The Sunday Salon: Three Five-Star Books Completed

 

Welcome! I am happy you joined us 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. 

I did a little of everything this week. Drove to Dallas. Celebrated Lucy's happy birthday. Visited with my aunt and uncle. Came home. Swam. Visited with my sister. Got paperwork for my attempt to obtain Italian citizenship. Visited with my husband's cousin. Went to my writing group in Galveston. Had a picnic with my friend in Galveston. Ate blueberry pie and ice cream with my dad and his wife. Finished three five-star books: Candide and Zola's The Earth and Ann Patchett's Whistler. Wrapped up Paris in July.

What I Read Last Week:

The Earth by Émile Zola 

Candide by Voltaire

Whistler by Ann Patchett

What I'm Reading Now:

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

The Wide, Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides

I read eighteen books for Paris in July this year.

I didn't really have time to do much more this year than read.

The Earth by Émile Zola (Fiction)

Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire (Fiction in French)

Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson (Travel Memoir)

The Paris Bookshop for the Brokenhearted by Rebecca Raisin (Fiction)

My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life by Janine Marsh (Memoir)

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham (Fiction)

My Good Life in France by Janine Marsh (Memoir)

The Shortest History of France by Colin Jones (History)

Toujours la France! by Janine Marsh (Memoir)

The War of the Buttons by Louis Pergaud (Children's Fiction)

Thirty Days in Paris by Veronica Henry (Fiction)

One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan (Fiction)

My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: A Fiction by Deborah Levy (Fiction)

Quartet by Jean Rhys (Fiction)

Moveable Feasts: A Story of Paris in Twenty Meals by Chris Newens (Travel)

En Route: A Journey Through France in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes (Travel) 

Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery by Apollonia Poilâne (Cookbook)

L'Enfance de Bécassine by Jacqueline Rivière (Children's Cartoon)

I visited to Paris via the Rick Steves' episode, Paris of the Parisians, coupled with the Daytripper's episode on Paris, Texas. 

I practiced my French on Duolingo at least one time a day.

I made my first batch of sourdough bread based on a recipe from Poilâne. It was okay, but I think I'll try a different sourdough recipe next time.

And that's it. Thank you, Emma, from Words and Peace for hosting this wonderful event.

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Fun with Turtles, Snakes, and Alligators

Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read

Whistler by Ann Patchett: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

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:

What do you wear to a dinosaur and snake birthday party?

There are not as many snake shirts out there as you might expect.

But Wal-Mart, I learned, has some pretty cool dino shirts

in the boys' department.

Good Thing #2:

My new reading chair.

Good Thing #3:

My Finch, Zip, visited Paris in July.

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.

Whistler by Ann Patchett: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Today's Featured Book: 

Whistler: A Novel

by Ann Patchett

Genre: Fiction

Published: June 2, 2026

Page Count: 300 pages

Summary: 

When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn’t seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.

Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It’s a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

"Old guy," my husband said in a low voice, his lips touching my ear. "Near the exit sign."

"Stop it." The joke itself was as old as rocks.

Jonathan raised his eyebrows. "I'm serious. He kept looking at you in the ticket line. Then he followed us through Medieval Art, and now he's just standing there. Do you see him? He looks at you whenever you're not looking." 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

I knew what Leda would say. She would say it was because childhood never leaves us. We seal the room up and cover it in sheetrock. We dry and sand and paint, but the pocket of history remains, and sooner or later someone always winds up tapping on the wall, commenting on the way it sounds strangely hollow in there, and then the whole thing comes tumbling down. 

Just so you know---it's not a horse story as the cover might lead you to believe. No, it's a book that takes on love and secrets and childhoods and marriages and remarriages and stepparents and family and a car accident and healing and death, and, yes, there is a horse in the book and he plays an important role in the story but he isn't really even part of the story. 

I wasn't expecting to love this story. I love this story. I love Daphne and her husband, Jonathan, and Daphne's sister, psychologist Leda, and Daphne and Leda's stepfather, Eddie, and even the horse. Whistler. Whistler the horse. 

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

If you had to stick to one genre forever, which would you choose and why? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

This is tricky. Let's see...

I would pick nonfiction. I know I'm not in the majority here, but I am crazy about good nonfiction...

Or poetry. There's nothing that hits you in the gut like poetry...

I'm wild about picture books, too... 

And literary fiction is great...

This is agony. Stop it. Don't make me choose.

 

Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read

My pattern:

I hear about a wonderful book. 

I desperately search my library catalogs for the book.

It's not available. 

I comb through the used book sites for a bargain.

It's only for sale at full price.

I hunger to read that book. I click the purchase button.

Every day I scan my mail notifications. When will my book arrive?

I wait and wait. It takes a week, sometimes two weeks, to make it to my house.

It's here! I go to the mailbox, and rush inside to open the package.

I set the book at the top of my to-read stack. I do not start it.

I move the book to my under-the-bed stack. I do not start it.

I shift the book to my book closet. I do not start it.

The fire in me is now embers. And then ashes.

The book is pushed to the back, to the bottom of the book closet. 

I see it several years later. I think about putting it out in my Little Free Library.

Sigh.

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: Fun with Turtles, Snakes, and Alligators

Welcome! We are happy you are 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. 

After a busy week and a brush with a tropical storm in the Gulf, we drove to Dallas this weekend to celebrate our great-granddaughter Lucy's fourth birthday. I'm almost finished with my Paris in July reading, and I finally tried making sourdough bread from Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery.

What I Read Last Week:

The Shortest History of France by Colin Jones (History - Paris in July)

Toujours la France! by Janine Marsh (Memoir - Paris in July)

Quartet by Jean Rhys (Fiction - Paris in July)

Moveable Feasts: A Story of Paris in Twenty Meals by Chris Newens (Nonfiction - Paris in July)

En Route: A Journey Through France in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes (Nonfiction - Paris in July) 

What I'm Reading Now:

The Earth by Émile Zola (Fiction - Paris in July)

Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire (Fiction in French - Paris in July)

Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Visitors from Out of Town

Eight Books That Live in My Head Rent-Free

Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

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:

More fun with alligators and turtles and snakes.

Good Thing #2:

Our book club celebrated fifteen years talking books this week.

Good Thing #3:

How happy I feel! 

Jackie of Junk Boat Travels

sent me this Toronto Public Library

library card for my collection.

Thank you so much

for your thoughtfulness, Jackie!

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.