I’m still working on getting back into the groove with both reading and writing. I’m happy with my reading progress, though I need to stay on top of the writing a bit better. As I shared in my summer reading update, a priority for the fall would be to return to my literary travels around the world. I’m pleased to have completed two books that let me check off two new regions—Central America/Caribbean and Oceania—for that challenge. I also continued to make progress on my ongoing Nordic Literature Reading Challenge with a Nordic Noir from Denmark.
How has your reading been going lately?
Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas (2022)
In this middle grade graphic novel, a young Black girl moves with her dad to a new state where it turns out that Swim 101 is the only elective left for her to take. She overcomes her fear of water and with the help of an elderly neighbor who was once a swimming champion, she helps her new middle school swim team have a successful season. Besides the themes of family, friendship, and community along with the engaging artwork, one of my favorite aspects of this graphic novel was how it delved into the history of swimming in the Black community and how racism played a role in Black Americans’ ability to swim. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Summer Reading Challenge: A “CS Reader Medal”; A book with a sports or arts connection
Iron Flame (The Empyrean #2) by Rebecca Yarros (2023)
Audiobook Narrated by Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton
Last summer it was the first in the series; this summer it was the second. I had some trouble remembering the details of the characters, setting, and story from the first book, but it didn’t prevent me from having another extremely engaging and enjoyable listening experience. I just focused on what was going on at the moment. I really enjoyed the friendships, camaraderie, chemistry, action. What a cliffhanger at the end, though! I may need to listen to the third installment sooner rather than later so I don’t forget as much. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Summer Reading Challenge: A big book
The Lost Man by Jane Harper (2018)
Audiobook Narrated by Stephen Shanahan 
I loved how this book took me to the Outback in Australia, a vast, remote, and sparsely populated area of the country. It’s about the cattle farming Bright family who is shocked by the death of the middle brother. He left behind his wife and two young daughters, as well his mother and two brothers. The circumstances of the death are mysterious—and the older brother is determined to find out what happened. It’s a story of family, relationships, and second chances with strong characters and a fascinating sense of place. ⭐️⭐⭐️⭐⭐️
- Read Around the World: Oceania (Australia)
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (2023)
I was drawn to this story because of its setting in the Caribbean in the 1830s when slaves were freed but forced into apprenticeship instead. The story follows Rachel as she escapes the plantation where she’s been for years and begins a desperate search to find her five children who have been taken from her and sold over the years. Her journey starts in Barbados, continues to British Guiana, and then to Trinidad. I appreciated the glimpse into this historical period (her children all in very different circumstances), but the excessive mind-reading and convenient plot turns made it hard to fully connect with the story. ⭐️⭐️(⭐️)
- Read Around the World: Central America & Caribbean (Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad)
- Read my own shelf: BOTM
The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup (2019)
Translated from the Danish by Caroline Waight (2019)
Audiobook Narrated by Peter Noble
This Nordic Noir is not for everyone. It’s a dark, gruesome serial killer story. There were several times I considered putting it down, yet something about it kept pulling me back in. The killer always leaves a handmade chestnut doll at the scene, and before long, a connection emerges to a young girl who was kidnapped and murdered a year earlier. Two detectives reluctantly cooperate to solve the case. Over time, the detectives grew on me and I was increasingly intrigued by the plot. After finishing, I discovered there’s a second installment with these detectives, and I just might add it to my TBR once it’s released in English despite my hesitations with this one. ⭐️⭐️(⭐️)
- Nordic Literature Reading Challenge: Denmark / Nordic Noir
- Read Around the World: Western Europe (Denmark)
What have you been reading lately?
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With summer now upon us, I am back on track with my reading. My goals for the summer are to catch up on reading challenges, play along with a summer reading bingo that is happening at work, and prepare and participate in 
Last year I read the author’s debut novel Salt Houses, which I really enjoyed, so when her second novel was 
I needed a light and easy audiobook that I could wrap up before our summer trip, and what better choice than one that would take me to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Sadly, this book wasn’t for me. Yes, I escaped to Positano and vicariously enjoyed delicious food and fabulous views, but I was not a fan of the storyline. Thirty-something Katy’s mother, who was her best friend, just died of cancer and Katy decides to take the trip that they had planned to do together anyways. She’s distraught and lost, and on top of that, questioning her marriage. While in Positano she meets two Americans, Carol, who is just like her mother, and Adam, who is totally unlike her husband. There’s a lot of self-reflection and I’m not sure whether time travel or mental breakdown, but she finds herself actually with her mother as a 30-year-old. At that point, I almost stopped listening, but curiosity and the fact that it was a short listen got me to finish it.
I needed a book that would jump start my summer reading so I finally read the third and latest English language installment in this Norwegian duo’s crime series. Like the others, it took place in Oslo and there were many places I recognized and knew, but the structure was very different, at least for the first half. It alternated between the interrogation of police office Alexander Blix about why he had shot someone, the interrogation of journalist Emma Ramm who saw what had happened, and the storyline of how the person was killed, so a lot of telling with jumps to actual action. The second half returned to a more traditional structure, but with a change in the focus of the investigation and a change in role for Blix. Unfortunately, the book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I wasn’t a fan of the structure of the first half and I didn’t like the new role for Blix.
This is the third in a series of four about Ingrid, an independent woman born, raised, and living on a remote island in Northern Norway in the 1900s. This installment takes place just after World War II. Ingrid leaves the island with her baby girl and travels throughout Norway on foot/train/bus to track down the father, a Russian prisoner of war who spent a short while on the island towards the end of the war as Ingrid nursed him back to health after he had survived 