Authors I've Met

Margaret Atwood

Jon Klassen

Jason Reynolds

Mary Higgins Clark

Gretchen Rubin

Mo Willems

John R. Erickson

Rick Riordan

Katherine Center

Amy Krause Rosenthal

R. L. Stein

Aaron Reynolds

Jacqueline Woodson

Kate DiCamillo

Jane Green

David Baldacci

Melissa Sweet

Anne Lamott

Richard Powers

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Kiran Desai

Salman Rushdie

George Saunders

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: ♫ ♪ Chicago! Chicago! ♫ ♪

We are happy that 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. 

I encourage you to join in by adding your link below and then visit other bloggers and leave comments on their posts. 

We are in Chicago, visiting our son, Ben,

and his wife, Lisa.

What I Read Last Week:

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

(Nonfiction)

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico (Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe (Fiction)

Passing by Nella Larson (Fiction)

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: My First Ukulele Class is Hard

Indie Bookshops Near Me

Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

SHORTY SEPTEMBER 6 / 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 (184 pages)

Crochet Shorts (Independent Publisher)

• Little Bird (96 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:

A friend and I went to the 

Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge last week

after we were told there were lots of birds visiting.

There were!

We loved seeing this Wood Stork.

Good Thing #2:

This Yellow-crowned Night Heron

seemed to be enjoying the water.

Good Thing #3:

A new-to-me butterfly at the refuge:

White Peacock.

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. 

Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

Today's Featured Book: 

Last Summer on State Street

by Toya Wolfe

Genre: Children's Fiction

Published: May 2, 2023

Page Count: 224 pages

Summary: 

Felicia “Fe Fe” Stevens is living with her vigilantly loving mother and older teenaged brother, whom she adores, in building 4950 of Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes. It’s the summer of 1999, and her high-rise is next in line to be torn down by the Chicago Housing Authority. She, with the devout Precious Brown and Stacia Buchanan, daughter of a Gangster Disciple Queen-Pin, form a tentative trio and, for a brief moment, carve out for themselves a simple life of Double Dutch and innocence. But when Fe Fe welcomes a mysterious new friend, Tonya, into their fold, the dynamics shift, upending the lives of all four girls.

As their beloved neighborhood falls down around them, so too do their friendships and the structures of the four girls’ families. Fe Fe must make the painful decision of whom she can trust and whom she must let go. Decades later, as she remembers that fateful summer—just before her home was demolished, her life uprooted, and community forever changed—Fe Fe tries to make sense of the grief and fraught bonds that still haunt her and attempts to reclaim the love that never left.

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.

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 share the first line.

SNIPPET FROM THE BEGINNING / FIRST LINE FRIDAY

I'd known Precious forever, Stacia a year, and Tonya for just a minute. We were so different, but everybody loved them some double Dutch. Sometimes we made a tight-knit crew; other days we couldn't get along for nothing. 

Wolfe, Toya.. Last Summer on State Street, p. 1. 

SNIPPET FROM PAGE 56

"He at that age, Fe Fe. Everybody checking for him now. My brother left last year when he turned fifteen." I looked for a sadness, any crack at all in her hard shell, but she just reached for the ropes, motioning for us to start a game.

Wolfe, Toya.. Last Summer on State Street, p. 56.

I brought Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe along with me to Chicago for our visit with my son and daughter-in-law this week. It will be interesting to talk about this book with my daughter-in-law, Lisa, who was a teen living in Chicago in 1999. 

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.    

How much do online reviews shape what you pick up next? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer). 

I rely completely on other bloggers to help me decide what book to read next!