The Sunday Salon: Happy Holidays!

    

Welcome! I'm happy 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 plus it's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Happy Holidays!

My week was filled with get-togethers and shopping and baking cookies and mailing off gifts to loved ones and visits from friends and family and helping my dad buy a car and prepping for holiday guests and lighting candles at church as a family and writing about a favorite holiday memory with my sons when they were little...

I hope you find ways to squeeze out a bit of happiness for yourself and to give a little to others this holiday season! Happy holidays to all my book blogging friends!

What I Read Last Week:

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

What I'm Reading Now:

The Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

1984 by George Orwell

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Holiday Guests; a Sleepover; and a Wild Hog Party

Books on My Winter 2024-2025 To-Read List

1984 by George Orwell

Book Overdue for Fifty Years is Returned

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:

My granddaughter painted my fingernails

for the first time

when she came to visit.

Good Thing #2:

My nephew brought us a snowman

he made on his 3D printer

when he visited this week.

Good Thing #3:

My aunt sewed me 

this gorgeous pink-and-purple

butterfly bag!

It's the perfect size to keep 

everything close at hand.

And she made it on her sewing machine!

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.

 

1984 by George Orwell: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

    

Today's Featured Book: 

1984

by George Orwell

Genre: Dystopia

Published: 1949

Page Count: 384 pages

Summary: 

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

 

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.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Orwell, George. 1984 (p. 3). HarperCollins. 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. 

Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime, and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs,,,

Orwell, George. 1984 (p. 56). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

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.    

December 20-26. What sort of reading environment do you like in the winter?

This is how I like to read in the cold parts of winter!

Books on My Winter 2024-2025 to-Read List

I spent a day planning out my 2025 year of reading, putting in some contemporary fiction and nonfiction, classics, and even a few picture books.

Here's what I hope to read this winter.

1. I am planning to read 24 Christmas-themed picture books this month. Beyond this, I've finished all my yearly challenges, so I plan to read whatever strikes my fancy for the month of December. I'm stuck in a bit of a scifi groove from November, so I'll probably continue with that---Books 3 and 4 of Becky Chambers' Wayfarer series, maybe Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven. 

2. I'm thinking about something uplifting for my first book of the year. I got a copy of The Day the World Came to Town for my birthday, and I've heard great things about it; that might be what I choose.

3. I was invited to join another face-to-face book club in my town, and how can I resist? The group will meet in January and discuss The Women by Kristen Hannah. Since the library has 2,560 holds (not kidding) on this book, and I gave my copy away unread (!) I shall probably have to purchase another copy. 

4. My naturalist book club is reading and discussing The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild in January, so that is another book I need to read in December.

5. January-February-March is traditionally a three-month celebration of Japanese Literature Month. I might like to read I Am a Cat by Natsumi Sōseki or The Master of Go or Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata in January.

6. I hope to read some classics for Black History Month in February. I might read The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes or Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington.

And who knows what else will come my way?

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: Holiday Guests; a Sleepover; and a Wild Hog Christmas Party

 

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. 

Our granddaughter and great-granddaughter came to our house for a wonderful visit. Then I enjoyed a fun sleepover with my writer group friends. And we celebrated with our naturalist group friends at the annual Wild Hog Christmas party where we ate---yes, you guessed it---wild hog. 

It's been a busy, busy week.

What I Read Last Week:

The Nights Before Christmas: 24 Classic Christmas Stories to Read Aloud collected and illustrated by Tony Ross

What I'm Reading Now:

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

Nine Books You Might Read During a Storm (or a Pandemic or Any Sort of Awful Time)

The Sunday Salon: 2025 Reading Challenges

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:

Reading a book to g-granddaughter, Lucy, 2.

Good Thing #2:

Going out to eat in Galveston

with my writing friends

before our sleepover.

Good Thing #3:

Naturalist friend Dick knows how to dress

for a Wild Hog Christmas party.

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.