking forward to the author chat on Modern Mrs. Darcy Book club later this month. Also a Summer Reading Guide selection.  

 

Finished:

 

Where the Last Rose Blooms by Ashley Clark – I gave this 5 stars. It is the third volume in a 3-book series where the family experiences are intertwined. One woman starts a dress shop – which hooked me; another a flower shop; and another was an artist. It takes place in an around Charleston. The twists and turns are quite interesting, and I really liked the way Clark handles the faith of the women and men involved. It wasn’t heavy-handed, but very natural. All the books are very good.

 

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner – This is another selection from the Summer Reading Guide on the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club website. I listened to the audiobook, but also read the print version. Also 5 stars! I liked the way the different members of the Jane Austen Society looked out for one another and their interpretations of Jane Austen’s work as it applied to their lives. I’m not a huge fan of Jane Austen, but I have read several of her books. Now I want to read Bloomsbury Girls right away!

 

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian – Bohjalian is the Author-of-the-Month in the #Author-of-the-Month Readathon on Litsy.com. I was hooked when I listened to the Prologue. You are going to think I only rate books 5 stars, but it is a just a coincidence - yes 5 stars for this one! I enjoyed the dual timelines and I appreciated learning about the genocide and tragedy that befell the Armenians. How awful! Also, the traditions that the American Armenians kept alive were very interesting. The love story was heart-wrenchingly beautiful. The interview with Mr. Bohjalian at the end of the audiobook was enlightening as well. Up to that point, not knowing Mr. Bohjalian’s work before reading this, I was tempted to believe that the narrator of the current timeline in the book, a woman, represented him – and it did to some extent – but it led me to believe Chris was a woman. Anyway, the interview cleared that up! This is a story that more people should read.

 What are you reading? 

Alleluialu