The Sunday Salon: Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, Early Voting, The Great Backyard Bird Count, and More

 

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. 

Valentine's Day. Mardi Gras. Early voting. Beginning of Lent. The Great Backyard Bird Count. Naturalist club meeting. Two book club meetings. Putting in our spring garden.

A busy week at home.

What I Read Last Week:

Native Nations: A Millenium in North America by Kathleen DuVal (History)

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes (Poetry; Classics Club Spin; Black History Month)

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page (Fiction)

Vigil by George Saunders (Fiction)

Profiles in Ignorance: How American's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz (Nonfiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Classic)

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (Fantasy)

Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations by Frederick Buechner (Spirituality)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Happy Valentine's Day!

Books for Armchair Travelers

Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

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 voted.

Good Thing #2:

I cooked for Valentine's Day.

Manicotti and Italian Wedding Soup.

Good Thing #3:

I spent hours watching birds

last week during the Great Backyard Bird Count.

I saw or heard 56 species in my backyard

over the four-day event, including 

this Cooper's Hawk, who wildly flew at

some of the small birds around my feeders,

missing them all.

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.

Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Today's Featured Book: 

Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber

by Andy Borowitz

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: September 13, 2022

Page Count: 313 pages

Summary: 

Andy Borowitz has been called a “Swiftian satirist” (The Wall Street Journal) and “one of the country’s finest satirists” (The New York Times). Millions of fans and New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column “The Borowitz Report.” Now, in Profiles in Ignorance, he delivers “a wittily alarming polemic that tracks the evolution of American politics from grounds for gravitas to festival of idiocy” (The New York Times).

Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge, and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Borowitz shows how, during the age of twenty-four-hour news and social media, the US has elected politicians to positions of great power whose lack of the most basic information is terrifying. In addition to Reagan, Quayle, Bush, Palin, and Trump, Borowitz covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors who have helped lower the bar over the past five decades.

Profiles in Ignorance aims to make us both laugh and cry: laugh at the idiotic antics of these public figures, and cry at the cataclysms these icons of ignorance have caused. But most importantly, the book delivers a call to action and a cause for optimism: History doesn’t move in a straight line, and we can change course if we act now.

 

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.

Imagine a hypothetical job applicant. He can’t spell the simplest words, such as “heal” and “tap.” Confused by geography, he thinks there’s an African country called “Nambia.” As for American history, he’s under the impression that Andrew Jackson, who died in 1845, was angry about the Civil War, and that Frederick Douglass, who died in 1895, is still alive. 

Given the alarming state of his knowledge, you might wonder what job he could get. Unfortunately, he’s not hypothetical, and the job he got, in 2016, was president of the United States.

Borowitz, Andy. Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber, p. 1. 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. 

The man who would become George H. W. Bush’s running mate was born James Danforth Quayle in 1947, the grandson of the Midwestern newspaper magnate Eugene C. Pulliam. “Life has been very good to me,” Quayle said. “I never had to worry about where I was going to go.” One place young Danny Quayle never seemed worried about going to was class. Years later, he revealed that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was his favorite movie because “it reminded me of my time in school.”

Borowitz, Andy. Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber, p. 56. Kindle Edition.  

I could not stop reading this book. Page after page I read unbelievable-except-that-they-are-true stories about people who have been elected to lead our country. And many of these politicians attended some of America's most prestigious universities and law schools. Most of these politicians are my contemporaries in age. Oh my goodness. Do we need to devise some tests for these folks before they are allowed to run our country?

All is told with humor, so I didn't cry through the book, thank goodness. But it was published before you-know-who was reelected and the sequel, we have seen, is much, much more stupid than the original series. This book must be updated.

My favorite quote from the book:

"In a 2017 meeting with two Presbyterian pastors, he (Trump) seemed confused about whether Presbyterians were Christians. Incidentally, he was raised Presbyterian."

Andy Borowitz at The Progressive Forum in Houston

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.    

When writing reviews, do you align your text to the left, center, right, or justify it? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

Hmmm...At various times, I have done all of these.

Books for Armchair Travelers

Is armchair travel my favorite genre? Here is a long list of armchair travel books I've enjoyed.

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon (US)

Our Towns: A 200,000 Mile Journey into the Heart of America by James and Deborah Fallows

Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck

Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure by Rinker Buck

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey by Paul Theroux

Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201 Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration by Sara Dykman

Lois on the Loose: One Woman, One Motorbike, 20,000 Miles Across the Americas by Lois Pryce 

How to Travel without Seeing: Dispatches from the New Latin America by Andrés Newman

A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca by Andrés Reséndez

A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

ASIA

Shooting the Boh: A Woman's Voyage Down the Wildest River in Borneo by Tracey Johnson

The Roads to Sata: A 2,000 Mile Walk Through Japan by Alan Booth

Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa by Karin Muller

Three Simple Lines: A Writer's Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku by Natalie Goldberg

Stranger in the Forest: On Foot Across Borneo by Eric Hansen

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald

Baghdad Without a Map and Other Adventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz

The Places in Between by Rory Stewart  (Afghanistan)

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby

Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia by Anne Garrels

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier

Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia by David Greene

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler

AFRICA

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux

Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel by Jeffrey Tayler

To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story by Steven Weinberg

Sahara by Michael Palin

AUSTRALIA

One for the Road: An Outback Adventure by Tony Horwitz

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

EUROPE

Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift

Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch (France)

One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake (France)

Stolen Figs and Other Adventures in Calabria by Mark Rotella 

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (England)

My Love Affair with England: A Traveler's Memoir by Susan Allen Toth

Red Sauce, Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey by Felicity Clarke (England)

HERE AND THERE

The Geography of Bliss: One Man's Search for the Happiest Places on Earth by Eric Weiner

An Evening Among Headhunters & Other Reports from Roads Less Traveled by Lawrence Millman

Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz

The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman by Alice Steinbach

Visit Sunny Chernobyl: And Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places by Andrew Blackwell

The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to the Silicon Valley by Eric Weiner

A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith by Timothy Egan

Thank you to Laurie C @ Bay State Reader’s Advisory for this week's prompt.

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.       

Best Books I Read in 2025

The Best Fiction I Read in 2025:

1984 by George Orwell

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

Roots by Alex Haley

Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola

The Color of Magic (Discworld Book 1) by Terry Pratchett

The Best Nonfiction I Read in 2025:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin 

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander Newfoundland by Jim DeFede

Pleased to Meet Me:  Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are  by Bill Sullivan

Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6-September 30, 1945 by Michihiko Hachiya

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong

Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt

Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall

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.       

Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

   

Today's Featured Book: 

Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

by John Green

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: March 18, 2025

Page Count: 206 pages

Summary: 

Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John be­came fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

 

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 the first line.

When I first visited Lakka Government Hospital a few years back, I did not really want to be there.

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. 

Even as TB became curable, the cure often did not reach the places that needed it the most.

John Green has a new book out?

Oh, wow. Wonderful. What's it about?

Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis? Really? Nah, I’m not interested in reading a book about tuberculosis.

Or so I thought...

Then everyone I knew was reading and ranting about how wonderful Everything is Tuberculosis is.

So I had to read it. Right away. And I’m glad I did. It’s a wonderful book. It is about tuberculosis, but it is also about everything.

What do you know about tuberculosis? Not much? Well, that’s about what I knew before I read this book. I certainly had no idea that 1,300,000 people will die of tuberculosis this year. And, more, I had no idea that if everyone could access good health care, no one would die of tuberculosis.

I urge everyone to read this book. And then tell others about it.

I never expected to love a book about tuberculosis.

A few quotes from the book:

“...tuberculosis is curable, and has been since the mid-1950s. We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis. But we choose not to live in that world.”

“We are powerful enough to light the world at night, to artificially refrigerate food, to leave Earth’s atmosphere and orbit it from outer space. But we cannot save those we love from suffering. This is the story of human history as I understand it—the story of an organism that can do so much, but cannot do what it most wants.”

“It reminded me  that when we know about suffering, when we are proximal to it, we are capable of extraordinary generosity. We can do and be so much for each other. But only when we see one another in our full humanity. Not as statistics or problems, but as people who deserve to be alive in the world.”

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 12th - Do you keep up with the hype surrounding books? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Yes and no. I am not interested in books that Get All the Love. In general. Something on the bestseller's list? Probably not for me. But if you are hyping a book because it's good...bring it on.