The weather here was sunny and cool, and I enjoyed a lot of reading and adventuring outside.
I finished six books. I 💗Parnassus on Wheels, and if you like books and strong women, I think you will, too. Should I read the sequel?
I also 💗Latinitas, and I urge you to seek this one out, too.
My friend Rae shared Searching for God Knows What, and we both agree you may like it if you like Anne Lamott. In Bird Therapy, Joe Harkness tells the story of how birding became a balm for his depression. Float Plan is exactly what the cover would lead you to believe. And I'd say skip Discworld Graphic Novels and read the books themselves.
The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America With a Typewriter (National Poetry Month)
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley (Classics Club)
The Discworld Graphic Novels by Terry Pratchett (Graphic Novel)
Float Plan by Trish Doller (Fiction)
Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller (Spirituality)
Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers by Juliet Menendez (Children's Nonfiction)
Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness (Birding; Happiness)
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (Nonfiction Challenge)...37%
Yes, and...Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr (Daily Meditation Reading)...73%
100 Poems to Break Your Heart (National Poetry Month)...Waiting on the return of this book from the library
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Chapter-a-Day Read)...28%
Favorite Folktales from Around the World collected by Jane Yolen (Classics Club Spin)...17%
How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope (National Poetry Month)...25%
Aaron Yang: Voracious Reader or Giant Pain to Librarians? There are more than 9,000 public libraries in the US, and Aaron Yang is trying to win as many prizes as he can in their summer reading programs. Right or wrong?
Why I love BookCrossing: I leave a book at the Strand in Galveston in 2009, and twelve years later, someone in Pennsylvania finds it and reads it. It's lovely to contemplate.
We spent all four days of the City Nature Challenge taking photos of animals and plants and uploading them into iNaturalist. The first day we looked in our own backyard as it was raining, and day two we spent at a city park. The third day we ventured down to a nearby county park, and we spent the last day at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. Fabuloso.
Good Thing #1
I ended up finding almost 100 different species of animals and plants, including this fellow here.
Good Thing #2
I took photos of several new-to-me birds and butterflies and flowers, including this Snowy Egret and this Plegadis Ibis.
Good Thing #3
I'm happy you found your way to the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place for us to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. It's 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.
Thank you for a diverse and interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThank you, my friend.
DeleteAnne Lamott rocks. And gorgeous bird sightings! I'm about one third into Hilary Mantel's "The Mirror and the Light." It's very good as all her books are but I find myself speed reading a bit. She probably could have used a good editor on this one!
ReplyDeleteI get so frustrated with books like that!
DeleteI signed up for Bookcrossing years ago, I think. Or a similar program, but realize I never logged in to see if my books went anywhere. Now you've got me wondering.... I hadn't heard of the Aaron Yang debacle before. I love that he is doing reading challenges, but if he "isn't in it for the prizes" he shouldn't have cash-strapped libraries mailing him stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou should get notifications if someone logs in your books.
DeleteAnd I agree about Aaron Yang!
The Aaron Young controversy is interesting. I’m fairly sure that you have to be a member of the library to participate in their challenges/competitions etc here which seems reasonable to me.
ReplyDeleteI prefer not to see snakes personally :)
Wishing you a great reading week
It seems silly that a grown person would sign up for so many reading programs simply to receive a sticker and a certificate.
DeleteI missed that you were reading The Guns of August previously or maybe you weren't reading it yet? At any rate :), I enjoyed the book years ago. As a teen, I loved reading long historical tomes of nonfiction. One of my favorites at the time probably was The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer. In college, I also loved Parting The Waters by Taylor Branch, which is part of a trilogy. Some day, I'll get to the other two as I now own them on ebook. Right now, I'm reading an oral history of the "heyday" of "hair metal" called Nothing But A Good Time. It really doesn't seem like they had such a good time, but it is interesting as I grew up on "hair metal" or "glam metal" or whatever "they" call it these days.
ReplyDeleteThe Guns of August is written like Barbara Tuchman was there. I stumble a little over military terms, but I love the book.
DeleteBird Therapy sounds intriguing. I agree that San Bernard NWR is a fabulous place. Love the little garter snake!
ReplyDeleteI like Bird Therapy and I think the idea is sound, but it would have made a better magazine article than it would a book.
DeleteAndrew Yang sounds like a real pain in the patoot. If he inspires others, it will have a really bad effect on those innocent, honor-system library games, which are in fact good for some children. Your week sounds nice -- I love ibises and egrets.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
My sons definitely loved the summer reading programs.
DeleteYou had a great reading week. I only finished one but it was a good one. I hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteOne good read is better than a hundred so-so reads.
DeleteI found a Book Crossing book in Charleston (or was it Savannah?) years ago and I was so excited! I know I read it and put it back in the wild but I don't even remember where! I should try to sign into my account and see if there's any activity.
ReplyDeleteI'm happier not seeing snakes but I love your pictures! My husband and I spent today at a botanical garden. I tracked and submitted my bird list to eBird since they were pushing some sort of worldwide birding event today.
I haven't heard of this Andrew Yang thing but my knee-jerk vote is for pain in the butt. I loved my library's summer reading program when I was a kid. We usually spent one week at the beach in the summer (where I read a lot) and my sister and I spent the rest of the summer reading while our parents were at work. Words can't explain how much we looked forward to our weekly trip to the library, turning in our books and getting whatever little prize was available. I would have been disappointed if someone who didn't even live in my area disrupted that in some way.
Enjoy your week!
I hope that Andrew bows to popular opinion and opts out.
DeleteI am always delighted when someone logs in a book I've released. I used to BookCross a lot, but mailing rates, especially the rates for mailing outside the US, went up and I don't do so as much.
I have at least one book by Anne Lamott sitting on my shelf. I really need to read it. Curious about the Aaron Yang thing. My knee jerk reaction is wrong but I'll have to look at it a little more. Love the nature pictures! I hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteIt was a week of Nature Therapy for us.
DeleteWhat is Book Crossing? I don't think I've ever heard of it. I had a chuckle at the snake sign and the snake next to it. I wonder if the snake could read it and decided to make sure everyone will see him?
ReplyDelete6 books! Geesh, that's pretty cool. I only finished one, but I think you might like it. Take a look on my blog at L'Origine: the secret life of the world's most erotic masterpiece.
Have a good week Debbie!
I will take a look, Mareli.
DeleteBookCrossing is a world-wide idea. I should have put a link to it on my post!
Looks like a great reading week!
ReplyDeleteIt's been sunny and windy here, I keep trying to read outside but end up going back in half an hour later half frozen.
It's been lovely here, but it's starting to warm up.
DeleteI always enjoy your Good Things...and #3 was especially good this week.
ReplyDeleteI loved the two books I read this week: they each earned 5 stars.
Happy Mother's Day!
Apparently they put the sign in exactly the right spot!
DeleteOh my! It's been years since I did Book Crossing! I forgot about it. I used to drop books off when I was commuting for work.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done much with it in years.
DeleteSt Bernado Refuge sounds great. And look at those birds! Makes me want to go outside and find some.
ReplyDeleteI want to take my camera with me everywhere now.
DeleteLooks like you had a great week!! So much fun!!
ReplyDeleteIt was!
DeleteWhy skip the Discworld graphic novels? I could imagine the art doesn't live up to one's own imagination ... it would be a rare artist to match Pratchett's prose.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteBookCrossing sounds super interesting and I love someone found your book after so many years. Oh, the snakes! I am terribly scared and intrigued by them simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteI love the worldwide aspect of it.
Deletethis is a great day...not only have i wished my mother happy mother's day, i have wished my son a very happy birthday. it only happens every seven years, so he is a very young man indeed. LOL
ReplyDeleteLol. He is indeed.
DeleteYour new birds are common here in SWFL. I see snowy egrets daily. The glossy (black) ibis is not on the island often (the white ibis is everywhere!), but is frequently seen in other nearby areas. I was treated to the sight of a couple of eastern screech owls last night! Parnassus on Wheels sounds like a must read!
ReplyDeleteI have seen a lot of seabirds, but I couldn't tell one from the other until now.
DeleteI think if the libraries don't like what Aaron Yang is doing they should change the rules so that you have to live in the same state or city and have to pick up your prizes yourself.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably a good idea.
DeleteI didn't know about BookCrossing .... but it seems like a cool idea. I had to look it up. Your book is still going! I will have to think about doing that. I hope your having a wonderful Mother's Day ... enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI have had great fun with BookCrossing for many years.
DeleteI do not know Discworld!
ReplyDeleteIs that an alligator?????????
Love the egret and iribis. I didn't get a picture of him, but today I saw my first ever Indigo Bunting!!! So beautiful.
You would love Discworld. Color of Magic is book one, but you can really read them however you like. Terry Pratchett.
DeleteHm, I don't know anything about BookCrossing but I will check it out.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of snakes and quite happy never to have met any :)
Have a great week!
This snake is a gentle creature, not to be feared.
DeleteHow cool that BookCrossing thing is! Neat!!!
ReplyDeleteI've been on BookCrossing so long I guess I have forgotten that everyone doesn't know about it.
DeleteBookCrossing is so cool. Last year, I found a book that someone first read in 2008. I love that the book is still being passed around the world. Good luck with your animal adventures! Tomorrow I’ll be back at work looking for burrowing owls. They have to come out of their holes to eat sometime!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Haha! Yes, they cannot burrow forever.
DeleteI have such a snake phobia that just seeing that sign would send me back to my car at great speed. Nice looking assortment of books. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteThis little snake guy wouldn't harm a fly...well, maybe a fly, but nothing else.
DeleteI must tell you, I really enjoy the combination of bookish talk and nature. As I've mentioned, I've been on edge lately. Don't know if an earthquake is about to hit or what but the combo of books and animals, even snakes, relaxes me.
ReplyDeleteI have found great comfort lately in books and nature over the past few years. I understand your feelings of being on edge. I continue to feel that there is so much misinformation out there, and the actions against voting in our country shock me.
DeleteSomeday I will take on the adventure that is the Discworld books. I have always wanted to. Latinitas sounds really interesting. I'll have to try it. I haven't thought of BookCrossing in ages. I used to be more active in it--my favorite was taking part in the book rings--but I somehow lost interest in it at some point--or more likely became too busy with other things. I hope you have a great week, Deb.
ReplyDeleteI loved the bookrings, too. Every now and then I join one, just for fun.
DeleteI had never heard of Book Crossing. What a great idea! I adored Float Plan, but I also Doller's books in general.
ReplyDeleteThis one was especially fun.
ReplyDelete