The Sunday Salon: Tearing Up the Roads

 

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. 

I spent last weekend at the Texas Book Festival in Austin with my writing buddies, and I'm in East Texas this weekend to enjoy an early Thanksgiving with family there. I can't seem to stay home much these days...

What I Read Last Week:

Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir by Lisa Dale Norton (Nonfiction)

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (Nonfiction)

Banned Books: The World's Most Controversial Books, Past and Present (Nonfiction)

The Skull by Jon Klassen (Children's Books)

(Links take you to my reviews)

What I'm Reading Now:

Figuring by Maria Popova (Nonfiction)

Plays Well with Others: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Relationships is Wrong by Eric Barker (Nonfiction)

Western Lane by Chetha Maroo (Novella)

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (Nonfiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

Popular Authors that I Still Have Not Read (and, Honestly, I Never Want to Read)

Novellas in November: Broadening My Horizons

Nonfiction November: Week 3 (11/13-11/17) Book Pairings

The Sunday Salon: At the 55% Mark for My Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very-Bad Novel

We are celebrating an early Thanksgiving in East Texas with my extended family this weekend. 

Here's the menu: Fried turkey, roasted turkey, dressing, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, rolls, fruit salad, ham, pie, cookies, pumpkin bread, and cranberry sauce.

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 writing friends and I 

had a Writing Weekend in Austin

last week. We visited the Capitol

and went to the Texas Book Festival and wrote.

Good Thing #2:

My friends and I spent a lot of time 

last weekend at the best bookstore in the world,

BookPeople in Austin.

Good Thing #3:

Zadie Smith at Inprint in Houston.

I plan to write more about her visit soon.

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.

Popular Authors that I Still Have Not Read (and, Honestly, I Never Want to Read)

Mainstream Popular Authors that I Still Have Not Read (Submitted by Rissa)

My general rule for reading: I read no books where the author's name is larger than the title on the cover.

I find this to be a satisfying rule for me.

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.      

Novellas in November: Broadening My Horizons

  

Week 3 (starts Monday 13 November): Broadening My Horizons

• Pick your top novellas in translation and think about new genres or authors you’ve been introduced to through novellas.

Short answer to new authors I have discovered this year: Claire Keegan

Frankly, reading these two Claire Keegan books this year

awakened my love for novellas. 

Sadly, I have not read any novellas in translation.

Nonfiction November: Week 3 (11/13-11/17) Book Pairings

Week 3 (11/13-11/17) Book 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. You can be as creative as you like! (Liz of Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

This is an issue I feel strongly about.

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz is an excellent fiction story about what can happen when books are banned. The story would be a good one for kids to read and discuss. The link takes you to my review.

Banned Books: The World's Most Controversial Books, Past and Present is a nonfiction book I am reading now.

The Sunday Salon: At the 55% Mark for My Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very-Bad Novel

 

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. It's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

What I Read Last Week:

The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy (Novella)

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (Novella)

The Best Book I Read Last Week:

Both of these novellas were amazing reads. Reading The Sense of an Ending right after I finished The Death of Ivan Ilych was a perfect pairing of books with similar themes. Both books deal with death and the meaning one takes from life and the consequences of living a narrow self-involved existence. 

What I'm Reading Now:

Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir by Lisa Dale Norton (Nonfiction)

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (Nonfiction)

Banned Books: The World's Most Controversial Books, Past and Present (Nonfiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: A Week in Which I Wead Wed Wabbit

Nonfiction November: Week 2 (11/6-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction

Novellas in November: What is a Novella?

I'm at 27,559 words on my novel.

One book to go

in order to complete all my 2023 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:

Our friends took us out to eat at Gaido's in Galveston

for my birthday. 

Shrimp Peques. A Voodoo Signature Cocktail. 

Pecan Crunch with Hey Mikey's Vanilla Ice Cream.

And amazing company

Good Thing #2:

I'm in Austin this weekend 

for the Texas Book Festival!

Good Thing #3:

This leaf 

in the backyard...

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.

Novellas in November: What is a Novella?

  

Week 2 (starts Monday 6 November): What Is a Novella?

• Ponder the definition, list favorites, or choose ones you think best capture the ‘spirit’ of a novella.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "novella" as "Originally: a short fictitious narrative. Now (usually): a short novel, a long short story."

I agree. A short novel. A long short story. 

You can't really argue with the Oxford English Dictionary, can you?

However, for the sake of this event, I will include short nonfiction, too, if it reads like a fiction story. I'm only stretching the definition because everyone who participates in this event does so.

Nonfiction November: Week 2 (11/6-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction

Week 2 (11/6-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking. (Frances of Volatile Rune)

I choose nonfiction because I like to learn about the world.

My favorite kinds of nonfiction are books about happiness, nature, philosophy, travel, spirituality, and social justice.

I love nonfiction that reads like fiction.

What kind of nonfiction do you like? Have you read any good nonfiction about happiness, nature, philosophy, travel, spirituality, or social justice that you would recommend to me?

The Sunday Salon: A Week in Which I Wead Wed Wabbit

 

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. 

It is a new month and I'm reading for three reasons: Nonfiction November; Novellas in November; and NaNoWriMo inspiration (children's books, as that's what I am attempting to write this month). 

What's the best book I read last week? 

Wed Wabbit. 

I wan across Wed Wabbit...that is, I ran across Wed Wabbit at the ongoing library sale at the Galveston library, and when I saw it had been nominated for a Carnegie Award, I couldn't resist picking it up and reading it. Wed Wabbit is for anybody who is a fan of The Phantom Tollbooth. It would make a great read-aloud, I think.

What I Read Last Week:

Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans (Children's fiction)

Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms by Lissa Evans (Children's fiction)

The Wishing Game by Meg Schaffer (Adult fiction)

Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First: Ten Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level by Laura Tremaine (Nonfiction November)

The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers by Henri J.M. Nouwen

(Nonfiction November)

What I'm Reading Now:

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (Novellas in November)

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (Novellas in November)

Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World by Jennie Allen (Nonfiction November)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

My Favorite Costumes

Novellas in November: My Year in Novellas

Nonfiction November: Week 1 (10/30-11/3) Your Year in Nonfiction

The Sunday Salon: Aiming for a Month of Nonfiction and Novellas in November

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...Well, because it's my birthday, I have 4 Good Things.

Good Thing #1:

An ice cream cone for my birthday!

Good Thing #2:

Author Viet Thanh Nguyen spoke at the Hobby Center in Houston

about his new memoir for Inprint.

Good Thing #3:

Our nephew, Nathan Eovaldi, pitched the game

that won the World Series for

the Texas Rangers!

Good Thing #4:

Annie celebrated her 8th birthday,

and we got to spend time with her!

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

Please join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.