Two Hurricanes (!) in the Gulf; Obsessed with the Edinburgh Book Festival; and A Million Dreams

 

Hurricanes Marco and Laura were no-shows in Alvin, Texas this week, and we are all happy they were. A twenty-foot storm surge and 150 mph winds are terrifying to contemplate. I've been through five big storms in my life, and I have seen enough to take a hurricane in the Gulf seriously. Two hurricanes in the Gulf at the same time? Now that's a first. Pure 2020.

In anticipation of the upcoming Cybils, I've started reading a couple of picture books each day. I heard Yoko Ogawa speak at the Edinburgh Book Festival and then her book, The Memory Police, arrived for me at the library. The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donohue is a story from the 1918 flu epidemic, set in a maternity ward for patients with the flu. For those of us who like to read about nature, I recommend The Thing With Feathers about birds. If you are curious about modern art, you might enjoy, as I did, What Are You Looking At? I finished my Classics Club spin, Around the World in 80 Days, and watched the classic 1956 movie. Anyone who loves reading and writing would probably like the comics in I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf.

   

September will arrive on Monday. It's time to wrap up my three summer challenges. 

#Bookaday Summer Challenge...167 books read in 92 days ✓

20 Books of Summer...49 books (more than 200 pgs.) read ✓

My favorite 20 (more than 200 pgs.):

1. The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (289 pgs.)

2. The Thing with Feathers by Noah Stryker (304 pgs.)

3. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (305 pgs.)

4. The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue (304 pgs.)

5. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (252 pgs.)

6. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (270 pgs.)

7. The Last Flight by Julie Clark (288 pgs.)

8. Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come by Jessica Pan (368 pgs.)

9. The Black Kids by Christina Hammons Reed (367 pgs.)

10. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (288 pgs.)

11. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center (320 pgs.)

12. Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk (368 pgs.)

13. The Readers' Room by Antoine Laurain (224 pgs.)

14. The Beauty in the Breaking: A Memoir by Michelle Harper (304 pgs.)

15. What You Wish For by Katherine Center (320 pgs.)

16. The Whole Fromage: Adventures in the Delectable World of French Cheese (274 pgs.)

17. What Would Cleopatra Do? Life Lessons from 50 of History's Most Extraordinary Women (320 pgs.)

18. Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne (476 pgs.)

19. Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry (416 pgs.)

20. Set My Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson (356 pgs.)

Big Book Summer Challenge...6 books read (over 400 pgs.) ✓

1. Dirt: Adventures with Family, in the Kitchens of Lyon, Looking for the Origins of French Cooking by Bill Buford (448 pgs.)

2. Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne (476 pgs.)

3. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (495 pgs.)

4. Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry (416 pgs.)

5. Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman (462 pgs.)

6. What Are You Looking At? The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art (465 pgs.)

Still working on these...haven't read much more from last week...

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy...69% read

Devotions by Mary Oliver...42% read

How to Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life...36% read

The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You...10% read

I posted a list of Questions I Would Ask My Favorite Authors.

Here's a list of authors I've now seen at the Edinburgh International Book Festival:

Jenny Offill, Yoko Ogawa, Dapo Adeola, Nathan Bryan, Michael Morpurgo, Polly Dunbar, Anne Enright, Alexander McCall Smith, Richard Holloway, Olivia Laing, Helen Macdonald, and Isabel Wilkerson. Have you watched any of the festival?

Love kidlit (and who doesn't?) Apply to be a Cybils Awards judge here.

1. The hurricanes did not hit me.

2. The hurricanes did not hit me.

3. The hurricanes did not hit me.

And here's a Bonus Good Thing:

 A Million Dreams, with my dear friend, Larry Lawrence, on violin.

I'm very happy you found your way to the Sunday Salon. There are no requirements for linking up at Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is simply a place for us to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. Sunday Salon is a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

• What was your week like?
• Read any good books? Tell us about them.
• What other bookish things did you do? 
• What else is going on in your life?

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

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below.

Years and Years of the Cybils Awards

Apply to be a Cybils judge. Find out more here.

A Silent Retreat: Window

Ruah Spirituality Center, Houston, Texas.


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.

Questions I Would Ask My Favorite Authors

Jane Austen, why did you write so much about romance and yet never seem to have a romantic relationship of your own? Was it more fun to write about love than to experience it? Or did it elude you?

Bill Bryson, what is your favorite place to visit in your travels?

Kate DiCamillo, have you considered writing for grownups? 

Natalie Goldberg, I love your writing about how to write, but I don't like anything else you have written. Do you really know how to teach someone to write? Or do you really just know how to write about writing? Is that all one needs?

Laura Hillenbrand, you write so slowly, but when you do finish and publish something, it's magnificent. What are you working on now? And how long do I have to wait until you finish this next project?

Franz Kafka, were you a sad person? We've done lots of work on happiness now. You could probably be happier. But would your work suffer?

Maira Kalman, you write and draw. What is more satisfying?

Kathleen Krull, look at all of the biographies you have written. Which people are you most intrigued with?

Anne Lamott, your books are such a help for so many folks. What are your thoughts about brokenness and life?

Arnold Lobel, who are you more like, Frog or Toad?

George Orwell, is the world turning out to be more like Animal Farm or 1984?

Robert Pirsig, did you maintain your sanity after you found it again? What did you do to keep it that you didn't share with us in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? A lot of motorcycle riding?

Robert B. Putnam, you talked beautifully about the loneliness of America in Bowling Alone. How are we doing today? How can we do better?

Jason Reynolds, what is cooking in your brain right now?

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, your books were a creative light show. What sparked that? What fueled that?

Mo Willems, how are you like the Pigeon? Could the Pigeon be friends with Elephant and Piggy?

Dr. Seuss, do you like green eggs and ham? 

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.