The Sunday Salon: I'm Shivering in Chicago

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. 

Chicago bound

My younger son, Ben, has lived in Chicago for twelve years, but my husband and I have never dared to travel to Chicago during the cold months. 

This year we decided to go for Thanksgiving. 

My thoughts? It's cold. No, it's more than cold...And nothing stops my shivering.

How do you folks live in this?

What I Read Last Week:

Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limón

What I'm Reading Now:

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Week 1 of Nonfiction November 2025...What have you read this year? What did you enjoy the most?

Week 2 of Nonfiction November 2025...What are your favorite nonfiction topics? What might you read this month that would challenge you?

Week 3 of Nonfiction November 2025...Pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction book. 

Week 4 of Nonfiction November 2025...What book have you read that has opened your eyes to a perspective you hadn't considered?

Week 5 of Nonfiction November 2025...Share nonfiction books you have recently added to your TBR. 

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: The Common Good and Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World Plus The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

Nonfiction November 2025: New to My TBR 

Thankful in 2025!

Jenn at Jenn's Bookshelves is hosting the Thankfully Reading Week from November 24 to November 30. Instead of just a weekend, Jenn has made this reading event a full week. The official hashtag we’ll be using is #thankfullyreading. Join in for the weekend or for only a single day. No rules, no pressure! Add your link here.

I plan to participate in the 2025 Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon, hosted by Kimberly at Caffeinated Reviewer. The event will run from Wednesday, November 26 to Wednesday, December 17. Read or listen to as many holiday or winter themed books as you wish. Share your progress using #2025HOHOHORAT. Take part in at least one challenge and read two books to be eligible for the grand prize. Link up here to join in the fun.

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, three ways I practice being thankful today and every day.

Good Thing #1:

Tell someone thank you

for something small.

Good Thing #2:

Write down things you are grateful for

each day. It does not have to be

this elaborate.

Good Thing #3:

Send someone a surprise Thank You Note.

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. 

Thankful in 2025!

Row 1: Family get-together in March. My husband and I in Paris (Texas). Riverboat cruise with friends. G-daughter Annie plays basketball. Row 2: The Library Hotel in NYC. Houston Bookstore Crawl. My sister and I on e-bikes in Waco. My guitar. Fresh eggs from family. Row 3: Inprint author readings in Houston. My aunt sews me a pink and purple purse. Butterflies. Birds. Junk journaling. Our yard is a certified wildlife refuge. Row 4: My aunt and s-i-l and I do a sewing retreat. My 98-year-old dad. G-daughter Annie and I skate. G-son Wyatt at the water park. I read with g-g-daughter Lucy. Row 5: No Kings Day. Hurray for swim classes. It snows along the Texas Gulf Coast.

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.     

Nonfiction November 2025: New to My TBR

 

Week 5 (11/24-11/30)

New To My TBR: 

It's been a month full of amazing nonfiction books!

Which ones have made it onto your TBR?

Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz (moi). And please link up at the bottom of this post so we can all see what books you might look for soon.

Here are the books I am adding to my TBR:

Books-about-Books

How Books Can Save Democracy by Michael Fischer, shared by Head Subhead.

Travel Books

Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky, shared by What? Me Read?

Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, shared by Volatile Rune.

Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train, shared by Volatile Rune.

Paris/France Books

Garlic, Mint, and Sweet Basil by Jean-Claude Izzo, shared by Fanda Classiclit.

History

A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke, shared by She Reads Novels.

Uncredited: Women's Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work by Allison Tyra, shared by Book'd Out.

Burgundians: A Vanished Empire by Bart Van Loo, shared by Nancy Elin.

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad, shared by Read All the Things.

Walking the Bones of Britain by Christopher Somerville, shared by Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home.

Tunnel 29 by Helen Merriman, shared by The Content Reader.

Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, shared by Maphead.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know by Don Waxman, shared by Books Please.

By the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine by Danielle Leavitt, shared by Hopewell's Public Library of Life.

Writing

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, shared by Based on a True Story and Mark Joseph Jochim.

Happiness

Attitudes of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day of Your Life by M. J. Ryan, shared by Mark Joseph Jochim.

Food

Change the Recipe: Because You Can't Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs by Jose Andres, shared by Hopewell's Public Library of Life.

Science, Health, and Nature

Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests by Diana Beresford-Kroeger, shared by Shoe's Seeds and Stories.

Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farm Hand by Jeff Chu, shared by Reading Ladies.

You Went to Emergency for What? by Tim Booth, shared by Book'd Out.

Wild Cities: Discovering New Ways of Living in the Concrete Jungle by Chris Fitch, shared by Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home.

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake, shared by Words and Peace.

The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke, shared by Turn the Page.

Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases by Lydia Kang, shared by Maphead.

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison, shared by Maphead.

Cook County ICU: 30 Years of Unforgettable Patients and Odd Cases by Cory Franklin, shared by Hopewell's Public Library of Life.

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, shared by Nicky @ Bibliophibian, Maphead, Reading Ladies, and Helen's Book Blog.

Spirituality

The Intentional Year by Glenn Packiam, shared by Cindy's Book Corner.

In His Image by Jen Wilkin,  shared by Cindy's Book Corner.

Flourish by Ava Pennington,  shared by Cindy's Book Corner.

Jesus Land by Julia Shrees, shared by Intrepid Angeleno.

Uncultured by Daniella Mestyanek Young, shared by Intrepid Angeleno.

30-Day Journey with Julian of Norwich by Carol Howard Merritt, shared by Joy's Book Blog.

Every Sigh Can Be a Prayer by Elder Arsenie Papacioc, shared by Words and Peace.

The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart D. Ehrman, shared by Maphead. 

Memoir

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin, shared by Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home.

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench, shared by AnnaBookBel.

The Bitter Sea: Coming of Age in a China Before Mao by Charles Li, shared by Adele Bound in Books.

Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned by Staying Put by Annie Jones, shared by Hopewell's Public Library of Life.

Activism

We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson, shared by Joy's Book Blog.

Against Technoabeism by Ashley Shew, shared by Nicky @ Bibliophibian.

How to Spot a Fascist by Umberto Eco, shared by Book Around the Corner.

Dear Ijeawele or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, shared by Book Around the Corner.

No More Tears: Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris, shared by Tina Says.

This and That

Cello: A Journey through Silence to Sound by Kate Kennedy, shared by Volatile Rune.

Now Departing: A Small-Town Mortician on Death, Life, and the Moments in Between by Victor M. Sweeney, shared by Tina Says.

What new-to-you nonfiction did you discover this November?

Link up below to share what you found with others.

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