The Sunday Salon: Rainbow over the Texas Book Festival

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. 

Somehow, despite all the obstacles we were facing, we have made it to the Texas Book Festival in Austin this year. This photo of the state capitol is from ten years ago, but it accurately reflects how I feel today after the election here. 

I am planning to attend sessions with the authors of This Land is Your Land (Beverly Gage), This Vast Enterprise (Craig Fehrman), The Nerd Reich (Gil Durán), The Vanishing Family (Robert Kolker), Monster of a Land (Lauren Hough), Enormous Wings (Laurie Frankel), Will This Make You Happy (Tanya Bush), Ryan: The Singular Life of an American Original (Tim Brown), We the People is All the People (Howard W. Reeves), and Redemption: Faith, Justice, and Sisterhood on Death Row (Lawrence Wright).

All nonfiction again this week.

       

What I Read Last Week:

The Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds by John Fugelsang

[Risking Everything]: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán

      

   

What I'm Reading Now:

The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me about Nature's Greatest Mysteries by Lea Korsgaard

Monster of a Land: On the Road in Search of Modern America by Lauren Hough

Redemption: Faith, Justice, and Sisterhood on Death Row by Lawrence Wright

This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark by Craig Fehrman

Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Love Wins

Nonfiction November 2026: Nonfiction Journeys

Book Characters I Wish Were Real People

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán: Friday Book Snippets and Book Blogger Hop

Week 1 November 2-8 - My Year in Nonfiction - Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? Week 1 was hosted by Heather who blogs at Based on a True Story

Week 2, Nonfiction Journeys. We choose a book that reflects a journey for its author or for the reader or both.  This can be a physical journey,  an emotional, psychological or spiritual journey or a combination of these.   Any nonfiction title that leaves its author/protagonist and/or reader in a different place at the end from the start point is good for this challenge.  Week 2 was hosted by Frances at volatilerune.blog. 

Next week is Week 3 November 16-22 - Nonfiction Pairings - This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or maybe it’s just two books you feel have a link, whatever they might be. You can be as creative as you like!

Week 3 will be hosted by Liz at librofulltime.wordpress.com.

The Classics Club has issued the announcement of the Classics Club’s 46th CC Spin.

What is the Spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday, November 15, 2026, create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List.

You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.

On Sunday, November 15, The Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by Sunday, January 3, 2027.. 

Let's see who can make it the whole way and finish their spin book!

I have a lot of books to read on my latest Classics Club list. Let's see where the needle stops.

So here is my list. I picked the ten books from the list that I most want to read and listed them twice.

1, 11. A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym

2, 12. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell

3, 13. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

4, 14. Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

5, 15. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

6, 16. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov

7, 17. Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton

8, 18. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

9, 19. The Sea-Gull by Anton Chekhov

10, 20. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

Have you read any of these?

Do you recommend any of these?

Can you tell I am taking a short class in Chekhov this semester?

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:

I bought a record player/CD player/FM/Bluetooth.

I am pulling out a stack of albums I've had in a closet

for at least forty years.

Good Thing #2:

Some of the lovely things

I got for my birthday, 

including a beginner uke book,

a Texas butterfly pamphlet,

a book about butterfly host plants,

bees and butterflies cards,

reading socks, and 

a die to roll and tell you how long you should read.

Good Thing #3:

I don't know if I should show

this to my dad, 99, and his wife, 97,

or not.

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.