It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? 9-23-24

Traveled again this weekend – leaving straight from work Friday night after a busy work week. Flight was delayed due to bad weather in other parts of the country, so we had dinner before catching the airport shuttle. Even before the delay, we had expected to get in late, most likely after the baby’s bedtime, so the first travel setback wasn’t terribly disappointing.

The two-hour line for the rental car at the other end was, though! Ugh. We will never use Avis/Budget again! We felt bad for the two service reps trying to handle all the customers themselves. There were no lines at the other companies who were still staffed at that time of night, and they all had self-service kiosks! If we had known just how long the wait would be, we might have bit the bullet and paid through the nose for a last-minute switch, but we didn’t think it could possibly be as bad and inefficient as it was. They should have had a separate line for people who had pre-registered to speed things along (ha!).

So, with not getting in till 2 am, we were pretty tired the next morning waking up with the baby (who’s now a toddler already!) but we had a really nice weekend visit with extended family, and even got to babysit on Saturday night! It was worth all the traveling, even though we had to head back the airport straight after brunch on Sunday.

Currently Reading

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan is a dual audiobook/book read, because the audiobook came in for me just as I bought my own copy at an author event and the author mentioned one of her favorite audiobook narrators (and mine) was one of the cast reading the audio edition of The Cliffs. (More on the author talk in a future post. Can’t do it now, or I’ll be late for work!)

The Cliffs is set in a fictional version of Ogunquit, Maine. In my last post, I wrote about Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore, which was also set in a coastal tourist town in Maine! But although the books both have family and secrets as themes, they’re different enough in style and story that I’m not getting the characters and plots confused.

A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg

Attenberg’s fans will enjoy this novel, as will those who like sharply observed dysfunctional mother-daughter stories.” — Library Journal

A Reason to See You Again is being released tomorrow. I’m reading an advance copy from NetGalley.

If you liked Jami Attenberg’s book, The Middlesteins, you’ll want to grab this one! If you’re easily depressed by “dysfunctional mother-daughter stories” (a category which The Cliffs might also fall under), you might also want to grab something lighter to read or listen to at the same time.

Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang

I liked Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang a lot, so when I saw this collection of short stories pop up while I was scrolling through lists on Libby, I downloaded this to my iPad for traveling.

Currently Listening To

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

Earphones Award Winner / Read by Kimberly Farr, Tanis Parenteau, Emily Lawrence, Brittany Pressley, Cassandra Campbell
“With its stellar cast and sprawling story, this audiobook is outstanding…” — AudioFile

Recently Listened To

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz

“Rory Kinnear’s performance of the fifth Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery
is “something of a masterclass,” says author Anthony Horowitz in a
recorded postscript that praises Kinnear’s flair and fluency.” – AudioFile Magazine

A steamy, enemies to lovers novella. Story is pretty light and predictable, but with any romance, you always know the ending right from the beginning!

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

Please let me know what you’re reading in the comments and/or share your blog link! If you can’t see where to comment, try clicking/tapping on the title of this post to open it in full.