It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kid lit focus. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kid lit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Over the past several months, I have found it difficult to focus on reading and felt like maybe I was in a reading rut. However, I believe that there are times when I am just overwhelmed and don’t know which book to start or I begin to juggle multiple books. Yet, I am really not savoring what I am reading. Lately, I decided to focus on audiobooks and getting to titles that I have already purchased and listening to about one a week along with a stack of picture books and cookbooks.

Here is what jumped out of the stack…

The 5 O’Clock Band by Troy Andrews, Illustrated by Bryan Collier (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2018)

Up the Mountain Path by Marianne Dubuc (Princeton Architectural Press, 2018)

Chicken Talk by Patricia MacLachlan, Illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Katherine Tegen Books, January 15, 2019)

One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller by Kate Read (Peachtree Publishers, Fall 2019)

Because of the Rabbit by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic, March 26, 2019)

Audiobooks:
I started the audiobook of Circe by Madeline Miller but put it on hold since I didn’t feel like I could focus enough to keep all of the characters straight in my mind. I will come back to it when I have a longer drive and can focus more for the initial part of the book.

I decided to switch over to The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2018) and loved the book, and loved the narrator of the audiobook. If you haven’t read this one, add it to your list of audiobooks. I really have enjoyed seeing how Johnson has been growing as a writer since The Great Green Heist.

Next up: Internment by Samira Ahmed (Little, Brown Audiobooks, 2019)

Adult Titles:
I discovered that the Los Angeles Public Library has a fantastic collection of cookbooks and I have been placing holds on all of the books i have been hearing about or wanting to read. Some books have been available more quickly and others have longer holds but I am in no rush. I just enjoy when they show up. Here are the two from this past week.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman (Knopf, 2012) - I love Deb Perelman’s blog and thought I would take a look at her cookbooks to see if I need to own them or not. I liked this one but I want to see her newer book before deciding which one I want to buy.

Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories by Naz Deravian (Flatiron Books, 2018) - I moved school districts in August and my new District has a very large Middle Eastern population. Our office potlucks have been a new experience for me with dozens of dishes that are new to me. I heard Deravian on The Splendid Table and thought it would be fun to read her book. Now I want to make Tahdig (the rice dish on the cover of the book).

In case you missed these posts from last week…