The Sunday Salon: May '09 recap

I should be calling this the Last Sunday of the Month Salon. That seems to be the only time I get around to posting this. And as usual, I have an end of month wrapup.


In my last SS I mentioned the Library Thing group meetup I was looking forward to in The Berkshires. It was all I'd hoped for and more! We had a wonderful time visiting and eating and touring Edith Wharton's home, The Mount (photo), and eating and talking.... (Wendy wrote a wonderful post about it on her blog and Laura did the same on her blog.) I think this will be an annual event. Next year we'll even get some of our European friends over here for a gathering in New York.

So on with the wrapup; I'm making progress, though only at 40/125 for my overall reading challenge, which means I need to read 22 books this month if I'm going to stay on track. Er, I don't see that happening! I did well for May though, considering how busy I was; I read 8 books, my favorites of which were:

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Three Junes by Julia Glass

The worst book I read (one of the worst in years) was At Risk by Patricia Cornwell, which I read for my book group. Fortunately, it was a short quick read, so I didn't give up too many reading hours.

What's in a Name: completed 6/6 DONE!
Decades Challenge: completed 6/10.
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: 9/12; Booker Prize: 7/12. With Orange July just next month, I'll be able to knock that one off easily! I already have six books chosen for that month.
Dewey's Books: 5/5 DONE!
Pub Challenge: 5/9
Short Stories: 16/25
Essays: 0/20
Jane Austen: 0/1
Classics (other than Austen): 3/4
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).

Next week I'll try for a first Sunday of the month Salon! Hope your week is wonderful and full of good books.
. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 05-29-09

Janet is our delightful host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. It's cold and sweet and irresistible: ice cream!


2. I’m so looking forward to homegrown tomatoes.

3. My favorite health and beauty product is soap and water.

4. Monday my sister and I will have a nice long ride together to Olympia.

5. Well, first of all there was the Big Bang.

6. My friends Gwenlyn and Nan; those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was funny, of course.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a quiet evening, tomorrow my plans include a baby shower/BBQ plus an open house; and Sunday, I want to enjoy a potluck and visit with babies and their families!

. Read More!

Teaser Tuesday 05-26-09: Three Junes

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.



From Three Junes by Julia Glass, page 122 :

My flat, though clean, was furnished with carelessly mingled things I'd purchased mostly in charity shops (in Brooklyn, not Quezaltenango). Politely, Mal began his first visit perusing my bookshelves, Felicity touring along on his shoulder. I learned, with minimal gratification, that he was not well read and not at all sorry about it.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm dividing my time between New York, Dumfries, Scotland and Naxos, a Greek island. I'm also going back and forth through time, the 1980s and 1990s and a bit of post WWII.

. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 05-22-09

Janet is our awesome host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. Moving sucks. I hope I won’t have to do it again, ever.

2. Serenity is free.

3. My best quality is my ability to listen.

4. Don’t sweat the details.

5. In nearly 10 years, I have survived cancer and found the love of my life.

6. A day of taking photos is what I need right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a visit with some friends, tomorrow my plans include the farmer’s market and some gardening and Sunday, I want to play it by ear!

. Read More!

Teaser Tuesday 05-19-09: Oryx and Crake

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.



From Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, page 57:

'Be that as it may,' she said -- a sign that she wasn't going to give in. 'Be that as it may, there's research and there's research. What you're doing -- this pig brain thing. You're interfering with the building blocks of life. It's immoral. It's...sacrilegious.'

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

Hm, where am I? That's a good question. It's sometime in the future and I think I'm in Canada, or what used to be Canada. The world is topsy turvy and I suspect that genetic engineering has pretty much ruined life on Earth.

. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 05-15-09

Janet is our awesome host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. If we had no winter we’d be Florida and I’d move farther north.

2. Life is a perpetual astonishment.

3. If I had my life to live over I’d make more music.

4. It will be concert day inside of four and twenty hours!

5. If you've never been thrilled may I suggest a Mozart concerto or a Rembrandt painting?

6. To be interested in the changing seasons one must pay attention to subtle transformations.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a quiet night of reading, tomorrow my plans include singing with the choir at our concerts! and Sunday, I want to rest up from Saturday! Read More!

Teaser Tuesday 05-05-09: The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.




From The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich, page 44:

It was nearly twilight before she rolled him in. Her heavy nightgown was his shroud. His clothing, his cassock, and the small bundle tangled about him, a traveler's pouch tied underneath all else, Agnes put on in the exact order he had worn them. A small sharp knife in that traveler's pocket was her barber's scissors - she trimmed off her hair and then she buried it with him as though, even this pitiable, he was the keeper of her old life.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm enroute to Ojibwe land to become, I believe, a rather unorthodox missionary. Read More!

The Sunday Salon - Another Month Gone

Happy May Day - a little late. Do you honor May Day as a spring celebration or a worker's holiday? I was well into adulthood before I realized that May Day had a history other than leaving flowers on people's doorsteps and dancing around a pole.



I'm spending my weekend at a choir retreat, which is a bit ironic since I have laryngitis. I'll be mouthing the words, mostly. Our concert is in two weeks, so I'm trying to save my voice from total meltdown.

And another month, another check-in. Seems that's mostly what I've been doing with TSS lately. And here I thought I'd be posting more after retirement! I'm cruising right along with my reading, though I'm still behind for my 125 book challenge for the year. I've decided to let go; if I make it, great! if not, uh, what's the difference? I want to enjoy my reading, not feel pressured by it.

And that said, here's where I stand with my reading challenges:

What's in a Name: completed 6/6 DONE!
Decades Challenge: completed 6/10.
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: 8/12; Booker Prize: 5/12. With Orange July not far on the horizon, I'll be able to knock that one off easily!
Dewey's Books: 5/5 DONE!
Pub Challenge: 4/9
Short Stories: 11/25
Essays: 0/20
Jane Austen: 0/1
Classics (other than Austen): 3/4
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).

Of course, for the ones I've completed, I've yet to write one review, which is part of the deal. I'm not sure why review writing is so challenging for me. I'm in awe of people like Wendy and Laura who write such stellar reviews. Perhaps a goal for next year?

My favorite reads in April:

East of Eden - John Steinbeck
The Hiding Place - Trezza Azzopardi
Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
The Spare Room - Helen Garner
The Master - Colm Toibin

Hm, that's a list of everything I read in April! Nice to have a month where I liked everything. It took me almost two weeks to read East of Eden, which is unusual - hence the low number (for me) of books read. I liked it a lot but was not as enamored with it as I expected to be.

Next weekend I'll be on the east coast, meeting up with some very dear friends, most of whom I haven't yet met face to face! We're a group of women who "met" online via LibraryThing, and have forged remarkable friendships over the last two years. I'm very excited to meet them! We'll be staying at a B and B in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in The Berkshires (and finding every bookstore within a 50 mile radius -- when we can tear ourselves away from yakking). I'll give a full report in my next Salon!
. Read More!