The Its Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at Book Journey.
Life…
As expected this past week has been rather frantic.
My oldest daughter not only completed her HSC trial exams (she is in her final year of school) , she was fabulous in her gymnastics annual concert- the concert is so popular they have to run two shows so it was a big weekend for her, especially as she was part of five routines.
Meanwhile my youngest daughter has joined a basketball team and training began this week and she also attended a two day Scout outing, practicing her orienteering skills – confronting a red bellied black snake during her pack’s bush hike.
My youngest son dressed up as Harry Potter for the school’s book parade last week and both the boys finished their season of AFL (football) and were proud to receive their trophies at the presentation day on Sunday.
All three of the younger children are also busy rehearsing for their school’s annual concert next week. Tuesday night is the infants concert (years K-2) where J is playing the Lion from the Wizard of Oz and Wednesday is the primary concert (years 3-6) where A is playing Jane in their production of Mary Poppins, while M is a penguin.
Work has been equally frantic for my husband and he has not only been working 12 hour days, he had to go into work over the weekend as well – leaving me to juggle the kids commitments. Meanwhile I am in the midst of writing a new course I am teaching in September and just trying to keep up with everything else! The housework is suffering – badly 🙂
Oh, and tomorrow Book’d Out turns 3!
Make sure you stop by to join in the celebration!
What I Read Last Week
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
His Stupid Boyhood by Peter Goldsworthy
Trouble Brewing by Jane Tara
Nefarious Doings by Ilsa Evans
Claire de Witt and the Bohemian Highway by Sarah Gran
New Posts
(click the titles to read my reviews)
Review: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon ★★★★
Review: Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes ★★★
Review & Giveaway: Trouble Brewing by Jane Tara ★★★1/2
Review: His Stupid Boyhood by Peter Goldsworthy ★★★
Stuff On Sunday: How do you keep track of all the books that make their way into your house?
What I Am Reading Today
Private investigator Janelle Watkins swore off investigating child abductions four years ago, when she left the San Francisco PD. But when two clients beg for her help, one to find her missing 11-year-old son and the other to find a toddler who’s vanished, Janelle can’t say no. Even though it means returning to the scene of her nightmares – her hometown of Greenville. Janelle enlists the aid of her ex-partner and ex-lover, Greenville County Sheriff Ken Heinz – but in the midst of their investigation, two other children are discovered missing and connected to Greenville. Then Ken’s niece disappears on her way to school. Janelle and Ken find themselves in a race against the clock. Will they find the missing children in time, or will history repeat itself?
What I Plan To Read This Week
(click the covers to view at Goodreads)
Empathetic, supportive and respectful… Or competitive, manipulative and downright bitchy? Or somewhere in between? In Just Between Us , a host of Australia’s best-loved female writers bare all on this age-old quandary:
Are female friendships all-natural and nurturing? Or are some more damaging than delightful? And most of all, what happens when female relationships go off the rails? And who is to blame? While falling in and out of romantic love is a well-documented experience, losing a friend rarely gets discussed. Which doesn’t mean the pain is less – quite the opposite, as we discover in this extraordinary collection of heartfelt fiction and non-fiction works that put female friendship in the spotlight.
Ex-detective Frank Swann is now on the outside of the police force – the only way to get justice done in Perth. In 1979 the city is a place of celebration and corruption. There are street parties, official glad-handing – even a royal visit – to commemorate a century and a half since colonisation. But behind the festivities a new kind of land grab is going on, this time for mining leases. The price of gold is up and very few, it seems, are incorruptible before its lure. When Swann is hired to probe the suicide of a respected geologist, he’s drawn into a mire of vice and fraud, at the centre of which sit the directors of a gold-lease consortium. They’re an unlikely collection of the seemingly respectable and the clearly not, with one thing in common: a lust for wealth that verges on a disease. For an old-school tough guy like Swann, that’s a gauntlet he just has to pick up . .
‘I’m going to love my baby and give her lots of attention,’ Jade said. ‘I’ll show my mum she’s wrong.’ Jade, 17, is pregnant, homeless and alone when she’s brought to live with Cathy. Jade is desperate to keep her baby, but little more than a child herself, she struggles with the responsibilities her daughter brings. Cathy is worried as soon as Jade arrives: she’s never looked after a pregnant teenager before, but none of the mother and baby carers free, and – seventeen years old, seven months pregnant and homeless – Jade is in a desperate situation. But Jade doesn’t want to listen or advice and although her daughter is born safely it isn’t long before Jade’s in trouble with the police. Cathy knows that Jade loves her daughter with all her heart, but will she be able to get through to Jade in time to make her realise just how much she might lose?
Sierra Court Blues” transports the reader on a mind-bending adventure with the main character Bo Kineally, a young father and husband with dreams of becoming a nationally known star from the backwoods of Bethel, Ohio. Can Bo strike a balance between his responsibilities and desires as both sides vie for his attention? “Sierra Court Blues” leaves nothing to the imagination with gripping characters, dysfunctional band members, roller-coaster drama, heart wrenching relationships, betrayal, and intricate family dynamics. The novel is sure to be a page turner for metal music enthusiasts everywhere.
It is customary to bring gifts to a wedding. But as daughter Luna prepares to marry her dream husband, the Smith family instead have in tow their own idiosyncratic brands of emotional baggage. Her father, Graham, struggles to write his own own obituary; her mother, Velma, attempts to negotiate her mid-life crisis with a lover seventeen years her junior; her brother, Ginsberg, tries to come to term with being a homosexual who has inadvertently fallen in love with his wife; and her obese uncle, Darren, starts an obsession with the absurd hero Ignatius J Reilly of John Kennedy Toole’s A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. Can these hopelessly misguided attempts to unravel the complexities of family, legacy, sexuality and, ultimately, love and death, ever come to a resolution?
While you are here…
ENTER TO WIN 1 of 6 copies of Deadly Virtues by Jo Bannister (Worldwide)
ENTER TO WIN 1 of 4 copies of Trouble Brewing by Jane Tara (Worldwide)
Thanks for stopping by, I’ll be along to visit you shortly!
I like the sound of Please Don’t Take My Baby. Enjoy your week!
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I’m hoping it isn’t too sad Laurel
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Wow, you are busy! Congrats on 3 years!
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Thanks Nise 🙂
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Its been a busy week for me as well with not very much reading done. I do so like the look of your reads.
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Thanks Mystica – it is that time of year I think and things won’t be slowing down too much here any time soon
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It sounds like you had a very busy week, and the rest of the family as well! Just between us sounds very good, I am looking forward to your review.
Have a great week & kind regards,
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No rest for the wicked 🙂
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Happy blogoversary! Enjoy your week!
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Thanks Jen!
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You have been busy! Congratulations on your blogoversary. Three years is quite an accomplishment. I adore your taste in books and look forward to your posts.
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That’s so sweet of you to say Belle, thanks!
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You seem to have had a good week of reading inspite of being so busy. I know housework suffers! Tell me about it. Trying not to see all that I need to do! Congrats on 3 years of book blogging.
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I’ll take any excuse to avoid housework 🙂
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Holy cow, frantic all round, sounds like lots of fun stuff though! I’ll be keen to see what you think of Just Between Us and Please Don’t Take My Baby. Will pop back tomorrow for your blogoversary. Have a great week and happy reading 🙂
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Lovely photos and lots of good books, some of them are written down on my readinglist 🙂 All the best from Anette in Norway 🙂
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Oh my, i don’t know where you managed to fit any reading into such a busy week! Has it been three years already… Wow…
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I know – it doesn’t seem that long at all!
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Congrats on almost turning 3 and enjoy your reads!
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Congratulations on your three year anniversary! Boy, are you busy?! Hope you get a little time to sit and read in there somewhere!
Here’s my It’s Monday!
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There is always time to read 🙂
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Wow! You are one busy lady. That’s some list you have there. Good Luck and have a great week!
My Monday Post
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Congrats on your anniversary.
Busy week for you.
THANKS for stopping by my Mailbox Monday and My It’s Monday, What are you Reading! Post.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My It’s Monday, What Are You Reading
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Busy week for your family, but the memories you are making will be priceless! Busy on the book front also. Congrats on turning 3, way to go! I like many of your books and am right now adding a couple to my wishlist. Thanks for sharing fun posts, as always.
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Memories are important – thanks for stopping by Rita!
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Hooray for three years of Book’d Out!
It sounds like you are having a crazy week. I hope everything goes well and you find a few quiet moments to read! 🙂
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Thanks Lindsey 🙂
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Three years, yay! You’ve built an impressive blog in that time, Shelleyrae. 🙂 I’m truly amazed at how much you get done in reading and blogging with so much going on in your life, it really does sound like a crazy week!
I’m super keen to read Zero at the Bone, partly because of the setting, and I’m curious about Please Don’t Take My Baby – looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that one. I’ve been a bit wary about picking up a copy of The Bone Season but your level of enjoyment of it makes it sound more promising.
Hope you get a chance to take a break this week! 🙂
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Thanks Shannon – I have a soft spot for any book set in WA since that is where I grew up 🙂
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HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY!!!!!! Clean Burn looks really good to me. Going on my wishlist!!! Have a great week!!
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Thanks Lori 🙂
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Congrats on 3 years! Have a great week!
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I read a few good reviews of The Bone Season- hope you liked it!
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I did!
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Congrats on your blogoversary! Check out my What are you reading link here: http://meandu-justthinking.blogspot.ca/2013/08/its-monday-what-are-you-reading_26.html
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A book parade sounds fun! And Harry Potter, what a cool costume choice!
I can’t wait to read Human Remains, and that sounds kind of gross. Lol. I just really loved Into the Darkest Corner. So scary!
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I’ve put Darkest Corner on my wishlist since it received such good reviews
Thanks for dropping by!
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So many wonderful books you have here and it was great to read your updates about your kids. My own 11 year old daughter is part of the basketball team as well and she loves it. Great choice as Harry Potter! 🙂
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I represented my state in basketball as a teen so i was thrilled she showed interest 🙂
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Busy, busy! Still you manage to get a good amount of reading done. All is well. 🙂
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