It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? 1-4-21 #IMWAYR

Currently Reading

Dominicana by Angie Cruz was my choice for First Book of 2021 with Sheila at Book Journey. This hardcover book was a gift at Christmas, so no pressure to return it to the library on time!

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang was an e-book loan from the library that expired before I finished reading it. I just got it again, so I’ll be reading this on on the iPad this week. With only a third of the book left to read, I should be able to finish before the next 14-day expiration. Although I’m already a few days in and haven’t read a word!

Temporarily Not Reading

“Each essay is a complete experience in itself, with its own arc and epiphany…Filgate has done a magnificent job of gathering pieces written with love and passion.”

—Los Angeles Review of Books

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence (Simon & Schuster, 2019) is a collection of essays edited by Michele Filgate. I found this in the library’s OverDrive collection when browsing for essays or memoirs, I think, and it was available to borrow. But, once again, the 14-day loan expired when I was about two-thirds of the way through, and now I’m on a wait list.

Recently Listened To

I borrowed this downloadable audiobook, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, from the library. The 20th anniversary edition of this classic nonfiction book came out in June 2020.

Great advice here for aspiring writers, but actually an enjoyable book for his fans, too, I would think, as it contains a lot about his life and how he became a writer!

The Premonition (Random House Audio, 2016) by Chris Bohjalian is called a “short story prequel” to The Sleepwalker (Random House Audio, 2017), a novel of family secrets and mothers and daughters, set in Vermont. I had listened to The Sleepwalker in 2017 and thought it was excellent, so I was happy to come across The Premonition. The Premonition seemed very familiar, making me wonder if it was actually an excerpt from the novel that was published as a separate, short audio story.

But the author’s note on his Web site says he wrote The Premonition after The Sleepwalker, so it must be that either the same events are referred to in both, or I had already listened to The Premonition once before and should blame my spotty record-keeping for thinking it was new to me. Either way, I recommend both to audiobook readers looking for suspenseful family drama.

Currently Listening To

I guess I’m on a Chris Bohjalian kick! His books are on the darker side, and I had actually been looking for lighter reading for a change, but then I saw The Red Lotus (Random House Audio, 2020) was available through the library and decided to grab it.

Chris Bohjalian knows how to tell a suspenseful story that builds slowly and has well-developed characters who react to crisis situations in realistic ways. The Red Lotus is set in Vietnam, with American main characters who travel there for a bike tour and get into trouble.

This post is linked to “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Check out this week’s link-up party for more of what book bloggers are reading!