What I’m reading
Goose Girl series by Shannon Hale (YA or older MG, fairy tales, beautiful writing)
I’m working my way through this series and thoroughly enjoying it. It’s everything a fairy tale should be — dark and touching and beautiful and a bit scary but with a satisfying ending.
Dodger by Terry Pratchett (YA, semi-historical fiction, Dickensian, street urchins, humor, ARC) pub. 9/13
I had a hard time getting into the story at first. The language is a little twisty and Dickensian so after reading several plain-spoken books it was hard to make the mental switch. I’m a sucker for clever-street-urchin books (The Thief Lord, The Demon King, Mistoborn) so once I got into the story, I really enjoyed it. If you like Dickens and Pratchett, you will like Dodger.
What I’m listening to:
Thanks to Amazon/Audible’s awesome sale, I’m listening to several books right now.
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Japanese magic-realism, doorstop, rated R)
This hefty tome works surprisingly well (so far) as an audiobook. (I’m only 2.5 hours into the 45+ hour audiobook). Unfortunately I can only listen to it when the kids are not home or in the car with me so that really limits my listening time. Maybe if I can get headphones that don’t leak any sound I can listen while the kids are at the gym.
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (mystery, Sherlock Holmes, PG-13)
I was so excited when I got The Sign of Four for free last week. I listen to it in the kitchen while making dinner or when I’m driving with only one of the kids. Both kids and I are really enjoying it.
I’m giving it a PG-13 because Holmes uses cocaine at the beginning of the book — some parent might not want younger kids hearing about the book’s hero abusing drugs.
If you missed it last week, Amazon/Audible are selling some audibooks at a discount if you purchase (or have already purchased the ebook). Also you can get the ebook/audiobook of a bunch of classics for free. Books on the Knob has a nice roundup of available titles.
What’s on my TBR pile?
Uncontrollable by S.R. Johannes is coming out next week. The first book in this series (Untraceable) is the best indie YA I have read this year so I have very high hopes for Uncontrollable (mystery, outdoorsy, strong-girl protagonist, YA).
And Raven Boys is coming out next week. Need I say any more?!?
For more It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, visit Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Sheila at Book Journey.
Interesting mix of titles + formats: the audiobook, i tried it with 2 books, but then turned to e-books – maybe i should also try audiobooks again.
Have a lovely reading week :) here are my reads: http://virtual-notes.blogspot.de/search/label/bookshelf
It can feel overwhelming, can’t it? I’m trying to keep it all under control by not taking on too many review books.
Here’s my It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? I hope you will stop by!
I’m going to have to look for Untraceable, Katya. I haven’t heard of it before. And still haven’t done anything about the audio on Amazon. I seem to have so many straight from the library too. I have The Raven Boys on its way! So exciting. Thanks again to your son for the rec for Smile.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Shannon Hale, I should check out the goose girl series soon. Oh wow, 45 hours for an audio book!! No joke? Where will you find the time??? Wouldn’t reading it go much faster?
I’ve been collecting the discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. I think I’m making progress, but I still have a few titles missing. Glad to hear that you like his style of writing, despite the heavy-going start. :)
I want to read Dodger terribly but simply have not had the time. I have a copy and I must get to it soon. Pratchett is always good. Love The Sign of Four, although I haven’t read it in ages.
Dodger sounds like fun!
I am also in the middle of too many books! I haven’t read any of the ones on your list. I think I may give Raven Boys a try. I wasn’t a fan of the Wolves of Mercy Fall series, but this one does sound intriguing!
Lol – I know the feeling of being in the middle of too many books – and of having too many books to read! Hope you enjoy all of them though :-)
Oh, I’m so excited you’re reading a Sherlock Holmes book. He is my favorite book character of all time. I actually read The Hound of Baskervilles atleast once every year. I hope you enjoy it!
Lei
Goose Girl sounds interesting- as does Silhouette of a Sparrow which you mentioned before and I just read your review of! While Sherlock Holmes was never my favorite detective, a lot of the short stories were definitely interesting. Happy Reading!
I wish I could get into audiobooks! I have a long drive, so I could get so much more reading done, if only I could. Great way to multitask, though, by listening while cooking.
I want to read Shannon Hale’s books, too. These Monday posts always remind me of books I’ve been meaning to read, or add new books to the pile…
I looked at the Audible/Amazon saie but not this time! Too much at the moment to read! and listen to!
Kathryn