The Sunday Salon: Waco-Bound

 

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. 

Please add your link below, visit other bloggers, and comment on their posts. 

We are in Waco this weekend, spending time with my sister, Cathy, and her husband. This photo is from the last time we visited when we rode Cathy's e-bikes all around town.

What I Read Last Week:

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (Novel)

       

What I'm Reading Now:

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)

Yes, Nonfiction November is being planned for 2026!

Start assembling your stacks!

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Shorty September

Books on My Fall 2026 To-Read List

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

Shorty September   9/12

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)

Denim Shorts (Modern Classic)

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (224 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 (224 pages) 

Zip-Off Shorts (Nature Writing/Outdoors)

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico (48 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 a lecture

by an amateur historian and model ship builder

on Captain James Cook

at University of Texas Medical Branch's

Osher Livelong Learning Institute in Galveston.

Good Thing #2:

A group of us went to see a play, The 39 Steps, 

a comedic version of the classic thriller, 

in which 150 characters were played

by just four actors.

Good Thing #3:

We finally got rain!

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.

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor: 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.

‘After all, I am not a young girl to be intimidated by her,’ Kate decided, as she waited outside her mother-in-law’s house.

Taylor, Elizabeth. In A Summer Season (Virago Modern Classics Book), p. 1. Kindle Edition. 

When they were sitting together in the bus, she felt completely happy, without knowing that to feel so is such a rare experience that it might never come to her again.

Taylor, Elizabeth. In A Summer Season (Virago Modern Classics Book), p. 56. Kindle Edition. 

Today's Featured Book: 

In a Summer Season

by Elizabeth Taylor

Genre: Fiction

Published: 1961

Page Count: 224 pages

Summary: 

Kate Heron is a wealthy, charming widow who marries, much to the disapproval of friends and neighbours, a man ten years her junior: the attractive, feckless Dermot. Then comes the return of Kate's old friend Charles - intelligent, kind and now widowed, with his beautiful young daughter. Kate watches happily as their two families are drawn together, finding his presence reassuringly familiar, but slowly she becomes aware of subtle undercurrents that begin to disturb the calm surface of their friendship. Before long, even she cannot ignore the gathering storm . . .

This is exactly the sort of story that I read exclusively for many years as a young woman. It's the kind of story written by a woman author that gets inside people's heads, that doesn't have a great deal of action, and that focuses on the lives of women. It's the genre we  once called women's fiction, but I'm not sure that term is still used. Whatever you want to call it, it was my favorite then, and it is still one of my favorites.

How then have I just come, after almost seventy years of reading, to this author, Elizabeth Taylor? Elizabeth Berg, Ann Hood, Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout---I've read most everything by these writers, but Elizabeth Taylor, who writes in much the same fashion? No.

This is a story that feels perfect in many ways. Sensible Kate, after losing her first husband and settling into middle-age, marries reckless, much younger Dermot. The two are madly in love, but that's all they have in common. Kate's son, Tom, and her daughter, Lou, suffer from their own love foibles, and then there is her neighbor, Charles, and his beautiful daughter. The author skillfully takes us into the minds of all these characters as they interact and go through the day-to-dayness of life with them. 

If you have read any other books by this author, please share them with me. I am eager to read more.

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 best investment you’ve made for your blog? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

Oh dear. I've never spent money on my blog. Blogging is, for me, a hobby, fun, a joy, but I don't expect it to give me any cold cash.

  

Books on My Fall 2026 To-Read List

Some of these have already been published, some are just being published, and some are yet to be published.

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

A Planet Called Happy by Riley August

Kitten by Stacy Yu

You'll Love It Here by Natalie Sue 

Man Overboard by Kathleen Rooney

The Bookshop Woman by Hanako Hanada (September 15)

The Butterfly Season by Lea Korsgaard (September 15)

Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel (September 15)

Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger (October 6)

The Rush by Nathaniel Philbrick (October 6)

Partita by Barbara Kingsolver (October 6)

An Unlikely Visitor by Joanna Cannon (October 20)

Dead Batteries by Kate Maupin (October 27)

America Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the Hidden Wonders of the United States (November 10)

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: Shorty September

It's wonderful 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. 

Please add your link below, visit other bloggers, and comment on their posts. 

We had a fabulous time visiting with our son and daughter-in-law, Ben and Lisa. We spent some time in Chicago where they live, and we also spent a few days in Traverse City, Michigan where Lisa worked when she was first out of college. The highs were in the 70s, and the temps dipped into the 50s at night. The weather was glorious and the company was more glorious. 

What I Read Last Week:

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Novel)

     

What I'm Reading Now (for Shorty September):

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (Novel)

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine They (Mystery)

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (Novel)

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

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

Authors I've Met

The Sunday Salon: ♫ ♪ Chicago! Chicago! ♫ ♪

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

SHORTY SEPTEMBER    8 / 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)

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

• Emily of New Moon (224 pages) 

Zip-Off Shorts (Nature Writing/Outdoors)

• The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico (48 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 new-to-me butterfly in Chicago:

Small White.

Good Thing #2:

We shopped in a store where

everything---ice cream, syrup, salsa, and more---

was made from cherries.

Traverse City is 

the Cherry Capital of the World.

Good Thing #3:

We visited two bookstores in Traverse City,

including this one 

in a former mental asylum.

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.