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Hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
I hope you have all been enjoying the first week of August. It’s been very hot and smokey here in the Northwest. The smoke from fires in British Columbia have blanketed the Seattle area, making for gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, but also for extremely poor air quality. Hopefully things will improve this week. I missed some of the heat at home only to absolutely cook in Scottsdale, AZ where I was much of last week visiting my sister. It was a great trip with lots of good food, great wine, and excellent company!
Last Week’s Reads
I finished listening to According to a Source by Abby Stern early last week. It was exactly what I needed at the time: fun, light, sarcastic and easy! I’ll be including this in one of my double audio reviews very soon. I’ll be reviewing Stay With Me by Ayabami Adebayo closer to its publication date of 8/22. For now, I’ll just say that this story of a young Nigerian couple struggling with infertility and culture was much different and much sadder than I had expected. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Sarah@sarahsbookshelves, I next turned to Emma in the Night, Wendy Walker’s second psychological thriller. (See my review of her first, All Is Not Forgotten, here.) It was an easy, compelling read that many people are going to love! I plan to review Emma very soon.
Currently Reading
I haven’t actually started reading Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin quite yet, but plan to fix that in the next hour or so! This is a book that has had a lot of buzz and I am SO hoping it lives up to that honor. After finishing According to a Source, I really wanted another audiobook in that same sort of light, snarky vein. I remembered Catherine@gilmoreguidetobooks praising Fitness Junkie by the writing team of Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza as just that sort of book, so decided to give it a listen. In it the NYC fitness/diet industry is satirized with a whole lot of humor and aplomb. Fitness Junkie will be the other half of next double audio review.
Likely to Read Next
Quicksand by Swedish author Malin Persson Giolito had been on my radar for a while, but when I saw Sarah’s review, I got a lot more serious about it. Then, Amazon offered the Kindle edition for only $1.99 last week, so buying it was a no brainer. I’m looking forward to this story about an 18-year old girl on trial for her involvement in a mass shooting. Definitly something a little different for me.
I hope you have a great week of reading!
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Yay – glad you liked Emma in the Night and are starting Quicksand soon!
I’m loving Young Jane Young too…started yesterday morning and am already over halfway through!
Also tried Stay With Me and couldn’t get into the writing style at all. Moved on. Right call?
Yes, that’s probably the right call on Stay With Me. It was touching, but slow.
I’m over halfway with YJY now, too. I really like it, but wasn’t crazy about Ruby’s narration.
A great reading week Susie! I was going to pass on Emma in the Night but with so many trusted blogging friends liking it I’m going to give it a try. Most of the time I avoid psych thrillers since I’ve been disappointed by them so much this past year or so. Can’t wait to chat with you about Jane Young!
My review of Emma is up tomorrow if you want to take a look. I’m over half way in YJY now and I can see there will be much to discuss!
Everyone is reading Emma in the Night except me! I can’t wait for this book – everyone so far has seemed to love it! I also have According to a Source on my TBR – looks like a fun read!
I’ll be reviewing both of those this week. According to a Source was just pure fun!
Quicksand is on my list too — I was going to start it this weekend, but life got in the way.
I know how that goes!
I have been meaning to read fitness junkie..You had a great reading week!
It’s a fun satire. I’ll be reviewing it on Thursday, if you want to take a look.
Nice variety of books. All of them are new to me. I hope they are all enjoyable. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
I think I may have to pick up Emma in the Night, as well, Susie; I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it, too! I may need a break after my current read, Sing, Unburied, Sing; it’s kind of heavy. I can hardly wait to hear what you think of Fitness Junkie; I loved it! Hope your week is off to a great start!
Thanks for the heads up on Sing, Unburied, Sing. I think it helps to go into a book with the right mind set. I’m having so much fun listening to Fitness Junkie. It’s just fun. I think you’d like Emma in the Night. It’s heavy on psychology.
Even down here in the Bay Area our sunsets have been more colorful than usual. I have to wonder if it’s from the fires north of us. Come see what I’m reading.
I didn’t realize you were in the Bay Area. I grew up in the San Jose/Los Gatos area. Despite all the changes, I still think the Bay Area is such a gorgeous place.
I saw Emma in the Night mentioned on another blog and it caught my attention. I’ve read more mysteries/thrillers than I usually do this summer and I think I need a break, but I will keep it on my TBR list in case I’m in the mood for something a little more intense sometime.
I didn’t think Emma was really that intense. It was deep into psychology, but there really wasn’t a lot of tension. I know how you feel about mystery/thrillers though. I can only do so many!
I hadn’t heard of “Fitness Junkie” before, but it sounds fabulous! I’m definitely adding that one to my list!
It’s a fun one!
Hi. We are also getting the smoke from British Columbia — here in Alberta. I will be traveling to Vancouver soon — so I really hope the air quality gets better. I’m looking forward to Stay With Me — but it does sound very sad. Yikes.