The Sunday Salon: Everyone is Welcome Here

  

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

A busy week.

The world grows 

stranger and stranger.

What I Read Last Week:

On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Katmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer by Rick Steves (Nonfiction)

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (Creativity)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Fiction)

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (Essays)

 

What I'm Reading Now:

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Fantasy)

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Fiction)

Gringos by Charles Portis (Fiction)

Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux (Nonfiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Books I Did Not Finish

The Sunday Salon: "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover that I Overlooked Before..."

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Inprint in Houston hosted

author Emma Donoghue

last week.

Good Thing #2:

I went on the first 

of four guided birding outings

in Galveston last week.

Thank you to our guide, Alice Ann.

Good Thing #3:

Everyone is welcome here.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

   

Today's Featured Book: 

Bring Up the Bodies: A Novel

by Hilary Mantel

Genre: Historical Fiction

Published: May 8, 2012

Page Count: 434 pages

Summary: 

Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice.

At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne's head?

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

His children are falling from the sky. 

Mantel, Hilary. Bring Up the Bodies: A Novel (Wolf Hall Series Book 2). Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

The penalty for drawing a blade within the precincts of the royal court is amputation of the offending hand.

Mantel, Hilary. Bring Up the Bodies: A Novel (Wolf Hall Series Book 2) (p. 56). Kindle Edition. 

I've decided to read all three volumes of the Wolf Hall series by Hilary Mantel before watching the final part of the series on PBS. 

It's comforting to watching the extreme political and religious devilry of the time of Henry VIII in light of the extreme political and religious devilry of our own times here in America.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

March 28th - 3rd - Do you judge an author's works based on their political stances? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Yes. 

But with good cause.

I base that judgment on the lies and the self-serving actions taken over and over and over right now by members of one of the American politcal parties. 

Books I Did Not Finish

Many of you know that I am a voracious reader. Last year I read and reviewed 314 books, and I've already read and reviewed 69 this year. 

Most of these I get from my library.

I am fortunate (so fortunate!) to have a wonderful county library system that generously allows sharing of materials between the twelve branches. I thank the librarians and library staff who pull books for me and cart the books to me across the 1,609 square miles of Brazoria County. I apologize to them for not reading the books they worked so hard to get into my hands. 

Please urge me to try again with any of these that you loved. This is a list of the books I've borrowed over the last year that I did not read.

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (two times)

Gliff by Ali Smith

Knife by Salman Rushdie

There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib (three times)

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides (two times)

Night Will Find You by Julia Heaberlin

Question 7 by Richard Flanagan

Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (two times)

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb

Long Island by Colm Tóibín

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbons

Ten Birds that Changed the World by Stephen Moss

Absolution by Alice McDermott

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

How to Age Disgracefully by Claire Pooley (two times)

Ten Million Aliens: A Journey through the Entire Animal Kingdom by Simon Barnes (two times)

The Best Life Book Club by Sheila Roberts

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.    

The Sunday Salon: "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover that I Overlooked Before..."

 

 

Welcome! I am very glad that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of those who gathered

 last week to celebrate 

the sixth birthday of grandson Wyatt 

(center front, with football)

and the visit of son Ben and his wife Lisa from Chicago

(center back).

A wonderful time was had by all.

Especially me.

What I Read Last Week:

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns (Fiction)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (SciFi)

What I'm Reading Now:

On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Katmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer by Rick Steves (Nonfiction)

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (Creativity)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Fiction)

Claudine: A Fairy Tale for Exceptional Grownups by Marian Grudko (Paris Picture Book)

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (Essays)

If you teach poetry or write poetry or just love poetry, I urge you to check out Vidya at Lady in Read Writes' index of posts about poetry. You will never run out of ideas of poetry forms to try!

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List

The Sunday Salon: Family Weekend!

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Laminated four-leaf clovers

from a friend.

Good Thing #2:

Sadly, I missed the library sale at 

the public library in Galveston

last weekend,

but I was delighted to discover

that all the leftover books were free

this week.

I brought home four boxes of books.

Good Thing #3:

Paris in springtime?

I wouldn't miss it!

Lisa at Bookdock Ramblings

and Erin at Still Life, with Cracker Crumbs

are hosting another film watching event for springtime. 

It is six weeks, six movies, and very easy going! 

If you want to watch one or all or a few, 

they would love to have you join in. 

Just watch along and comment on their posts 

or post your own thoughts and link up!

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.