It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? 1-12-26

Picture of bookshelf with text: SPEAKING OF BOOKS

I dropped the app I was using to curtail my doomscrolling before the end of the free trial because I didn’t want to pay for it. I’ve got some tips on other apps to try from other bloggers’ comments, so will look into those.

In yesterday’s Sunday Salon post, I announced the reading challenges I’m joining this year. What I find happens is, I often read the books for a challenge, but don’t track or report on the reading very regularly (or, sometimes, at all). So, we’ll see.

And I forgot one – my favorite! Sue Jackson’s Big Book Summer Challenge! (Link goes to 2025. Sadly, it’s too early to be thinking about summer here on this side of the world.)

Big Book Summer Challenge

Currently Reading

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger

Like Mother, Like Morther (Dial, 2024) by Susan Rieger

“The best kind of novel: compelling, warm, funny, and complicated, full of kick-ass women in tangled relationships, spanning generations and coming of age again and again. Susan Rieger tackles my favorite subjects: writing, family, and the conditions of unconditional love.”— Laurie Frankel, bestselling author of Family Family

I could have finished Like Mother, Like Mother this morning, but decided to wait and not rush through the final pages. This book I could see taking up a whole book club discussion on one question: What makes a mother “good” or “bad”?

Currently Listening To

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

The Ministry of Time (Simon & Schuster, 2024) by Kaliane Bradley, read by George Weightman and Katie Leung

“Imagine if The Time Traveler’s Wife had an affair with A Gentleman in Moscow…Readers, I envy you: There’s a smart, witty novel in your future.” — Ron Charles, The Washington Post

This has been on my TBR for a while, and I think I saw it on a few favorites of 2025 posts, so I moved it up on the list. This will count towards the Speccy Fiction Challenge hosted by Shelley at Book’d Out.

Recently Listened To

The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly

The Proving Ground (Hachette, 2025) by Michael Connelly, read by Peter Giles

“Narrator Peter Giles, the voice for the series, smoothly shifts among male and female characters, embodying figures as varied as a troubled teenager and a seductive digital AI companion.” – AudioFile

Hard to put down the earbuds on this one! (#8 in the Lincoln Lawyer series) If you’re interested in AI in terms of ethics, corporate liability and culpability, and industry regulation, this legal thriller gives readers an education in Generative AI 101 along with a gripping story.

This post is linked up to “It’s Monday, What Are You Reading”, hosted by The Book Date. This is a place for bloggers to meet up and share what they have been and are currently reading each week. Visit this week’s link-up for more books to add to your groaning TBR pile.