Best Books Coming This Fall

Here are the fall 2019 releases that look promising to me:

The Grammarians: A Novel by Cathleen Schine (September 3)
The Testaments: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (September 10)
Akin by Emma Donoghue (September 10)
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell (September 10)
Red at the Bone: A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson (September 17)
The Dutch House: A Novel by Ann Patchett (September 24)
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman (September 24)
Wayward Son (Simon Snow #2) by Rainbow Rowell (September 24)
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (October 1)
Olive, Again: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout (October 15)

What are you eager to read this fall? 

Do you have any on your list that I've missed?

Do any of these look good to you?

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.

Salt to the Sea, Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon, and Kolaches

Read...

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb is a 1001 Children's Book. I've had a copy of it for a long time, and I'd originally planned to read the chapter from this book at the same time I read the play. I did this for two chapters before I realized it would take me an eternity to get through this book if I continued to read at that pace. I decided, instead, to read it during Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon; children's books are usually perfect for a readathon. Let me say, before I go any further, that this book is easier to read than Shakespeare's plays, but just barely. My full review is here.

I simultaneously read, in Italian and English, and listened, in Italian, to the Puccini opera, La Boheme, during the readathon last week. It was one of my favorite parts of the readathon. Yes, I lost my place a couple of times, but it was a fun experience. My full review is here.

Salt to the Sea is the story of four teens who are headed to the coast with thousands of other refugees, fleeing the Soviets during the winter of 1945, hoping to get passage on the Wilhelm Gustloff and get to safety. All four travel with secrets that could destroy them all. My complete review is here. 

I also read and reviewed these children's picture books. Click the links to go to the full reviews.

Bloom Boom! by April Pulley Sayre

Hop by Jorey Hurley

A Piglet Named Mercy by Kate DiCamillo

Reading...

Circe by Madeline Miller

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Book-ish...

I'm terribly excited to be going to the Texas Library Association Conference in Austin this week! Woo hoo! Authors! Books! Book friends! Let me know if you are coming and maybe we can meet up.

I've finished eight of ten books in My Own Books Reading Challenge set by Anne of My Head is Full of Books. Two books to go! The challenge ends on May 15th. 

 

I joined in Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon last Saturday. I had plenty of wonderful snacks, and  I was pleased to read for twenty hours and finish six books.

One of my favorite weekly memes is Top Ten Tuesday, a list meme. Last week, we were asked to post a list of the top ten outrageous things we have done for love of books. I had no trouble with that list. I ended up posting 25 Outrageous Things I Have Done for Love of Books.

Baking, photography, drawing, happiness, and other projects...

Kolaches! It's the first time I've ever made these yeasty Czech treats. I got recipes from two Czech families I know, and I used one that was very similar to this recipe.

The Sunday Salon 

I would encourage you to stop by my blog, Readerbuzz, here and post a link to your blog each week. I hope you can visit other blogs and share your thoughts with others. The Sunday Salon was created twelve years ago to spark conversations, and I hope to do the same by sharing links and visiting others’ blogs. I will keep also the Facebook group for Sunday Salon for the same purpose.

I thank all of you who have spread the word about the Sunday Salon, encouraged others to post here and/or on Facebook, and posted the graphic on social media. 

Other places where you may like to link up are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. If you wish to also post a link at Facebook, you can also do that. My hope is that you will post here and/or at FB and then visit other bloggers. Sunday Salon is to encourage conversations about books and book-ish things.

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon: The Chill 'Thon

I was sure I was going to be antiquing this weekend. No point in trying to do any reading if I'm up in the Texas Hill Country without Internet service.

Then we learned a gully washer was headed to Central Texas. Many of the antique vendors were packing up. We decided to skedaddle for home a day early.

Just in time for the Readathon.

I didn't have much prep time. I threw together a couple of books and sent my husband off for some snacks.

And here goes nothing. It's reading time, folks.

HOURS 1-6

Getting to Know You Survey

1)What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Alvin, Texas, USA.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Salt to the Sea.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Coffee.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm Deb Nance and I've blogged at Readerbuzz for over ten years. I'm a retired school librarian.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? This is my 25th readathon. I plan to read and blog.

I started with Tales from Shakespeare and Salt to the Sea first.

My husband picked up some snacks for me. 

Here are photos of me dressed as literary characters for Falconer's Library's Rag Tag Cosplay Challenge:

 Top Row: Fancy Nancy, Madeleine, Cat in the Hat

Bottom Row: The Polar Express, How I Became a Pirate, Little Red Riding Hood

I am trying for a blackout on the Goodreads bingo game.

HOURS 6-10

I've finished Salt to the Sea; La Boheme; Hop; A Piglet Named Mercy; and Bloom, Boom. I've got five of twenty-five squares left on my Goodreads Bingo Challenge. I hope to do a few more mini-challenges. 

I'm off to take a supper break for a while.

HOURS 10-16

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
2. How many books have you read so far? 5 (but 3 of them are picture books)
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I will do well if I can finish Tales from Shakespeare.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I was supposed to be off antiquing today, so no one thought I was home!
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I am completing all my goals. So far.

The Reading Stats Mini Challenge: My Book Statistics for 2019 (94)

Bingo!

The Vague Recollections Mini-Challenge is to describe a book as vaguely as possible.  Here is mine: "It's the book by that author...the one with the hard name...the name that kinda sounds like a common name....That author wrote another book...you know it...lots of people liked it...that book was sort of like this one....What else can I tell you? I think the stories in both books are about things that really happened...even though I don't think most people ever heard about those things until they read the books....But I don't want her first book...I want her second book...at least I think it's her second book....It will definitely be the second book of hers that I've read. It's pretty sad and it takes place, like her first book, during the war. Can you find that book for me?"

The Book Joke Mini-Challenge on Twitter

Now I'm off to try to finish Tales from Shakespeare before I fall asleep....

HOURS 17-21

I fell asleep....

HOURS 21-24

Happily, I woke up in time to read Tales from Shakespeare to the end for a couple more hours. Then I fell asleep again.

Closing Survey!

1. What hour was most daunting? 11 pm.
2. Tell us ALLLLL the books you read! Six books: Salt to the Sea; La Boheme; Hop; Bloom Boom; A Piglet Named Mercy; and Tales from Shakespeare.
3. What was your favorite snack? Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.
4. What was your favorite facet of the day? Reading, visiting blogs, mini-challenges.
5. Wanna volunteer for our next event? Of course!

Mythology, A New Book Challenge, and My First Sunday Salon Linkup

Read...

How odd is this? Here's what I finished last week: Edith Hamilton's Mythology and The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks. I loved both of them, by the way. The links take you to my reviews at Goodreads, if you want to know more.




Reading...

I'm currently reading Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault by the creator of the Cathy comic, and A Gentleman in Moscow. Plus, of course, Don Quixote and Jude the Obscure.

Book-ish...

The 'My Own Books' Reading Challenge? It sounds like it will be quite fun. The goal is to try to read 1-10 of your own books by May 15th. You are asked to make a list of ten books you own and write the titles on separate pieces of paper. You randomly draw names of titles to create the order you are to read. You read a book and then post about it and add the link to a linky so others can visit and comment. If it sounds interesting, join in at Anne's My Head is Full of Books.

The longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction has been announced. Check it out here.





Baking, photography, drawing, and other projects...

I tried Apple Spice Muffins this week. Meh. Just meh. On the plus side, however, five apples made 96 mini-muffins.

The Sunday Salon 

I have had a nice round 50 responses to my Sunday Salon post. The results?

I was most fascinated by the answers to the third question; 60% of you have been blogging for more than 10 years! 

The last question, the most important question, had scattered responses: some people want to keep the Facebook group, and some would like to change Sunday Salon to a linky on a blog. I decided, for now, to go with popular opinion: I will keep the Facebook group and I will offer a linky here. 

I would be very happy if you would spread the word about the Sunday Salon. Encourage others to post here and/or on Facebook. Post a graphic on your blog or Facebook page or Instagram. 

My first linkup for Sunday Salon is here. If you wish to also post a link at Facebook, you can also do that. My hope is that you will post here and/or at FB and then visit other bloggers; Sunday Salon is to encourage conversations about books and book-ish things.