I love doing Paris in July every year. You know I do. But there is something wonderful about moving into August and dropping the theme...reading whatever you feel like reading.
The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Tree
by Douglas W. Tallamy
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
⭐⭐The Nature of Oaks is (literally) everything you didn't realize you wanted to know about the humble oak tree in America. I loved it, but I'm a tree person, and, if you are not, you might pass on it.
Warning: I really didn't like Malibu Rising. Really, really didn't like. I hate posting a negative review, but if you want to read my thoughts, my review for Malibu Rising is here.
Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim (Fiction)
Ten Stories by Katherine Mansfield (Short stories)
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë (Fiction)
A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds by Scott Wiedensaul (Nonfiction)
The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (Nonfiction)
A Hundred Million Francs by Paul Berna (Children's book)
The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher (Nonfiction)
Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft by Natalie Goldberg (Nonfiction)
We are headed off for a long weekend with my sister and brother-in-law at their place up in Waco. We are hoping to do a little hiking, a little visiting, a little relaxing, all accompanied by some wonderful wines from my sister's son's wine shop there.
3 Good Things?
How about 32 Good Things?!
Here are my photos of the 32 butterfly species we've seen in
our first twenty weeks of butterfly monitoring.
I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place 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.
I feel awkward writing a negative review as well. I had to very recently though. I like when one reads books from different genres. I sometimes tend to ask for and get a certain genre quite a bit and then feel I must read them and review them as it is not fair to request and not do that! But I too like different settings different genres.
ReplyDeleteI love to read a wide variety of genres.
DeleteHave a wonderful weekend! I really do need to read more M.F.K. Fisher.
ReplyDeleteShe may be the best food writer I have ever read.
DeleteMind blowing post
ReplyDeleteHave a good day ��
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend getaway. I am becoming stronger every day. Walked from my back door down to my LFL yesterday. Carried my hiking stick for balance, but did it on my own--that's progress. God is good!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear this, Rae.
DeleteVisiting, hiking, and wine. Sounds like a perfect weekend. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteIt was a perfect weekend.
DeleteHave a wonderful weekend get-away! And those butterflies are beautiful. My dad has gotten into butterfly watching in addition to bird watching and it's fun to have them pointed out to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising to find we have seen so many different varieties.
DeleteI've been on the fence about reading Malibu Rising, but I think you just knocked me off. Hope you enjoy A World on the Wing as much as I did. Your butterfly photos are amazing - not the easiest of critters to photograph. Have a wonderful Waco weekend. We are celebrating my birthday this weekend, even though the actual day is Monday.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Dorothy!
DeleteWow! That's a lot of butterflies!
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a wonderful get-away with your sister and her husband. Perhaps you can post photos of the wine shop next week. :)
We're off tomorrow on a 10-day trip to Northern CA (in the RV). We're camping the entire time, but we'll be at my aunt's for three nights, parked in her driveway. It will be nice to get back out on the road. I'm hoping it won't be as hot as it was in June/July!
I will post some photos next week. I can't wait to see some photos from your trip.
DeleteYour weekend getaway sounds wonderful. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad about Malibu Rising. I have that on my wishlist. I'll have to check out your review. The butterflies are so beautiful.
I hope you have a great week!
You may love it more than I did. It could just be me.
DeleteOh no! I have Malibu Rising in my stack for this month! Enjoy your getaway :)
ReplyDeleteYou may love it. I hope you do.
Delete32 species!!! My goodness, what a shower of butterfly blessings. And your reading all over the place is a picture of abundance, too. M.F.K. Fisher is perfect for relaxing, and of course, Paris. I keep looking at her books on my shelf and wanting to go back. Blessings on your long weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to really take a look at all the butterflies Ive seen.
DeleteNegative reviews are so hard to write! The author is one I've heard good things about but her books never really grab me though so I've yet to pick any up. Adding The Nature of Oaks to my TBR. Sounds wonderful. Enjoy your weekend and have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteI'm a tree person, and I'm quite taken with the philosophy of Doug Tallamy.
DeleteI love your butterfly pictures! They're beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHave you read The Wild Trees by Richard Preston? I thought it was fascinating.
Have a great trip to Waco! We somehow never made it up that way when we were in Austin for a work assignment.
I haven't read The Wild Trees. I will look for it. Thanks, Jen.
DeleteEnjoy your break!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marg!
Delete"Guns of August" and I talk on WWI sounds great. I had a talk with my dad about his service in WWII and it got emotional. My dad has tons of ptsd but I try to give him credit and remind myself of how hard he's worked.
ReplyDeleteGuns of August is a great book.
DeleteI'll admit, I'm curious about Malibu Rising! I read your review and thought what are these people like?
ReplyDeleteYou may love them. They just bored me.
DeleteI am glad to see your reaction to Malibu Rising. I was on the fence about it and decided to pass for now.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your week and your books. Love those butterflies! Here are my WEEKLY UPDATES
I was so disappointed with Malibu Rising.
DeleteI didn't know there were so many species of butterflies! Your photos are beautiful. I'm kind of glad to see your review of Malibu Rising because I took it off my list earlier this summer... my daughter was underwhelmed, then a couple of other trusted sources were also unimpressed. So many other books on my tbr pile now.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see I'm not the only one.
DeleteI'm glad you told me about Malibu Rising .... I might drop it from my list for now. I hope you have a nice weekend in Waco. I've been there once during college - we played their school in tennis. Those we the days. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteIt's a lovely town.
DeleteHi there Debbie! I hope you are enjoying your long weekend! I think you deserve it.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with writing a negative review. It's the negative reviews that balances the scales and gives the reader a better opportunity to make up their own minds if they want to read it or not. I for one, was wondering if I am going to read Malibu Rising or not. But I think it will be no from my side as well!
Have a good week and take care of yourself!
Elza Reads
I hate to be negative, though, Mareli!
DeleteSo glad that someone else (besides me) disliked Malibu Rising. I also wrote a pretty negative review about it. It was just so, so bad in several ways. I can't understand all the praise for this book.
ReplyDeleteThere's something comforting about hearing that you disliked it, too.
DeleteI hope you are having a wonderful weekend and get to do everything you want to do!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lori.
Deletei am curious about your malibu rising review, so i'll be checking it out. i love trees too and your fabulous pics of butterflies. that is cool that you are counting them. enjoy your visit.
ReplyDeleteWe have fun counting them.
DeleteOh Deb sorry you did not like Malibu Rising. I Liked Daisy Jones better but, thought the audio of Malibu was good. I just had a few disappointing reads as well (Sunday post). Hope you enjoy your time with family in Waco and that the weather is good.
ReplyDeleteIf you enjoyed it, Diane, then lots of others will, too. Just not me!
DeleteI love the variety in what you are reading! And I love those butterfly pictures! They are such amazing creatures. Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
ReplyDeleteButterflies are fascinating.
DeleteHave a great time in Waco!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with you writing a bad review of Malibu Rising because I didn't much care for Daisy and the Six or whatever it was called.
Thanks, Jinjer!
DeleteThe oak tree book sounds interesting. Always fun to learn something new.
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot about oaks.
DeleteHaha, I know how you feel about Paris in July. I feel that way about Nonfiction November. I’m always super excited for it, but when it’s over, I’m ready to get back to fiction!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Exactly!
DeleteThat's good to know about Malibu Rising. I've only read one TJR book and liked it, but just haven't moved on to her other books yet.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a wonderful visit. I love the butterfly images you're sharing! :)
I'm sorry you didn't like Malibu Rising! I've heard such good things. Now I'm curious. I want to read it just to see what the hype is about.
ReplyDeleteOh wow. Those butterflies are beautiful! I can't believe you've seen so many different ones!
Having to read a book, rather than really wanting to, can very much affect how much I enjoy it. So whilst I loved reading about your Paris adventure, I know I'd get frustrated after a week or two! I'm glad it was such a success for you AND that you now can read more freely. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteI hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend in Waco!
ReplyDeleteWishing you a great reading week
Oooo look at all the butterflies!!! How amazing! I can't wait to add to our butterfly garden next year!
ReplyDeleteI don't often write negative reviews because I don't finish books I'm not enjoying. I have been much quicker to DNF a book - even a review book - if I'm not liking it. There are too many books to read that I will enjoy. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteI loved Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Art of Eating by Fisher! Loved Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and enjoyed Old Friend from Far Away, but haven't read Thunder & Lightning and will look for it.
ReplyDeleteHallo, Hallo everyone!
ReplyDeleteI'm just returning to linking to this meme and a few others which inter-relate to what I'm posting during #TheSundayPost. I linked a few times last year (I think?!) and now I seem to have found new inspiration to re-link again now that I can blog these types of posts again. This week I did a retrospective on the first 2x quarters of 2021 as that was what was weighing on my mind to talk about as much as it gave me back a bit of joy to see what I've done as I initially thought I hadn't really accomplished as much as it turnt out I had.
We can't like every book we read - I haven't read this Taylor Jenkins Reid book, but for some reason I decided not to and am not sorry!
ReplyDeleteYour things to love are numerous and wondrous this week!! And I had been wavering between wanting to read and not wanting to read Malibu Rising.. now it has moved to the Not list..
ReplyDeleteMind blowing books
ReplyDeleteWow - look at all those butterflies! I spent some time this morning enjoying butterflies visiting in our garden. However, I thought they were monarchs but looking at your photo of the Viceroy I think maybe that's what they were. I had a lot of fun with Paris in July but I didn't just read books set in Paris.
ReplyDelete