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

I’m going back to work today after a week of being out sick – mostly spent in bed, trying to keep my germs to myself. (Apparently, successfully, as hubby escaped catching Covid from me this time. Thank you, Ireland, for having hotel rooms with windows that open!)

Missed a week of beautiful end-of-summer weather (although I did get out to the screened-in porch a few times) but can’t feel too sorry for myself, as this bout of Covid was not as bad as others I have had. My energy levels are still at a low ebb, but I did get to read and listen to a lot of audiobooks. Started one new TV show, but only got a few episodes in (The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder). I usually don’t watch TV shows based on books before I’ve read the book, but Game of Thrones was an exception, and now this is too.

Last Monday was our travel day back from Ireland, when I was still hoping Covid was just jet lag. If you want to see bookstores in Ireland photos, I shared some in last week’s “It’s Monday” post here. I posted late (even though I gained five hours on the return trip!) and promptly went to sleep for like twelve hours, so didn’t get many blog visitors that day.

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.)

Currently Reading

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

I like the cover of the American edition better than the one on the UK edition I bought. The book’s title, Sandwich, instantly conveys “Cape Cod” to people in Massachusetts, but in the book, the town the family’s rental is in is a different Cape Cod town, and I read somewhere that the title is meant to refer more to the “sandwich generation” not to the Cape Cod town named Sandwich.

In any case, this book is very hard for me to put down to do other things like write a blog post and get ready for work. It is literally laugh-out-loud funny, but with an underpinning of cavernous, deeply female darkness. If that makes sense.

Honestly, I have laughed out loud in recognition, or cringing, or just sheer amusement so many times I’ve lost count, and I’m only halfway through the book (Wednesday).

Recently Read

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney

** SHORTLISTED FOR BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR, IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2023 **
** LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023 **
How to Build a Boat is the story of how one boy and his mission transforms the lives of his teachers, Tess and Tadhg, and brings together a community.

How to Build a Boat is the other book I bought in Ireland. It’s set on the west side of Ireland, where we had traveled, so I read it right away, while the scenery was still fresh in my mind.

The main character, Jamie, is a brilliant, talkative teenager with autism, whose young vibrant mother died before he could know her. Raised by his young father, Jamie struggles to manage his feelings and conform to society’s expectations for a teenager of his size and age, while not understanding exactly how.

Temporarily Not Reading

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

I was SO close to finishing this 688-page book for Big Book Summer, but my library download expired before I could read the last few chapters! I’m waiting for either the hardcover copy to come back to me or the digital copy. Could be a long wait since the book itself is so long!

Currently Listening To

The Hunter by Tana French

More Irish reading even though my vacation was over! The Hunter is the sequel to The Searcher.

Recently Listened To

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

Only Murders in the Building meets The Maid in this “deliciously entertaining whodunit” (Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author) where someone turns up dead on the set of TV’s hottest baking competition—perfect for fans of Nita Prose, Richard Osman, and Anthony Horowitz.

I listened to The Golden Spoon after seeing it mentioned on a couple of Top Ten Tuesday posts last week – “Books About Food That Aren’t Cookbooks”. I love Richard Osman’s and Anthony Horowitz’s clever mysteries, and I like baking, so, even though I didn’t care for the Nita Prose book I read, I thought The Golden Spoon would be right up my alley.

But this one didn’t work for me. It’s a cozy mystery based on The Great British Bake-Off reality TV show concept, but I found the writing boring and most of the characters annoyingly self-absorbed. The food descriptions were good, but there weren’t enough of them to carry this long book. I didn’t care for most of the full cast of narrators for the audiobook, either, and found most of them either too slow or too carefully enunciating.

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.