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

 

We are happy you are here at the Sunday Salon. Welcome!

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 got a tiny bit of a cool front this week, and the temps dipped down into the low 70s F at night. This is a beautiful time to live along the Gulf Coast of Texas. 

I had a wonderful, busy week, with butterfly monitoring, swimming, my ukulele lesson, Empty Bowls, a library league meeting, book club, lunch with a friend, a butterfly walk with my naturalist group, and a family reunion.

    

What I Read Last Week:

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon (Science Fiction)

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi (Book Club)

Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel (Science Fiction)

      

What I'm Reading Now:

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 Pam

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: The Shorty September Challenge is Complete

Memorable Books I've Read with Others

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi: 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:

I talked my husband into spending two nights with

Wicked, Part One and Part Two, this week,

with pizza.

Good Thing #2:

Look at these beautiful, locally crafted bowls 

we took home from the Empty Bowls fundraiser.

Good Thing #3:

A lovely little Gray Hairstreak

we saw on our butterfly walk.

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.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi: 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.

Theo was in Golden for only a year, from springtime to springtime.

Levi, Allen. Theo of Golden, p. 1. 

Theo was not particularly comfortable with small talk. His own active mind and colorful thoughts were so engaging that shallow babble felt at times like an intrusion, an interruption, a subtraction. That said, and all because of his capacious spirit, sidewalk chats became a welcome part of his days.

Levi, Allen. Theo of Golden, 56%. 

Today's Featured Book: 

Theo of Golden

by Allen Levi

Genre: Fiction

Published: October 5, 2025

Page Count: 399 pages

Summary: 

One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He doesn’t explain much about where he came from or why he’s there—but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted. In exchange, he asks only for the person’s story. And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the quiet miracles that happen when we choose kindness and wonder.

There may be some spoilers below.

An old man arrives in a new town and he decides to buy portraits of people from the town and give them as a gift to the person portrayed in the portrait. 

It's a story of trying to heal oneself. In the process, others are healed. 

It's a story of change in perspective, in philosophy. 

It's a story of looking deeply at people, seeing them in all their sadnesses but also in their strengths.

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.     

Do you run more than one blog? If so, how do you manage your time? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

No. Readerbuzz is my one and only blog.

  

Memorable Books I've Read with Others

Have all my favorite books been books I've read with others? Maybe! All of these are books I read with others and they are all books on my favorite books list.

Books my mom read with me when I was just learning to read:

• Go, Dog, Go
• The Little House by Virginia Burton
• Caps for Sale

Books I read when I was a young person in a class in junior high, high school, or college:

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Odyssey
• Don Quixote

Readalouds in my classroom:

• Wrinkle in Time
• Where the Red Fern Grows
• Henry Huggins

Books with my kids and grandkids:

• A bajillion picture books
• Hank the Cowdog books
• The Hobbit
• Little House in the Big Woods

Books I read to kids as a librarian:

• The Little Match Girl
• I Want My Hat Back
• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
• Martin's Big Words
• Pete the Cat
• Rotten Island
• Where the Sidewalk Ends

Books I've read with other bloggers:

• Moby Dick
• War and Peace
• The Thorn Birds
• The Narnia books
• The Oz books
• 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up

Books I've read with my book clubs:

• Little Women
• Isaac's Storm
• Unbroken
• My Name is Asher Lev
• The Westing Game

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 Shorty September Challenge is Complete

Welcome! We are glad 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. 

       

What I Read This Week:

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey (Mystery)

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (Novel)

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Novel)

      

What I'm Reading Now:

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake (Nonfiction)

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon (Fiction)

The Librarians by Sherry Thomas (Mystery)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Waco-Bound

Dishing Up Some Wonderful Stories, with Pie

Save the Date! Nonfiction November is Coming Soon!

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

Shorty September is Complete!   12 / 12

Hometown Shorts (Local Author/Setting)

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (64 pages)

Hairy Shorts (Animal Character)

Wesley the Owl (244 pages)

Cargo Shorts (Helpful in a Pickle)

Jingo Django by Sid Fleischman (184 pages)

Denim Shorts (Modern Classic)

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (224 pages)

Ripped Shorts (Mystery/Horror/Thriller)

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine They (144 pages)

Crochet Shorts (Independent Publisher)

Little Bird (96 pages)

Postal Shorts (Set in a Country You’re Likely to Have a Penpal In)

Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (224 pages) 

Half-n-Half Shorts (Read the Book then Watch the Movie)

Train Dreams (130 pages)

Zip-Off Shorts (Nature Writing/Outdoors)

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico (48 pages)

Runway Fashion Shorts (Translated)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn (208 pages)

Elton John’s Wedding Shorts (Something Outrageous)

Trash! A Garbageman’s Story by Simon Paré-Poupart (192 pages)

Patchwork Shorts (Blend of Genres)

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel (242 pages)

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:

We went on a tour of the site at

 the Waco Mammoth National Monument.

Those mammoths!

It was an amazing tour.

Good Thing #2:

We visited the Armstrong Browning Library on

Baylor University's campus

and took a look at some of the books

and artifacts of

poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Good Thing #3:

My sister made, 

and I'm starting to address, 

the invitations

for my dad's 100th birthday party

on January 2, 2027!

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.