On to June...

Hello, friends. As May winds down, my husband and I were talking about how long  this month has seemed! It's hard to believe we started it off in Florida... that seems like ages ago. We took several days to drive back to CT, and have visited my parents in central NY - twice. No wonder we're exhausted! 

We're done with travel for a while now, but this weekend has still been full of family. Our NYC daughter, son-in-law, and Winnie the Whippet are here for a long visit. My Pennsylvania brother and sister-in-law stopped for lunch yesterday on their way to Providence, and later today we'll see our CT daughter and her husband, too.  It will be the first time the seven of us been together since Christmas!

As far as reading goes, I finished a couple of books, am enjoying my current read, and continue to make progress on War and Peace.

Recent reading//

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout is back with a new, stand-alone novel. This one is set in Massachusetts, rather than Maine, and features an entirely new cast of characters. Fifty-something Artie Dam is a popular high school history teacher. While appearing to be friendly and jovial, he inwardly harbors growing feelings of isolation and loneliness. After discovering a long-held family secret, Artie loses his precarious balance. Once again, Strout offers the reader a masterful portrayal of the human condition. She even includes an oblique reference to Olive Kitteridge, which I found delightful.

One notable surprise... this novel gets political in a way none of her previous books have. Given the current state of our country, it's not surprising these topics are on her mind. Strout never mentions the current president by name, but some readers may find it a bit heavy-handed. This is not my favorite Elizabeth Strout novel, but I still loved it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

Ready for some lighter entertainment, I turned to Laura Lippman's new cozy mystery. I'm hoping it the first in a series featuring 68-year-old Muriel Blossom, a former employee of Lippman's detective Tess Monaghan. Mrs. Blossom, a widow, has recently won the lottery and sets off an adventure -  her first trip abroad, followed by a cruise with her best friend. Instead she finds herself entangled in an art theft/fraud scheme, a potential romance, and an unexpected death or two. This read/listen combo was a lot of fun, and I particularly recommend the audio. 

⭐⭐⭐💫

Current reading//

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen

Have you seen Ann Patchett's Friday videos on instagram? This was a recent New-to-You pick and I was "influenced" to pick up a 418-page 1938 novel by Irish author Elizabeth Bowen. It starts slowly,  took me a minute to adjust to the language and writing style, but now I don't want to put it down!  52%

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 

The yearlong slow read with Footnotes & Tangents continues. This week we hit the 600 page mark! I really like reading just one chapter per day and am not sure I could get through this tome any other way.

How was your week? What have you been reading?