The Sunday Salon: February Overview.

Good Sunday morning Saloners! And Happy Autumn to Australia (yes, they start calling it autumn on March 1 rather than on the Equinox). I hope the fall weather eases the heat and fire danger down there.

I've missed a couple of Salons again. And been a terrible blog neighbor since I've hardly visited anyone else's Salon entry either. Mea culpa!

Well, it's a new month again so here's a little review of what I was up to, book-wise, in February. It started out on a mediocre note, with several books in a row earning just 3.5 out of 5 stars from me. Not quite a meh rating, but just slightly above average. The books I rated 3.5:

• Testimony by Anita Shreve. I've loved all of Shreve's books thus far; this one fell short for me.
  
• Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett. Some excellent stories and some just average.
  
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. I loved this book for about 3/4 of it, then I thought it got a bit repetitive and silly. The satire is wonderful.
  
• The Vigorous Mind: Cross-train Your Brain to Break Through Mental, Emotional, and Professional Boundaries by Ingrid Cummings. Good, not great.
  
• The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa. I would probably have gotten more out of this had I been more familiar with Italian history.
  

And then I ended the month with a huge splash! 3 of my favorites for 2009 so far:

• The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. I love historical fiction, and especially women's stories. This was about the witch trials in Salem in the late 17th century. Very well written, just a gem.
  
• A Mercy by Toni Morrison. What can I say? It's Toni Morrison.
  
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Everything you've heard about this book is true. It's stunning and sad and nearly flawless. I gave this one the full Monty: 5 stars.
  

My first read for March is The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, which is promising to be a very good book. It was shortlisted for the Booker prize, so I'll get another X in that column for my reading challenges.

And speaking of those challenges: Not too bad. I've actually completed one, except for the reviews, which I am loathe to do, if you haven't noticed. I am just not a book reviewer. Maybe too many book reports in my youth.

Here's the tally so far:

What's in a Name: completed 6/6 DONE!
Decades Challenge: completed 4/10.
The Orange Prize and Booker Prize challenges are perpetual, but I've set a personal goal to read 12 of each this year (some are crossovers). Orange Prize: 5/12; Booker Prize: 2/12.
Dewey's Books: 1/5
Pub Challenge: 1/9
Short Stories: 9/25
Essays: 0/20
Jane Austen: 0/1
Classics (other than Austen): 0/4
These last two are personal challenges. By my definition, Classic is any book older than me that has a high level of notoriety. There are a few exceptions (e.g. To Kill A Mockingbird).


This month I'm hosting another stop on the book blog tour - March 12. This one is for Zig-zagging: Loving Madly, Losing Badly How Ziggy Saved My Life by Tom Wilson, the creator of the cartoon Ziggy. It sounds like a very interesting read.

AND! my one year blogiversary is in 4 days! Be sure to check back for the big celebration on March 5th! Cash gifts gladly accepted!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy reading!




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