The Launch of Paris in July 2019

Henry, Himself: A Novel by Stewart O'Nan

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I've been waiting for these two books at the library for weeks. One of them I loved. One of them was disappointing. Can you guess which was which? Have you read either? What did you think?

I finished 30 books in 30 days during June. #bookaday #20booksofsummer

I've been saving a stack of books for Paris in July. Here are the books I'm hoping to read:

Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes

Vango: Between Sky and Earth by Timothee de Fombelle

Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson

French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France

Love a la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm

Bon Appetempt by Amelia Morris

The Paris Project by Donna Gephart

A Walk Across France by Miles Morland

Long Ago in France by M. F. K. Fisher

Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann Mah

Goodbye, Paris by Anstey Harris

All Paris

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Paris in the Third Reich by David Pryce-Jones

Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd

A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith

Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris, 1932 by Francine Prose

Murder on the Left Bank by Cara Black

Paris: A Love Story by Kati Marton

Secrets of Paris by Luanne Rice

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

Have you read any of these? Do you have any recommendations for me? Where should I start?

Paris in July 2019 begins on July 1st at Thyme for Tea. Paris in July is a French themed blogging experience running from the 1^st – 31^st July this year.

The aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through actual visits, or through reading, watching, listening, observing, cooking and eating all things French!  

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of this experience – just blog about anything French and you can join in! Some ideas might include;

• reading a French themed book – fiction or non-fiction, 

• watching a French movie, 

• listening to French music, 

• cooking French food, 

• experiencing French, art, architecture and travel

If you are interested in being a part of this experience, link up here.

I'm taking a writing class this summer at Imprint in Houston. It's called Flash Nonfiction. I've only read four pieces of flash nonfiction, and so far I'm feeling meh. What am I missing? Am I going to be able to write in a genre I don't like? Maybe I'll just ignore the parameters and write what I want.

After three months of prep and repair and painting, we are finished. We have a painted house. I feel quite happy and proud.

What did you do last week?

Did you start any good books? Share them with us.

Have you seen anything bookish you'd like to tell us about?

I invite you to link up here and/or at the Sunday Salon page on Facebook each weekend (Saturday-Sunday-Monday) and let us know what you have been doing. Visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

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. 

Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza

I've wanted to make a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza ever since I first ate one when we visited my son and daughter-in-law in Chicago. How good was that pizza? That pizza was so good that I snuck the leftovers home on the plane. 

I ran across this recipe a few months back and I decided to give it a try. Know before you start that it takes 3 1/2 to 4 hours to prepare and at least half of that time is time you spend actively baking. But it is worth it. The Chicago Deep Dish Pizza is rich and yummy.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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.

20 Books of Summer and #bookaday Challenges

Cathy at 746books is hosting The 20 Books of Summer Challenge. Why not join in with your own 20 (or 10, or 15!), read along with some of the books or just cheer her on as she tries to get that dreaded 746 down by another 20 in just 3 months? Join the 20 Books of Summer Challenge here.

Reading expert Donalyn Miller invites everyone to join her in a summer #bookaday challenge. The rules for this challenge are simple: 

• You set your own start date and end date.
• Read one book per day for each day of your summer vacation. This is an average, so if it takes you a week to read a long book, you can balance it out with some picture books or early reader books.
• Any book qualifies including picture books, nonfiction, professional books, audio books, graphic novels, poetry anthologies, or fiction—children’s, youth, or adult titles.
• Keep a list of the books you read and share them often via a social networking site like goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Use the #bookaday hashtag to find other participants and share your recommendations. You do not have to post reviews, but you can if you wish. Titles will do.

Here is a tower of books I may read this summer: My rationale is in parenthesis.

Hunger by Elise Blackwell (Food Bookbox)

As They Were by M. F. K. Fisher (Food Bookbox)

A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams (ARC)

Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (ARC)

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson (ARC)

The Farm by Joanne Ramos (ARC)

The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson (Cybils)

Summer of '69 by Todd Strasser (Research)

My Friend Mr. Leakey by J. B. S. Haldane (1001 Children's Books)

Brave the Page by Rebecca Stern & Grant Faulkner (Research; ARC)

Kondo & Kezumi Visit Giant Island by David Goodner (ARC)

New Kid by Jerry Craft (Cybils)

Hungry by Jeff Gordinier (ARC)

Sous Chef by Michael Gibney (Food Bookbox)

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl (ARC)

French Dirt by Richard Goodman (Paris in July)

Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson (Paris in July)

Vango Between Sky and Earth by Timothee de Fombelle (Paris in July)

Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes (Paris in July)

The Paris Project by Donna Gephart (Paris in July)

Bon Appetempt by Amelia Morris (Paris in July)

Love a la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm (Paris in July)

A Walk Across France by Miles Morland (Paris in July)

Long Ago in France by M. F. K. Fisher (Paris in July)

Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann May (Paris in July)

Goodbye, Paris by Anstey Harris (Paris in July)

A Book that Takes Its Time: A Flow Book (Happiness)

The Little Library Cookbook (Baking; Books)

Another by Christian Robinson (Cybils)

Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey Home in 75 Recipes by Martin Philip (Bread Baking)

Artisan Sourdough by Casper Andre Lugg & Martin Ivar Hveem Field (Bread Baking)

Let's not even consider the Kindle books or the library books, shall we?

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.

A Food Bookbox, Paris in July, House Painting, and a Tumble in the Kroger Parking Lot

 

Hunger by Elise Blackwell

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl

Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney

Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All With the Greatest Chef in the World by Jeff Gordinier

As They Were by M. F. K. Fisher

What possible reason could I have for reading five books about food this week? To put into the Food Bookbox, of course. I'm a longtime Bookcrossing member, and I occasionally still join into bookboxes. A bookbox, if you are curious, is a box of books that travels among a group of readers. You take out the books you want from the bookbox and replace them with books you are willing to pass on to others. 

The Food Bookbox that arrived this week gave me a good reason to pull books from my TBR and read them and pass them on.

Are any of you Bookcrossing members? Do you actively Bookcross? 

Stewart O'Nan is one of those writers that is easy to overlook. His books aren't about big things---no cars crashing, no bombs exploding. O'Nan looks closely at everyday life. Henry, Himself is probably not a book some people would enjoy at all. It's simply the story of the day-to-day existence of an elderly man and his elderly life, his reminisces, his regrets, the small delights and frictions Henry faces. 

Tamara of Thyme for Tea is hosting Paris in July, a month long blogging event, with very few rules - except to focus on something Parisienne, French, or from France.... movies, books, authors, food, places, music, experiences, people, culture, history, future.... whatever you like to blog about - just do a post on something you love about Paris or France, and link it in. The linkup to sign up for Paris in July is here.

Painting. Painting. Painting. More alligator holding. And I took a tumble in the grocery story parking lot and landed on my face, resulting in some lovely purple bruising and a big fat lip. I don't know whether to blame it on the rough surface of the parking lot or my progressive lenses or a pair of new sandals or some combination of all of these. 

What did you do this week?

Did you finish any books? Anything you'd recommend?

Have you seen anything bookish you'd like to share with us?

I invite you to link up here and/or at the Sunday Salon page on Facebook each weekend (Saturday-Sunday-Monday) and let us know what you have been doing. Visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

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. 

Earthworm

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.

Best Books Coming This Fall

Here are the fall 2019 releases that look promising to me:

The Grammarians: A Novel by Cathleen Schine (September 3)
The Testaments: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (September 10)
Akin by Emma Donoghue (September 10)
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell (September 10)
Red at the Bone: A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson (September 17)
The Dutch House: A Novel by Ann Patchett (September 24)
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman (September 24)
Wayward Son (Simon Snow #2) by Rainbow Rowell (September 24)
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (October 1)
Olive, Again: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout (October 15)

What are you eager to read this fall? 

Do you have any on your list that I've missed?

Do any of these look good to you?

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.