HUMP DAY POTPOURRI: ENGAGING BOOKS…

Today I’m participating in Sam’s WWW Wednesdays.  Here’s how it works:

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next, and/or what are you eagerly awaiting?

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Currently Reading:  I Am I Am I Am (e-book), by Maggie O’Farrell,  is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive.

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BOOKS FINISHED SINCE LAST WEEK: (Click Titles/Covers for My Reviews)

Every Note Played (e-book), by Lisa Genova (a book from the library)

Beach Bliss, by Joanne DeMaio (Author Review Request)

The Perfect Mother (e-book), by Aimee Molloy (A Purchase)

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EAGERLY ANTICIPATING:

Whistle in the Dark, by Emma Healey, a book I have to read because I loved the previous book by this author (Elizabeth Is Missing), winner of the Costa First Novel Award.  This new book is a beautiful, thought-provoking, and psychologically complex tale that affirms her status as one of the most inventive and original literary novelists today. (Release Date:  July 24, 2018).

 

Synopsis:  Jen and Hugh Maddox have just survived every parent’s worst nightmare.

Relieved, but still terrified, they sit by the hospital bedside of their fifteen-year-old daughter, Lana, who was found bloodied, bruised, and disoriented after going missing for four days during a mother-daughter vacation in the country. As Lana lies mute in the bed, unwilling or unable to articulate what happened to her during that period, the national media speculates wildly and Jen and Hugh try to answer many questions.

Where was Lana? How did she get hurt? Was the teenage boy who befriended her involved? How did she survive outside for all those days? Even when she returns to the family home and her school routine, Lana only provides the same frustrating answer over and over: “I can’t remember.”

For years, Jen had tried to soothe the depressive demons plaguing her younger child, and had always dreaded the worst. Now she has hope—the family has gone through hell and come out the other side. But Jen cannot let go of her need to find the truth. Without telling Hugh or their pregnant older daughter Meg, Jen sets off to retrace Lana’s steps, a journey that will lead her to a deeper understanding of her youngest daughter, her family, and herself.

A wry, poignant, and masterfully drawn story that explores the bonds and duress of family life, the pain of mental illness, and the fraught yet enduring connection between mothers and daughters, Whistle in the Dark is a story of guilt, fear, hope, and love that explores what it means to lose and find ourselves and those we love.

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This is my week so far.  What did yours look like?

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