The Sunday Salon: Rainbow over the Texas Book Festival

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. 

Somehow, despite all the obstacles we were facing, we have made it to the Texas Book Festival in Austin this year. This photo of the state capitol is from ten years ago, but it accurately reflects how I feel today after the election here. 

I am planning to attend sessions with the authors of This Land is Your Land (Beverly Gage), This Vast Enterprise (Craig Fehrman), The Nerd Reich (Gil Durán), The Vanishing Family (Robert Kolker), Monster of a Land (Lauren Hough), Enormous Wings (Laurie Frankel), Will This Make You Happy (Tanya Bush), Ryan: The Singular Life of an American Original (Tim Brown), We the People is All the People (Howard W. Reeves), and Redemption: Faith, Justice, and Sisterhood on Death Row (Lawrence Wright).

All nonfiction again this week.

       

What I Read Last Week:

The Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds by John Fugelsang

[Risking Everything]: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán

      

   

What I'm Reading Now:

The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me about Nature's Greatest Mysteries by Lea Korsgaard

Monster of a Land: On the Road in Search of Modern America by Lauren Hough

Redemption: Faith, Justice, and Sisterhood on Death Row by Lawrence Wright

This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark by Craig Fehrman

Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Love Wins

Nonfiction November 2026: Nonfiction Journeys

Book Characters I Wish Were Real People

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

Week 1 November 2-8 - My Year in Nonfiction - Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? Week 1 was hosted by Heather who blogs at Based on a True Story

Week 2, Nonfiction Journeys. We choose a book that reflects a journey for its author or for the reader or both.  This can be a physical journey,  an emotional, psychological or spiritual journey or a combination of these.   Any nonfiction title that leaves its author/protagonist and/or reader in a different place at the end from the start point is good for this challenge.  Week 2 was hosted by Frances at volatilerune.blog. 

Next week is Week 3 November 16-22 - Nonfiction Pairings - This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or maybe it’s just two books you feel have a link, whatever they might be. You can be as creative as you like!

Week 3 will be hosted by Liz at librofulltime.wordpress.com.

The Classics Club has issued the announcement of the Classics Club’s 46th CC Spin.

What is the Spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday, November 15, 2026, 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, November 15, 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, January 3, 2027.. 

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

I have a lot of books to read on my latest Classics Club list. Let's see where the needle stops.

So here is my list. I picked the ten books from the list that I most want to read and listed them twice.

1, 11. A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym

2, 12. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell

3, 13. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

4, 14. Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

5, 15. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

6, 16. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov

7, 17. Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton

8, 18. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

9, 19. The Sea-Gull by Anton Chekhov

10, 20. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

Have you read any of these?

Do you recommend any of these?

Can you tell I am taking a short class in Chekhov this semester?

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 bought a record player/CD player/FM/Bluetooth.

I am pulling out a stack of albums I've had in a closet

for at least forty years.

Good Thing #2:

Some of the lovely things

I got for my birthday, 

including a beginner uke book,

a Texas butterfly pamphlet,

a book about butterfly host plants,

bees and butterflies cards,

reading socks, and 

a die to roll and tell you how long you should read.

Good Thing #3:

I don't know if I should show

this to my dad, 99, and his wife, 97,

or not.

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. 

This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark by Craig Fehrman: 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.

"The air rifle astonished the crowd.

It was August 31, 1803, and by his own calculations, Meriwether Lewis had made it all of three miles. That morning, he'd finally departed Pittsburgh and started down the Ohio River..."

Fehrman, Craig. The Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark, p. 1. 

'...Jefferson described "the object of your mission": "the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce." It seemed simple enough, but his instructions expanded until they covered a staggering range of tasks. Lewis needed to observe plants and animals, minerals and climate, Native language and Native culture. He needed to take detailed notes and make multiple copies.'

Fehrman, Craig. The Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark, p. 55-56.

Today's Featured Book: 

This Vast Enterprise:

A New History of Lewis & Clark

by Craig Fehrman

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: April 21, 2026

Page Count: 544 pages

Summary: 

In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their journey—having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids, mountains, forests, and ravines—they bring an incredible tale starring themselves as courageous explorers, skilled survivalists, underrated scientists, and peaceful ambassadors. While there is truth in those descriptions, there is also distortion.

From one of the most exciting new historians to emerge in the past decade, This Vast Enterprise offers a novel take on the expedition: a gripping narrative that draws on lost documents, stunning analysis, and Native perspectives. Craig Fehrman spent five years visiting more than thirty archives, interviewing more than a hundred sources, and collecting oral history passed down over centuries. He came to see that the success of Lewis and Clark depended on much more than just Lewis and Clark. We all know Sacajawea, and some of us know York, the Black man Clark enslaved. But here we meet John Ordway, a working-class soldier who fought grizzlies and towed the captains’ hulking barge. We hear from Wolf Calf, a Blackfoot teenager who watched his friend die in a battle with Lewis and his men.

Each chapter moves to a different person’s point of view, describing their desires and contradictions. We see Thomas Jefferson operating in an age of bitter partisan unrest—his secret political maneuvers to fund the expedition, revealed here for the first time, are a case study in presidential power. We witness the strategy and strength of Black Buffalo, completely upending our understanding of Lakota-American diplomacy. York, in his chapters, finds ways to wield power and make choices in an era that didn’t allow him much of either. Clark is not a folksy Kentuckian but a student of the Enlightenment. (Fehrman discovered his college notebook; no previous biographer even realized that he went to college.) Lewis is someone willing to sacrifice everything for his country and his mentor, Jefferson.

In the end, the captains are men who needed help—from Sacajawea, from the Corps, and from each other. Mile after mile, the expedition pushes on through hailstorms and flash floods, frostbite and infections, rattlesnakes and rabid wolves, with the Spanish cavalry in fierce pursuit. Fehrman balances the story’s adventure with the humanity of its protagonists. The result is a thrilling reminder that even the most familiar moments in history can still surprise us.

I'm just a few chapters into this book, and already it is captivating. 

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 do you want readers to take away from your blog and your love for books? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

That's it---I want them to take away from my blog my love of books, my love of learning, and my love of people and the world. 

   

Book Characters I Wish Were Real People

Wait a minute. Are you telling me that book characters...are...NOT...real people?

Ha!

Some of my favorite people are characters in books.

Here are some I love:

      

    

Anne of Green Gables

Emily of New Moon

Meg from A Wrinkle in Time 

Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird

Stargirl from Stargirl 

Winnie-the-Pooh 

Pippi Longstocking

How about you? What book characters do you wish were real?

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.  

Nonfiction November 2026: Nonfiction Journeys

 

Week 2 November 9-15 - Nonfiction Journeys - This week choose a book that reflects a journey for its author or for the reader or both.  This can be a physical journey,  an emotional, psychological or spiritual journey or a combination of these.   Any nonfiction title that leaves its author/protagonist and/or reader in a different place at the end from the start point is good for this challenge.   

There has been no book in my life that influenced me as much as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig. 

This book is the story of a journey, a motorcycle ride by Pirsig and his son and some friends; and this book is a book I first discovered when I was on a journey, away from home, working in Yellowstone Park; and this book took me on a journey, a journey into the world of philosophy and life meaning, that continues to this day.

That said, I have never (not one single time!) recommended this book to anyone who actually read the whole book and came back to me and said they loved it. Never. Most people who tried reading it quit. Those who did read the whole thing said they hated it, said it was condescending or too in-the-head or boring. So be it. It's perfectly fine. Not every book is for every person. 

Hosted by Frances. Frances is a poet, essayist and reviewer.  Her novel The Winchester Codex was published in 2024.  She lives in London with her husband and Suki the Golden Doodle.  Her blog can be found at volatilerune.blog  It covers books she happens to be reading – both fiction, non-fiction and poetry.  She especially enjoys biographies of writers and artists.  

The Sunday Salon: Love Wins

 

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. 

What a wonderful 70th birthday I had! Surprises in the mail...cards...a bookstore visit...outings to restaurants...gifts from friends...I feel overwhelmed with happiness. Thank you for all your birthday wishes!

Update on my dad: He says he is much, much better! Thank you for all your good thoughts and prayers!

Update on our gas leak: The plumber has started to work. The work should be complete by Tuesday or Wednesday.

All nonfiction!

         

   

What I Read Last Week:

Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC by Frederick Buechner

Frequently Happy: 52 Mindful Moments to Bring Hope and Joy by David Larby

The Year of Nothing by Emma Gannon

The Bookshop Woman: A Year of Transforming Lives---One Book at a Time by Nanako Hanada

The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life by Ian Bogst

         

What I'm Reading Now:

The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me about Nature's Greatest Mysteries by Lea Korsgaard

The Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds by John Fugelsang

[Risking Everything]: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán

Week 1 November 2-8 - My Year in Nonfiction - Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? 

Hosted by Heather who blogs at Based on a True Story

Next week will be Week 2, Nonfiction Journeys. This week choose a book that reflects a journey for its author or for the reader or both.  This can be a physical journey,  an emotional, psychological or spiritual journey or a combination of these.   Any nonfiction title that leaves its author/protagonist and/or reader in a different place at the end from the start point is good for this challenge.  Week 2 will be hosted by Frances at volatilerune.blog.  

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Bookshop Woman: My Year Transforming Lives---One Book at a Time: A Memoir by Nanako Hanada: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten (Good) Novels I Read

Nonfiction November 2026: My Year in Nonfiction

The Sunday Salon: 70!

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:

Did we, from our library friends group, 

ever have fun on Halloween night!

We gave away 585 books to kids!

Good Thing #2:

Our son and daughter-in-law sent me

for my birthday

this amazing poster-sized photo of us

on our vacation together 

in Traverse City, Michigan.

Good Thing #3:

Texas, you did good.

Love wins over hate.

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.