Weekly Wrap Up: Five Books Read, an Orange Cake, and a Terribly Cute Photo of My Grandchildren

Read...

What does it mean when you read three books in one day and you don't understand any of them? 

My online nonfiction book group read A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes this month. At the beginning of March, I read the first couple of chapters and put it down half-read, feeling a little befuddled.  For some unknown reason, I picked it back up and read it almost compulsively, mostly incomprehensibly, in one afternoon. My review of A Brief History is here.

I picked up a copy of Textu by Fady Joudah at the poetry reading this week. I loved Joudah's poems "Palestine Texas" and "Progress Notes" that he read and I wanted to read more of his poetry. I'm not sure that Textu was a good choice for me; I can't say I understood much of any of the poems in this book. My review of Textu is here. 

I finished out the day with The Wonderful "O" by James Thurber. It's often classified as a children's book, though it is on both the children's and the adult version of the 1001 Books You Must Read lists. It's a clever little book in which a couple of pirates force the people on an island to remove the letter "o" from all words. My review of The Wonderful "O" is here. 

I also read and reviewed Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land as well as (hurray!) Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. My review of Maid is here. My review of Don Quixote is here.

Reading...

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Book-ish...

Isn't this fun? How Long Will It Take You to Finish Your TBR Pile? calculator is from Read It Forward. Thank you, Shellyrae at book'd out for sharing this.

If you love children's picture books as much as I do, you need to take a look at this list of 2019 Books from Caldecott Winners at 100 Scope Notes. I can't wait to read all of these, but I'm especially excited about Circle from Jon Klassen; Nine Months with art by the wonderful Jason Chin; No More Poems with art from Dan Santat; and How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander and Melissa Sweet.

I've finished four of ten books in My Own Books Reading Challenge set by Anne of My Head is Full of Books. I feel like I'm off to a good start with this challenge. The challenge ends on May 15th. 

I went to the Margaret Root Brown Reading Series last week with poets Fady Joudah and Carmen Giménez Smith. My post about the event will appear here on Wednesday.




Baking, photography, drawing, and other projects...

I baked an Orange Cake from The Cook's Atelier this week. Orange season is almost over here in Texas, and I wanted to use up some of the oranges we got from my brother-in-law's garden.

I couldn't resist posting this picture of my two grandchildren, Annie and her new baby brother, Wyatt. I feel so happy just looking at their beautiful faces.

The Sunday Salon 

I’ve taken the helm of one of our earliest book blogging memes, The Sunday Salon. I’d love to have you stop by my blog, Readerbuzz, here and post a link to your blog. The Sunday Salon was created twelve years ago to encourage book conversations, and I hope to do the same by sharing links and visiting others’ blogs. I will keep also the Facebook group for Sunday Salon.

I would be very happy if you would spread the word about the Sunday Salon. Encourage others to post here and/or on Facebook. Post the graphic on social media. 

Other places where you may like to link up are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. If you wish to also post a link at Facebook, you can also do that. My hope is that you will post here and/or at FB and then visit other bloggers. Sunday Salon is to encourage conversations about books and book-ish things.

A Silent Retreat: The Labyrinth

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by A Web of Stories. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at A Web of Stories.

Audiobooks You May Have Missed

I have always loved audiobooks for long car trips.

But for around the house? I have never listened to audiobooks at home. 

Until I retired.

And now I listen to them every day.

Let me share some you may have missed.

  
Across the Nightingale Floor is a 1001 Children's Book that takes place in ancient Japan. There are many assassins. One large Japanese castle has installed a "nightingale floor," which sings like a nightingale if an assassin tries to sneak across it. 

Excellent Women was my favorite read last year. It's the story of an older single woman trying to make her way in 1950's England.

It was great fun to listen to the Welsh accents of the characters in 1001 Children's Book, The Owl Service. It can be very difficult to find copies of the 1001 Children's Books. I was never able to find Owl Service in book form, but I was delighted to find it available as an audiobook.

  

Classics are wonderful choices for audiobooks. There is something very nice about having a classic read to you. I read all of Jane Austen's oeuvre last year, and I enjoyed listening to a couple of them, including Persuasion.

I read (literally) Big Magic a long time ago, but I decided to listen to an audiobook of Big Magic as NaNoWriMo approached last November. I loved it. I liked it as a book, but I loved it as an audiobook.

My husband and I loved listening to Three Men in a Boat last summer when we took a road trip. It's a fun experience to listen together to a comedy about three men taking a trip down the Thames.

  

Two summers ago, we took a long trip to Chicago to visit our son and daughter-in-law. We listened to an amazing five audiobooks on the trip: Wolf Brother, The Amulet of Samarkand, Dragonsong, The Pigman, and The Book of Three, all of which are 1001 Children's Books. That was almost 37 hours of stories.



I'm listening to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell now. It is over 18 hours, and it will definitely be my longest ever audiobook. But it is a fabulous story. It may be my best book of 2019.









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.

Three Good Novels Read, the World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, and a New Grandson

Read...

I've finished three good novels this week, all three over four hundred pages long, and they were all beautifully written. I've always considered The Bell Jar the most bleak book I've ever read, but now I've got a new champion---Jude the Obscure. Poor Jude wants to become a scholar but he is thwarted by the two women who come to dominate his life. My full review for Jude the Obscure is here. For our book club this month we were asked to pick a book by Susan Vreeland and read it. I picked Luncheon of the Boating Party because (1) it is based on a painting I love and (2) it takes place just outside of Paris. I didn't know much about Renoir before I read this book, but now I think I could write his biography. So much research went into the writing of this book. My full review for Luncheon of the Boating Party is here. What a wonderful character Count Alexander Rostov in A Gentleman in Moscow is. I fell in love with this man, with the grace he bestows on both his friends and enemies alike. My full review for A Gentleman in Moscow is here.

This week I also read and reviewed: 

Side by Side: A Celebration of Dads by Chris Raschka

Juana & Lucas: Big Problemas by Juana Medina

Sweet Dreamers by Isabelle Simler

Carter Reads the Newspaper by Deborah Hopkinson and Don Tate

Reading...

 

Yep. Don Quixote. Three hundred pages to go. I'm finishing this one next week. No matter what.

Book-ish...

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon is coming on April 6. What is Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon? For 24 hours, we read books, post to our blogs, Twitters, Instagrams, Litsy, Facebook, Goodreads and MORE about our reading, and visit other readers’ homes online. We also participate in mini-challenges throughout the day. It happens twice a year, in April and in October. The readathon will begin promptly at 8 am Eastern time. Register here.

Baking, photography, drawing, and other projects...

Laura at Joy Food Sunshine calls these The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever, and I think I agree. The secret? (1) Butter. Lots of butter. (2) Chocolate. Add as much as you want. (3) Slightly underbake these.

I worked on my various Buzzes---Bakerbuzz, Photobuzz, Naturebuzz, and Gardenbuzz---this week. I've daubed them with paint and bees. What do you think?

And the most exciting news of all...the arrival of our second grandchild, Wyatt Nance! He weighed in at 9 lbs. 13 oz. and he has a full head of hair. He was happily greeted by his big sister, Annie, along with his mom and dad and his grandparents. We are in love.

The Sunday Salon 

I’ve taken the helm of one of our earliest book blogging memes, The Sunday Salon. I’d love to have you stop by my blog, Readerbuzz, here and post a link to your blog. The Sunday Salon was created twelve years ago to encourage book conversations, and I hope to do the same by sharing links and visiting others’ blogs. I will keep also he Facebook group for Sunday Salon.

I would be very happy if you would spread the word about the Sunday Salon. Encourage others to post here and/or on Facebook. Post the graphic on social media. 

Other places where you may like to link up are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. If you wish to also post a link at Facebook, you can also do that. My hope is that you will post here and/or at FB and then visit other bloggers. Sunday Salon is to encourage conversations about books and book-ish things.

A Silent Retreat: Kairos, A Room for Creative Expression

I went on a silent retreat.

There were many places to explore on the retreat.

My favorite was Kairos.

Kairos is a room for creative expression.

Everything you need is in this room.

I was fascinated to read this article about Holy Play.

I also loved seeing Natalie Goldberg's suggestions for how to write.

I spent most of my time with watercolors.

I will return to Kairos.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by A Web of Stories. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at A Web of Stories.