The Sunday Salon: Snow Might Be (But Probably Isn't) On the Way to Houston!

 

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

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. 

Cold rainy days slowed me down this week. A quiet week. 

I'm reading eight books, including three really long books (one is 625 pages, one is 417 pages, and one is over 900 pages), so I decided to set those aside for three library books that came in. 

All three were lovely, strong 3.5 star (rounded up to 4) reads. One is a collection of humorist James Thurber's pieces; one is contemporary fiction that had brilliant places but also places that could have used a good editor; and one is a book of essays about animals that are both amazing and endangered.

What I Read Last Week:

The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber (Classics Club)

Definitely Better Now by Ava Robinson (Fiction)

Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine Rundell (Nonfiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Love by Kelly Link (Fiction)

In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey by Samuel Fromartz (Baking)

Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis (SciFi)

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (Classics Club)

Roots by Alex Haley (Chapter-a-Day)

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (Naturalist Book Club)

Devotions by Mary Oliver (Poetry)

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Book Club)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

I Discover a New Bookstore in Galveston

Bookish Goals for 2025

The Sunday Salon: Incessantly On-the-Go; Incessantly Reading

One Minute Park

If you are tired of winter, visit one of these parks. It will just take a minute.

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:

Finished my second junk journal.

Good Thing #2:

I joined a group on FB 

that is following in the footsteps of 

poet William Stafford,

writing a poem every day.

Good Thing #3:

Snow next week here in Houston?! 🤞

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.

I Discover a New Bookstore in Galveston

 My friend, Cindy, and I came out of Taquilo's Tex-Mex with full stomachs, and walked toward the car.

"We could stop in the bookstore before we leave," Cindy said.

"It's not open on Tuesdays," I told her. I tried the bookstore twice before on a Tuesday. Closed.

"It is now," Cindy said, and we turned to walk a short distance down Postoffice St. 

Hurray! Cindy was right. It was open.

I was expecting a used bookstore, but, no, it has all the latest and best brand-new books. The owner, Lori, retired from working as a preschool teacher and librarian, and decided jump into bookselling after her daughter gave her a push. 

It's a gorgeous bookshop, and I want to go back and just hang around and talk to other book people and look carefully at all Lori has on her shelves. 

Of course I had to bring home a book, and after considering about fifty books I really wanted to buy and take home, I finally decided on Devotions by Mary Oliver.

I am certain I will be back soon. Those fifty books are waiting for me.

For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Create With Joy, Wild Bird Wednesday, and My Corner of the World.

Bookish Goals for 2025

My only goal is to read anything I want, any place I want, any time I want.*

What are your goals for 2025?

*I hope to be led by what M at Rain City Reads calls Whatever Sparkles At Me this year, by what Marie Kondo calls Choosing What Sparks Joy.

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: Incessantly On-the-Go; Incessantly Reading

 

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. 

I hardly had an hour of free time last week; I was either on-the-go or deep into a good book.

On-the-go: A last get-together of my writing group before one of our members left for her new life in Italy...an outing to the Galveston Symphony...a holiday lunch with my Houston book friends...a little family gathering for my dad's 98th birthday...breakfasted with a new face-to-face book club...joined a cycling class at the rec center...naturalist club meeting featuring a snake expert...

Books: Hiroshima Diary is a chronicle of a Japanese doctor after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. I felt like I was right there with the doctor as he puzzled over the results of the bombing on his neighbors, family, friends, and fellow members of the Hiroshima community, and as he tried to treat both the initial burns and injuries they suffered as well as the radiation poisoning that developed over time. It was horrifying to read this account, but it also feels like something that needs to be widely read.

My friend who was moving to Italy left her copy of a much-loved book, Mary Oliver's Blue Horses, with me when she left, and I felt compelled to read it. Blue Horses is beautiful and wise, just like all of Mary Oliver's work, and I bought a copy of a collection of Oliver's best poetry, Devotions, when I visited a new bookstore in Galveston this week.

I've been befuddled since the election here in America, and I've been searching for ways to move forward in a world that feels intolerant and poorly informed. I latched eagerly onto One Bird, One Stone and Anam Cara, and both were deeply satisfying reads. I'm a poor reviewer, but if you are looking for wisdom that transcends the moment we are in, I encourage you to look for these. And if you have other recommendations for my wounded spirit, I'd love to hear them.

What I Read Last Week:

One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories by Sean Murphy

Blue Horses: Poetry by Mary Oliver

Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician by Michihiko Hachiya

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O'Donohue

What I'm Reading Now:

Roots by Alex Haley (Chapter-a-Day)

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (Naturalist Book Club)

Devotions by Mary Oliver (Poetry)

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Face-to-Face Book Club)

The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber (Classics Club)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025

The Sunday Salon: A Tornado Hits

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

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 visited a new bookstore

in Galveston.

Good Thing #2:

I had such a great time at the 

Galveston Symphony Ba-Roque and Roll Concert

held at the1894 Opera House.

Good Thing #3:

My dad at 98!

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.