Early May is a special time in my family. The family often gathers to celebrate the birthdays of my brother and of my father who would have been 97 years old on this birthday. We also celebrate Mother’s Day (a little early this year) and honor our amazing Mom who is still so strong in intellect and spirit, although increasingly unsteady physically.

So our visit meant a road trip for Byron and me, which we are enjoying very much, especially after this long and confining winter. We, of course, brought our Kindles with us. When it was my turn to drive, Byron read The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance, by Anthony Gottlieb.  And while he drove, I read my current mystery: Death in La Fenice, by Donna Leon.

We stopped for an overnight visit with my brother and sister-in-law, both voracious readers, so we left with this extensive list of books to read:

• Dark Money, Jane Mayer
• The Emperor of all Maladies,  Siddhartha Mukherjee
• The Big Fat Surprise, Nina Teicholtz
• Nobody Cares About Crazy People, Ron Powers
• A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
• A Deadly Wandering, Matt Richtel
• The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
• On Immunity, Eula Biss
• Lab Girl, Hope Jahren
• At Home, Bill Bryson
• The Zookeeper’s Wife, Diane Ackerman

And when we arrived at my mother’s place, I found that she had just finished reading Girl Waits With Gun, by Amy Stewart, for her book club . I also thought you might be interested to see some of the books on her shelf so I took some photos for you.

With the family together (minus one brother and sister-in-law), we talked a lot about the current state of affairs in this country and the world, but we also talked a lot about books. It’s so nice to come from a family of readers!