Saturday, August 3, 2019

Au Revoir, Paris in July; Diversity; and August Book Events



Diversity was the theme of my reading this week. Citizen: An American Lyric is a book of flash nonfiction and poetry that takes on the American black experience. Each Tiny Spark is a middle-grade children's book that tells the struggles and joys of a young Hispanic girl with ADHD. And The Heart's Invisible Furies is the story of the life of a gay man in Ireland from his birth in the 1940s to the present day.












Paris in July is over, sadly. Happily, though, I wrote more posts (15) last month for Paris in July than I ever have:

I watched two movies set in Paris: Midnight in Paris and Paris: Je T'aime.

I practiced my French with Rosetta Stone.

I read seven books that were by French authors and/or were set in France:
Maigret by Georges Simenon
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan
Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief
Moonlight Over Paris
Love a la Mode

It was a great Paris in July.





August is Women in Translation Month, an event hosted by Bibliobio. The event is designed to encourage more books by women to be translated into English and other languages. I have decided to buy and read three of my 1001 Children's Books that are written by women and that have been translated into English: Aldabra: The Tortoise Who Loved Shakespeare by Italian author Silvana Gandolfi, A Letter to the King by Tonte Dragt, and The Big Sister by Swedish author Six Widerberg.  I have a selfish reason for wanting to encourage more English translations of works by women: many of the 1001 Children's Books have not been translated into English. You can find out more about this event by visiting Bibliobio.



Dewey's 24-Hour Reverse Readathon is August 2nd through August 3rd. It starts at 8 pm EST so that people in other parts of the world can start the readathon at a decent time. I am reading.



Brona's Books is sponsoring the Moby Dick Readalong in August. I am also joining this one.



I spent a long time last Sunday trying to update my list of Blogs I Often Visit. I couldn't believe how many of my favorite blogs were not on the list. I hope I have added you. Would you please make sure you are there? If you are not, would you please let me know?





How was your week?

Did you read any good books? Please share them with us.

What other bookish things did you do? What else is going on in your life?

I'd love to have 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. I hope you will visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. If you have other blogging friends, it would be wonderful if you'd tell others about our salon and encourage them to join us.

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. 

38 comments:

  1. The Heart's Invisible Furies sounds like a book I'd love. I need to dig it out of my stacks.

    I gave up on my blogroll years ago because I found it impossible to keep up to date.

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    1. As I was reading along in Heart's Invisible Furies, I kept thinking of John Irving. When I got to the end, I noticed that the book was dedicated to him. Perfect.

      It is impossible to keep up to date, but I like having and maintaining a list, so I will probably continue to struggle with it.

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  2. Those books you read this month sounded super interesting! I'm sorry I missed all the Paris posts. I'll have to go catch up. I seem to have too many books to read right now, which has me floundering and panicking over what to read. Isn't that sad? I know. But I'm plowing ahead with a couple. I probably won't get to the readathon this weekend, but I am going to see how far I get in John Grisham's Bleachers, which my husband handed to me last night after we watched a session on Youtube with him and Stephen King telling stories and interviewing each other.

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    1. I tend to get overwhelmed with books, so I carefully plot out the times I'm going to read the good ones and I let the disappointments go. I'm lucky to live in a county with a wonderful shared library system, so I can generally request anything I want there. I have a card with the Houston Library, too, and they have anything I can't find in my county system.

      I try not to let myself become anxious about books. Opposite of what I want.

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  3. When I first saw that you were reading Moby Dick for the readathon, I thought that seemed like quick a big book for a readathon. But then when I looked further, it makes sense what you are doing, with the kids books and the graphic novels.

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    1. Yes, and it worked out so well. I ended up becoming very interested in the story that Melville based Moby Dick on, and I was happily able to download it from Overdrive. I also found a story about the friendship of Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and downloaded it, too. I'll at least give it a try, though I'm not sure if I will like it enough to read the whole historical novel. And then I've gotten 30% into MD, so that's something.

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  4. I am going to use your Blogs to visit list to add to my feedly reader so thank you!

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    1. It's hard to keep it current, but it certainly helps me do a better job of keeping up with what bloggers are doing.

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  5. I just finished a novel in French and am embarking on another soon. My Kindle built-in dictionary is helping me a lot with the reading and translation.

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    1. That's amazing to me. I have never read an entire novel in French. Good luck to you!

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  6. I've never read Moby Dick. It seems like such a huge task.

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    1. It is. But there is so much out there on the Internet about MD that is fun and helpful.

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  7. Sounds like Paris in July was a success for you. One of these days I might join in. Hope you have a great week!

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    1. Paris in July is wonderfully enjoyable. I marvel at all the great posts others put up.

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  8. Good luck with Moby Dick, I don’t think I ever actually finished it.
    And thank you for listing me as a blog you often visit!

    Have a great reading week

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  9. It's Great that you're reading Moby Dick-I like that along side 10,000 leagues Under the Sea.

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  10. Kudos for tackling Moby Dick. I have never read that one,

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  11. I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday and that you got a good amount of reading done during the readathon.

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    1. I was happy to get in some small books along with a nice chunk of Moby Dick.

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  12. I've never read Moby Dick. It's one of those classics that I'd like to but I'm not sure when I ever will.

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    1. I decided I needed to read it before I got to the end of my life.

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  13. I read Mobu Dick many many years ago. Don't really remember if I enjoyed it or not. Good luck with your reading!

    My Sunday Post

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  14. I completely missed the read-a-thon. I'd been out of town for a week and just wanted to settle in and spend some time with my family. Love the Abbot & Costello Moby Dick routine. My husband is a pun fanatic, and I'm a fairly willing audience.

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  15. Wow you did great with Paris in July.

    I think I saw Midnight in Paris, if that's the one where the guy goes back in time to an earlier era.

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  16. I hope you enjoy Moby Dick. That is one book I haven't really been interested in trying. You never know though . . . Citizen is new to me, but sounds like something I might want to read and Each Tiny Spark. I am glad you had a wonderful Paris in July You really were able to fill the month with all things Paris!

    I hope to do some blog visiting this afternoon and then hopefully settle in with my book tonight. It was a mixed reading month for me last month. Have a wonderful week, Deb.

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  17. I finally switched to ProtoPage but I'm still adding blogs to it. You really rocked Paris month!

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  18. Your Paris in July books look so tempting. Enjoy August, and thanks for sharing.

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  19. Oh dear! I missed the readathon again. You certainly read an interesting variety of books this week. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  20. Moby Dick is one of my favorite novels. I'm glad I read it first as an adult and strictly for fun. My weekly updates

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  21. Wow! You are BUSY! Your Paris in July is especially impressive. I hope you loved The Heart's Invisible Furies. It was my favorite book of 2017.

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  22. You are totally #goals for next year's Paris in July! :) I think next year I will be more prepared and ready - I am already looking forward to it. :)

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