The Sunday Salon: The Radiance; The Shampoo Effect; The Calamity Club; and Cat Love

 

Welcome! We are happy 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. 

The library friends' group luncheon and my swim class luncheon, Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon, the Texas Pollinator Bioblitz, a sourdough-making class, and book club---another busy week. 

We also learned we have a gas leak (!) and my dad has a a small case of pneumonia. Hope you will send him some good thoughts and prayers!

   

What I Read Last Week:

Sons by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Calamity Club by Katherine Stockett (Fiction)

The Radiance: A Novel by Ayad Akhtar (Fiction)

Cat Love: A Novel by Tomás Q. Morín (Fiction)

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson (Fiction)

I had eight books arrive for me this week at the library, all new books, but I felt guilty for having so many and I sent back Partita by Barbara Kingsolver and Building 903 by Lois Lowry. I'll request them again and get them after a few of the ones I've already started.

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

Cat Love: A Novel by Tomás Q. Morín: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

My Century of Books

My Perfect Day

The Sunday Salon: A Week in Which I Go to a Family Reunion, I Solve Nature Riddles at Fall Field Day, and I Am Presented with a Magnificent Painting

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:

My husband surprised me with 

my two favorite foods for

the readathon last weekend:

Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

and Hershey's Kisses.

Good Thing #2:

"What is your craziest Halloween costume?"

on the board at the library.

Good Thing #3:

The Texas Pollinator Bioblitz!

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.

Cat Love: A Novel by Tomás Q. Morín: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

Friday Book Snippets is a weekly blogging event co-hosted by 

Anne@HeadFullofBooks and Olivia at Bemused and Bookish. 

Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from:

 a. the book's beginning and 

b. page 56 (or another page) 

in the book you are currently reading. 

No spoilers, please.

Join the fun every Friday.

Call me...call me whatever you like. I've had many names over the years. Did you think I was going to say Ishmael? Or actually tell you my real name? Not today. Maybe not tomorrow either. I bet you're wondering how a cat knows about Moby-Dick. Especially the tortoiseshell cat sealed in the box in this lab. 

Morín, Tomás Q. Cat Love: A Novel, p. 1.

I meow, and it sounds like no meow that's ever come out of my mouth. I try again, and I'm reminded of an egg bubbling in a skillet. A few more times, and my meow is mostly back. My babies wouldn't recognize it, but no matter, because smell is what counts. Wait, do I still have a scent? Surely, death never stopped anything from smelling. If anything, it amplifies, but who knows how any of this works. Where's my Virgil, my guide through all this insanity?

Morín, Tomás Q. Cat Love: A Novel, p. 56. 

Today's Featured Book: 

Cat Love: A Novel

by Tomás Q. Morín

Genre: Fiction

Published: June 9, 2026

Page Count: 207 pages

Summary: 

The indelible cat heroine of this unexpected tale recalls her life with “the Mustache,” her beloved owner. Trapped in a one-way mirrored box, displayed in a classroom for people who must contemplate her fate as part of their training to become “Emotional Support Humans,” she weaves a self-soothing paean to the poetry, music, and creature comforts she shared with her Mustache—the best products of a society that has gone off the rails in its violence and intolerance.

The Texas Book Festival is November 14 and 15, and I've been looking through the schedule in preparation for our trip there. On Saturday, I saw there will be a session called A World Gone Mad: Existentialism in Fiction featuring two books, Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent You and Cat Love: A Novel by Tomás Q. Morín.  How could I resist looking for these?

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.    

What’s the creepiest book you’ve read that isn’t officially horror, but gave you chills? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

Books about war, with graphic details, including The Things They Carried and The Narrow Road to the Deep North, are books that are not horror, but are horrible to read. 

  

My Century of Books

I was inspired by Lory of Entering the Enchanted Castle (who was inspired by other bloggers, notably Simon of Stuck in a Book) to I see whether I could select one book I’d read for each year of the twentieth century. Lory's goal was "to choose books that had some notable impact on me, leaving a distinct impression on my mind," and I've set that as my goal as well. The books in bold print are the same as Lory's for that year.

1900 – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum
1901 – Kim by Rudyard Kipling
1902 – The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
1903 – The Story of My Life – Helen Keller
1904 – The Cherry Orchard – Anton Chekhov
1905 – The Gift of the Magi - O. Henry
1906 – White Fang - Jack London
1907 – Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief - Maurice Leblanc
1908 – Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
1909 – The Girl of the Limberlost – Gene Stratton-Porter
1910 – The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
1911 – Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
1912 – Tarzan of the Apes - Edgar Rice Burroughs
1913 – The Custom of the Country - Edith Wharton
1914 – Dubliners - James Joyce
1915 – The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
1916 – Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
1917 -  Parnassas on Wheels - Christopher Morley
1918 – The Elements of Style - William Struck
1919 – Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson
1920 – The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
1921 – Main Street - Sinclair Lewis
1922 – The Enchanted April – Elizabeth von Arnim
1923 – The Waste Land - T. S. Eliot
1924 – A Passage to India - E. M. Forster
1925 – The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
1926 – Winnie-the-Pooh - A. A. Milne
1927 – Elmer Gantry - Sinclair Lewis
1928 – Millions of Cats – Wanda Gág
1929 – All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
1930 – Grand Hotel - Vicki Baum
1931 – The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck
1932 – Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
1933 – Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell
1934 – I, Claudius -Robert Graves
1935 – Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
1936 – Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild
1937 – The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
1938 – The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1939 – The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
1940 – Caps for Sale - Esphyr Slobodkina
1941 – Make Way for Ducklings – Robert McCloskey
1942 – The Little House– Virginia Lee Burton
1943 – The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
1944 – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
1945 – Animal Farm - George Orwell
1946 – The World is Not Enough – Zoé Oldenbourg
1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
1948 – The Loved One - Evelyn Waugh
1949 – Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
1950 – Henry Huggins - Beverly Cleary
1951 – The Sea Around Us - Rachel Carson
1952 – Excellent Women - Barbara Pym
1953 – Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
1954 – Half Magic - Edward Eager
1955 – A Night to Remember - Walter Lord
1956 – A Christmas Memory - Truman Capote
1957 – How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Dr. Seuss
1958 – Mrs. 'arris Goes to Paris - Paul Gallico
1959 – Mrs. Bridge – Evan S. Connell
1960 – Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
1961 – The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster
1962 – A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L'Engle
1963 – The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
1964 – A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
1965 – The Source - James A. Michener
1966 – Chancy and the Grand Rascal - Sid Fleischman

1967 – The Mouse and His Child – Russell Hoban
1968 – A Kiss for Little Bear - Else Holmelund Minarik
1969 – Rotten Island – William Steig
1970 – Frog and Toad are Friends - Arnold Lobel
1971 – The Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom
1972 – Watership Down – Richard Adams
1973 – Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
1974 – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
1975 – Wife - Bharati Mukherjee
1976 – Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred D. Taylor
1977 – The Box Garden - Carol Shields
1978 – The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin
1979 – If on a Winter's Night a Traveler - Italo Calvino
1980 – A Month in the Country - J. L. Carr
1981 – Happenstance - Carol Shields
1982 – Blue Highways - William Least Heat-Moon
1983 – The Color of Magic – Terry Pratchett
1984 – The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros
1985 – Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry
1986 – Maus, Vol. I – Art Spiegelman
1987 – The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse - John R. Erickson
1988 – Where I'm Calling From - Raymond Carver

1989 – The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
1990 – Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience – Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
1991 – The Gold Bug Variations - Richard Powers
1992 – The Secret History – Donna Tartt
1993 – The Giver - Lois Lowry
1994 – Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
1995 – A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
1996 – Wilma Unlimited – Kathleen Krull
1997 – A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson
1998 – The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
1999 – Civility – Stephen L. Carter
2000 – Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate DiCamillo

Books from Lory's list that I have not read that I might want to read:

1901 - My Brilliant Career – Miles Franklin 

1906 – The Story of the Amulet – E. Nesbit

1910 – Old Mother West Wind– Thornton Burgess

1912 – The Montessori Method – Maria Montessori
1913 – Le Grand Meaulnes – Alain-Fournier
1914 – Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw
1915 – Herland – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1917 - Prufrock and Other Poems – T.S. Eliot

1919 – Christopher and Columbus – Elizabeth von Arnim

1921 – Scaramouche – Rafael Sabatini

1924 – The Home-Maker – Dorothy Canfield Fisher

1926 – Lud-in-the-Mist – Hope Mirlees

1930 – Miss Mole – E.H. Young

1933 – Modern Man in Search of a Soul – C.G. Jung

1935 – Gaudy Night – Dorothy Sayers

1940 – The Bird in the Tree – Elizabeth Goudge

1948 – The Plague and I – Betty MacDonald
1949 – The Lady’s Not for Burning – Christopher Fry

1953 – Troy Chimneys – Margaret Kennedy

1955 – An Episode of Sparrows – Rumer Godden
1956 – Till We Have Faces – C.S. Lewis
1957 – Moominland Midwinter – Tove Jansson
1958 – The King Must Die – Mary Renault

1963 – False Colours – Georgette Heyer

1965 – Up the Down Staircase – Bel Kaufman
1966 – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – Tom Stoppard

1968 – The Silver Crown – Robert C. O’Brien

1970 – Smoke from Cromwell’s Time – Joan Aiken

1974 – The Perilous Gard – Elizabeth Marie Pope
1975 – World of Wonders – Robertson Davies

1977 – Charmed Life – Diana Wynne Jones
1978 – Beauty – Robin McKinley
1979 – The Madwoman in the Attic – Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar
1980 – A Ring of Endless Light – Madeleine L’Engle
1981 – Masquerade – Kit Williams

1984 – Archer’s Goon – Diana Wynne Jones

1991 – Tam Lin – Pamela Dean

What would be on your list? And what do you think of mine?

My Perfect Day

A perfect day is made up of all the things that make me happy:

People. Friends. Family. Acquaintances. Strangers. 

Activity. Swimming. Walking. Biking. Yoga. Zumba. Dancing around the kitchen.

Learning. Reading. Practicing my uke. Finch. Duolingo. 

Creativity. Writing. Drawing. Baking. Photography.

Nature. Butterflies. Birds. Bioblitzes. My naturalist group.

Serendipity. Surprise. Wonder. Fun. Laughter. Paradox. 

Spirituality. Silence. Focus. Presence. Gratitude. 

Purpose. Giving. Sharing. Meaning.

Good food. Yogurt. Salad. Fruit. Bread. Ice cream.

Good sleep. Getting to bed at nine and sleeping through the night to five.

What makes up your perfect day?

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: A Week in Which I Go to a Family Reunion, I Solve Nature Riddles at Fall Field Day, and I Am Presented with a Magnificent Painting

 

Welcome! We're 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. 

October is always a busy month for me, and last week was classically busy October; I went to a family reunion, my last (until spring) ukulele class, our naturalist group's Fall Field Day at Brazos Bend State Park, and a play at our town's college, in addition to my normal swim classes.

      

What I Read Last Week:

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures 

by Merlin Sheldrake (Nonfiction)

The Librarians by Sherry Thomas (Mystery)

Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (Fiction)

   

What I'm Reading Now:

The Calamity Club by Katherine Stockett (Fiction)

Sons by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

Dewey's October 2026 Readathon

October 17-18

8 AM to 8 AM Eastern time / 2 PM to 2 PM CEST

Discord: https://discord.gg/X8Ge3kG3qH
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dewey...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deweysreada...

 

Nonfiction November is coming soon! For more details, 

take a look at this post. 

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Exit Party, Theo of Golden, and The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances

Eleven Books with Autumnal Feels

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett: Friday Book Snippets 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:

My dad (left), 99, and 

my cousin, Ray, 90,

at our family reunion.

Good genes, indeed!

Good Thing #2:

My cousin, Chuck, is an artist,

and he made this amazing painting

just for my husband and me.

I still can't quite believe it.

Good Thing #3:

We had to solve 25 nature riddles

and take photos of the answers

during our naturalist group's 

Fall Field Day this week. 

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.