It's Monday . . . What Are You Reading?

For the second week in a row, I'm participating in "It's Monday...What Are You Reading" hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. This seems to be a great way to gather your thoughts about what you've just read and what you are reading for the coming week.

Last week, I posted my reviews of these novels:

Genevieve Valentine's wonderful new novel The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is an intoxicating re-imagining of the fairy tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in Prohibition-era Manhattan. You can read my review here.

And The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I had previously blogged about my reluctance to even start the novel (On My Strange and Embarrassing Reluctance to Start The Goldfinch) . . . and then when I finally finished that nearly 800-page behemoth, I procrastinated something fierce about writing my review! But here it is.

In addition, I joined the Big Book Summer Challenge for 2014, hosted by Sue at Book by Book. You can see what I committed to reading here. I need to get started on these soon! I am waiting for one of these--The Rise and Fall of Great Powers--to come in the mail. Are you interested in putting any Big Books in your beach bag for this summer?

I just finished reading this book:

Susan Scarf Merrell's novel Shirley, which will be released June 12. It's kind of a psychological thriller about a young woman who goes to stay in the home of Shirley Jackson (the writer of the famous short story "The Lottery") in the mid-1960s. This is an unusual novel that mixes fiction with some real characters and real events. I will post my review later this week.

Next up for me:

Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro is the next selection of one of my book clubs, so I need to get cracking on it.

On audio, I am still listening to Ayelet Waldman's Love and Treasure. Sometimes it takes me awhile to finish audiobooks; I listen to them when I do household chores or grocery shopping or if I have to drive a distance, so it really just depends on how my week is going. I used to borrow audiobooks from my library, but several times I did not finish listening to the book in the allotted 2 week time period! I find it pretty ridiculous that you can renew a physical book several times, but you can't renew an audiobook. I can't be the only person with this problem! For now, I've given up on the library for audiobooks and I'm using Audible. By the way, did you know that June is Audiobook Month? So celebrate by listening to one... slowly, if you are like me!

What's on your reading agenda this week?