kay's week - 1.14.17

Welcome to week #2 of kay's week.  Hope everyone has had a good week, though I know some have been sick and some have had bad weather.  Mine has not been bad at all.  I've gotten back into some good habits and read, read, read.

Wendy from Musings of a Bookish Kitty shared a couple of posts recently that included the first line of the books she read in 2016 and also the last line (she warned of spoilers) of books.  I've seen other bloggers share the first line in their reviews and there are, of course, a couple of memes where we share a bit from a book.  However, I decided to note both - first sentence-ish and last sentence-ish in my reading journal.  I'm excited about having those 'memory helps' available for me at a later time. Thanks for the tip, Wendy!


I've been reading...

I finished 3 books this week and marked 1 as a DNF.  All 3 I finished were read/listen combos.

The Woman In Cabin 10 is Ruth Ware's second book.  The audio was narrated by Imogen Church and she did a marvelous job.  Lo Blacklock is a travel journalist that is invited on a luxury cruise and finds it much more harrowing than she expected.  Lo is a nervous sort of person and it doesn't help that she's been the victim of a burglary a couple of days before the cruise leaves.  Plus the ship itself is smaller than she imagined - a boutique cruise.  The other passengers are journalists and investors.  Lo wakes up the first night and thinks she hears someone falling overboard and a scream.  She reports this to ship security, but feels like no one believes her.  The whole book reinforced my resolve to stay off of boats.  I get motion sick anyway.  The story was suspenseful and I was surprised a few times.  Recommended.

I next read The Drowning Girls by Paula Treick DeBoard.  This is the first book I've read by this author and it was narrated by Amy McFadden and David Atlas (both good).  Liz McGinnis, a high school counselor, moves to a very, very upscale community with her husband, Phil, and her teenage daughter, Danielle.  Phil's job as a community liaison comes with a house in the neighborhood paid for by his employer, but the McGinnis' lives are so different from the rich people in the area.  The family is welcomed initially, but then things start to go wrong.  Liz has problems with both Phil and Danielle.  There are incidents, secrets, major drama.  I liked this story pretty well, but it did seem that if a dramatic incident could happen, it did.  A little over the top.  I guessed the ending.

My next read was The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti.  Again, the first book I've read by this author.  The narrator was Mandeleine Maby, who I've enjoyed before.  She does a good job.  In this book, Zoe Whittaker is a young wife to a Wall Street success, Henry.  Zoe used to work at a flower shop, but she and Henry met at a corporate event and he swept her off her feet.  Now she lives in a penthouse apartment and organizes fundraisers and goes to lavish parties with her husband.  Zoe though used to be another person with another name.  When her photograph is published in the society pages, Zoe finds that her life is in turmoil.  She's nearly run over by a speeding vehicle, her apartment is broken into, she feels someone watching her - is her secret out?  I read this one pretty quickly and, at first, thought I had the secrets solved.  I did not.  There were some surprises, though the main character was a little tough to like.  This was mostly good for me - not wonderful, but mostly good.

Lastly, I really tried to read The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James.  I featured this one on Tuesday.  I got to 25% on my Kindle and it just wasn't working for me.  I decided it either wasn't the right time or not the right book, so I put it aside.  I'll perhaps try again at a later date.


I've watched...

The second episode of Sherlock - hmmm...this is obviously going to be a dark, dark year for this particular adaptation of Sherlock.  Not sure I'm loving it.  Think I like the Elementary adaptation better right now.  I've been a little weary of many of my long-watched TV shows.  Shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds and others.  While we were sick, I started watching Foyle's War again and I'm enjoying that.


Book Groups...

I did attend a book group this week, even though I hadn't read the book for discussion - Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris.  The discussion was quite good and I'll be reading this one before long.  There are 2 others books in the series as well.  Next month's book for that group is not very appealing to me - The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles.  I suspect I'll give that one a pass.  This week, another book group that I visit from time to time is meeting.  They are having a Dead Author Month and discussing books by Carol Shields.  I've not read any books by that author, but I might attend anyway.  It's always fun listening to the discussion.  Have you read any of Carol Shields' books?


Personally...

I resumed walking at the rec center on Monday and have walked each day this week.  It felt good to go round and round the track, listening to whatever book I was reading at the moment.  Lots of people at the gym.  It's always like that in January and February as everyone works on their 'resolutions'.  Then it will quiet down.  Next week, I'm going to try to tackle yoga again.  We also got rain yesterday and that will help the cedar pollen levels in our area.  I'm so happy for that - tired of itchy eyes and ears.  As I wind up this weekly post, I'll share a picture of my Christmas gift from my daughter and son-in-law.  Just what I needed - a lovely book bag, an Amazon gift card for Kindle books, and a bookmark that the daughter made with counted cross stitch.  I've already used the bag.  It holds a very nice amount of library books.  Yes, I know, I was going to only read my own books.  You didn't really believe me when I said that, right?  Ha!  Have a great week!!