Favorite Books I Have Never Reviewed

Some of my favorite books are books I've never reviewed.

I loved Green Eggs and Ham when I first read it in 1960, but, at four years old, I wasn't much of a writer, and I did not have a blogging platform. That's understandable, right?

Many of the books on my list are books I read before I had a spot to review books. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. 

Reasons why I did not review other favorites (I currently have 202) are less clear. By 2005, when I first read Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, I was committed to reviewing every book I read. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in 2006. How did these books slip through?

And Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya? It was a book I loved so much when I read it that I mailed a copy to my brother overseas and urged him to read it. So why no review?

I've recommended Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder to many, many people. Where is my review? 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safron Foer left me in actual tears. Maybe I was too emotionally drained to write a review?

I tell a whole story about the first time I read and fell in love with Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief at a library conference in Austin. Couldn't I at least put that story in my review?

Some of the books on my list are books I've read tens of times, sharing them out loud with students. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull. Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Window by Jeannie Baker. Rotten Island by William Steig. Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin. Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. The Napping House by Audrey Wood. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. 

Good grief. The book I often tell people is my favorite picture book, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton? No review.

I fully intend to go back and reread and review all of these books. 

Books I Loved, but Never Reviewed (August 11, 2020).

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.   

The Sunday Salon: The 40th Classics Club Spin and a Giveaway!

 

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

We spent last weekend up in East Texas in order to see our granddaughter Annie play basketball. We reserved a tiny house just seven miles from our son's house, and it turned out to be a lovely building. 

Unfortunately, it was located in the parking lot of what is apparently the most popular restaurant in East Texas.

The restaurant features karaoke on Friday night, our first night there, and a live band on Saturday night, our second night there. There was a special parking area for motorcycles right outside our door. 

Tiny house with motorcycle parking next to it.

Live band on Saturday night.

Let's just say we won't be staying there again.

Annie's team won big, though. Happy day!

What I Read Last Week:

Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright

(Link takes you to my review of this important book)

What I'm Reading Now:

Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (Fiction)

Roots by Alex Haley (Chapter-a-Day)

Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces that Make Us Who We Are by Bill Sullivan (NF)

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (Fantasy)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Children's Mystery)

"Read the best books first, 

or you may not have a chance to read them at all."

                ---Thoreau

The Classics Club has issued the announcement of the 40th Classics Club Spin.

What is the spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday, February 16th, create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List.

You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.

On Sunday February 16th, The Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by Sunday, April 11th. 

Let's see who can make it the whole way and finished their spin book!

I only have four classics to go to complete my Classics Club list. Let's see where the needle stops.

So here is my list.

#1, 5, 9, 13, 17.          #2, 6, 10, 14, 18.         #3, 7, 11, 15, 19.           #4, 8, 12, 16, 20.

UPDATE! Ah, the Classics Club Spin stopped on #4,

so it's off to Rome and a Villa for me!

GIVEAWAY!

Author Deborah Lawrenson sent me a copy of The Secretary from England last week. I really don't read spy novels. Who would like to read this book and review it for her? I will be happy to mail it to someone in the US, if you will note in the comments that you'd like to do this. If more than one person would like to do so, I'll throw your names into the random number selector.

Here's a little bit about the book:

Moscow, 1958. At the height of the Cold War, secretary Lois Vale is on a deep-cover MI6 mission to identify a diplomatic traitor. She can trust only one man: Johann, a German journalist also working covertly for the British secret service. As the trail leads to Vienna and the Black Sea, Lois and Johann begin an affair but as love grows, so does the danger to Lois.

A tense Cold War spy story told from the perspective of a bright, young, working-class woman recruited to MI6 at a time when men were in charge of making history and women were expendable.

Monday Mailbox is back! 

Monday Mailbox is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.

It is now hosted at I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Vicki would love to have you join in.

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

Torrijas: Spanish French Toast

All the Love Stories You Could Ever Want: Eleven Posts I've Written About Love and Books

The Sunday Salon: Winter Birdwatching on the Bluewater Highway

Pleased to Meet Me by Bill Sullivan

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. 

Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

How fun it was to watch 

granddaughter Annie

play basketball last weekend!

Good Thing #2:

Our seeds are in the soil.

Good Thing #3:

Lego Ideas:

Books Are My Passion.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.