Sunday Salon

[COOKS] The Sunday Salon: Being thankful (11-22-2009)

Lisa — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:10:00 -0800

It's so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week! Since I was a kid, this has always been one of my favorite holidays, obviously partly because I look forward to our family getting together, which we don't do a lot throughout the year, and partly because of the food! Who doesn't love the food? I love to help prepare the meal and share it with my family. It is so nice to sit around the same table and be thankful we have one another. My family is quite small anymore so it just makes it all the more important to me to spend time with my extended family on Thanksgiving.

Another reason I'm looking forward to this particular holiday weekend is that I'm taking part in my very first Read-A-Thon! As you can see by the badge on the sidebar to the right, I've entered Thankfully Reading Weekend. This is an informal read-a-thon with no rules. It begins Friday, November 27 and runs thru Sunday, the 29th. If you're like me and you don't go anywhere near the stores this weekend, think about joining me and the other participants in this fun event. All the details can be found at Book Blog Social Club. I hope to see you there!

This is going to be a busy week for everyone, so I want to take the opportunity now to wish all of my book friends in the U.S. a very Happy Thanksgiving!

[1001 DAYS] The Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

Katie — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:08:00 -0800

10:09 AM

I haven't finished an entire book this week. I suppose you have to start a book to finish it. Last night I finally picked up Julie & Julia and I'm laughing out loud already. What took me so long to read this book?! I'm hoping to finish it by Thanksgiving so I can finish another book before heading back to work on November 30th. I do not know if there is any shopping in my future (meaning Black Friday), but I did a little this week and it felt great!

I read Tom Rath's Strengths Finder and completed the assessment; look for that post this week. My top 5 themes are Harmony, Input, Responsibility, Discipline and Consistency, all of which are very true to me.

Also this week, I purchased Portrait of a First Lady, a book about Michelle Obama. I couldn't help myself; the pictures were great and there are inside tips about her life that I don't yet know and can't wait to read. Last week, I purchased The Trump Card, Ivanka Trump's business book. I still have quite a pile to read, and am hoping to knock off 5 books before Christmas (just in case Santa brings more books :))

This week I will be working less, hoping to get rid of my darn allergy issues, enjoying a GREAT turkey day feast with friends, reading, and finalizing the gift for my Secret Santa at the Holiday Book Bloggers Swap. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[BOOKWORM'S DINNER] Sunday Salon, November 22, 2009-Houri, by Mehrdad Balali (11-22-2009)

wisteria — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:01:00 -0800

I remember when the news came that the Shah of Iran had been deposed and the Muslim leader Khomeini was in control. I remember vivid photos of the people, their dress, their appearance and their way of life shattered. Strict adherence to Islamic Law was to replace whatever came before. No exceptions. I remember thinking, What would it be like to live their? The author has brought us a "witness" to help us gain a better understanding about Iran in his fascinating novel, Houri.

Review:

Houri
by Mehrdad Balali
The Permanent Press
December 2009
303 pp.
ISBN-10: 1579621775
ISBN-13: 978-1579621773

When you begin to read Houri, you are descending into Iranian airspace through the voice of Shahed, a man returning to his homeland on the third anniversary of his fathers death. His name means “witness” and through his eyes, Mehrdad Balali allows you to see his country juxtaposed in a time warp of culture. Shahed left Iran as a youth, running away to America. His father died in 1979, but this pilgrimage takes him back to a Post-Revolutionary Iran, a new world for Shahed. He steps out of the plane into a strikingly different climate upon his return. There is evidence of subjugation and authoritarian rule everywhere. The obvious, bearded men and veiled women. The more subtle changes would only be noticed by a “witness” from the past, missing landmarks, renamed streets, businesses that have vanished.

As a child, Shahed hated his father and often prayed for him to die. His father led a sybaritic life, always seeking pleasure and excitement at times while his family suffered. He chased money and women that led to bitter memories for Shahed. He believes his father’s death was timely for him as the “fun and joy were being clubbed to death in Iran.”

Shahed is returning now to seek closure, perhaps find the answer to his questions and come to understand his father. Shahed experiences the tyranny and oppression under Khomeini and his reaction is surprising as he yearns for his father. “Suddenly, I began to miss him, the man I’d so intently avoided when he was alive. ......The past looked happy, alive and romantic, and the present had the sour taste of a hangover.”

Houri is absorbing and offers a panoramic vision of a country not always defined with such clarity and perspective. With a keen sense of his audience the author creates the character of Shahed as his voice. This allows for his ability to travel back in time and across continents adding his personal experiences to enhance and add valuable details.
A reflective, emotional and ironic story that shouldn’t be missed.

[3 R'S] Sunday Salon 11/22: Bookkeeping, Bookmarks, etc. (11-22-2009)

Florinda — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:00:00 -0800

Audience Participation: Blogger Input Requested!

This is a new one:
I've been contacted by the author of an in-progress book on blogging professionally who would like to include interviews with some book bloggers who have found business success with their blogs. She's actually looking for book reviewers here, not people who’ve used a blog to promote their own books, and "success" can be defined as meeting whatever income and/or recognition objectives you've set (acknowledging that very few blogs make tons of money).

That's the dream, isn't it? If you're someone who has achieved it - or you know of someone else who has - please e-mail me at 3.rsblog AT Gmail DOT com and include the blog URL. I'll write back with more info and, if you're OK with it, refer you to the author!

This is an encore from the past week:
If you're a Southern California book blogger or author, have you given your input on a new site to help build up our connections to each other? If you missed the post about that this past Tuesday, or just haven't responded yet, please read all about it and take our very short survey!

It's the season to find Reading Challenges for the coming year, and I seem to come across a new one every day! You can try looking both inward and outward on one of the four paths in Bibliofreak's World Religion Challenge, or looking back to re-read a book you've read before (liked it or not) in Aarti and Kristen M's Flashback Challenge.

And then there's the challenge that might be the most challenging of all...unplugging. This may be the one I need to join more than any other. Jen of Devourer of Books is hatching this one:

I was talking on Twitter with Candace from Beth Fish Reads about the need for all of us to take a break now and then. A lot of people chimed in that they had a hard time stepping back from their blogs, Google Reader, and Twitter. Part of the reason for it is that many of us have become good friends, but we don’t live near one another and don’t talk on the phone, so we need blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of it to keep up with one another. I know that more than one person said that they felt like they would miss out on something if they turned off the internet. Maybe we all just feel like we need permission to unplug ourselves.

Well, Candace and I are GIVING you permission. More than that, we’re CHALLENGING you to unplug sometime between now and the end of the year. The holidays are a great time to spend with family and, even though I know sometimes the blogging community feels like family, take some time off to spend with your IRL (in real life, for those of you who don’t know) family.

Here are the rules: there are no rules. We’re just suggesting that you pick a time between now and the end of the year (or anytime, really!) to unplug. Turn off Twitter, don’t blog, etc. If you need to give yourself a Twitter limit instead of turning it off, sure, whatever works for you. Choose a day, a week, evenings, whatever, but unplug, relax, and fight blogger burnout. Also, don’t worry about having posts go up when you’re unplugged! If you have some and want to pre-schedule, okay, but don’t kill yourself trying to get some up, that defeats the whole point!

It seems appropriate that there's no official sign-up for this, since it's more like an "un-challenge" - but this is where I'm letting you know that I'll be participating. Here's how I plan to unplug:

Reduce posting during the coming week and through Thanksgiving weekend, and again between December 20 and New Year's weekend
No Twitter except for morning and mid-day check-in; no Twitter at all on weekends (if there's something you really need me to know about, e-mail me - the address is in my profile!)
Use the "mark all as read" button in Google Reader daily/as needed to clear posts and get offline no later than 8 PM

I can totally picture myself fudging #3, but that may be the thing I need to unplug from the most. so I need to make the effort to stick to it. Regarding the second item: I do enjoy Twitter, but if I spend more than a few minutes at a time there I start feeling stressed, constantly refreshing and looking for new @replies. I'll miss some fun conversations, I'm sure, but the bigger things eventually get blogged about anyway (which goes back to #3). My built-in hedge for #1 is that I normally get posts written ahead of time as it is; I'll just be able to spread them out a little more. (Besides, for me, "reduced" posting is probably going to be more like 3 or 4 posts in a week instead of 6.) However, since I actually don't have one ready for tomorrow yet, this comes along at the perfect time - if I don't get one prepared today, I'll feel a lot better about it!

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

Next Reviews Scheduled:
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
When She Flew, by Jennie Shortridge (for TLC Book Tour December 3)
Lift, by Rebecca K. O'Connor

New to my LibraryThing "To Read" collection:
The Widow's Season, by Laura Brodie (moved from the Wishlist)

New additions to the Wishlist*:
Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, by Francine Prose
Commencement, by J. Courtney Sullivan
Love or Something Like It, by Deirdre Shaw

No reviews this week, and still multi-tasking on my reading - yeah, I really do need to get unplugged for a bit!

BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

Overnight sensations are rare in the writers' world

Thoughts on the relative literary merits of young-adult literature as reading for "regular" adults

The Amazon Vine review program, as discussed in Publishers Weekly: this may be the only time I've seen concern that "free" books may be reviewed too harshly. Hmm. (via @mawbooks on Twitter)

It's been just about a year since the book-blogging community lost Dewey, and Kailana proposes marking that anniversary with a community-building challenge.

The book club meets the bad apple; the book blogger addresses the self-published author

Just in time for your holiday wish list: reading-themed jewelry at The Well-Dressed Reader! (via Booking Mama)

"Black Friday" and the official start of holiday-shopping season are just a few days away. (But with online shopping and stores open seven days a week, isn't every day between now and December 24 a "shopping day"?) From the blog for the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, via Shelf Awareness, here are a few reasons you might want to get an early start on Buy(ing) Books for the Holidays:

1. We have not yet started playing Christmas music.

2. That feeling of self-righteousness over starting so early translates into treating yourself to something as well.

3. You can make a list of all the things you want, so that you can hint liberally at Thanksgiving.

4. If there’s a hardcover you’ve been eyeing, you have time to read the whole thing before giving it away.

5. We have free gift wrapping. By Christmas, you’ll forget what it was you bought. Aren’t surprises great?

6. It’s much easier to stick to your budget when we aren’t serving you eggnog like we do the week before Christmas.

7. All versions of The Night Before Christmas are still in stock. You won’t have to settle for that one weird one left over on Christmas Eve.

8. You’ll bring smiles and joy and a twinkle to the eye of your favorite local, indie bookseller.

Bunch of Grapes is located on Martha's Vineyard, but if you can't make it there, some of these might apply to your favorite nearby independent bookstore, too!

[BIRDBRAIN] The Sunday Salon: Poison by Chris Wooding (11-22-2009)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:45:04 -0800

Decided to do my Sunday Salon post a little differently this week, and actually talk about a book I’ve read recently! So, it’s kind of a review, and kind of a meme, and I hope it works out okay.

235. Poison by Chris Wooding

Publication: Orchard Books (September 1, 2005), Hardback, 288pp / ISBN 0439755700

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Horror, YA/Teen

Rating:

Read: November 15-21, 2009 (*cough*)

Source: Library

Review

Warning: There’ll be some spoilers in this review. It’s unavoidable, because I want to talk about the things surrounding the spoilers but then I have to mention the spoilers to make those things understandable, and for once I don’t want to be vague about things.

This is also extremely long, for some reason.

Poison is about a girl named, well, Poison, who lives in a marsh and is constantly bored. But then one day, her sister is stolen by faeries (or phaeries, as it’s spelled in the book) and replaced with a changeling. Poison sets off on a quest to get her back, and along the way learns some things that are horrible to her but made me squeal like a toddler high on Pixie Stix. She also makes friends, etc.

(This is what happens when I try to write my own summary, you see.)

Poison starts off like your standard faerie tale, but with little twists. Poison isn’t a princess, or a scrappy young person seeking adventure. She’s not even a hobgoblin or anything like that. But neither is she a normal kid that adventure gets foisted on to. Poison is unhappy with where she is in her life, both physically and metaphysically, but she contents herself with annoying everyone around her with uncomfortable questions and a mean anti-authoritarian streak. Her parents dislike her, the rest of the town can’t stand her, and her only friend is an old man named Fleet, who gives her faerie/phaerie stories she loses herself in.

And then her sister gets stolen, and Poison decides to get her back. She leaves the marsh, fights her way into the phaerie realm, and then Things Happen. She doesn’t get her sister back, at least not in the way she was hoping too, and some unpleasant revelations get, um, revealed. But she turns out all right at the end, and so does most everyone else.

What’s different about Poison is that the protagonist isn’t a standard hero, but neither is she an anti-hero. She doesn’t blindly go along with whatever her adventure throws at her. She questions everything, and when she doesn’t get answers she questions that, too. However, neither does she just sit at home and wait for something to happen to her. When her sister is stolen she immediately goes out to get her back.

I liked Poison. She’s a little hard to like, sometimes, but she’s an admirable heroine. She’s extremely stubborn. She doesn’t like most people but she manages to make at least two new friends (three if you count a magic cat). She doesn’t fight physically but she’s very clever, and she doesn’t balk from killing if it needs to be done. She’s very practical, all things told, and she doesn’t lose her head in tough situations.

The story is somewhat unusual, too. It reminds me a bit of The Book of Lost Things except less scary/depressing, and a bit like Faerie Wars except more scary and less funny. It’s a bit gory, a bit spooky, and it’s got a big faerie tale meta thing stuck right in the middle of it.

See, the biggest difference between traditional faerie tales and Poison is that the people in Poison are all being controlled by a storyteller. This dude called the Hierophant writes stories, which are then played out by people in the Poison world. Poison finds out about this, and she’s understandably shocked. This leads to her asking some big questions: are the people in Poison real people? Or are they just puppets? Do they have free will or is it all just a construct of the Hierophant?

You can see the implications of the Hierophant-God connection, and free will-destiny, and so on. Eventually Poison decides that even if she is just in a story, she can change it because it’s her story, and then the book progresses onwards to the end.

This is actually my only complaint with Poison. It’s a nice, non-standard faerie tale (no sword fights at all, nor dragons, nor knights/princess/comedic relief sidekicks) but the solution is gave to Poison’s dilemma was lacking. She may have been able to control it but she was still a storybook character, and she seemed to have forgotten all that almost immediately after she decided to do something rather than lay around weeping. After the big deal she made about being real/not real, it just seemed thin.

One of my favorite scenes, though, was when the Hierophant complained that he couldn’t remember everything and that’s why there were plot holes in the Poison world. Was that the author talking? Or something else? (It was funny, either way.) And I loved it whenever Poison questioned some standard faerie tale thing and couldn’t get any answers. Like the frog-man who met them after Poison and her friends got into the phaerie realm: Poison asked him who he was and what he was doing there, and he couldn’t answer her except to say that he couldn’t remember. He was always there, or he was put there, or-or-or. The gatekeeper thing is a necessity for every faerie tale, but very rarely do any of them get any screen time like this one does, nor do any of them have their existence questioned. It was quite interesting.

The plot is not very action-packed, but it does have some wonderful horror-filled bits (spiders! a witch who boils off your flesh and eats your bones! a corpse-like lady who crawls on the ceiling! villain who crawls out of the pages of books!). I think it’s worth reading if you want to try a different sort of faerie tale. The weird spelling of faerie is annoying, and there’s no character growth to speak of, and the solution at the end could be seen from miles off, but the meta thing and Poison herself are worth the read (though of course the meta thing could come off as trying to be too clever). I really enjoyed it, though.

Find your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound

The Sunday Salon bit

Books read (& reviewed) this week:
230. Mercury Falls – Robert Kroese [rating: 4/5]
231. The Magicians – Lev Grossman [rating: 3/5]
232. Montmorency – Eleanor Updike [rating: 2.5/5]
233. Hood (King Raven #1) – Stephen R. Lawhead [rating: 3/5]
234. The Mark of Zorro – Johnston McCulley [rating: 4/5]
235. Poison – Chris Wooding [rating: 3.5/5]

Currently reading:
The Lost City of Z by David Grann.

Posted in 3.5/5, Children's/YA, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Memes, Reviews, Teen, The Sunday Salon

[CHICK] The Sunday Salon... "Thanksgiving" History Books with Buzz (11-22-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Suzanne) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

Thanksgiving is the day we traditionally give thanks for the bounty before us, and share the love of our family and friends. Food and laughter may fill our homes as we carefully watch the turkey cook, make that infamous green bean casserole and mash the potatoes, but do we think about that first thanksgiving? About the brave men & women who sailed over here from England and the Indians that they met when they arrived? The Pilgrims were a big part of The New World, but there were also other well known settlements. Today's Sunday Salon highlights some great books that delve into some of that rich history of the first settlers of The New World...

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War By Nathaniel Philbrick... From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a fifty-five-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound. This book has been on my TBR list for a long time, it's gotten great reviews all of which tells us that it's NOT one of those dry history books! It's available in paperback now! And... This Book is Kindle Ready!

The River Where America Began: A Journey Along the James by Bob Deans... The River Where America Began takes readers on a journey along the James River from the earliest days of civilization nearly 15,000 years ago through the troubled English settlement at Jamestown and finishing with Lincoln's tour of the defeated capital of Richmond in 1865. Deans traces the historical course of a river whose contributions to American life are both immeasurable and unique. This innovative history invites us all to look into these restless waters in a way that connects us to our past and reminds us of who we are as Americans. Bob Dean explores the rich history of the James River. 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, 104 men and boys came over from England and made a settlement on the banks of Virginia's James River. They were sponsored by The Virginia Company of London whose stockholders thought they could profit somehow from the resources of The New World. The Jamestown Settlement encountered the same hardships as the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, and of course Indians! And it is in this settlement in Virginia is where the early settlers meet the Powhatans and Pocahontas! This book isn't just about the Jamestown Settlement, but I think it's interesting to learn about the river before and after Jamestown. Hey, Where's the Kindle Version?!

The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History by Dr. Linwood "Little Bear" Custalow and Angela L. Daniel "Silver Star" ... This book incorporates the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi that has been passed down to Lin “Little Bear” since his childhood, by his father, the late Mattaponi Chief Webster “Little Eagle” Custalow; his uncle, the late Mattaponi Chief O. T. Custalow; and grandfather, the late Mattaponi Chief George F. Custalow; and those that came before. The Mattaponi Indian Tribe, along with the Pamunkey Tribe, was one of the original core tribes of the Powhatan Chiefdom, which the English colonists encountered in the 17th century while establishing Jamestown. For nearly 400 years people have heard the Euro-American rendition and interpretation of events that transpired between the English colonists and the Powhatan Indians. The True Story of Pocahontas is the first public publication of the Powhatan perspective that has been maintained and passed down from generation to generation within the Mattaponi Tribe, and the first written history of Pocahontas by her own people. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Hope these books peaked your interest! Any history buffs out there?! Share what other books we might enjoy about our early settlers! In the meantime, I'll be on the James River... in a bookish way!

Happy reading... Suzanne

[ACCIDENTAL] THE SUNDAY SALON (11-22-2009)

Creations by Laurel-Rain Snow — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:18:00 -0800

Now where did the week go? Here we are at Sunday again, and it's time for Deb's The Sunday Salon, that oasis in our week when we can sit back, reflect, and examine our reading highlights for the week.

We're curled up in a chair, sipping our coffee (or hunched over the computer desk, more likely!), and thinking that maybe we had a great week and we're looking forward to the new week ahead.

My reads this week were very good! Having launched the Alice in Wonderland Challenge hosted over at Take Me Away, I finished reading the first two books: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. That review is posted over at Moonbeams and Rainbows, my go-to place for this challenge.

Then I dived right into the next one on my list and laughed my head off all the way through. That book was Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog, by Lisa Scottoline. My previous reading experience with her has been her mystery novels, so I was pleasantly surprised at her funny bone. The review is at my Rainy Days and Mondays blog.

Now I'm halfway through my third book of the week, and I'm quite sure it'll be finished by day's end. It is a story of two old friends, from back in the day, that discover the limits of friendship after they are each married. Oh, by the way, it's a male/female friendship, so you can anticipate the minefields in that one! That book is A Line Between Friends, by Michele Cozzens. I am enjoying this one so much that I woke up in the middle of the night to read some more!

So that's it for my reading week. I've also been watching movies and visiting blogs, working on my website for awhile, and getting my Christmas decorations down off the garage shelves. Just so they'll be at the ready for when my grandson Noah comes over mid-week. He's going to be Santa's helper.

Have a great weekend, and be sure to stop by with your comments and links!

LAUREL-RAIN SNOW CREATIONS

[CHAOS] Sunday Salon: November 15-21 (11-22-2009)

Rachel McElhany — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:00:00 -0800

Overall this was a fun week. Thursday I went to see Wicked at the Music Hall with some friends. I really enjoyed it; it was completely different from the book but I knew that going in so it didn't bother me. Then on Friday I went with some other friends to see New Moon.

I took West to the ENT Tuesday - he's going to need another set of ear tubes and his adenoids removed. Hopefully, he'll hear and sleep better after the procedure and be less grouchy.

Today at Campfire, the boys made their boats for the Rain Gutter Regatta, which will be held in December:

This was another light reading week. I need to start peeling myself off the computer earlier at night and start my evening reading sooner. The only book I finished was Twilight by Stephenie Meyer but I did read a little bit on a couple of other books.

[BETTY AND BOO] The Sunday Salon: In Which My Quest to Read 50 Books Continues for Another Week .... (11-22-2009)

Melissa (Betty and Boo's Mommy) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:00:00 -0800

Maybe it is because I have never, as an adult, read 50 books in one year, but isn't there something oh-so-cool about being able to say "I read 50 books this year"?

I happen to think so. And I thought this would be the week when my reading tallies would equal that magical number, but that was not to be. It remains elusive and out of reach for one week longer (or more).

This was kind of a mixed bag in terms of reading weeks. On the positive end of the spectrum, I finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which I found myself enjoying and thinking about much more than I ever thought I would.

Then it was onto John Green's Paper Towns, another one that has received raves among book bloggers. Sad to say, I couldn't finish this one. I know, something must be wrong with me for not being able to get into this but I just felt I was reading Looking for Alaska again. Seriously, could Margo and Alaska be any more similar? I like John Green's style a lot - the man is a very talented writer - and much of the first part of this book had me LOLing - but I abandoned this at page 73.

John Green isn't alone, because I also abandoned Jeffrey Zaslow's The Girls from Ames: The Story of Women and a 40-Year Friendship. Again, I really wanted to like this book but it fell flat for me. I thought it was because I was listening to this on audio (and the narrator's tone was sort of ... I don't know the word ... maybe patronizing? haughty?) but then I read some of it and it still wasn't working for me. It's the story of 11 girls from Ames, Iowa who became friends in the late 60s and the strong bond that they still have today.

Listening to this is like being at a party where everyone is regaling each other by reminiscing of days gone by - and you're the odd chick out because you're not getting their jokes because you aren't part of their memories. As much as they try to explain, the nostalgia falls flat for that very reason. Similarly, there are life-changing incidents that happen to the girls - a date rape, the death of one of the girls, one of the girls being shot by a stray BB gun - that are somewhat glossed over, and those were the scenarios that were more of interest to me, as opposed to narratives about the girls' summer jobs scooping ice cream. (Not like there's anything wrong with that. I am a big fan of ice cream. :)

It was, however, a much better week for "Sesame Street," which turned 40. (It is pretty depressing to realize that I am older than "Sesame Street," albeit only by a few months. I've had the nonfiction book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. So far, I'm enjoying this, although I'm only up to page 56. Thus far, we have had a bit longer discussion of Captain Kangaroo than I would prefer (I never got into that show), but since they are all intertwined, its forgiveable ... for now.

So, don't forget to come back next week, boys and girls, when perhaps our friends from "Sesame Street" will help us count all the way to 50.

[BRAIN] A (Thankful) Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:14:49 -0800

I don’t know about you but I hate those posts where the blogger apologizes for not blogging because they are _________ (fill in the blank) busy, lazy, distracted, sick, tired, whatever. So, I won’t do that. Because really, nobody cares.

But from looking around I see it is time to dust off the cobwebs in the corners, water the plants, throw open the windows to air the place out and try to get rid of that smell of neglect.

Whew! That’s better. (Thank you, BOTB readers, for understanding, and for checking in with me. I’m fine! Just uninspired!)

At some point in recent weeks I all but stopped writing reviews. I have all the usual excuses (busy, etc.) but mostly I’ve just not had the writing mojo. I would sit down to write a review and the words wouldn’t come. Now I have so many to write I may never catch up. I’m thinking of clearing the slate and starting fresh, with the exception of books I agreed to review for others (thank you, authors and publishers, for your patience). Has anyone else done this? Just wiped the slate clean and moved on rather than trying to write reviews for books you read weeks ago? (Thank you, blogging friends, for your advice in this area).

What happened to me? There was a time when I reviewed everything I read, immediately upon finishing. It’s much easier to write a review that way. If enough time passes, the details get fuzzy, and nobody likes a fuzzy reviewer, right?

My aim in the new year: fuzz-free reviews in a timely manner.

We’re looking forward to some quality family time this week. The kids are off from school and I do not have to bust my butt cleaning my house and gearing up for company (yay! YAY!) because Thanksgiving dinner will be somewhere else this year (thank you, Mom, for making dinner!). All I’m required to do is show up with clean, well behaved children (ha!), a bottle of wine, and a casserole dish full of sweet potatoes (thank you, Tara, for the most excellent recipe!). My holiday responsibilities end there.

The girls have NO HOMEWORK over the break (thank you, teachers! I was expecting the worst!) So we will be out carousing this week.. shopping, seeing movies, going roller skating, and just generally hanging out. With no school projects to attend to, it will be a real break for them. We are dying to see New Moon (even Mom’s looking forward to seeing werewolf Taylor HOTner-all three of us are TEAM JACOB) and Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (thank you, Hollywood, for all the great movies this time of year!). Daddy has to work (thank you, Dad, for being a great provider!), so it will be a whole lot of girl time. Hopefully there will be no drama and we will all get along.

I’m also looking forward to some reading time. I’m reading How to Save Your Own Life by Michael Gates Gil, a super quick little guide to finding joy in unexpected places. I need to finish Bold Spirit for a December book club discussion (thank you, book club friends, for enriching my life!). And finally, I can’t wait to start Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini this week (thank you, Penguin Group, for sending the book!)

What are your plans this Thanksgiving? What are you reading?

I’m thankful for YOU. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

[DISTILS] Sunday Salon: Poetry Reading Challenge ending on May 16, 2010 (11-22-2009)

gautami tripathy — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:06:00 -0800

Hosted by Lu

You can pick any book of poetry, but it has to be contemporary poetry! Published in the 20th or 21st century. For the next year, pledge to read:

The Shallow End – 2-5 books of poetry – Your choice, poetry or poetics, just enough to cool off with your healthy dose of verse.

In the middle – 6-10 books of poetry – A little bit more ambitious, but not too much that it’ll be over your head.

Dive in to the Deep End! – 11-15 books of poetry – That’s right, jump in there, get all the way in. You know the only way to test the water is dive in.

As I write poetry, I read lots of it too. So I am diving right in into the Deep End.

Here is what I have on my platter right now:

1) Selected Poems by Robert Lowell (1917-1977)
2) Renascence and Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
3) Thirst: poems By Mary Oliver
4) Becoming The Villainess by Jeannine Hall Gaily
5) At the Threshold of Alchemy by John Amen
6 Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man by Harry E. Gilleland, Jr.
7) Slamming Open The Door by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno

And I have read the following poetry books in 2009:

A Climb Through Altered Landscapes by Ian Parks
Mainline to the heart and other poems by Clive Matson
Magdalene and the Mermaids by Elizabeth Kate Switaj
A House of Bottles by Robin Merrill
Selected Poems of Carl Sandburg
Judah's Lion by Anne Caston

[CHRISTY] The Sunday Salon 11.22.09 (11-22-2009)

Christy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:43:00 -0800

Happy Sunday!

I managed to finished one book last week: Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander. It was one of those OK books. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I'm currently reading Lady Vernon and Her Daughter by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway. I've only just begun, so no opinion on it yet.

I joined another challenge. So far, I've only come across two challenges that I'll be participating in. I don't want to overwelm myself. This one is the Women Unbound Challenge. Here is the start-up meme I had to do for it. The other challenge, as I said last week, is the All About the Brontës Challenge.Two very awesome challenges that I will have a lot of fun doing.

As for NaNoWriMo, I have surpassed 38,000 words. The story is coming along nicely. No doubt I'll hit 50,000 by the end of the month. The question is, will I finish that darn story?

Have a great week!

[BIBLIOPHILE'S BOOKSHELF] The Sunday Salon: Getting Ahead (11-22-2009)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:30:28 -0800

To learn more about The Sunday Salon click here.

It’s Wednesday today, and I’m scheduling ahead my Sunday Salon. post Why you ask? I have visitors arriving tomorrow, Thursday, from Australia. They are my best friend, that I grew up with, and her husband, and so I know I will be in the middle of site-seeing, going to ice hockey and generally having a lot of fun. Far too busy to actually post a Sunday Salon post on Sunday. Hence the scheduling.

So this week’s reading has been:

Searching for Pemberley by Mary Lydon Simonsen,
Poppy Done to Death by Charlaine Harris,
Pretty Little Devils by Nancy Holder,
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

So I’m not going to be around A Bibliophile’s Bookshelf too much in the next 10 days, but I have some posts scheduled, at least for this week. There will be plenty of photos of my visitors enjoying their trip during my next Sunday Salon post.

I’m pleased to report that I’ve finished my November Mini-Challenge, where I was reading the Aurora Teagarden series. I’ve now read all eight books. It doesn’t look like Charlaine Harris is going to publish any more books in this series, but I’m looking forward to reading her other series, such as the Lily Bard and Harper Connelly series.

Now that I’ve put the Aurora Teagarden series to bed, I’m digging into the mischief of Artemis Fowl.

Readers, are you reading any series at the moment? Any recommendations for future series reading for me? I have December all decided, but recommendations for January are welcome.

[BELCHING] Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:14:45 -0800

Are you sad today?

‘Cause I am. You see, I’m unproductive on my blog this week. I had no readings till December, I guess which also means I have no reviews. The whole week, I missed all the memes I usually join.

What could be the reason? Studies. Personal problems. I can’t think properly to review the remaining books. I don’t have enough bucks yet to buy the books on my list. But the good thing is, I had straightened out my thinking and perspective. I now have proper plans and all I need to do now is to ask from above guidance and put this plans to realization. I need to fix what needs to be fixed so my blogging, reading, and reviewing won’t be forgotten.

Lately, I have been reading romance and I wish to broaden my reading and read new genres. I have started listing based from reviews that I read from blogs that I subscribe.

Here they are:

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
The Lost Hours by Karen White
If I Stay by Gayle Forman

So, How was your Sunday?

[BOSTON] Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Marie) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0800

So this past week has been pretty busy between one thing and another, and this weekend is no different. Today I'm attending my new writing group for the first time as an active participant- that is to say, as someone whose work is up for review. Eek! They're nice people and good writers, and I know it will be fun and useful.

Speaking of writing, I'm working away on my #NaNoWriMo project. On Wednesday I sat down at the library and wrote 5,000 words. And for the rest of the week? A big fat nothing. But I've decided that's okay and while I know I won't reach 50,000 words this month, I will finish this project. My goal now is to finish the first draft by my birthday in February; I'm glad I decided to participate in NaNo but I've decided it's okay if "all" I do is use it as an opportunity to start. All the daily updating and progress-charting and tweeting and comparing-with-friends has just been stressing me out and there's no need to be stressed out by a self-imposed schedule. You just change it is all.

And finally, with the holiday season nearly upon us, I hope everyone (who celebrates it) has a wonderful Thanksgiving this week. My plans? Bake a lot, then drive two towns over to visit my inlaws and eat a lot. We have some family coming up the day after and my husband and I host a brunch every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I'll be baking a cheesecake for Thanksgiving itself, then a selection of muffins and cakes for the brunch. Yum! What are your plans?

You can read more Sunday Salon posts here.

[BURTON] The Sunday Salon~ Happy Thanksgiving.. WTF?! (11-22-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Burton) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0800

Wow. This will be the last Sunday Salon before Thanksgiving comes.. that was fast! I can't decide if this week went so fast because I was so busy, or perhaps my brain is just fried. It is probably for both reasons I feel so scatter-brained. This Thanksgiving will mark the first anniversary of my father's death. Despite the grief in my heart, I am going to try and celebrate the fact that I have a loving husband and two healthy kids. Christmas presents have been bought for the kiddos, I just need some ideas for my mom and my husband, the other important people in my life. I am drawing a blank. A big zero on the creativity scale. Sure, there are gifty type items I can just run and buy for them, but I want to do something "from the heart", but the heart is not speaking to my brain right now. HELP!

In my little book world this week, a Facebook friend wondered if I ought to create a new Facebook profile in order to separate out my book news from my personal status updates. Aside from being a little affronted.. I told her most of my Facebook friends were fellow book fiends like me so that I felt that wasn't necessary. Anyway, all anyone has to do on the Facebook news feed is to set different settings for different people. Like one guy kept posting to the news feed all the almost pornographic quizzes he would take, and it was one after the other for hours. I found the little 'options' link in the top right corner of each quiz post and I was able to modify the settings so that he would be hidden. So, if you want to hide my bookish posts on Facebook, you can do that to me too, and I would be none the wiser. I only have like two posts a day I would think on my Facebook profile, which is why I was a little shocked at my friend's request. Quite frankly, I think my bookish posts would be so much more intelligent than my every other day status updates of whatever frustrations I am having at that time. So now that Facebook friend has set her settings so that she will only see that the toddler got milk on the carpet today, (BORING!) as opposed to seeing perhaps a Book Review or various book meme posts etc. But a drawback to being my Facebook friend this week was I hit by a spam/hacker/someone who has nothing better to do, and my "profile" spit out lots of spam by making stupid wall posts on many of my Facebook friend's walls. Mighty frustrating and I apologize again. I changed my password and it stopped. Twitter is another social utility that is frequently hit by these useless people who like sending out fake direct messages from unsuspecting users.

In case you are not my Facebook friend (find me at marie.burton) and you missed my totally annoying bookish posts, this week I spotlighted Kathryne Kennedy, author of the December 1 release My Unfair Lady. If you are in the mood for a Victorian romance, enter for your chance to win your very own copy of this book, sponsored by Sourcebooks. And don't forget to stop by my review of My Unfair Lady.

I finished reading O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell, and I really loved it! You will be privy to a flurry a reviews this January in preparation for its February release, so you'll just have to wait for more information until then. This selection will be our first event at the new website Historical Fiction Bloggers Round Table, which will be the new central meeting point for these spotlight events. We had a lot of fun for our September event which coincided with BBAW, and our lovely group of Historical Fiction bloggers have all agreed to move this party forward into 2010 with a spotlight a month for our favorite Historical Fiction authors who are lucky enough to have a new book coming out. Check out the new website, but keep in mind it is still in the organizing stages, but it already has a list of the books we have scheduled to spotlight in 2010! See some of my posts from the previous event so you know what kind of historical madness is in store.

I have begun to read Her Mother's Daughter: A Novel of Queen Mary Tudor by Julianne Lee, which releases December 1. This is a novel of Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's eldest daughter, who was also known as Bloody Mary. As the book jacket states, Mary was England's most 'vilified' queen. I have never had much sympathy for her, but I have not yet a read a fictional account focused on her, so perhaps I can be swayed with this new read. Time will tell!

How are you doing on your Christmas shopping? Are you buying books? If so, check out my Amazon store! In the top left corner you will see different categories, so that you can see selections of other genres by clicking the corresponding links in that corner.

And one more shameless plug, I wrote a little article for the Examiner concerning the newest awards given out this week. Check that out here!

Onwards to a news topic of this week. Kathryn aka Alianore of the fabulous Edward II blog has written a heartfelt but informative post about her hometown of Cumbria. Kathryn stated on her Facebook status "..after the heaviest rain EVER recorded in Britain. The Environment Agency is calling the rainfall and floods a once in a thousand year event. Thank God both my parents live on high ground and are OK, but thousands of people are not, and lots more heavy rain is forecast over the next few days. Thinking of you all xxxx". I second her sentiments, I hope all ends well, and my prayers are with the people in Cumbria. Visit Kathryn's post for some great photos.

That's all folks! See you in blogland, and I am off to stir the pot! (I mean the chili that I'm simmering!) Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter for your chance at the December Blogoversary giveaways.

[BIBLIOTICA] Sunday Salon: Children’s Stories (11-16-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:10:33 -0800

Despite the fact that I’ve been reading enough mysteries lately to re-paper the rooms in several new orleans hotels, it’s children’s stories that are on my mind this week.

Last week, I had the wonderful experience of attending Peter Yarrow’s (of Peter, Paul and Mary) performance/book signing at the Jewish Community Center in Dallas. Unlike a formal concert, this was a more intimate affair. He spoke and sang for about an hour, inviting various kids up on stage to help out, and showing off several of his books.

The newest, Day is Done is the latest in his collection of stories based on his songs. The first was, of course, Puff, the Magic Dragon. I now have signed copies of each, got to converse with Peter for the second time in my life (the first was in August, 2002, in California), and have a lovely photo with Peter to help me remember the event.

And did I mention the books?

But kiddie lit is also on my brain because of an old Leo Buscaglia book, The Fall of Freddie the Leaf. I was first introduced to it about 27 years ago when I was part of a team from the Modesto UU Fellowship that performed the book in a reader’s theatre format. I was twelve at the time.

Today, I was again part of such a performance, on the stage at my church (Oak Cliff UU). You see, our church has recently lost two of its elders, and everyone is still grieving, still raw. I mentioned the book when I was at lunch with our minister and our associate minister, and they said, “So you’ll stage it as a dramatic moment, yes?”

And so I did.

And today we read.

And there was not a single dry eye.

But we needed the release.

Badly.

So, I may be reading mainly mysteries, but I’ve been reminded lately that even adults can take a moment to see things from a child’s perspective, and be the better for it.

[BOOK LOVER] Sunday Salon November 15, 2009 (11-15-2009)

Brittanie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:26:00 -0800

* I only read two books but they were long so I feel like I accomplished a lot of reading this weekend.

* I finished the long version of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It may be one of my new all time favorites.

* I read The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen and it was really good.
Both books have things that will stay with me.

* I wrote my wrap up post for the Chunkster Reading Challenge. The goal was to read 6 books with 450 or more pages.

http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2009/11/chunkster-challenge-2009-wrap-up-post.html

* I signed up for a Christmas themed reading challenge. I have several Christmas related books to read in the next two months.
http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2009/11/2009-holiday-reading-challenge.html

* I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. It is my second favorite Holiday after Fourth of July. :)

* I hope everyone has a great week and plenty of reading time.

[1330V] Sunday Salon: A Day Full of Challenges (11-16-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:15:12 -0800

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since the last time I posted. During the mini-readathon I didn’t get as much read as I wanted to. I ended up reading the graphic novel Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry. I need to reread it before I write a review but it was an excellent read about a detective nicknamed the “Heartbreaker” and the suicide case he’s working on.

I also read Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. It’s a Cybils nominee and I can definitely see why. The book chronicles the lives of two girls from very different classes and the month they spend with each other. I also learned a lot about mining and life in the Appalachian mountains.

Love that Dog was also a reading knockout. Love that Dog is about a young boy who has to write poetry in his notebook for a class. It’s a smart, really funny book that includes classic poems from William Carlos Williams, Walter Dean Myers, and Robert Frost. After I finished it, I started reading it to one of my nine year-old sisters and she’s enjoying it.

Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory is the last book I read. It’s a memoir in graphic novel format about Gregory’s life after his wife became paralyzed from the waist down in a subway accident. Gregory started drawing after that and the book is his story. It was nice and had a few pages I loved, but close to the end of the book I didn’t feel like reading it any longer and stopped. I just stopped caring. It’s a short book at 110 pages long.

On Twitter today one of the many discussions were upcoming reading challenges for next year. I’m a big fan of challenges though I rarely ever finish them. I love learning about new books, making a reading list, and also reading everyone else’s lists too! Already 2010 seems to be the year of the book challenges. There are so many challenges that start in 2010 or end that year. Here are a few of the challenges I’m looking forward to:

Eva, Aarti, and Wordlily’s Women Unbound Challenge. This challenge has already started but I’m glad I’m participating. Dedicated to women’s studies, this is definitely one of the most talked about challenges in the blogisphere.

Shelf Discovery. Hosted by Bookingmama. This challenge is definitely taking me back to my childhood.

Upcoming Challenges

Thankfully Reading Weekend. This challenge runs from Friday, November 27, 2009 to Sunday, November 29, 2009. There’s no prizes or rules. There’s just the joy of reading.

The lovely Michelle over at Galleysmith is hosting a “SeriesPalooza“. Starting December 14, 2009 until December 20, 2009. The goal is to only read books in a series. Michelle is also planning on having prizes. I plan on reading books by Scott Westerfeld, Jim Butcher, and Patrick Ness.

During Christmas break there will be a Book a Day reading challenge. Hosted by Haley at The Infinite Life. The goal is one book each day of Christmas break from December 14 to December 28, 2009. I did a personal challenge like this last year and can’t wait to do it again this year.

Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge. Hosted by Marg at Reading Adventures and runs throughout 2010. I plan on reading three books and already have them picked out. Pratchett is a writer I’m read great things but whose books I’ve never picked up. I plan on reading Equal Rites; Wyrd Sisters; and Witches Abroad.

Becky’s Young Readers Challenge. This is one of my favorite challenges and I’m glad it’s coming back again. The goal is to read 12 children’s books.

Bibliofreak is hosting the World Religion Challenge. The challenge runs throughout 2010. I plan on reading as much of any religion as I like.

Last but not least in this post is the South Asian Author Challenge hosted by S. Krishna. Running throughout the year, the goal is to read a certain number of books by South Asian authors. Books also need to be about South Asia. The authors I picked for this list: Chitra Divakaruni, Monica Ali, Kamila Shamsi, Jhumpa Lahiri, Shaila Abdullah, and Mohsin Hamid.

I’m also looking forward to the Flashback Challenge (re-reading), GLBT, and Essay Reading Challenges but I’ll talk about them next time. What challenges are you looking forward to next year?

[BIBLIOGRAPHING] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

nicole — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:59:20 -0800

Today is one of those Sundays where I feel like I don’t properly wake up at all and just sort of wander around in a daze. So it’s an excellent day for some relaxing reading, and I’ve just finished up The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark, which were lovely and perfect for a chilly November morning. I feel like I need to stop trying out new-to-me authors because I keep finding ones I like so much I want to read all their work, and who has time for that?

On Friday I finished up reading Granta 108, the Chicago issue, which I was interested in because of the focus but mostly because of the great cover art by Chris Ware:

There were definitely some hits and misses for me here. In the end the biggest hit had nothing to do with Chicago at all—an excerpt from a forthcoming Peter Carey novel, Parrot and Olivier in America. But the bit I read was all about Parrot’s childhood in Devon and a house built by Nicholas Owen, and didn’t get to the “in America” part at all, in which Olivier is a quasi-de Tocqueville. I’m not sure I’m as interested in that.

Coming up this week: I’m going to write about Evelina, which I feel is going to be difficult. I’ve been thinking about it for a week now and I’m not sure what I have to say about it. Also Lady Susan, which I think is my favorite Jane Austen thus far (don’t be so shocked!). And perhaps Embers, by Sándor Márai. And I will probably not write about it, but soon I will be tucked away with The Original of Laura, which I’ve already read a tidy little excerpt of in Playboy. (That fine publication also took the opportunity to shoot a spread of Sasha Grey as Lolita, for those of you so inclined.) Also VN-related, check out the full set of new specimen-box-style covers (hat tip to Frances of Nonsuch Book). I have been toying with the idea of (re)reading all of Nabokov, in order, next year, and I think these would really be an excellent reason/excuse…

[ALL ABOUT] The Sunday Salon: What Book Now? (11-15-2009)

Suey — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:08:00 -0800

Just as the weekend started, I finished Her Fearful Symmetry. Good but strange...more on that later. So all the rest of this weekend I've been kinda floundering around as to what to pick next! I spent both Friday and Saturday evening taking girls to dance performances, so I picked a book based on what was small and I could carry easily and stick in my purse. I always think I'm going to read while waiting, but I end up never reading much.

Then today, we've been entertaining for the most part of the day, so not much reading's been going on either.

Meanwhile, my night stand stack has grown. And I still haven't really started on anything!

My choices:

Hide and Seek by Wilkie Collins

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander

Mercy by Toni Morrison

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosney

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

Yes, those are ALL sitting on the nightstand at the moment, and I've wasted the whole weekend, reading-wise, and haven't really jumped into any of them! So sad.

How did your reading weekend go?

[BIBLE] Sunday Salon: Week In Review (November 8-14) (11-15-2009)

Becky — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:10:00 -0800

This week

I finished Job in the 1599 Geneva Bible.

I read 2 Kings 3-16 in the ESV Study Bible.

[DEBLOG] TSS -- Salon Membership and Gone Tomorrow (11-15-2009)

Debra Hamel — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:40:24 -0800

Looks like the Sunday Salon is operational again! This is good news. I'll restate here my proposal that we halt membership in the Salon at 500 members. (We're currently at 482.) Not that I want to. But I think we might be taxing Yahoo Pipes beyond all reason if we let the Salon grow indefinitely. Happy to hear arguments either way.

Meanwhile, here's a good book that I think a lot of you might enjoy:

Note: Review copy received from publisher. Amazon affiliate: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price.

The bulk of P.F. Kluge's Gone Tomorrow purports to be a manuscript that was found among the belongings of the late George Canaris, whose three previous books had landed him in the canon of must-read 20th century authors. Canaris became a writer in residence at a no-name Ohio college at the height of his fame, eager for a place that would give him the space to write his magnum opus, "The Beast," as he referred to it. But against all expectations Canaris stayed on at the school for more than thirty years and never published another book. His failure to come out with anything new lent him a Salinger-esque mystique, but his status slowly slipped from celebrity author on campus to beloved but has-been professor.

Continue reading at book-blog.com »

[BECKY] Sunday Salon: Reading, Read, To Read #46 (11-15-2009)

Becky — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:39:00 -0800

Happy Sunday everyone! I've been watching my skating--like always--and one thing that really stood out to me yesterday was the commentary. Figure skating commentary can be really harsh and not-so-nice. True, anyone can tell when a skater is really, really off. But sometimes the commentary gets a bit too much. A bit too Simon Cowell in places. It can definitely be subjective; and commentators can play favorites. Anyway, here is one of my favorites--not for the commentary--there is none--but for the skating itself.

What I read in a previous week, but reviewed this week:

Road to Tater Hill. Edith M. Hemingway. 2009. Random House. 214 pages.
No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay) by Trudi Trueit. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 118 pages.
The Funeral Director's Son by Coleen Murtagh Paratore. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 135 pages.
Dog Whisperer: The Rescue by Nicholas Edwards. 2009. SquareFish. 216 pages.
Dessert First by Hallie Durand. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 154 pages.
Al Capone Shines My Shoes. Gennifer Choldenko. 2009. Penguin. 274 pages.
The Shadow Dragons. James A. Owen. 2009. 417 pages.
The Swiss Courier. Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey. 2009. Revell. 324 pages.

What I read this past week and reviewed:

Wanting Mor. Rukhsana Kahn. 2009. Groundwood Books. 190 pages.
Casebook for Victor Frankenstein. Peter Ackroyd. 2008. 353 pages.
Slaughterhouse-Five. Kurt Vonnegut. 1969. 205 pages.
A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell. 2008. Bethany House. 384 books.

What I read this past week and haven't reviewed yet:

Mary Barton. Elizabeth Gaskell. 487 pages.
Colonel Brandon's Diary by Amanda Grange. 2008. 295 pages.
Brushing Mom's Hair by Andrea Cheng. 2009. Wordsong. 60 pages.

What I've read and really, really need to review:

Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga by Beth Felker Jones. 2009. Multnomah. 180 pages.
Thirsty. Tracey Bateman. 2009. Waterbrook Press. 376 pages.

What I'm currently reading:

Man and Wife. Wilkie Collins.
Arabella by Georgette Heyer
Searching for Pemberley by Mary Lydon Simonsen

What I'm just fooling around that I'm reading:

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner

What I've abandoned:

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (just for now; I'll be back to it later)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (probably abandoned until next year)
The Monk by Matthew Lewis (same here)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

[BETTY AND BOO] The Sunday Salon: On Good Friends and Good Books (11-15-2009)

Melissa (Betty and Boo's Mommy) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:23:00 -0800

Boo is in a children's theater production of "Beauty and the Beast" this weekend and next. For those familiar with the story, he plays Gaston, which is kind of comical because he is one of the smallest kids in the show. (Each cast member is under age 10.) He did two back-to-back shows yesterday and was wonderful (I may be slightly biased ... but trust me, he really was good!). It's just incredible to see how this group of kids has bonded together and how much they help each other when one of them forgets a line or if a scene goes somewhat differently than planned.

Because of the play, we have several visits with friends and family who are coming to see Boo in the play. Last night we had our closest friends who travelled two hours (each way!) for the play and then dinner back at our house. We don't see them nearly enough and when we do, it's always fun. I'm so grateful that they took so much time to come down to see Boo's play.

Meanwhile, I knew the second half of November would do a number on my NaNoWriMo word count, and indeed, I'm now 10,000 words behind where I should be. Not good. We'll see where this winds up. As my friend Stephanie said, I'm not sure why NaNoWriMo takes place during November. I can't be the only person whose life revs into high gear this time of year.

In the meantime, I'm still reading The Hunger Games. I've been exhausted at night, so as much as I want to, I can't stay awake for more than a few pages. I'm still enjoying this, very much so, and I think I'll be finished within the next day or two.

My audio book this week has been The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty Year Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow (co-author of The Last Lecture with Randy Pausch.) It's the story of a group of 11 girls who grew up together in Ames, Iowa and who remained close friends for 40 years. Each chapter focuses in on one of the girls, her family, and her connections with the others. This is a good audio, as this doesn't require much heavy thought. Instead, it serves to rekindle memories of one's one childhood friends and the good times with them.

Hope you're having some good times this weekend, with good friends, good books ... or, like me, with both.

[CROWDED] The Sunday Salon – November 15, 2009. (11-15-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:35:57 -0800

Just stopping in to say a quick hello folks. I’ve procrastinated enough today and it’s about time I get started with my electronic GRE study guide. Weeeee!!!

Not.

I’ve done the requisite Sunday cleaning, I’ve gotten my nails painted, I’ve showered, I’ve eaten. Now I’ve got my coffee, my lap top, and a book that I am not allowed to read until I do one full round of practice questions. I gots to get smarter ya’ll. So! Antonyms and algebra here I come!

What are you up to on this sunny Sunday?

[DOLCE] Sunday Salon: One Book Abandoned for Another (11-15-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:03:17 -0800

I have abandoned this:

for this:

While I didn’t mind Dan Brown’s games in The Da Vinci Code, I find myself very annoyed with them in The Lost Symbol. It’s tiresome the way he continues to scorn Christianity, in my opinion, by making it seem a pagan ritual; quotes like these go a long way with me:

Langdon nodded and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Don’t tell anyone, but on the pagan day of the sun god Ra, I kneel at the foot of an ancient instrument of torture and consume ritualistic symbols of blood and flesh.”

The class looked horrified.

Langdon shrugged. “And if any of you care to join me, come to the Harvard chapel on Sunday, kneel beneath the crucifix, and take Holy Communion.”

The classroom remained silent.

Langdon winked. “Open your minds, my friends. We all fear what we do not understand.” (p. 32)

All the winking, all the innuendo, all the cultish rituals regarding what we take for granted are a bit much the second time around. I’ll probably finish it, sometime, but I’m not in any hurry to do so this week.

However, Jhumpa Lahiri does what she does, and that is write beautifully, the third time around with grace. Unaccustomed Earth is a breathtaking work which examines our lives, our families, our thoughts in such a way that surely it must be universal. I have come to love the Indian culture, particularly through the children I teach, but I don’t feel any division between that culture and my own when I read her work. I just feel as though we are one, with similar heartaches and similar hopes.

I’m loving Unaccustomed Earth.

[BOOK CHATTER] The Sunday Salon: The Leaves are Falling (11-15-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:16:10 -0800

I woke up this morning to a beautiful day. It’s sunny, the sky is blue but it’s cold and windy for California. This wind has taken care of the few leaves left on the trees and it’s finally beginning to feel like fall around here. Nothing’s worse than cooking a turkey in 100 degree weather and let me tell you, it has happened many, many times. Hopefully the cooler weather will stick.

I am in a pretty good mood today. I got my car back from the body shop! I am so glad to be back in my own car. I am also looking forward to Moby Dick Monday which starts tomorrow! This is where a handful of bloggers read four pages of Moby Dick each day and will post about it each Monday. Another blogger suggested that we divide it up by chapters but that would be entirely too organized for me so we’ll stick with the four pages. Of course, you can read more than that per day but four pages seems doable. Let me know if you want to join us. I am also excited over my guest post with Booking Mama this Thursday where I talk about my book club.

Right now I am overwhelmed with homework. Trying to help the kids get a handle on it and then depending on how that goes, we may hit the mall or the bookstore. I’m sure you can guess which one I’d prefer.

As for books and reading, I am currently reading Her Fearful Symmetry and I am enjoying it so far.

Oh! And look what a kind blogger (Jill over at Rhapsody in Books) sent! She sent my son Nerds by Michael Buckley and she sent my daughter a copy of Angels by Chuck Fischer. The agreement is that my son would read the book and then post a review. However, after reading 50 pages he decided that this book is a bit juvenile for him so I am going to pass this one on to Dawn for her son. I will be popping it into the mail sometime this week. Thanks Jill! As you can see from the photo above you made my daughter’s day!

I have nothing special planned for our Sunday meal today. I was at the market getting stuff for our Thanksgiving meal and neglected to buy any food for the week. How did I manage to do that?

What do you have planned for today?

Posted in Bookish Talk Tagged: Everyday Stuff, Sunday Salon

[CARIBOU] Sunday Salon – November 15, 2009 (11-15-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:10:55 -0800

November 15, 2009

Good morning everyone! Can you believe we are already half way through November? The days are flying by and already the holidays are upon us. I am not even close to being ready for them, but I am trying not to stress about it.

This past week I finished reading Looking After Pigeon by Maud Carol Markson (read my review) which I really appreciated for its depth and literary style. I have been a little surprised at the mixed reviews this lovely book has been getting and it got me thinking about why that might be. I think Americans (for the most part) gravitate toward books which are fast-paced and action-filled, or those which are “light” in style…books that don’t necessarily require a lot of thought, but tend to be quite entertaining. There is nothing wrong with that…I read and enjoy those kinds of books too. But every now and then I want a book that moves slowly, that stretches my comfort level or makes me think deeply about an issue. I like to pick up a book which is heavy with theme…one that creates emotion for me whether that be anger, or sadness or joy. And that is why I love literary fiction. Markson’s book deals with a tough subject (the neglect of a child), and there is little action. The “plot” takes place inside the mind of an adult looking back on her childhood – specifically one summer of her childhood. All the “action” is internal. I believe many readers don’t have the patience for this kind of story…and that makes me a little sad because I think there is a lot of great books out there being ignored. Looking After Pigeon was not a fast read for me. It took me awhile to read it. In fact, it took me a lot longer to read it then I thought it would. Not because it was torturous, but because it was making me think. What about you? Do you shy away from books like this? Or do you sometimes really want to “go deep” when it comes to your reading? By the way, if you are interested in this book, you might also want to check out the guest post by the author on my blog.

My current read is a chunkster which I MUST finish today in order to complete the Chunkster Challenge. The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb is over 700 pages long and centers around the Columbine shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Lamb uses a fictional couple as his main characters, but also includes the actual victims of the shootings in his novel. I’ve read just over half of the book so far and am finding it engaging – although there have been moments when I thought it could have been more tightly edited and had less back story. And so far I am not loving the male protagonist (although I am willing to take the journey with him and see if he will change). I don’t know if I will get it done by the end of the day….but we’ll see!

Have you seen all the fantastic events popping up around the holidays? There are several of which I am interesting in participating:

The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Virtual Cookie Swap (starts today!) hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion’s Blog AND Julie of Booking Mama.
Thankfully Reading Weekend (November 27-29) hosted by the crew over at the Book Blog Social Club.
December Read-A-Thon (December 5) hosted by Bethany at Dreadlock Girl.
3rd Mystery Read-A-Thon (January 16-17, 2010) hosted at the dedicated blog for this event.

As usual for this time of year, there are a ton of new challenges being posted for 2010. To see them all in one place, visit A Novel Challenge blog…I’ve tried to make it easy to view pending challenges, current challenges, perpetual challenges, and events. You are also more than welcome to join A Novel Challenge Yahoo group for the reading challenge addicted. Joining the group has some advantages including getting email reminders of start dates for challenges and events…as well as being eligible for prize giveaways.

What are you planning to do today? Whatever it is, I hope it involves a great book!

[ACCIDENTAL] THE SUNDAY SALON (11-15-2009)

Creations by Laurel-Rain Snow — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:07:00 -0800

Hosted by Deb, at The Sunday Salon, this is our weekly get-together, our breakfast meeting, if you will, during which we share our week's experiences in reading and plan for the upcoming week.

Imagine that you are seated with all of us in a circle of cozy chairs, while we sip our coffee.

My day started later than usual. With my grandson Noah sleeping over, I was sure I would be up with the chickens, but we both slept in until 7:00 a.m. Yeah, I know, it probably doesn't seem like a "sleep-in," but I'm usually up by 5:30 or 6:00, if not sooner.

First off, I did my review of Marshmallows for Breakfast, which I finished reading last night. Wow! I thoroughly enjoyed it, and even though I'd expected to, it was a much "deeper" read than the "fluffy" title would suggest. In this one, you'll get family drama in all its layers. My review is over at CURL UP AND READ.

Midway through the week, I finished Girls in Trucks, also reviewed at CURL UP AND READ.

In my mailbox this week, I got my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, which I'll be reading and posting about on my MOONBEAMS AND RAINBOWS blog, where I'm documenting my journey through the Alice in Wonderland Challenge.

For more about my upcoming week's reads, please check in tomorrow at RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS.

Hope you'll stop by, leave your comments and links, and have that second cup of coffee.

LAUREL-RAIN SNOW CREATIONS

[COLOR] Sunday Salon: What We Said, Read & Wrote (11-15-2009)

Color Online — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:12:00 -0800

Well, if you've been by this week, you know it's been quiet. As many of you know, I'm at a new job and in class all day. I take a major exam tomorrow. I feel good about it and yes, I'll be studying for it later today.

Exciting news for Zetta. Amazon has its own publishing division and they are publishing Zetta's, A Wish After Midnight. Check out Tashi's review and interview at Taste Life Twice and support one of our own. By the way, I love books for Christmas. I'm just saying.

We've had a good week in terms of mail. Thanks to Jodie for sending us donations. We'll talk about those over the holiday weekend. This weekend, I picked up books for our CORA Diversity Roll Call Challenge. We're looking at early readers. You all know how I feel about kids reading so do join us. To get a sneak preview, check out my Saturday Six Sentences at Black-Eyed Susan's.

To all winners, expect books in a week or so. The post office will tell you it takes up to three weeks but my experience says more like 7-10 days. Don't forget about our Bum Magnet Giveaway and do drop me an email if you're interested in reviewing Searching for Tina Turner.

This week I finished Paper Towns by John Green. Thanks Edi at Crazy Quilts for sending me the book. I need to find out how to pass it on. I'm finishing up Stealing Buddha's Dinner (see my sss post) and will be reading all evening except when I'm studying. Have you checked out Women Unbound? You should. Who's going to represent Color Online?

If you have news, concerns or requests, please drop me an email. Because of my crazy schedule, I need to make a request. Please let me know about links for Color Me Brown or if you have a review you'd like to have featured here. Normally, I scout all week but I currently don't have Internet access during the day. Thanks again to Doret from Happy Nappy Bookseller for stepping up as an admin. We've been talking and working. You can expect a full week of posts here soon. Tell us what's going on in your world. Know that we support you.

Pick up a book and have a great week. Happy reading.

[CHICK] The Sunday Salon... "Books with Buzz" (11-15-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Suzanne) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:33:00 -0800

This Sunday Salon I'm back with Books with Buzz! Since tuesday I've been Under The Dome with Stephen King, and am happy to say that I'm really enjoying it! I haven't read King for a very long time, but Under The Dome sounded like a great story- a whole town suddenly isolated by an invisible dome... how this effects the people (and animals) around the town and how chaos has a funny way of building up like a smoldering fire is all part of the plot. It's a brick of a book-almost 1100 pages, so even though I can't seem to put it down I think you'll have to waita couple of weeks for a review. But keep your eyes out for that review... In the meantime, let's take a look at a few books that haven't gotten mega press releases and that we should take a look at...

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington... In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority eke out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart couldn't

give a toss. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt. The grave-robbing twins know enough about crusading to realise that if one is to make a living from the dead, what better destination than the fabled tomb-cities of Egypt? But the Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy ... This book will be available in stores this coming tuesday, Nov.16th. I've read a lot of positive chatter about this book from those lucky people who got a copy before its official release. Although I also have read that there is some graphic violence (hey it's the middle ages...) and some strong language, especially felt at the beginning while you're getting use to the story. The writing is suppose to be wonderful & clever- capturing the essence of those plague filled times- and the violence begins to takes a back seat to the story. I love the middle ages and I'm going to definitely take a serious look at this book for the TBR pile. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan... one of the first young adult novels centered around the terror attacks of 9/11. On that fateful day, three teens lives are changed forever. As each gets to know the other, their moments become intertwined with each other’s in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by, both emotionally and physically. Gripping, moving, and utterly realistic, Love is the Higher Law manages to bring the events surrounding this catastrophic date to a heartbreakingly human level. And yet Levithan leaves readers with a feeling of hope and redemption, as his characters slowly learn to move forward with their lives, despite being changed forever. Katherine from Bunch of Grapes, tells us why this book is different from other 9/11 books, "we’re watching teenagers and because they are teens, they are crazy, pendulum-swinging, emotional roller coasters. They are in turn angry, idealistic, scared, tragic, uncomfortable, joyous, you name it… Every emotion is confused, raw and to the nth degree. They place drastic importance on their first date after 9/11, their first concert after 9/11. In most adult novels, they would get toned down, but because they are teens, it is allowed here. And this is the secret… we were all like that in those weeks, no matter our ages." This book has gotten lots of positive buzz and it's going in my TBR pile... This book is Kindle Ready!

Louisa May Alcott, The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen... Harriet Reisen writes in her book, "the real Louisa was just as intelligent, hot-tempered, rebellious and ambitious as her fictional counterpart. But the true story of Alcott’s life is both more tragic and more triumphant than anything she cooked up for her favorite little woman." Marion Elisabeth Rodgers of The Washington Times calls Harriet Reisen "a master storyteller" and about The Woman Behind LW she says, "Chapters are never formulaic. With compassion and insight, she propels readers on to the next adventure, sacrifice, tragedy and triumph.” Biographies can be dry sometimes, facts & dates with little life, but Harriet Reisen's book sounds like a refreshing read, and there's a lot of great talk about it! As a little girl who loved Little Women, I am looking forward to reading about the woman who created a story so rich in character that it's still a wonderful read 140 years after being first published! Have you read Little Women? You can get a Kindle version of Little Women for $1.59 HERE, or an ePub, mobipocket/Kindle or PDF version of the Gutenberg project book Free from Feedbooks HERE. (Wish this was Kindle Ready, but it's not!)

That about does it for this weeks Sunday Salon and Books with Buzz. Hope you found something interesting to crack the spine! What are YOU reading this week? What books did you find interesting as you were wondering the bookstore or library? Share your finds here!

Happy reading... Suzanne

[1MORECHAPTER] Sunday Salon 11.15.09 (11-15-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:30:48 -0800

How is it the middle of November already? It doesn’t seem possible. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, though. I’m probably going to Colorado to see my side of the family so that’s always exciting.

Since I didn’t have a Sunday Salon last week, I’ll go ahead and tell you what I’ve read so far this month instead of just this week. I’ve listened to quite a few audios lately because I’ve been feeling under the weather (hence the lack of posts). These included Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith, The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland, and The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti. And then I also read The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist. All of them were 4 or 4.5 stars. Just great books so far for the month of November.

I was most surprised by how much I appreciated The Forest Lover. I had seen mixed reviews on it, but I heartily recommend this fictional biographical look at one of Canada’s foremost female artists. I knew I would probably like The Unit because I’m fascinated by dystopian fiction, and I did. Dystopians always scare me but in a good way. Afterward I’m so appreciative of living under our own government (though, of course it has its flaws). And I always take great delight in Smith’s books, this one was the last (so far) of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective series, and I’m not at all getting tired of them yet. The Good Thief was entertaining as well — it was sort of a mix of Dickens and Twain. I will definitely be reading more of Tinti’s works.

I’m not sure what I’m going to take up next, perhaps something for the Women Unbound challenge. By the way, The Forest Lover would definitely qualify for the challenge, and you could make an argument for The Unit to count as well.

Have a great reading week!

[3 R'S] Sunday Salon, 11/15: Bookkeeping, Bookmarks, etc. (11-15-2009)

Florinda — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:00:00 -0800

I should know better, and yet every now and then I attempt it anyway. I'm currently reading polygamously - I have three books going at once. Technically, it's four books, since one of them is a special edition containing two novels, but I've finished one of the stories in it; however, I won't review that one until I finish the book itself. (I'm being a stickler, despite the fact that it may mean I won't post a review this week at all) However, that's the only one I've managed to finish lately, and I feel like I can't even count it. Here's what I have going right now:

Lift: A Memoir, by Rebecca K. O'Connor (ARC)
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett (on Kindle)
~~Heaven to Betsy~~/Betsy in Spite of Herself, by Maud Hart Lovelace

Yes, I was reading two of these in my update two weeks ago. This is why I usually don't two-time books, let along triple up on them - it takes me so much longer to finish any of them! I find it quite dissatisfying to divide my attention this way, although it's slightly easier when one of the works in progress is an e-book; since I feel like I don't have enough time for reading as it is, I'm making it harder on myself to choose how I want to spend it when I give myself too many options. And eventually, one book will pull me more strongly than the rest - right now, it's The Help - and then I'll feel conflicted about neglecting the others. (Note that I don't feel guilty - I don't attribute human feelings to my books and think that THEY feel neglected - but I'm questioning my choices every time.)

So, why do I do this to myself? This time, it came from not wanting to choose between review responsibilities with deadlines and reading something I just didn't want to wait for, so I tried to have it all. I think post-Readathon euphoria/exhaustion was a factor too. And although I'm finding it frustrating - as I usually do whenever I attempt this sort of thing - I may need to keep it going for another few weeks. How do those of you who multi-book make it work?

Once I get through this, I'm going back to being a serial reading monogamist - one book at a time for me! That is, until I forget how badly I manage it and try multi-booking again. If I mention that I'm doing that, would someone please remind me of what I said today?

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

Book reviews posted this week:
The Longest Trip Home, by John Grogan (TLC Book Tour)

New to my LibraryThing "To Read" collection:
For review:
Matters of Faith, by Kristy Kiernan (received from the author after an introduction on Twitter - thanks to @DarryleP, noted social-media ~~slut~~ matchmaker!)

New additions to the Wishlist*:
Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah
Hummingbirds by Joshua Gaylord

BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

Reflecting on the expectations we bring to reading; discussing the possible reactions other people - particularly authors - may have to our reviewing

None of Publishers Weekly's "Top 10 Books of 2009" were written by women - say what?!?

Just in case you ever need to know: five ways to survive in a dystopia

Does what we re-read reveal who we really are?

The confessions of a "Twilight Mom"

New uses for old books? Also: paper and "plastic" (e-)books - is peaceful coexistence possible?

Reading Event News

Get into the holiday (eating) spirit with Bermudaonion and Booking Mama's Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies! (OK, maybe it doesn't sound like a "reading" event, but there is a cookbook involved, so I'm counting it!)

Have a "mini-readathon" the weekend of December 4 - read for 5 hours straight and help Jennie celebrate the 5th anniversary of Biblio File! You can even do it as part of Bethany's "make-up" 24-Hour Readathon, hosted at Dreadlock Girl on December 5 (she had a schedule conflict with the 24-Hour Readathon in October, but didn't want to wait till the next one in April!).

If you can't wait till then, and you're not too busy over the Turkey Day holiday, celebrate the Thankfully Reading Weekend with Jenn's Bookshelves, Devourer of Books, and Beth Fish Reads! These ladies will be virtually hosting this reading respite at the Book Blog Social Club. Beth F says:

Thankfully Reading Weekend will start on Friday, November 27 and end on Sunday, November 29.

There are no rules to the weekend and no prizes; we're simply hoping to devote a good amount of time to reading, and perhaps meeting some of our reading challenges and goals for 2009. We thought it'd be fun if we cheered each other on a bit. If you
think you can join in, grab the button and sign on to Mr. Linky. If you don't have a blog, use the comments!

During the weekend, come back and link any Thankfully Reading Weekend posts to the Mr. Linky we'll put up on Friday, November 27. Feel free to link as many posts as you'd like. On Sunday will put up another Mr. Linky for your wrap-up post.

We'll also be checking in on Twitter using hashtag #thankfulreading. Join in for the weekend or for only a single day. No rules, no pressure!

International readers: Just join in, no need to be celebrating the U.S. holiday. Remember that there are no rules.

We'll have a houseguest that weekend - hi, Mom-in-law! - and I'll be working on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but I certainly hope to make some time to read over those three days! How about you?

[BOSTON] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Marie) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:24:00 -0800

A rainy Sunday, and I've got a few things going on today. My book club is having a regional dinner tonight at a local church; my club is one of 12 local chapters and once a year we all get together for a meal and some time together. It should be a good time and it will take most of the day.

Yesterday my husband and I went to the New England Fan Experience, a science fiction convention that focused mainly on Star Trek and Doctor Who. It was fun, but it was the worst-organized one of these I've ever been to. He and I each had photos taken with a star from one of our favorite shows (he had his with Gareth David-Lloyd of Torchwood and I had mine with John de Lancie of Star Trek: The Next Generation) but the organizers were hours behind printing them and my husband has to go back today to get the pictures. Leonard Nimoy was there too, and the city of Boston declared yesterday Leonard Nimoy Day. I didn't get to meet him, though! But it was fun milling around, meeting some other fans and wandering through the vendor room. I got to say hi to Bettina Kurkoski, author of My Cat Loki, the first manga series I read. She also contributed to the Star Trek manga series- very cool.

Later on, we caught up with my dad, who's just back from a two-week trip to China. He went by himself and it was his first trip abroad. He had an amazing time- and came back with stacks of pictures and about 12 hours of video! We didn't get through it all last night but he showed us some souvenirs and answered all our questions. I'm sure I'll have more though!

Lots to do today- time to get started. I hope you have a great day! You can read more Sunday Salon posts here.

[BOOKSPLEASE] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:20:30 -0800

Earlier this morning I was reading Danielle’s blog A Work in Progress. She wrote about books she’s recently borrowed from the library. One of them is a biography of Louisa May Alcott by Harriet Reisen which looks very interesting. You can see more information on this website. Little Women, Good Wives, Jo’s Boys and Little Men were among my favourite books when I was younger but I didn’t know she wrote books for adults as well.

It reminded me that I have Eden’s Outcasts: the Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson. As I’ve just finished reading one book and thought that I’d read this and went to find it.

I bought it some time ago and thought it was on the bookcase with the to-be-read books, but it wasn’t there. We’re sorting out what to pack to move house, but haven’t touched the books yet. My bookshelves are in rough a-z order but in different sequences in different rooms and I looked through all them several times with no success. I was about to give up when I remembered that we had bought some clear plastic boxes and had filled one with books to see if it would be suitable. This box was at the bottom of a pile of boxes and there at the bottom of it was Eden’s Outcasts. I’ve rescued it and started to read it.

I can see that moving house is going to mean lots of books are going to be inaccessible for some time, especially if we have to put our stuff in storage for a while. Although there’s not going to be much time for reading I really need to sort out some books to keep out to see me through until we’re settled in the new house. It’s difficult to be patient, whilst we wait to see if the solicitors can sort out the contracts in time for us leaving this house on 27 November! I hope we’ll have some definite news in the next few days, otherwise we’ll be looking for somewhere to rent. After these next two weeks I probably won’t be able to blog – either reading others’ or writing my own. I’m going to miss it!

[CHAOS] Sunday Salon: November 8-14 (11-15-2009)

Rachel McElhany — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:00:00 -0800

This week I was finally well enough to get back into running. I was able to join my running group for a Saturday morning run for the first time in weeks. I'm toying with the idea of doing a half-marathon in the spring.

This afternoon we bought a mini-van. I'm so excited - I've wanted one forever. I'll post pictures and details later this week.

This was another slow reading week. The only book I finished was The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith. I also started rereading Twilight. I hope to finish it and then reread New Moon before going to see the New Moon movie on Friday.

[BOOKNAROUND] Sunday Salon: Interview with children's author Emily Smith Pearce (11-15-2009)

Kristen — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0800

Emily Smith Pearce is a friend of mine who is also a published author. Knowing her makes me almost famous, right? OK, maybe not. When I realized that I live in North Carolina and Emily lives in North Carolina and I am the North Carolina stop on the Literary Road Trip and that therefore she would make an excellent subject for an author interview, I was very excited. (We won't get into how long it took me to come to this realization; just go with the idea that slow and steady wins the race.) And Emily was completely amenable to let little old slow on the uptake me interview her, probably because she has already figured out how annoyingly persistent I can be if I don't get my way. And also because she has to work with me on our local WNBA chapter newsletter and the last thing she needs is for me to start missing my deadlines by more than I already do. But seriously, she was very gracious about it all and being a much less flip person than I am, she gave thoughtful and insightful answers to my off the cuff questions. Without further ado, let me introduce you to the lovely Emily Smith Pearce:

Which book or books are on your nightstand right now?

I like to keep a big stack nearby. I just finished When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins. It was riveting. I’m now reading a lot of craft and creativity books: The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule, Twinkle Sews by Wenlan Chia, Bend the Rules with Fabric by Amy Karol, and Journal Spilling by Diana Trout. I’m also finally getting around to reading Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.

What was your favourite book when you were a child?

I had lots of favorites, but Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terebithia is the first that comes to mind. I used to check out a record of it (yes, this was awhile ago) from the public library over and over again. I would play it in my room and cry and cry. I guess I was a little morbid! But I still love a book-induced catharsis. Katherine Paterson has always been and continues to be an inspiration to me. I can still picture the green and lavender illustration on that album cover.

What book would you most want to read again for the first time?

The Buffalo Tree, by Adam Rapp, another cathartic choice, beautiful and haunting. Also Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, wonderful on so many levels. Both are worth reading a number of times, but that first time just can’t be duplicated.

How did you get started writing?

I like to joke that I was born in a library. It’s half-true. My mother was my school librarian, and I spent numerous hours in her library reading and just being surrounded by books. I always dreamed that maybe one day I would write one of my own, and I always kept journals. I began to write short stories in college, and then in graduate school at Vermont College, I began to pursue writing seriously. I had some wonderful mentors there who really helped me hone my craft, and I had to find ways to fit writing into my life----it was there that I learned to be really disciplined about writing. Like any art or skill, you become better at it when you put in the hours. Since my time at Vermont College, my fellow alums and former mentors have been invaluable resources for me. I had a slow road to publication, helped along the way by all those folks.

Tell us a little about your books.

Isabel and the Miracle Baby is the story of a young girl whose mother, a cancer survivor, has unexpectedly had a new baby. Isabel is a very angry girl. She’s learning to renegotiate her relationship with her mother, to deal with her fears about cancer, and to accept the presence of a new person (her sister) in her life. She’s also facing some fierce playground politics at school.

Isabel was inspired by a little girl I once knew. Her story was different from Isabel’s, but she was also a very angry person whose mother was a cancer survivor. I began to write about her and to imagine a back story for her because I wondered if the anger and the cancer were related somehow.

Slowpoke, which will hopefully come out sometime next year, is for younger readers. It’s a humorous story about a slow-moving girl whose fast-paced family has grown impatient with her. They decide she has to change, and they send her to Speed School. Fiona is loosely based on me, because I’ve always been a dreamer and a famously slow eater. I’m sure my family wishes they could send me to Speed School at times. Slowness can be annoying but at times it’s also a good thing. Dreamers are the ones who write books, right?

Your books are targeted to different age groups. Which was harder to write?

I would never say that any form was easy. I have too much respect for the work that good writing takes. But for me, writing a novel was definitely more challenging because it’s so big. It’s easy to get lost among the trees, and I certainly did get lost a number of times. With a novel, you have to sustain a world and a cast of characters for a very long time, and plotting Isabel was a complex, hard-wrought process. I hope I’ve learned a few things to take with me while writing my next novel.

What's the coolest thing that's happened to you since becoming a published author?

I love to do author visits at schools. At one school I visited, the students made film-strip-like drawings about Isabel. They were totally awesome. Having students respond to my work is the best feeling. At another school, a student wrote me a letter saying that she wanted to buy my book but that her family didn’t have the budget for it. Her mother agreed to pay half if the girl used her own money for the rest, which she did. The thought of someone saving up to buy my book is truly humbling.

Thanks so much to Emily for stopping in here for a chat. Isabel and the Miracle Baby is available for purchase at amazon and I'll keep you all posted about when you can expect to see Slowpoke in stores as well. In addition, make sure to check out Emily's blog, where she chats about her books and scheduled appearances and, as she says, "I blog about writing exercises and my art and crafting adventures." You definitely have to see the darling Halloween costume she made for her daughter out of recycled and found fabric and stuff. Honestly, it's so cute I might have to rethink my friendship with her. A published author who is both creative and crafty? ::sigh::

[AT HOME] The Sunday Salon - November 15 (11-15-2009)

Alyce — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:01:00 -0800

My husband spent some time in Australia over the past couple of weeks, and took this photo of a sculpture in front of a library in Melbourne.

The sculpture is made to look as if the library has sunken into the concrete. I thought it was pretty cool looking from the photo (although seeing it in person would have been way better). While he was in Australia I was doing the normal mom stuff: taking care of the kids and the house. Those two weeks were very long though, because I ended up staying up until about 2 a.m. each night in order to chat with my husband online. I'm so glad that he's home now.

I thought I'd share this photo of our cat Midnight making herself at home on the top of the couch. I just love how her legs seem abnormally long.

Today I'll be reading Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen. I've really been enjoying it so far. It's very funny, and some of the off-color humor has made me laugh out loud.

I'm still behind in writing my reviews. I've been in more of a mood to read than write lately, but I will try to write a few reviews this week regardless.

Reviewed Last Week:

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Art and Upheaval by William Cleveland

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

Finished Last Week:

After by Amy Efaw

Still Waiting to be Reviewed:

Emma, Volume 8 by Kaoru Mori
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
Wicked Will by Bailey MacDonald
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Abandoned:

Traveling With Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor - I will do a write up of this book in the next week or so to explain why I abandoned it, but the main reasons are that it is depressing, repetitive and over-analytical.

Giveaways:

I have five giveaways that are active right now, one of which ends tonight.

The Gate House by Nelson DeMille - ends tonight, 11/15

Art and Upheaval by William Cleveland - ends 11/22

In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - ends 11/22

Kissing Games of the World by Sandi Kahn Shelton - ends 11/22

November Bookshelf Cleaning Giveaway (4 books) - ends 11/29

[CHRISTY] The Sunday Salon 11.15.09 (11-15-2009)

Christy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:16:00 -0800

Happy Sunday!

I finally finished Wolf Hall last week. What a beast! I'm currently reading Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander, book #4 in the Lady Emily mystery series.

I'm looking at challenges and have joined my first one for 2010: All About the Brontës Challenge. Super stoked about starting it. I'm also looking at two others which I hope to have posts up about this week. And I need to finish both the Back To School Challenge and the Period Drama Challenge.

I hit over 26,000 words for NaNoWriMo and it is now the halfway point of the month. So I'm ahead of NaNo's schedule, but I feel like I need to get a move on if I want to finish my story by the end of November because I'm feeling like it is going to be way more than 50,000 words.

So much to do! Have a great week!

[BELCHING] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:53:51 -0800

Happy Sunday Bloggers!

How’s your week? Mine is slow once again. I only have two reviews and I have no new reads till next week, I guess. That also means I’m slow with Kay’s Review Challenge.

I also reviewed a movie! This is my first movie review:

Despite that bad news, Philippine’s beloved boxer won his game against Miguel Cotto. Quite proud you know! With 7 titles, he is making history.

Hope your Sunday is glorifying!

[DISTILS] TSS: Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran (11-15-2009)

gautami tripathy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:01:00 -0800

"Augustus saved my brother like a bull for the slaughter, so why shoulsdn't I be next? And who better to do the job than you?"

~Page 393

Title: Cleopatra's Daughter
Author: Michelle Moran
ISBN: 9780307409126
Publisher: Crown/2009
Pages: 448

When Octavian's army arrives into Egypt, first Marc Antony and then Cleopatra kill themselves, leaving their children in the hands of their enemy. The 10-year-old twins, Selene and Alexander, along with 4-year-old Ptolemy are taken to Rome. The younger child dies at the sea.

Octavian brings both the children to his sister Octavia's house. She had been abandoned by Marc Antony yet she loves those children as her own. Selene and Alexander stick to each other, both dreaming of getting back to Egypt someday. They are educated as befitting as their age and class. Selene is encouraged to take up drawing and painting. Octavian, for all his faults, does not trwat then badly and he is also concerned about Rome and his people. He builds the city so that they live in it with convenience and no hardships.

The various relationships are complicated and everything does seem confusing for the young Selene, but she too can see the contrast in the workings of her father Marc Antony and Octavian (Augustus). The slave rebellion, and to make a home for the orphans are only a few issues taken up.

Historically, the Roman Civilization was much developed than we can envisage, much progressive in its thinking and most important of all, women had the right to marry as many times as they wished to. Poets, rulers, politicians and even the masses seem to have had visions for the future. No wonder, the Roman Empire lasted a long time.

Selene tries to understand her world with the world she is living in. She sees much ups and downs and yet knows how to survive. She also learns that serving the people, and having a sense of justice can never go wrong.

Thanks to the author for the book.

Also check out the following reviews:

Book Addiction
Historical Tapestry
Medieval Bookworm
S. Krishna's Books
Reading Rumpus
fashion_piranha
Diary of an Eccentric
Scaling Mount TBR
veens

[BIBLIOPHILE'S BOOKSHELF] The Sunday Salon: A Change is in the Air (11-15-2009)

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:30:02 -0800

To learn more about The Sunday Salon click here.

What a reading week! I had one of those beautiful reading weeks where I abandoned the TBR and just read whatever took my fancy. I went bookstore shopping this week and read a couple of books that I grabbed off the shelf on impulse. I love that kind of spur-of-the-moment reading.

So this week’s reading has been:

A Fool & his Honey by Charlaine Harris
Last Scene Alive by Charlaine Harris
Martha in the Mirror by Justin Richards
Kristy’s Big Day by Ann M Martin
Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel by Lisa Cach

November has crept up on me, and already the end of year is in sight. With 2010 just around the corner, I’m starting to think about what direction I will take A Bibliophile’s Bookshelf next year. There are going to be many changes in the next few months, some changes that won’t start until January, and some that will be immediate.

READING CHALLENGES – I’m not taking on any new Reading Challenges. While I do love Reading Challenges, I am trying a new style of challenge. I will be finishing the four Reading Challenges I am currently undertaking,

Starting this month I will be doing a mini-challenge every month. Each month I will read books from a particular series or a particular author. This month I am reading the books in the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris. My thoughts are that I will dedicate 4-5 books to this challenge. I think that is very much manageable and the rest of the month I can read on whim, which I adore doing.

I’m going to announce the author/series at the beginning of the month, in the first Sunday Salon post, and wrap-up the author/series at the last Sunday Salon post of the month.

Of course, anyone is welcome to join me in that month’s author/series, and I will include their progress in my wrap-up post.

Edit: Kay at The Infinite Shelf has made a suggestion, which I think is great so I’m going to include it. If you having your own monthly challenge to read a particular author/series let me know and I will include this in my monthly challenge posts. I like discovering new series, and would love to have more people partake in the mini-monthly challenge.

ARCs/REVIEW COPIES – I’m no longer accepting ARCs/Review Copies. I currently have 4 books left to review, all are December/January releases.

I want to bring A Bibliophile’s Bookshelf back to its roots. I started my blog to talk about the books I read, and slowly I’ve taken on more and more review copies, which is something I never intended to do. So in 2010 I am going to try and just read books that I buy.

I’ve discovered some great authors thanks to accepting review copies. Authors such as Judi Fennell, Marsha Altman, Sharon Lathan, and I will be continuing to buy and review their books, but within my own time frame.

So there we have it. 2010. A year of changes. Mostly it is going to be a year where I read the books that I buy and talk about them. I’m trying to spend less time on my blog and promoting it, and more time reading, and hopefully that will reflect in my reading choices.

With all these changes happening, I am hoping that many of my devoted readers will stick around. There are going to be some fabulous books read in 2010, and while there will be less book tours and giveaways, there will be more reviews!

So readers, what are your plans for reading in 2010?

[BURTON] The Sunday Salon~ Books and Gifting (11-15-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Burton) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0800

Happy glorious weekend, blogger babes! (If there are any guys reading this, then I apologize, but I don't think I've got any male readers. If you are here, speak up!!) Did you know it's mid-November already? Wasn't it just June? Apparently time is flying, just in time for the holiday hustle bustle to start. With two kiddos I've got twice as much Santa shopping to do. I didn't really try too hard last year, it was a difficult holiday season as my father had just passed away.. and my youngest was just 1.5 then so I knew I didn't need to go stir crazy with the gifting. Well at 2.5, I don't need to stir crazy now either and would prefer not to. The reality is that he now realizes that he should be entitled to the same stuff as his big sissy, so we need to be democratic in this endeavor. With the horrible economy, we can't afford to do a lot anyway, yet we always over spend. Always. No matter what.

In fact, we've already started our shopping. I, of course, have selected some books for my 7.5 year old that I enjoyed when I was a kid, and hope that she does too. She's a smarty and enjoys reading, but she enjoys her Nintendo DS more. But if I can somehow bestow the greatest gift of joyful books upon my daughter, and have her appreciate it and realize the joys of reading: that would be my greatest gift to myself as well. What are some of your favorite reads that you remember reading at a young age?

I remember Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume the most. I swear I must have read those books at least a dozen times each. The Anne of Green Gables series came after that, then Louisa May Alcott. The simpler chapter books I will have to stick with for this year, so I chose the Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary and the Fudge boxed-set by Judy Blume. She has already read and owns many of the Jack and Annie Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne, so I don't want to go there and give her duplicates. She also has access to her school library and I always see her with a new Jack and Annie book from the library so I can't use that as an option anymore.

Speaking of gifts, I already ordered two books for myself for Christmas. This week, I posted a small article on Louisa May Alcott. That post really inpsired me..... to shop... So I ordered Susan Cheever's American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller: 'this brilliant, controversial, and fascinating biography explores the lives and work of those who were, in the mid-19th century, the center of American thought and literature'; and I also ordered Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson: "Louisa May Alcott is known universally. Yet during Louisa's youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson-an eminent teacher and a friend of Emerson and Thoreau. He desired perfection, for the world and from his family. Louisa challenged him with her mercurial moods and yearnings for money and fame. The other prize she deeply coveted-her father's understanding-seemed hardest to win. This story of Bronson and Louisa's tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters." This last one was a 2008 Pulitzer Prize winning biography.

I also ordered another Pulitzer Prize winner, March by Geraldine Brooks: "As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history.

From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May’s father—a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In her telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through.

Spanning the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott’s optimistic children’s tale to portray the moral complexity of war, and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism—and by a dangerous and illicit attraction. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks’s place as an internationally renowned author of historical fiction."

In blogland, I finally posted my review of Georgette Heyer's Arabella last week, and it was a cute review!! You'll understand that cuteness when you visit the post.. but suffice it to say, again, I really enjoyed Arabella and it is on my favorite reads of 2009 list!

This week I also reviewed Diane Haeger's The Queen's Mistake: A Novel of Catherine Howard. Read my review here, and follow the link there to the recent author interview I posted as well.

Coming up this week, I've got a review and guest post with giveaway scheduled for My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy. This is a fun Victorian romance and is worth your time when you are in the mood for some light-hearted romance. If you are a newsletter subscriber, you will be eligible to win this later on this year.

I'll also have a big Mailbox Monday to report to you, there are lots of fun finds there so get your pencils ready for your wishlists!

I've got another award under my belt, this time from Robin at The Lady Gwyn's Kingdom. She got it from Kathleen at Celticlady's Ramblings which she just renamed Book Blog o' The Irish.

I also received this award from Heather at The Maiden's Court, (which she also received from Kathleen); thank you so much for including me in the fun!!

Here are the rules:

1. Post the award on your blog, with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 5 other blogs that you particularly like. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I'm passing this on to the most aesthetic blogs I regularly visit & think they look great too:

Arleigh at Historical-fiction.com
Lucy at Enchanted By Josephine
Allie at Hist-Fic Chick
Aimee at My Fluttering Heart
Susie at All Things Royal
Thanks to these awesome blogging babes with some awesome looking blogs to go with their awesome content!

OH, and back to the Gifts topic.. I have ordered some fun items to go with the exclusive newsletter giveaways coming up... mum's the word.. but this will be right around the end of the year so make sure you are signed up!

Repeating last week's IMPORTANT NEWS ALERT!!
Please subscribe to my NEWSLETTER!! Using the Google Friend Connect Follower gadget you can update your preferences there. There is also another Newsletter Gadget right below the Follower gadget on the left sidebar to update your email preferences. I will not spam you. I will not use the newsletter to announce posts or reviews. I will instead simply send out my Sunday Salon posts early to you and have special newsletter-only-giveaways. You must subscribe to the newsletter to be eligible. You will have to verify your email address from the physical email that it will automatically send you. (Check your spam account!) This is not the same as just following the blog!

[DOWN UNDER] Sunday Salon – Ssshhh… (11-14-2009)

JM — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:00:04 -0800

…I’m still on vacation.

Be back tomorrow.

[DEBLOG] TSS Troubles with the Sunday Salon (11-13-2009)

Debra Hamel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:54:15 -0800

You'll probably have noticed that there was some trouble with the Salon over the last weekend. Most posts didn't go through, though some snuck by. I've been playing with it all week trying to get things working, but I'm hindered by my own ignorance and the fact that Yahoo Pipes is slow and has apparently been having problems itself.

At any rate, I wound up reorganizing the data that gets fed into the Pipe. Instead of taking the RSS feeds and tags from a single Google spreadsheet, it's now taking that information from a bunch of different spreadsheets, aggregating it in a handful of Pipes, and then aggregating outputs from those Pipes in a single Pipe. My idea was that maybe it would be better able to handle the data in smaller doses. Again, I have no idea what I'm doing. I've just been experimenting. But at present, at least, it seems to be working. You should see feeds from last week starting to come through your RSS readers.

I've also been trying to think of an alternative to aggregating the feeds in this way, but so far I've not been able to come up with a solution. There are other aggregators out there, using which you can mash different feeds together to create a single feed, but none seem as powerful as Pipes, and none seem able to add a tag to the post title (which I find very helpful when looking through Salon posts). We're dealing with almost 500 different feeds here, which is a lot of information. Yahoo Pipes, if it worked reliably and was faster, would really be the ideal solution.

So all of this is making me think that, unless an alternative solution presents itself, maybe the growth of the Salon should be halted at 500 members. (We're currently at 480.) Thoughts? Ideas?

[BIBLIOGRAPHING] Sunday Salon (11-8-2009)

nicole — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:48:16 -0800

I have chosen what will probably be the last really nice weekend of the year to completely sequester myself with books. I am laying siege to the shelves, attacking that which has lingered too long. Forget spring cleaning, this is an end-of-year purge. Since Friday evening I have cleared three books off the list (All Things Bright and Beautiful—delicious; The Best Creative Nonfiction, vol. 3—uneven but mostly good; and Whose Body?—Lord Peter Wimsey, need I say more?) And today I am back, en pleine forme, to tackle Miss Evelina Anville. Today will be the day, ladies and gentleman, I swear to it.

I am breaking up my siege into 10-book rounds, with permission to resupply only at those intervals. With two exceptions, of course. The December issue of Playboy will be mine as soon as I can find out the newsstand date*, and then, just a week from Tuesday now, The Original of Laura in its entirety.

Why the siege? Well, it’s not exactly to get rid of things, although I do plan to. Certainly some of these books do not need to be keepers. But everything is so disorganized. Oh, here’s something I found at a library sale, there are some remainders from Powell’s. All stuff I found interesting, but without a larger picture to place it in. My desires to be orderly in my reading are coming to the fore, starting at the beginning—of forms, of movements, of an author’s oevre. This is mostly ridiculous, but also not. It’s a byproduct of my themed reading, I’m sure, which is itself a byproduct of my natural state. But above all else a byproduct of the constant feeling that I know not of what I speak—und darüber muss ich schweigen, or, change my ways a bit at least.

Anyway, coming up for this week: a somewhat closer look at The Ayrshire Legatees and also a bit about The Provost. I’m thinking about doing some Ludwig Tieck for my Friday short story. And perhaps, depending on timing, Evelina. Then we’ll really have made some progress on the epistolary business.

*When, o Readers, will this be? Talk about an uninformative website.
Update: If this remains accurate, it’s November 10—that is to say, tomorrow!

Another update: Just found out via the Playboy Twitter feed (of course) that the December issue won’t hit newsstands until Friday. Sob.

[ALL ABOUT] The Sunday Salon: The Treadmill Book is Back! (11-8-2009)

Suey — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:51:00 -0800

Yep. I've taken a little treadmill vacation, but no more. The treadmill is back, and along with that, a book to read while walking. My first treadmill book is to finish J. Scott Savage's Farworld: Land Keep. The uncorrected proof version I have of that book is perfect for the treadmill book holder. See, it can't just be any book that's designated as the treadmill book! It's got to work in that holder!

Today I've spent a good chunk of the day reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This is the book for my "other" book club (the one were I just go but don't lead) coming up in a few weeks. I'm learning much about the Japanese evacuations and round up, in Seattle particularly, during World War II.

Yesterday I finished up The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks. I remember it making quite a buzz a few years ago, but I sure haven't heard about it in recent years. Anyway, it was on my TBR Challenge list, so I decided to get another one of those done, though I think I won't finish my list before the year is over. It was a fun and quite intense SF like I haven't read for a long time.

Coming up in my pile:

Her Fearful Symmetry... because it's due soon at the library

Hide and Seek... for the Wilkie Collins Classic Circuit tour

When you Reach Me... a quick read, also from the library

A review of Tom Sawyer... for my book club

A Fatal Waltz... because it's borrowed and I need to get it back

Maybe something else from the TBR Challenge list

[DEBLOG] Sunday Salon: Annoyance (11-8-2009)

Debra Hamel — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:27:59 -0800

I'm seriously disgusted with Yahoo Pipes. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't--you'll have noticed that it's not working today--even when I've made no changes. I don't understand it well enough to effectively troubleshoot. I'm trying to figure out if there's some other means of aggregating the Sunday Salon feeds. It's not as easy as you'd think: there are almost 500 RSS feeds we want aggregated, filtered, sorted, with dates appended to the titles, and spat out. I've wasted hours on this today and so far have not come up with anything like a solution.

[BECKY] Sunday Salon: Reading, Read, To Read #45 (11-8-2009)

Becky — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:02:00 -0800

Happy Sunday everyone! I've watched two movies this week: The Woman in White (1948) and You For Me (1952). And endless hours of figure skating. I love, love, love watching skating. I've done some reading--some for fun and some for Cybils.

I've been thinking about challenges for 2010. I've posted about a few of the challenges I'm hosting. (Celebrate the Author, Young Readers, A to Z, 18th and 19th Century Women Writers, etc.) But I've also been seeking out other challenges. I was happy to see the announcement for the TBR 2010 challenge. Though the TBR challenge has always been love/hate with me. I always get so very excited signing up for it. Creating a list. Knowing that it is a list with little wiggle room. 12 Books, 12 Alternates. That's it. But both years I've participated I've ended up fighting with myself. I put that on the list??? Why??? What was I even thinking??? I look at my list four or five months later and it's like a stranger wrote it. So how can I prevent this happening again? I *really* do want to join in again.

What I read in a previous week, but reviewed this week:

Devil's Paintbox. Victoria McKernan. 2009. Random House. 360 pages.
Willoughby's Return. Jane Odiwe. 2009. Sourcebooks. 352 pages.

What I read this past week and reviewed:

My Elephant. Petr Horacek. 2009. Candlewick Press.
The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear. David Bruins and Hilary Leung. 2009. Kids Can Press.
Under the Star: A Christmas Counting Story. Jane Yolen. Illustrated by Vlasta van Kampen. Key Porter Kids.
The Seeing Stick. Jane Yolen. Illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini. Running Press.
Pumpkin Baby by Jane Yolen. Illustrated by Susan Mitchell. Key Porter Kids.
The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow. Andy Griffiths. Illustrated by Terry Denton. 2009. Feiwel and Friends. 124 pages. (Early Reader)
Ruby Flips for Attention. (Ruby and the Booker Boys). 2009. Derrick Barnes. Scholastic. 130 pages.

What I read this past week and haven't reviewed yet:

Dessert First by Hallie Durand. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 154 pages.
Road to Tater Hill. Edith M. Hemingway. 2009. Random House. 214 pages.
Al Capone Shines My Shoes. Gennifer Choldenko. 2009. Penguin. 274 pages.
The Shadow Dragons. James A. Owen. 2009. 417 pages.
No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay) by Trudi Trueit. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 118 pages.
The Funeral Director's Son by Coleen Murtagh Paratore. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 135 pages.
Dog Whisperer: The Rescue by Nicholas Edwards. 2009. SquareFish. 216 pages.

What I've read and really, really need to review:

The Swiss Courier. Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey. 2009. Revell. 324 pages.
Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga by Beth Felker Jones. 2009. Multnomah. 180 pages.
Thirsty. Tracey Bateman. 2009. Waterbrook Press. 376 pages.

What I'm currently reading:

Mary Barton. Elizabeth Gaskell. 487 pages.
Man and Wife. Wilkie Collins.

What I'm just fooling around that I'm reading:

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Monk by Matthew Lewis

What I've abandoned:

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

[BIBLE] Sunday Salon: Week In Review (November 1-7) (11-8-2009)

Becky — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:32:00 -0800

This week I...

finished 1 Kings (ESV Study Bible)

read 2 Kings 1-2 in the ESV Study Bible

read Job 26-37 in the 1599 Geneva Bible

[BOOK LOVER] Sunday Salon November 8, 2009 (11-8-2009)

Brittanie — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:59:00 -0800

* I finished one book today and read another. I keep getting distracted and I really want to read another today. I finished His Cowgirl Bride by Debra Clopton and read White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner. They were both good and my review for White Picket Fences will be up tomorrow.

* Right now I am doing laundry, watching the Good Eats episode on Sea Salt, blogging, and writing book reviews.

* That reminds me I have Alton Brown's new cookbook and The Pioneer Woman's cookbook on my wish list. I also saw a new Martha Stewart Baking one at Sam's the other day. Do I cook? Not really but I do like to bake. Unless it is box cupcakes or muffins I go to my Aunt's house to do it. I think I might like to cook more if I had the hardware and space in the kitchen for it. Our oven is currently not working right so it is not even an option. We think it might be the element.

* I have several book reviews that need to be written this week. I also have a giveaway coming up for Piece de Resistance by Sandra Byrd.

* I hope everyone has a great week and lots of reading time. :)

*

[CHRISTY] The Sunday Salon 11.08.09 (11-8-2009)

Christy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:55:00 -0800

Happy Sunday!

NaNoWriMo is seriously cutting into my reading time! Still working my way through Wolf Hall. I just have a little over 100 pages to go, now. Right at this moment I have 13,386 words written. I hope to get some writing in today, but Sunday is a bad day for writing with football and all.

The good news is: I'm not struggling with my story. Things are going well! I have added a word count widget to my right sidebar.

A lot of new challenges are poppin' up. I've been browsing to find ones to start after NaNoWriMo. So many good ones, but must not overwhelm myself!

Have a great week!

[BOOKLUST] Sunday Salon: Reading Update (11-8-2009)

Aarti — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:08:00 -0800

I was quite stressed out a week ago this time because of all the reading I had on my plate. I am feeling a bit better now as I've gotten through two of the books I need to read for the YA panel discussion I'm organizing. Whew!

I also last night finished reading The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey. That review will go up tomorrow. It was a really good read and refreshed my love of Richard III. It also made me realize just how dependent upon chance people are. Honestly, it's easy say with hindsight that "if this had happened, then X wouldn't have been able to do this and the course of history would have been completely changed." And maybe it's not always true. But it's so fascinating to think about and explore. I think there is a series of books called "What if?" or something like that in which historians go over what they think would have happened if key moments in history had gone differently. "What if America had lost the Revoutionary war?" "What if Napoleon had succeeded in Russia?" Those kinds of things. I should look those books up.

I started reading Soulless by Gail Carriger last night. It is a lot of fun and has a great deal of witty dialogue. However, it also uses a lot of terms I am not familiar with, not really being "in" with the vampire/werewolf literary crowd. So I felt a little out of my depths. I think it is a book that will take much more concentration and much more time to savor the banter than I have to give it at the moment. I was reading it now because I wanted a short book to read before picking up Helen Hollick's huge Arthurian novel, The Kingmaking. However, as I was reading Soulless, I started thinking that I should have been reading Hollick's novel, and then I wasn't really enjoying it, so I put aside the one for the other and now I'm about to go back to Wales in the Dark Ages. I'm reading Hollick's novel with Linda, so that should be fun! Also, Cara gave me my copy of Soulless to read- thanks very much :-) Yay, reading friends!

Hope you're all doing well with your reading, too! What's up for this week?

[CHICK] The Sunday Salon... Readers celebrate The Tree with The Green Book reading challenge, Balancing Out Your Books, and The Tree Museum (11-8-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Suzanne) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:56:00 -0800

In Connecticut the weather is a little crisper, the trees are losing their crimson leaves, and we are readying our wood stoves for the colder weather... It's a beautiful time of year, the air seems fresher, the sound of the rustling leaves under your feet is the special music of Fall, and the deer and birds seem to spend more time visiting us... I saw an interesting campaign that will take place this Tuesday Nov. 10th at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. It's the 100 Green Books Campaign. Organized by Eco-Libris, this campaign is aiming to promote “green” books by reviewing more than 100 books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper. Over 100 bloggers will take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of more than 100 such books. I read about this reading challenge too late to join in, but thought as I was enjoying the fall weather and the beauty of my surroundings, that I would take a moment (and today's Sunday Salon) to share with you what Eco-Libris is all about... along with a few other "green" tree related sites and a fun "tree" exhibition going on in New York...

Eco-Libris believes in providing people with easy and affordable ways to take responsibility for their actions and go green. They don’t believe in preaching doom and gloom. It’s not their style. They believe in taking action and in the power of small changes to make a big impact... "Once upon a time there was Ex-Libris (a Latin phrase meaning ‘from the books’), a label people used to paste on their books to indicate ownership. We see Eco-Libris as the new, green version of Ex-Libris. In our vision people will balance out their books by planting trees and will indicate their commitment to sustainability by putting an Eco-Libris sticker on the sleeves of these books. As people once showed their love for books with Ex-Libris, we hope to see people show their love for books and the environment with Eco-Libris."

Reading about the reading challenge and the organization Eco-Libris made me think about my reading habits and the trees that are used to feed that habit. Eco-Libris states on their website that "More than 30 Million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone." Their sensible approach is to encourage the use of recycled paper or virgin paper from certified forests, and planting trees to help sustain the sources we use when we read. I know I'm not going to stop reading books and I have a Kindle which you'd think would help the environment, although there's some debate about the Kindle and its actual "carbon footprint"... another story for another time (here's a LINK to some of that debate), but I can do some simple things to be a little greener... one of which is sponsor the planting of trees...

A program Eco-Libris is promoting is Balance Out Your Books, where you make a donation to have a tree planted for every book you read. Eco-Libris has 3 planting partners that are non-profit organizations working in developing countries where deforestation is a crucial problem. They have partnered with various publishers, bookstores, and are promoting this with book clubs as well. If you are a member of Book Mooch, which is a book swapping community, they have a program called Green Mooch, a special incentive to BookMoochers to balance out their books, and to Eco-Libris fans to start mooching some books. You can read more about Green Mooch HERE, and you can learn all about Book Mooch there too!

There are other ways to plant a tree too! The Arbor Day Foundation has a tree planting program. With membership, which is $10 or $15, you can get 10 free trees that will grow well in your area, or 10 trees will be planted in your honor in a U.S. National Forest. Plant a tree in Israel. Since 1901 there have been over 240 million trees planted in Israel. You can have a tree planted in honor of anyone by going HERE. Or you can simply plant your own tree! Here is a list of 29 reasons to plant a tree from Treelink.org too!

Want to just celebrate the tree? As readers we love trees, right?! Katie Holten created the TREE MUSEUM to celebrate the communities and ecosystems along the Grand Concourse, a 100 year-old boulevard in The Bronx. Visitors can listen in on local stories and the intimate lives of trees offered by current and former residents: from beekeepers to rappers, historians to gardeners, school kids to scientists. She has marked out 100 diverse trees along the Concourse, which is about four and a half miles long. Each one will have a sign that gives a phone number and a code to listen to short recordings of people speaking about the Bronx, their lives and their work. The tree museum opened on June 21st of this year and will be around until Jan.3rd, 2010. Of course after the signs are taken down, the trees will still be there! Here is a google map of where all 100 Trees are located. And here's a link to a great article in the New York Times about the "Museum of Trees".

Hope you found something interesting here today! Let me know how you feel about being "green"! Do you do anything to help the environment? Do you think about the trees that are cut down to make the paper our books are made of? Do you think it matters? And are there any New Yorkers out there that have walked the Tree Museum? I'd love to hear about that!

Happy reading...

Suzanne

[AVERAGE] Sunday Salon: Do Boys Read Twilight? (11-8-2009)

Dani in NC — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:23:00 -0800

From Average Girl Reads

My 11-year-old son DJ started reading Twilight last week. In a way, I wasn't surprised that he picked it up. The book has been in and out of our house as each of his three older sisters made attempts to read it (C1 was the only one who found it captivating enough to finish and move on to the next book in the series). I was still a little worried when I saw him getting so engrossed in it, though. I wondered if other boys would pick at him for reading a "girly" book. After all, the jokes about the series always center around "sparkly vampires". To me, that sounds like the type of book that could get a kid beat up.

Turns out I needn't have worried. I decided to put my fears to rest and casually ask my kids if boys at their schools are reading Twilight. The consensus is that boys from 7th grade on up through high school think that the books and the movies are solid chick territory, but 6th-grade boys just view it as a painless way to rack up AR points. Even though it is rated as being on a 4th-grade reading level, the book is worth 18 points. An easy-to-read book with that many points is like the Holy Grail :-).

TBR List: I feel like I am treading water. Even though I finished three books last week, my list is still only down to 108 titles. That's only one title less than last week. Three books in a week is pretty good for me, so seeing the list barely budge is disappointing. However, I am reminding myself that part of my goal was to at least refresh the titles on the list if I couldn't reduce the number of titles. Also, I have several titles that are a continuation of the three series I'm reading. If I blaze through those, I should be able to make a dent in the list.

[1330V] Sunday Salon: Books, books, books (11-8-2009)

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:19:44 -0800

Good morning. Right now it’s early morning and the sun is starting to rise. It’s pretty quiet over here with only a few of the kids up. The only sounds that can be heard are the keyboard as I type, the heater, and my coffee pot. The second my coffee’s ready, I plan on sitting at the kitchen table reading Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it For Life. In the book, Tharp explains how creativity is really a habit that you have to foster. She also includes great ways to become more creative and exercises to get you going at the end of every chapter. I’m halfway through it and it’s a book I would recommend to anyone doing NaNoWriMo.

I’m also in the middle of a graphic novel, a memoir, a collection of essays, and some fiction. I have my hands full. Which is why Marie from The Boston Bibliophile and I are planning on doing a 12-hour mini-readathon this Wednesday. The plan is to read as many of our short paperbacks as possible. I have a ton of unread books on my shelf that have been sitting around for years. I hope to knock out as least five books since so many of them are less than 200 pages long.

My coffee’s ready and so I’m off to read. Have a great Sunday. What are you reading today?

[COLOR] The Sunday Salon: What We Read, Said & Wrote (11-8-2009)

Color Online — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:16:00 -0800

Good morning all,

I have lots to share this morning. We have a new giveaway, Ali has a new CORA Diversity Roll Call up, we have more great posts this week, many which were posted pretty close together so do check the digest here so you can check everything out. We have mail.

Before I go on, I want to thank my friend and partner in crime, Doret for stepping in. As many of you know, I have a new job. Couple my new responsibilities with adjusting to life with a teen in a high school and the reality is I have too much on my plate. I cannot keep up the publishing schedule and duties here as I had been and so Doret will be taking on more responsibility so we as community continue to thrive and grow. Doret, I can't thank you enough.

On to the reading life: I have had to take a hiatus from Liar but for a good reason. Last week when I visited my stylist to get my locs tightened I had my copy with me. I shared it with my stylist's daughter who was very interested in it. Of course, I let her keep it. I'll pick up where I left off later with my daughter's copy. In the meantime, I've been reading Paper Towns by John Green and just like Doret said, I am enjoying it. A few times, I've laughed out loud on the bus on my way to work.

Did you check out COLA this week? We have the amazing Justine Larbalestier. If you haven't already, show her some love, people. Justine rocks.

If you don't know about Girls Write Now, do read about this amazing organization. Link in the sidebar. Author, Tayari Jones and I are talking about ways Color Online and GWN can support each other. I'm beyond impressed with GWN, I'm envious. I want them here in Detroit. Read and support these young women.

It's about connecting readers and writers. Tget your chick lit fix with Ms. Brady's debut novel. And if you don't normally read chick lit (waving my hand) don't dismiss this. Read beyond your comfort zone and you might discover you like more than you thought. To help you out, we're hosting The Bum Magnet Giveaway.

I have more, check out reviews from Karen and Bonnie. Karen reviews Speak So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Lee Hurston by Lucy Ann Hurston and Bonnie reviews Dawn by Octavia E. Butler.

Ali is back with a new CORA Diversity Roll Call assignment. This week we look at early readers that feature poc children. If you don't know, each month a participant will be randomly selected to pick a book for our Prize Bucket. October's winner is Akilah of The Englishist. Join us. Discover new reads and earn a chance to win a free book.

Don't forget about our quizzes, another opportunity to win books. Check out our current Color Me Brown Links. Find for more reading suggestions in our New Crayons feature. I'll post that later this evening.

How was your week? What have you read lately?

[BETTY AND BOO] The Sunday Salon: On Being on the Other Side of the Page (11-8-2009)

Melissa (Betty and Boo's Mommy) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:04:00 -0800

So here's what I've learned after a week of NaNoWriMo-ing. (I'm at 11,133 words as of this morning and earlier this week I posted an excerpt, which you can read here, if so inclined.)

Being on the other side of the page is harder than it looks. Now, I didn't expect this to be a cakewalk, but because this story has been with me for several years, I thought the going would be a little smoother.

Um ... not so much. I'm kind of stuck right now, and need a shot of inspiration (maybe in the form of a Starbucks Eggnog Latte?) if I'm to reach the 15k wordcount that we're supposed to have as of end of the day tomorrow.

Since this is the Sunday Salon, I will say something about what I'm currently reading which is none other than the much-talked about, much praised The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I saw it at the library last weekend, just sitting on top of the shelf on display, and I grabbed it.

(I know what you're saying. What idiot starts The Hunger Games while in the middle of NaNoWriMo? That would be yours truly, right here.)

But it is worth because now, now I get it. I finally understand what you've all been talking about! And let me tell you, I was an adamant hold out that this was not going to be the book for me. This is so far removed from what I typically read - and yet, there are many elements that make it very much in keeping with what I typically read.

(Note to my friends, the Kasagrams: has The Boy read this series yet? If not, I am thinking about this for him as a Christmas present, as well as the second book, Catching Fire. Let me know.)

So maybe that's really what I've been learning in this week of NaNoWriMo. That it's OK to push yourself, to explore, to break out of your comfort zone and discover something new ... especially when you've had a preconceived notion of what that was all along.

[ACCIDENTAL] THE SUNDAY SALON (11-8-2009)

Creations by Laurel-Rain Snow — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:44:00 -0800

Hosted by Deb, The Sunday Salon is our weekly venue to talk about the books (and events) of the past week and to plan for the upcoming week.

So far today, I've been lazy. Almost as if I had worked a 40-hr. week—yes, I remember those, except they were more like 60-hr. weeks—and I don't miss anything about them. Well, except maybe the paychecks! LOL.

Luxuriating in my free-lance lifestyle, I love getting up and stumbling toward my computer with my cup of coffee, and clicking away to all sorts of places in the Blogosphere, this wonderful world of the Web.

And reading...picking up a book and being able to read until I'm ready to stop.

Last week, I finished two rather intriguing books. First, in The Thursday Woman, we explored psychosexual obsession in its full-blown colors. That review is posted over at CURL UP AND READ.

Next, I dove into a mystery, a full-on suspense tale that led me down some twisted pathways, following clues and sorting out the pieces of the puzzle. That was The Wrong Mother, and believe me when I say that it was intense and complicated...I would think I had it figured out, and then the author would throw me a curve. You can find that review on CURL UP AND READ as well.

Just looking at the covers of these books...ooh, they chill me!

So my next read is definitely going to be a little lighter—I have to alternate intensities here, or I'd never go to sleep at night!

Check out RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS tomorrow to see what I'm reading this week.

And to find out about another challenge I'm pursuing now, check out my newest site, MOONBEAMS AND RAINBOWS.

Now I'm going to click around the 'sphere and find out what the rest of you are doing.

Hope you'll visit here and leave your links.

Happy Weekend!

LAUREL-RAIN SNOW CREATIONS

[CARIBOU] Sunday Salon – November 8, 2009 (11-8-2009)

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:20:03 -0800

November 8, 2009

Good morning to all of you. Today it is chilly, but sunny here in Northern California – and I am eager to go outside and enjoy the weather at some point. But right now I’m enjoying a fire in the woodstove and cuddling with the animals as I write.

I have had a great week of reading, finishing not one, but TWO five-star books:

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving (read my review) was such a fantastic book. I was a little worried when I first picked it up because the last novel by Irving was a disappointment to me (Until I Find You). But I needn’t have worried…Irving has put out another classic, engaging book with Last Night in Twisted River. If you haven’t snagged a copy yet, I highly recommend you do!

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (read my review) was one of those books I bought and then was afraid to read. I knew that Enzo (the dog narrator) dies in the novel…and I wasn’t sure I could handle it. I still miss Caribou – I think of her all the time – and I really wasn’t sure I wanted to read a book which would amplify my sadness. That said, I loved this book. Yes, I cried…but I also laughed, and felt hope, and never wanted the story to end. Stein captured EXACTLY how I feel about my dogs. If you’re a dog person and have ever had a special dog in your life, you really need to read The Art of Racing in the Rain.

My current read is Looking for Pigeon by Maud Carol Markson which I am touring for TLC Book Tours on November 12th (so look for my review on that day). This is a slim, literary novel about a woman who is looking back on the summer she was five years old. During that summer Pigeon was abandoned by her father, leaving her in the care of her eccentric mother who moves Pigeon and her two siblings (Dove and Robin) to the New Jersey shore. I am about half way through the book, and should finish it today.

I am not sure what I will be reading next – I have a whole stack of books to choose from and am leaning towards Wally Lamb’s book The Hour I First Believed. If I could finish it before November 15th, it would allow me to actually complete the Chunkster Challenge. Which reminds me…Dana (who has hosted this challenge for the last couple of years) has decided she cannot take it on again in 2010. I love this challenge, and so I have agreed to pick up the reins. I am thinking of a start date in February and running a year…watch for an update and sign ups sometime in January.

I plan on squeezing in some reading and blogging this morning…and then I’ll be heading down to JJ’s Log Cabin Quilt Shop for a class on the new EQ6 software for quilt design. I haven’t decided whether or not I want to spend my money on this program…so I am hoping the class will help me make a decision.

What are you doing today? Whatever it is, I hope it involves a great book!

[3 R'S] Sunday Salon 11-8: Bookkeeping, Challenging, etc. (11-8-2009)

Florinda — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:00:00 -0800

I just looked at the calendar, and there are not quite eight weeks left in 2009 (!). Soon I'll be putting together my Books of the Year picks and my Year in Review posts. It may be a little more challenging this year. I've read more books than the 35 I managed last year (yay!), and I'm pretty sure I'll knock out a few more before the end of December. But I've also read quite a few books that I rated at least a 4 out of 5 this year (also yay, for good books!), so choosing my very favorites will be harder (not so yay). I think I'm up to the task, though.

I'm also thinking about planning my reading for 2010 - the first few months, anyway - and that's still not something I'm entirely used to. I'm kind of torn, to be honest. I have about 20 books tagged as "review copy" in my "To Read" collection on LibraryThing (some of which have had that tag since last year, which is really getting embarrassing!), and I really want to make those go away. I've cut way back on the number of review books I'm taking in, so that should help. I'm getting fewer pitches lately, and still decline some of those; I submit the occasional publisher request through Shelf Awareness ads and LT's Early Reviewers program, but those don't always yield books; and I'm a sometime tour host for TLC Book Tours. I'm fine with limiting my sources of new review copies to those for the foreseeable future, and focusing on getting through the ones I already have.

I've done pretty well leaving the review books aside for the Read Your Own Books Challenge this year, though, and I think I may sign up for that one again in 2010 - it's useful. I'm doing two other reading challenges that will run into next year as well - one will end in April, and the other lasts almost all year. I'm excited about both of them, and one of them will cross over with the RYOB Challenge, which makes it efficient.

However, I know I get restless with too much routine, and having my reading dictated by challenges and review obligations will get to me. When can I read just what I feel like reading? There will be times I'll rebel and pull something off the shelf that doesn't fit into any of those categories - and I'll try not to feel too guilty about it. The change of pace will probably be good for me.

But having said all that, I'm thinking about a pattern: review book, challenge book, discretionary book, review book... Something like that might work.

I'd love to know: Have you started thinking about your year-end book picks yet? And how do you approach obligatory vs. discretionary reading?

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

Book reviews posted this week:
Love the One You're With, by Emily Giffin
The Hunger Games/Catching Fire (dual review), by Suzanne Collins

Next reviews scheduled:
The Longest Trip Home, by John Grogan (TLC Book Tour stop scheduled for November 9)

New to my LibraryThing "To Read" collection:
In which I make up for not adding any new books last week...
For review:
When She Flew by Jennie Shortridge (for TLC Book Tours)

For the Shelf Discovery Challenge:
Forever... by Judy Blume*

For me, for no particular reason:
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón^*1
Beat the Reaper: A Novel, by Josh Bazell^*1
Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, by Michael Davis^*2
My Life in France, by Julia Child*
Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher*

¹Book bloggers are totally to be thanked/blamed for this acquisition!
²Discovered via excerpt from DearReader.com E-mail Book Club
^*Books bought yesterday in celebration of National Bookstore Day (and a "Buy One, Get One 50% Off" coupon)

New additions to the Wishlist*:
A Friend of the Family, by Lauren Grodstein
Sunflowers, by Sheramy Bundrick

Challenge Statistics:
Read Your Own Books Challenge (RYOB 2009), January-December 2009: pledged 20 books (no list required) - 19 read/reviewed to date
Clear off Your Shelves Challenge, October-November 2009: pledged 25% of books read (no list required) -57% of books read/reviewed to date (since October 1, with 3 weeks to go)
Shelf Discovery Challenge, October 2009-April 2010: required 6 books, list posted; none read/reviewed to date
Women Unbound Challenge, November 2009-November 2010: pledged 5 books, list posted; none read/reviewed to date

BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

The next 24-Hour Readathon has been scheduled for April 10, 2010, so mark your calendar NOW! And if you'd be interested in helping out behind the scenes, you're needed.

What is it about reading, anyway?

Whether you're just getting started or trying to stay on track, the "how and why" of writing book reviews is always important to consider (link via Heather J.). Also worth considering: what's your dream for your blog? Does it involve taking it back to basics?

It's the spoof we've been waiting for: Nightlight. (Read it instead of seeing New Moon) Semi-related: proposing that Twilight is not anti-feminist

Buying books for the somewhat-reluctant reader; who says book bloggers don't buy books?

Going through with a negative review, at the author's request (really!)

A discussion of the "mean girl," in (YA) fiction and reality

Book bloggers are curious folks. Natasha wants to know about your reading habits (how active? how long?), while Jessica C. wonders how you feel about word-usage corrections (the giving and the getting).

Have a great week - hope it includes some great reading!

[BOOKNAROUND] Sunday Salon: Reviewing the week (11-8-2009)

Kristen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:57:00 -0800

It's been quite a week here. I have managed to permanently ensconce myself on the elementary school's most hated parent list and because ticking my son's teacher off with my opinions about the uselessness of required reading logs wasn't enough, I also sent an unhappy e-mail to the head of my daughter's dance studio to protest the fact that she hasn't even started learning her solo yet when almost every other child is finished. Not wanting to have only two of my three children blackballed, I sicced D. on the middle school, since they have conveniently ignored W.'s facility in math and are cheerfully boring him into comatose mediocrity. So the feeling around here this week has been low grade grouchiness and high frustration. Fun atmosphere, let me tell you!

In an effort to alleviate some of this grumpiness, I wandered through a street festival yesterday. I rationalized it by saying that I was looking for Christmas presents but really, I just needed to feel a little better myself. And so I indulged in two of my three major addictions: purses and books. They didn't have a stationary booth or it would have been a perfect trifecta of an afternoon for me. I found the coolest handbag and promptly bought myself a base bag and two shells. That made me happy. Then I popped over the bookstall and after puddling through the kid books choices, I settled on three books for my kids' stockings. (None for myself; shocking, I know but given the roughly 6000 unread books currently bowing the shelves at my house, this was probably a good thing.) At our house, Santa does the stocking presents but the older kids long ago figured out that even Santa couldn't possibly gift so many books and therefore it must be mom. But that's okay as long as they still believe in the spirit behind the tradition. I didn't exactly wrap up any other Christmas shopping but the walk outside in the warm, fall sunshine was helpful in and of itself in lowering my stress level. I should probably take more sunshine filled walks as the days start to close in on us and my irritability quotient rises.

I started the reading week off really well, zipping through two books and posting a scadload of reviews. But then the wheels fell off the cart and nothing seems to be motivating me at all. My reading adventures this week took me through a World War II coming of age boyhood in London and into the life of a female comic book artist who has to learn to balance friendships and love and to have confidence in her own social abilities. I am still meandering down the blue highways of the late 1970's US and dipping into critical reviews of the books I read back in the 80's as a girl. I haven't visited India under the British raj this week but I will get back to it eventually, especially since I need to start another book about the "fishing fleet" to India for my book club. Maybe they'll make good companion reads. I still have 15 books lined up for review and my challenge progress has been minimal but I have decided to let the vagaries of my moods take me where they will and not sweat the small stuff. Where have your reading journeys been taking you these days?

[BOSTON] Sunday Salon (11-8-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Marie) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:11:00 -0800

Happy Sunday!

It's been a fun weekend. We had some family in town earlier in the weekend and got to spend some time with them yesterday- nothing outrageous, just some good low-key family time. Today I have to catch up on my NaNoWriMo project (I'm behind by about 4,000 words. How embarrassing.) and go to the gym.

Yesterday I firmed up plans to send my Graphic Novel Giveaway package to Ashley of My Book Blog; congratulations to her and I hope she enjoys the books. I've got some reading set aside as well- I'm still working on Hilary Mantel's wonderful Wolf Hall and a couple of graphic novels I took out from the library. I expect Wolf Hall to take a little while yet, then I'm on to Children of Dust, a memoir about growing up in Pakistan.

Vasilly of 1330V and I are going to do a mini-read-a-thon this coming Wednesday, to try to whittle down our stacks of smaller paperbacks. I'll be starting around 9 am and going until 9 pm, just like during my graphic novel read-a-thon a couple of weeks ago, and probably post twice or three times at the most. Should be fun! :-)

What's up with you today?

Read more Sunday Salon posts here.

[AT HOME] The Sunday Salon - November 8 (11-8-2009)

Alyce — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:01:00 -0800

Today I will be just taking it easy at home because my youngest son is not feeling well (has some sort of cold or flu) and needs to rest. On days like these I never know how much reading I will actually get done because I could end up waiting on him hand and foot and entertaining him, or he could end up watching videos all day.

One of the things I miss about being a kid is the opportunity to just crash on the couch when you don't feel well, and have your parents take care of you. When you're a mom you just don't get to drop everything like that very often (although I have to say that my husband is wonderful about staying home from work if he can when I'm sick).

I took this photo of my cat Tiger a few days before we got our new cat Midnight. Tiger seemed very sure that I had purchased this large plush pillow for him. He gave me a lot of dirty looks when I made him move so that I could put a pillow case on it (a pillow case which I sewed on the spur of the moment by putting two regular sized pillow cases together - a feat I was very proud of considering my sewing skills are almost non-existent). Oh, and the pillow wasn't for the cat, it was for me. It was on sale, and I've been wanting to have another large pillow around the house.

Today I'll be finishing up Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines by William Cleveland, which I'm reading as part of the Green Books Campaign.

Reviewed in last week:

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

Surviving Paradise by Peter Rudiak-Gould

Finished in the last week:

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

Still waiting to be reviewed:

Emma, Volume 8 by Kaoru Mori
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
Wicked Will by Bailey MacDonald

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

As you can see I still have a lot of books left to review that I read during the read-a-thon. I think it will take me a few more weeks to catch up completely.

[COOKS] [TSS] Loot The Moon by Mark Arsenault (11-8-2009)

Lisa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:54:00 -0800

I had never read any books by Mark Arsenault, so when I received a copy of this book from St. Martins Minotaur unexpectedly, I was curious. I did some research and discovered that LOOT THE MOON is Arsenault's second in a mystery series featuring Billy Povich, a down on his luck ex-investigative journalist now working the night shift writing obituaries for a Providence, Rhode Island newspaper. When he's not there, he can sometimes be found at the local dog track betting money he doesn't have.

The first book in this fast-paced mystery series is GRAVEWRITER, which was released in late 2006. Some early reviews I read about this second installment indicated that LOOT THE MOON could also be considered a stand alone novel. I was glad to hear that as this was my first Arsenault book.

In LOOT THE MOON, Billy Povich is approached by his friend Martin Sommers, a lawyer he used to do some investigative work for. Martin's mentor and a Superior Court Judge has been murdered and though the police have wrapped the case up, Martin feels there is more to the story and asks Povich to see what he can dig up. The man police say killed the judge, a low level thief, was also killed during the murder and it all seems just a little too convenient to Martin. There are facts that come to light that just don't add up. A few weeks before the judge was killed, he sentenced a local mob boss's son to life in prison and a public threat was made against his life. There's also the fact that the judge apparently was living a double life that his wife and son didn't know about. Then there is the judges brother, who is also a judge, but not as successful, who is sick and tired of living in his brother's shadow and is contesting the will. There's too many unanswered questions and Billy agrees to help his friend and soon finds his own life in danger, which tells him he must be getting close to the truth.

One of the things I liked about LOOT THE MOON is that it didn't matter that I hadn't read the first book in the series. The characters were easy to get to know and there weren't so many that it was hard to keep up with. I find that some mysteries have so many characters I get lost trying to keep them straight. That didn't happen here. Another reason I liked it is Mark Arsenault gets right into the meat of the story and you're off! It was fast-paced, kept my attention and was not unrealistic. The writing was smart and even had me chuckling at times at the wit. There's a personal story happening in Billy's life at the same time he's trying to figure out the mystery, and that balances out the book nicely.

The story is told from a few character's perspectives, which helps to get to know them, but is mostly told through Billy's eyes. The plot was very well thought out and kept me guessing until the end. All in all, I found this to be a very satisfying and entertaining mystery that I look forward to continiuing.

I will definitely be reading GRAVEWRITER very soon and I will be keeping up with this series. I like that the mystery was wrapped up in the end, but still allows Billy's story to continue. I think there will be many more interesting stories for Billy Povich to write.

Visit Mark Arsenault's website to learn more about his books and to read the first chapter of LOOT THE MOON.

LOOT THE MOON

Author: Mark Arsenault

Publisher: St. Martins Minotaur

Published: October 2009

Pages: 288

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

[DISTILS] Sunday Salon: Receive Me Falling by Erica Robuck (11-8-2009)

gautami tripathy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:30:00 -0800

Nevis Island.
February 1831

The slave woman fell over the cliff's edge toward the black swirl of water that churned over the boulders reaching from the sea.

Title: Receive Me Falling
Author: Erica Robuck
ISBN: 9780982229804
Publisher: Elysian Field Press/2009
Page: 266

Meghan Owen is engaged to be married. When her parents die in an accident on the night of her engage party, she calls of her wedding. Going through her father's papers, she finds, she has inherited land in Nevis. She leaves her job to travel there. When she reaches the old plantation House, Eden, she finds letter and papers and an ominous presence of dark secrets. She has to get into the bottom of it and also find out how she is involved in all this.

She learns about the Dall family who had leaved there in the 19th century. Just at that moment the British abolitionists had arrived to free the slaves. The daughter of the plantation owner Catherine Dall, is tormented between her sense of fairness and her family. She loves and cares for the slaves in her plantation. However, she can't escape her destiny. When Catherine discovers some unpleasant truth about her slave, leah, she gets maddeningly angry and tragic strikes in the form of Leah's death. Was it suicide, or was it murder?

Meg too finds that the land that she owns is tainted with the stigma of slavery and stolen money. It falls on Meg to find the secrets and let the ghosts rest forever. She has to balance her present with the historic events that took place so much before her time.

With alternate chapters, the present and past somehow merge and Meg has the big task of bringing justice to the ghosts of the past. With simplistic writing about the complex issue of slavery, Robuck has written a good readable nobel. The secondary characters too are very well etched out. Yes, there is so much sadness. No slave stoy can ever be happy. And every slave story needs to be told. Maybe that way we might be able to learn something from the past.

Do check out the following reviews too:

Bookjourney
Framed
Booklogged
Marcia
Historically Obssessed
booktumbling
Alipet
Musings of a Book Addict
Anna's Book Blog
Andi's Book Reviews
The Book Inn
Two Kids & Tired Book Blogger
Book Nook Club
Dan's Journal

[BURTON] The Sunday Salon~ Winners, Pics, Updates, Important News! (11-8-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Burton) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0800

Happy Sunday everyone! This week I published a review for India Edghill's newest book that comes out in a few weeks: Delilah. India has written a couple of previous biblical fiction reads that have gotten fabulous reviews; her newest was no different, and is one I highly recommend, and I would love for you to stop by my review. Biblical fiction is a new genre for me, and as a Catholic I wondered what my reaction would be to reading about certain biblical themes. I have enjoyed both of the books that I have read so far, and I also want to read India's previous works as well. The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy is one on my list to read as well, along with another titled Pilate's Wife which is by Antoinette May, and The Red Tent: A Novel by Anita Diamant.

I had another wonderful read this week with the reissue of Georgette Heyer's Arabella. I am so glad to have been introduced to Heyer; if Sourcebooks hadn't been reissuing her works it is very likely that I would have missed her altogether. I now have officially put Heyer up there on my list of favorite classic authors along Jean Plaidy (Victoria Holt) and Louisa May Alcott.

This week I updated my Jean Plaidy list by putting my collection online for all the world to see. I will continue to update that post with whatever new Plaidy/Holt/Carr books I buy and then link to the review. There are about 6 reviews linked to it now. The Plaidy list can be found here, and there is a new button up in the navigation bar for the post as well. I will also begin to compose a Georgette Heyer list as well.

IMPORTANT NEWS ALERT!!

Please subscribe to my NEWSLETTER!! Using the Google Friend Connect Follower gadget you can update your preferences there. There is also another Newsletter Gadget right below the Follower gadget on the left sidebar to update your email preferences. I will not spam you. I will not use the newsletter to announce posts or reviews. I will instead simply send out my Sunday Salon posts early to you and have special newsletter-only-giveaways. You must subscribe to the newsletter to be eligible. You will have to verify your email address from the physical email that it will automatically send you. (Check your spam account!) This is not the same as just following the blog!

With Christmas coming up, and my first Blogiversary around the corner as well, I will use the CURRENT newsletter subscribers only for the exclusive giveaways I host around that time. So get on that early bird Newsletter list and don't miss out, as you will have to be on that Newsletter list to know what is going on!! How lucky are you to be the FIRST TO KNOW!!!

I had a busy week last week with Halloween adventures so I didn't do a Sunday Salon post. Sheri missed me because she wanted to see a pic of the kiddos in costume. In honor of Sheri at A Novel Menagerie, this is for you:

I also promised to update my Salon post with mention of an Award I received. Susie from All Things Royal awarded me with The Super Scribbler award, which I received at one point before but forgot to mention it. Thank you Susie! All Things Royal is an awesome book blog but she has the honor of being a real life true descendant of those royals that I love to read about!
Here are the rules :

■ Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

■ Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

■ Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

■ Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor! (*I'm #1201!!)

■ Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

This one has been going around the blogosphere so I apologize if you have already gotten this one already, but I would like to pass this award to the following people/blogs, in no particular order:
Jenny Girl of Jenny Loves to Read
Lucy and Arleigh of Royal Intrigue
Kathleen of Celticlady's Ramblings
Laurel Ann of Austenprose
Erin at The Courtier's Book

These are great bloggers, you need to check them out if you haven't already.

Award Number 2 from Heather at The Maiden's Court, thank you again!

This Honest Scrap Award is for those bloggers who write from the heart. The rules are:

Pass it on to 7 deserving bloggers and write 10 honest things about yourself.

Ten Honest Things That Are Sure To Bore You (A.KA. Things you never really wanted to know):

1.I despise most of my extended family (on one side in particular) & am obviously not ashamed to admit it. Trust me, they deserve it and they could care less anyway.
2.On the other hand, I am truly blessed with a wonderful immediate family. (check out those adorable pics above! And I write this as my toddler is dribbling spittle on my foot from his toy flute.)
3.I love kitty kats but will probably never own one again, not after the last two tore apart my house with their claws and poo.
4.I really hate my job. I have officially sucked at math all my life, and now I am a bookkeeper.
5.I will always regret not finishing college. Not that I had the chance to.
6.I prefer things neat and organized but I hate housecleaning and do not do much of it.
7.I have a large collection of Porcelain dolls, Barbie Dolls, Precious Moments and other porcelain figurines, stamps, scissors, papers, and of course books...collectomaniac?
8.I can still name at least 85% of the 1986 New York Mets Roster. Don't get me started.
9.I now cannot name a single current New York Mets player.
10.I have crayon scribbles on my walls which really bother me. But if I fix them they will just reappear so I'll wait till he grows out of the scribble stage.

The bloggers I would like to pass this on to are: (Heather has already picked a bunch I would have picked so I have to really think on this one.)

Sheri of A Novel Menagerie
Kathleen of Celticlady's Ramblings
Laurel Ann of Austenprose
Erin at The Courtier's Book
Melisende of Women of History
Virginie of Virginie Says...
HappyHelen of TudorTastic

And all these awardees may do with as you like with these awards, I realize they are cumbersome to acknowledge at times. But you are all well-deserving of them, so enjoy the notoriety at your leisure!

The Giveaway for The Queen's Mistake by Diane Haeger is now over (which I have just started to read). If you missed the interview I had with Diane, see it here. I really loved having that opportunity to converse with her on Catherine Howard.

The Winners are:

Heatherzilla and Sheila! Congratulations! If they have already found this book elsewhere, then Michelle and Carol are next in line.

That concludes my recent round of giveaways, stay tuned for a giveaway of My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy coming 11/18/09.

[BOOKSTACK] The Sunday Salon- Consequences (11-2-2009)

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:44:45 -0800

I’ve always loved “fall back Sunday,” the day we set our clocks back one hour to mark the end of Daylight Savings Time. In effect, we get an extra hour in the day, and for someone as perpetually time starved as I, it’s a real gift. My 25 hour Sunday always seems luxuriously long, and that extra one hour sometime gives me the most expansive feeling – as if I’ve all the time in the world.

Alas, even 25 hour Sundays come to a close, and it’s nearly that time already. I had high hopes for the day and the things I wanted to do in it. Some of them were fulfilled, other not…apparently even 25 hours in a day is not enough. Now it’s quite dark, and I’m sitting at my desk with a glass of wine and a small crystal bowl of Goldfish crackers, thinking about the book I’ve been reading.

Consequences, it’s called, and it’s by Penelope Lively, an author whose restrained yet very perceptive writing has come to be one of my favorites. The novel starts out with a young couple who meet by chance in a park outside of London, circa 1935. They fall deeply in love, and despite their very different backgrounds (she’s society, he isn’t) marry and begin a life together.

It’s that life, and all its consequences, which make up the narrative of the book. The story speeds along, through the War years, into the fifties and sixties, and barrels right on into the eighties. It seems to pick up speed as it goes, much as life does when you’re living it, so that what started out as a rather elongated and elegiac tale of Lorna and Matt in their primitive cottage, races through their daughter Molly’s adulthood, and blasts into the modern world with their granddaughter Ruth and her family.

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m quite in love with this book. It’s about the very subject that fascinates me most – legacy – the connection between generations. It’s a subject I’ve been preoccupied with so much these past few months, coming to grips with the loss of two important members of my family and reflecting on their legacy. How do we get from one generation to the next? What propels us through time, which actions and consequences become part of the maze of life that leads from one generation to another?

Years after, she would think that you do not so much make decisions, as stumble in a certain direction because something tells you that that is the way you must go. You are impelled, bu some confusion of instinct, will, and blind faith. Reason does not much come into it. If reason ruled, you would not try, for fear of failure; you would not love, in case it hurt.

Years later, that time has lost all chronology; it is a handful of scenes that replay from time to time.

You might think a novel of this depth and scope would be a huge tome – but it’s a mark of Lively’s skill that she tells this tale in less than 300 pages. She is a masterful writer, with economy of word and phrase, yet still terribly evocative of emotion and place.

Lovely book, for a lovely, long day.

Now tell me, if you had an “extra” hour today, how did you spend it?

[1MORECHAPTER] October Reading Report (Sunday Salon) (11-2-2009)

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:05:49 -0800

Happy November! That extra hour of sleep sure felt great didn’t it? Always one of the best weekends of the year. Or did you spend the extra hour reading? I’m fairly happy with my stats this month, and I was really excited about my results for the R.I.P. Challenge. I ended up reading 22 books for it when usually I just get the minimum. Anyway for October, I read 11 books and 3900 pages. My favorite read was The Hungry Tide, and my spookiest read was Heart-Shaped Box Box. Joe Hill is really following in his father’s footsteps. If you like Stephen King, definitely read Joe Hill. My books were as follows:

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (2003, 272 pp.)
Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris (2004, 291 pp.)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (2007, 384 pp.)
The Inhabited World by David Long (2006, 288 pp.)
The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh (2005, 352 pp.)
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (2008, 384 pp.)
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (2006, 400 pp.)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008, 274pp.)
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (2009, 391 pp.)
Vampire Knight Vol 1 by Matsuri Hino (2007, 208 pp.)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005, 656 pp.)

As you can see, I’m SO FAR behind on my reviews, and last week I even had a post asking for questions about the books I’ve read to spur me on a bit. Thanks for all those who responded, and hopefully I’ll be getting to a few reviews this week — I’d really like to get in at least 5 or 6.

Click for more info

Have you heard about the Women Unbound Challenge? I’ll be posting my book choices for that tomorrow but would like to recommend the following fiction titles to those participating:

So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Unless by Carol Shields
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall
Persepolis I and II by Marjane Satrapi
Purple HIbiscus by Adichie
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo (this is a light read, but it does examine how women’s expectations are sometimes based on the literature we read)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
probably a few more but I had to stop somewhere!

And a non-fiction title:

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone else’s recommendations and reading lists for the challenge.

Happy Reading!

[ALL ABOUT] The Sunday Salon: October Recap (11-1-2009)

Suey — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:15:00 -0800

Well. What a month it's been! Here's the list of wonderful books I read:

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: David yearns to be a famous a writer even to the point of selling his soul.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner: Thomas finds himself in the middle of a maze, and has no memory of his former life, yet for some reason, he knows he must be a Runner.

All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn: Two mischievous kids play a ghostly prank that turns around and gets them back.

Black Angels by Linda Beatrice Brown: Three orphaned kids come together to survive the after effects of the Civil War.

The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy: The Arthur legend is reincarnated in modern times.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni: Amir tries to make right a terrible betrayal he commits as a kid. (A re-read)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney: Greg has to survive a long and boring summer that is somehow still full of adventures.

The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry: Lucinda meets the prince, goes to the ball, befriends a witch and learns about her past.

The Seer of Shadows by Avi: A photographer's apprentice learns he has a unique power.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen: Auden spends the summer with her dad and step mom and ends up on a quest with a mysterious quiet boy.

Favorites of the month: The Kite Runner was just as good for me the second time around. I also really enjoyed The Angel's Game and The Maze Runner. But once again, they were all amazing books!

And today, I finished the first one for the month of November, Fallen by Lauren Kate. More on that one later!

And now I'm off to a birthday party. Happy reading to all!

[BOOK LOVER] Sunday Salon November 1, 2009 (11-1-2009)

Brittanie — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0800

* So it is the first of November. Wow where is the time going? Before long it will be Thanksgiving which is one of my favorite holidays. I love the food and the remainder that I have much to be thankful for.

* I read a few books this weekend.
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
- Leaving Carolina by Tamera Leigh
- Slow Burn by Mary Demuth

* They were all good. I think Her Fearful Symmetry is better than the Time Traveler's Wife. It is way outside what I normally read but perfect for the season and R.I.P. challenge.

* I posted several times this weekend and I have lots of reviews coming this week. Thank you in advance for your patience.

* Two reading challenges came to an end. Here are the links to my wrap up posts.
http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2009/10/maud-hart-lovelace-reading-challenge.html

http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2009/10/rip-reading-challenge-wrap-up-post.html

* I reviewed this week:

- Last Breath by Brandilyn and Amberly Collins
http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2009/10/last-breath-by-brandilyn-and-amberly.html
- eye of the god by Ariel Allison
http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2009/10/eye-of-god-by-ariel-allison-review.html
- A Little Help From My Friends by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt
http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2009/10/little-help-from-my-friends-by-anne.html

* I almost done with the laundry but I have lots of reviews to write tonight so I may or may not accomplish any more reading. I hope everyone has a great week and lots of reading time. :)

[BECKY] Sunday Salon: Reading, Read, To Read #44 (11-1-2009)

Becky — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:42:00 -0800

Happy Sunday everyone! I can't believe it's November already. (I love November!)

What I read in a previous week, but reviewed this week:

Mudville. Kurtis Scaletta. 2009. 265 pages. Knopf.
Alibi Junior High. Greg Logsted. 2009. 244 pages. Simon & Schuster.
Journey of Dreams. Marge Pellegrino. 2009. Frances Lincoln Children's Books. 250 pages.
The Unfinished Angel. Sharon Creech. 2009. HarperCollins. 164 pages.
Piper Reed, Navy Brat. Kimberly Willis Holt. Henry Holt. 146 pages. 2007.
Piper Reed The Great Gypsy. Kimberly Willis Holt. Henry Holt. 160 pages. 2008
Piper Reed Gets A Job. Kimberly Willis Holt. Henry Holt. 160 pages. 2009.
Never Slow Dance With a Zombie. E. Van Lowe. 2009. Tor Teen. 253 pages.
Crossing Stones. Helen Frost. 2009. FSG. 184 pages.

What I read this past week and reviewed:

Bobby Vs. Girls (Accidentally). 2009. Lisa Yee. Scholastic. 170 pages.
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies. Mick Cochrane. 2009. Random House. 177 pages.
Sacred Scars. Kathleen Duey. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 554 pages.

What I read this past week and haven't reviewed yet:

Devil's Paintbox. Victoria McKernan. 2009. Random House. 360 pages.
Willoughby's Return. Jane Odiwe. 2009. Sourcebooks. 352 pages.
The Swiss Courier. Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey. 2009. Revell. 324 pages.
Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga by Beth Felker Jones. 2009. Multnomah. 180 pages.
Thirsty. Tracey Bateman. 2009. Waterbrook Press. 376 pages.

What I've read and really, really need to review:

What I'm currently reading:

The Indigo King (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica). James A. Owen. Simon & Schuster. 2008. 375 pages.
Positively. Courtney Sheinmel. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 216 pages.
Mary Barton. Elizabeth Gaskell. 487 pages.

What I'm just fooling around that I'm reading:

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Monk by Matthew Lewis

What I've abandoned:

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

[COUCH] Sunday Salon (11-1-2009)

Shon — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:23:00 -0800

It's November 1st. 2009. How can this be?? This year has been a blur for me. Anyway, I missed the Sunday Salon last week. Partly because I was too tired to write a post after the read-a-thon and partly because I spent my afternoon at a library book sale. Like I need any more books. But, I don't feel bad. Nope... I bought 3 trade-size paperbacks and a hardback for $5.65. Pretty good, huh?

On to my reading. Last week I finished:

I've written three of the four reviews for the books I read during the read-a-thon:

I Heard a Rumor by Nancy Krulik
The New Girl by Nancy Krulik
Moving Day by Meg Cabot
The New Girl by Meg Cabot

Following these reviews, I also have reviews to post for:

Testimony by Anita Shreve
Suspicion by Kate Brian
Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson, M.D.

Now that new challenges are being posted for 2010, it's got me thinking about my level of participation in challenges, the direction I see my blog headed in 2010, changes to my review format, etc. Lots to think about over the next few weeks. Right now, I'm still in the brainstorming phase. So we'll see what happens.

Happy Sunday everyone!

[CHRISTY] The Sunday Salon 11.01.09 (11-1-2009)

Christy — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:32:00 -0800

Happy Sunday! And Happy November!

I didn't get any books finished or started this week. I'm still working my way through Wolf Hall. I'm more than halfway through; it's no easy read. My reading will slow down even more in the next few weeks for NaNoWriMo has begun today! I started around midnight and wrote over 1,200 words in my first hour before going to bed. My goal is at least 3,000 words a day.

Add me as a buddy! :)

Good luck to anyone else participating, and to everyone else: Have a great week!

[BEASTMOMMA] The Sunday Salon #48: Curious Incident of Dog in the Night, Week Three (11-1-2009)

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:20:06 -0800

I am very slow with completing books as I adjusted to married life in the New England area. I thought it would be fun to track my reading progress each week. The Sunday Salon is an online reading group where all the participants set aside time to read every Sunday and blog about the experience. To learn more or to join, click on the picture above.

This morning, I read a few more pages of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. In addition to being written from a unique perspective, the story has some interesting plot developments. In the passage I read this morning, a mystery was solved. A relationship between two characters was transformed. As cliche as it sounds, I thought about how one act, moment or event can change your life forever. I wonder what it would be like to change from loving my parents and trusting them completely to feeling very frightened of them and being unsure about everything they told me.

On Wednesday, I attended my second meeting of a book club at our public library. It was storming pretty badly and not many people came. The folks who attended are what I would describe as the core group. They all had lots to say and I had trouble interjecting myself into the conversation. It is another lesson in how I need to speak up more, but I also enjoyed listening to them speak. We read Bel Canto by Ann Patchett which was excellent. I realize that now I have three reviews which need to be written, but I am struggling more and more to find the time to think about, create, and post my reviews. Hopefully, I will get to catch up on my reviews soon.

Next Saturday, I have to take an ethics exam in order to sit for the Massachusetts bar. I am nervous because I am not very good at taking standardized tests and I failed the exam once already. This time, I feel more focused because I have set aside time to study and a plan of action in which to finish. The last time I took the test, I was trying to study while driving across country and then took the exam two days after we moved. Even when I was studying, I did not feel particularly focused. I am hoping that my familiarity with the exam combined with a use of flash cards or more practice questions will result in a passing score.

[COZY] TSS - Focus on Poetry (11-1-2009)

Molly — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:47:00 -0800

Can you believe it is already November 1st? It seems like only last week that I was celebrating Labor Day weekend. Time is going by much too quickly.

This week it was time to pay the piper - so to speak - for my reading indulgence last weekend. I intentionally postponed students' papers until after the read-athon, which meant that I have been overwhelmed with grading this week. My time on blogger was definitely curtailed, and I missed reading all your posts. I am nearly caught up --- just 34 Brit Lit "Knightly Tales" to read and grade and then I should be good until Thanksgiving. So hopefully I will be able to spend a lot more time in the blogosphere.

One of the benefits of being an English teacher is that even when I am working I am flooded with bookish thoughts. I will begin a poetry unit with both my English 1 and Brit Lit classes over the next couple of weeks. Now poetry is my nemesis. It is not necessarily that I do not like it, but more that I have not been taught to appreciate it. I am trying to remedy this over time, but my confidence is fairly low in teaching this material. I did come across two resources, however, that I very much enjoy and thought I would pass those along to you. One is book that I found while surfing the internet. It is called Creating Poetry by John Drury. While the book focuses on the writing of poetry, I was able to translate that information into how to enjoy poetry. There are also several writing exercises per chapter that I feel can be used for any creative writing endeavor --- not just poetry. I plan to add this book to my personal library collection.

In working on these poetry lesson plans I was reminded of two great poems by Billy Collins that I like to use in the first class. Both poems are found in the collection, Sailing Alone Around the Room, and they are An Introduction to Poetry and Workshop. I totally sympathize with students because we often feel that we just don't "get" poetry. It is so concise and filled with puzzling symbolism, that once we have read a poem we aren't sure what it was all about. I had a professor tell me one time that the sole purpose of reading poetry is not to "get it" --- but to also pay attention to how you feel once you have finished reading it. We do not necessarily have to understand the poem as a whole, but perhaps just relate to a word - or a line - or stanza within the poem. In this way, each time we read a poem we may feel or experience or discover something different. I found great wisdom in this teaching, and it has freed me to read poetry on a personal level. I may not respond to the poem in the same way the scholars do -- and that is o.k. If interested, here is one of the poems:

An Introduction to Poetry:

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water-ski
across the surface of the poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with a rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

While this academic unit of study will focus more on the formal aspects of poetry --- scanning for rhyme scheme and meter; poetry forms and patterns; and the analysis of a poem using the TPCASTT system --- I want the students to realize that poetry did not die at the end of the 19th Century; it is still alive and well and being performed today. In perusing YouTube I found various clips from Slam Poetry contests, and I hope to perhaps show one of these clips in the classroom. A personal favorite, although I am not sure that I will be able to show it in my very conservative classroom, is entitled What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali. It is definitely worth viewing:

[BOOKLUST] Sunday Salon: My Reading POA (11-1-2009)

Aarti — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:09:00 -0800

I had a serious panic attack last week thinking about all the books I have to review. I get really stressed out when publishers or authors send me books to read, if I don't read them in a timely manner. I think one of my goals for 2010 will be to figure out a system for me to be able to read books already on my shelves in a high ratio compared to books to review. It's nice getting books, but it's also a little ridiculous to feel stressed out about an activity that is supposed to relieve stress!

Does anyone have a strict system or at least general rule-of-thumb they use for books sent to review? How is that working out for you?

I just finished and reviewed The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy. It was quirky and fun, if really very odd :-) That one wasn't sent to me to review, but I wanted to read it before meeting the author in about three weeks. I'm not sure how many other books by other authors I'm going to get through before meeting them... probably not very many!

I'm now reading The Curse of the Tahiera, by Wendy Gillissen. This one was sent to me for review, and while it's fairly long, it's quite good so far (I'm only on page 40 of about 420, though, so who knows what will happen). I am glad I accepted this book to review because the author is doing all the marketing herself and it's published by a very small press (maybe even self-published, not sure). In the vague rule-of-thumb I am setting for myself for reviewing books in 2010, I think I will try to focus on accepting books from small presses to review because they have less of a marketing department. Well, unless it's a book I really, really want even before it is being offered to me to review (such as Wolf Hall and Unseen Academicals). Not sure how successful I will be with that, but I can always try!

I also have to pick a reading list for the Women Unbound challenge, though I think I am going to make it flexible for myself. We'll see what happens!

Hope everyone else is excited about this reading week :-)

[BIBLE] Sunday Salon: Week In Review (October 25-31) (11-1-2009)

Becky — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:01:00 -0800

This week I read...

Job 16-25 in the 1599 Geneva Bible.

1 Kings 1-13 in the ESV Study Bible.

[BOOKSHELF] Sunday Salon 1 XI 2009 - October Wrap-up (11-1-2009)

tapestry100 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:25:00 -0800

Good morning, fellow Salon Members! I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! It was a quiet night in with friends for me last night, watching The Nightmare Before Christmas and handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Of course, this morning I've been completely confused on what time it is (we had our autumn time change last night here in the U.S.) as some of my clocks changed time automatically and some didn't, so while I've run around the house picking up the detritus from Halloween last night (candy wrappers and whatnot), I've also been making sure all my clocks now match my cell phone. Silly time change.

October has proven to be one of my better reading months lately, having finished 8 books with a total number of pages at 1,659! For having been in such a reading slump for the last couple of months, that feels like a huge accomplishment for me. Looking back on October, here's what I read:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Dracula the Un-dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt (I guess I can't honestly say that I finished this book, as the copy I received for review was missing the last 30-ish pages, so I'm not technically done with it yet, but I'm counting it all the same for right now!)
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Mars Needs Moms! by Berkeley Breathed
M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman (review will be coming soon... honest it will!)
Simon Snootle and OTHER small stories by Lorin Morgan-Richards

Luckily, in addition to simply sitting down and actually reading something, I can say that I had a really top-notch selection of books that I read this month. Everything was really good! I just hope that I can finish out the year with books as good as these are.

I am still working on Joe Hill's collection of short stories, 20th Century Ghosts, and while I could have probably finished that by now, I have been so impressed with the quality of these stories, I have been taking my time and savoring them. Like I said in my previous Sunday Salon about these stories, they have real heart and soul, so I've been taking my time with them, delaying the inevitable conclusion of the book.

Starting this week, I'm going to be house-sitting for my mother while she is in Florida visiting family, and this is always a good reading time for me, so I've been deciding on what I'm going to take with me. I inevitably take more than I read whenever I go to stay, but at least I know that I have a good selection of books to get me through the two weeks.

Today is one of my best friend's birthdays, so we are going off to go book shopping; what a great way to spend a birthday, right? One of our local independent bookstores, Nicola's Books, sends out an email around your birthday each year with a coupon for a free book, so we're going to take advantage of that, and maybe see what other stores we can stop at on the way over there. I'm going to try to squeeze in one more Joe Hill story by the end of the day, and then I don't really know what I want to move on to. I've got a couple of advanced reader copies, but they aren't on the street until sometime in January, so I may wait on those awhile yet. Maybe something light and fluffy today. Or maybe I'll find something at the bookstore that will be perfect!

Happy reading everyone!

[ACCIDENTAL] THE SUNDAY SALON (11-1-2009)

Creations by Laurel-Rain Snow — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:09:00 -0700

Hosted by Deb, at The Sunday Salon, this meme offers us the opportunity to reflect on the past week's reading and ponder the week ahead.

What a week! As the week began, I was just finishing up Little Bird of Heaven, a most powerful read! I immediately plunged into Barbara Taylor Bradford's Breaking the Rules, which definitely promised to be a lighter read. And it was—in the beginning, anyway. But then, lurking secrets and fierce conspiracies began to surface, but at just the right moment. By then, I was ready for the excitement!

Both reviews are posted over at my CURL UP AND READ blog.

Now, for today...I'm almost finished with Bird in Hand, by Christina Baker Kline. And wow, that is a complex tale of friendship, family, and betrayal. Plus, it started out with a very heart-pounding traumatic incident that set the tone for the rest of the story. I'm on page 217 (out of 274 pages), so that review will be up later today as well. I've been posting my recent reviews on CURL UP AND READ, because that's where I'm documenting my own Reading Challenge and the reason I created that blog. My journey through my TBR stacks, if you will!

Halloween was quiet around here. I had my bowl of candy and decorations at the ready, but not one customer! Boo-hoo! Which was actually fine, since I read until I finally fell asleep.

Today, I'll be finishing up my book and beginning the next one on the list. More about that tomorrow, in my IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING? post over at RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS.

I also need to go into my SEASONS blog and change the background from the Halloween theme!

HAPPY SUNDAY, ALL! Hope you'll stop by, leave a comment, and a link to your posts.

LAUREL-RAIN SNOW CREATIONS

Sunday Salon

[COOKS] The Sunday Salon: Being thankful (11-22-2009)

[1001 DAYS] The Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

[BOOKWORM'S DINNER] Sunday Salon, November 22, 2009-Houri, by Mehrdad Balali (11-22-2009)

[3 R'S] Sunday Salon 11/22: Bookkeeping, Bookmarks, etc. (11-22-2009)

Audience Participation: Blogger Input Requested!

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

[BIRDBRAIN] The Sunday Salon: Poison by Chris Wooding (11-22-2009)

Review

The Sunday Salon bit

[CHICK] The Sunday Salon... "Thanksgiving" History Books with Buzz (11-22-2009)

[ACCIDENTAL] THE SUNDAY SALON (11-22-2009)

[CHAOS] Sunday Salon: November 15-21 (11-22-2009)

[BETTY AND BOO] The Sunday Salon: In Which My Quest to Read 50 Books Continues for Another Week .... (11-22-2009)

[BRAIN] A (Thankful) Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

I don’t know about you but I hate those posts where the blogger apologizes for not blogging because they are _________ (fill in the blank) busy, lazy, distracted, sick, tired, *whatever*. So, I won’t do that. Because really, nobody cares.

I’m thankful for YOU. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

[DISTILS] Sunday Salon: Poetry Reading Challenge ending on May 16, 2010 (11-22-2009)

[CHRISTY] The Sunday Salon 11.22.09 (11-22-2009)

[BIBLIOPHILE'S BOOKSHELF] The Sunday Salon: Getting Ahead (11-22-2009)

[BELCHING] Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

[BOSTON] Sunday Salon (11-22-2009)

[BURTON] The Sunday Salon~ Happy Thanksgiving.. WTF?! (11-22-2009)

[BIBLIOTICA] Sunday Salon: Children’s Stories (11-16-2009)

[BOOK LOVER] Sunday Salon November 15, 2009 (11-15-2009)

[1330V] Sunday Salon: A Day Full of Challenges (11-16-2009)

[BIBLIOGRAPHING] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

[ALL ABOUT] The Sunday Salon: What Book Now? (11-15-2009)

[BIBLE] Sunday Salon: Week In Review (November 8-14) (11-15-2009)

[DEBLOG] TSS -- Salon Membership and Gone Tomorrow (11-15-2009)

[BECKY] Sunday Salon: Reading, Read, To Read #46 (11-15-2009)

[BETTY AND BOO] The Sunday Salon: On Good Friends and Good Books (11-15-2009)

[CROWDED] The Sunday Salon – November 15, 2009. (11-15-2009)

[DOLCE] Sunday Salon: One Book Abandoned for Another (11-15-2009)

[BOOK CHATTER] The Sunday Salon: The Leaves are Falling (11-15-2009)

[CARIBOU] Sunday Salon – November 15, 2009 (11-15-2009)

[ACCIDENTAL] THE SUNDAY SALON (11-15-2009)

[COLOR] Sunday Salon: What We Said, Read & Wrote (11-15-2009)

[CHICK] The Sunday Salon... "Books with Buzz" (11-15-2009)

[1MORECHAPTER] Sunday Salon 11.15.09 (11-15-2009)

[3 R'S] Sunday Salon, 11/15: Bookkeeping, Bookmarks, etc. (11-15-2009)

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

Reading Event News

[BOSTON] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

[BOOKSPLEASE] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

[CHAOS] Sunday Salon: November 8-14 (11-15-2009)

[BOOKNAROUND] Sunday Salon: Interview with children's author Emily Smith Pearce (11-15-2009)

[AT HOME] The Sunday Salon - November 15 (11-15-2009)

[CHRISTY] The Sunday Salon 11.15.09 (11-15-2009)

[BELCHING] Sunday Salon (11-15-2009)

[DISTILS] TSS: Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran (11-15-2009)

[BIBLIOPHILE'S BOOKSHELF] The Sunday Salon: A Change is in the Air (11-15-2009)

[BURTON] The Sunday Salon~ Books and Gifting (11-15-2009)

[DOWN UNDER] Sunday Salon – Ssshhh… (11-14-2009)

[DEBLOG] TSS Troubles with the Sunday Salon (11-13-2009)

[BIBLIOGRAPHING] Sunday Salon (11-8-2009)

[ALL ABOUT] The Sunday Salon: The Treadmill Book is Back! (11-8-2009)

[DEBLOG] Sunday Salon: Annoyance (11-8-2009)

[BECKY] Sunday Salon: Reading, Read, To Read #45 (11-8-2009)

[BIBLE] Sunday Salon: Week In Review (November 1-7) (11-8-2009)

[BOOK LOVER] Sunday Salon November 8, 2009 (11-8-2009)

[CHRISTY] The Sunday Salon 11.08.09 (11-8-2009)

[BOOKLUST] Sunday Salon: Reading Update (11-8-2009)

[CHICK] The Sunday Salon... Readers celebrate The Tree with The Green Book reading challenge, Balancing Out Your Books, and The Tree Museum (11-8-2009)

[AVERAGE] Sunday Salon: Do Boys Read Twilight? (11-8-2009)

[1330V] Sunday Salon: Books, books, books (11-8-2009)

[COLOR] The Sunday Salon: What We Read, Said & Wrote (11-8-2009)

[BETTY AND BOO] The Sunday Salon: On Being on the Other Side of the Page (11-8-2009)

[ACCIDENTAL] THE SUNDAY SALON (11-8-2009)

[CARIBOU] Sunday Salon – November 8, 2009 (11-8-2009)

[3 R'S] Sunday Salon 11-8: Bookkeeping, Challenging, etc. (11-8-2009)

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading

[BOOKNAROUND] Sunday Salon: Reviewing the week (11-8-2009)

[BOSTON] Sunday Salon (11-8-2009)

[AT HOME] The Sunday Salon - November 8 (11-8-2009)

[COOKS] [TSS] Loot The Moon by Mark Arsenault (11-8-2009)

[DISTILS] Sunday Salon: Receive Me Falling by Erica Robuck (11-8-2009)

I don’t know about you but I hate those posts where the blogger apologizes for not blogging because they are _________ (fill in the blank) busy, lazy, distracted, sick, tired, whatever. So, I won’t do that. Because really, nobody cares.