The Houston Bookstore Crawl 2025: Class Bookstore

I was delighted to participate in the Second Annual Houston Bookstore Crawl #HTXBookCrawl25 in April. Here is a map I made of the twenty-five indie bookstores in the Houston area.

How it worked: I picked up a crawl card at Then & Now Bookstore in Galveston, one of the 25 participating stores. I got my card stamped or signed by each of the stores I visited through the end of April. Once I visited 10, I submitted my card to any of the participating bookstores to be entered into a raffle for gifts. Every store I hit after the first 10 counts as an additional entry. The cards had to be turned in by the end of business on April 30.

April 26 was Indie Bookstore Day, and indie bookstores all over the US hosted events. Take a look at the map here to see what events were held in April.

Say hello to the Participating Bookstores:

Basket Books & Art · Blue Willow Bookshop · Books Abound · The Book Attic · Books by the Bay · The Book Readers Venue · Brazos Bookstore · Buy the Book · Candescent Books · CLASS Bookstore · Copperfield's Books · Dreamers Books + Culture · Good Books in the Woods · Good on Paper Books and Stationery · Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics · Houston Book Warehouse · Kaboom Books · Katy Budget Books · Kindred Stories · LIT bookbar · LIT Java Coffee & Books · Mossrose Bookshop · Murder by The Book · Then & Now Bookshop · Village Books

I visited twelve bookstores in April. 

Here is my sixth bookstore: 

Class Bookstore was begun by two book lovers, Dara and David Landry. It's an independent Black-owned bookstore that seeks to create a culture for people who love discovery.

Class Bookstore

3803 Sampson Street, #C

Houston, Texas

Open Thursday-Sunday 

This bookshop was a little tricky for me to find, just off the main street. It is on the Texas Southern University campus.

What I bought.

The Sunday Salon: It's Summer: Swim Class and Seashells and Butterflies and My Guitar and Gardening Plus a Little Hope

 

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. 

Swim class (almost) every morning is how I start my day in the summer, and it's a great way to start my day. I am so fortunate to live in a town where we have a great rec center, with excellent programs.

I also spent time on our weekly butterfly survey, volunteering at some sites on the Great Texas Wildlife Trails, working in our garden, visiting with a fellow Rae and I met on the plane coming home from New York City, learning about the seashells of Galveston beaches, practicing my guitar, and working on my latest idea for a book.

What I Read Last Week:

The Love Haters by Katherine Center (Fiction)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Classics Club)

What I'm Reading Now:

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Chapter-a-Day)

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt (Nonfiction)

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence  Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger (Nonfiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence  Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

The Houston Bookstore Crawl 2025: Kindred Stories

Summer Reading Challenges

The Sunday Salon: 20 Books of Summer and Big Books of Summer Begin

Need a little hope?

Beginning May 29, and for the next six weeks in the On Being podcast feed and Substack, the On Being folks are opening a reflection/course experience curated by Krista and drawing upon her conversations with several visionary humans: adrienne maree brown, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ocean Vuong, Joy Harjo, Joanna Macy, and Ross Gay. 

Together, they extend rich and actionable invitations for a muscular, reality-based hope. They offer ways of seeing and living to lay our hands and our hearts, our imaginations and life force on the generative possibilities of life in this time.  

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:

Kermit the Frog and

"The Rainbow Connection"

I'm trying to learn to play this on guitar.

Good Thing #2:

Thank you to everyone who suggested McDonald & Dodds

as a series to watch after we finished up Vera.

Good Thing #3:

I learned about the seashells of Galveston beaches

last week. I hope to do some beachcombing 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.

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Today's Featured Book: 

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence 

Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

by Zoë Schlanger

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: May 7, 2024

Page Count: 304 pages

Summary: 

It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.

The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.

 

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.

What is a plant? You likely have an idea. You might be picturing a fat sunflower with its hubcap face and thick felted stalk, or the bean vine looped around a trellis in your grandmother's yard. Maybe, like me, you're eyeing the golden pothos hanging in your kitchen window that you should probably water. A known entity; the green of every single day.

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. 

But that whole plants might be considered to communicate intentionally with each other---that communication could extend beyond one plant to others---is a relatively new and still controversial concept in botany. 

I'm into all-things-nature. Plants are some of my favorite living things; if people keep going the way they are going here in America, plants are soon to top humans on my list. This is a book about plants by one of the staff writers for the Atlantic. She found her way to plants much the same way I did, through the wonder she felt around the natural 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.    

June 6th - 12th - How do you strike a balance between providing enough information to pique readers' interest without giving away too many spoilers in your reviews? (submitted by Page @ Pages of Perfiction)

My reviews are so short that no one ever needs to worry I'll give away anything. lol

  

The Houston Bookstore Crawl 2025: Kindred Stories

I was delighted to participate in the Second Annual Houston Bookstore Crawl #HTXBookCrawl25 in April. Here is a map I made of the twenty-five indie bookstores in the Houston area.

How it worked: I picked up a crawl card at Then & Now Bookstore in Galveston, one of the 25 participating stores. I got my card stamped or signed by each of the stores I visited through the end of April. Once I visited 10, I submitted my card to any of the participating bookstores to be entered into a raffle for gifts. Every store I hit after the first 10 counts as an additional entry. The cards had to be turned in by the end of business on April 30.

April 26 was Indie Bookstore Day, and indie bookstores all over the US hosted events. Take a look at the map here to see what events were held in April.

Say hello to the Participating Bookstores:

Basket Books & Art · Blue Willow Bookshop · Books Abound · The Book Attic · Books by the Bay · The Book Readers Venue · Brazos Bookstore · Buy the Book · Candescent Books · CLASS Bookstore · Copperfield's Books · Dreamers Books + Culture · Good Books in the Woods · Good on Paper Books and Stationery · Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics · Houston Book Warehouse · Kaboom Books · Katy Budget Books · Kindred Stories · LIT bookbar · LIT Java Coffee & Books · Mossrose Bookshop · Murder by The Book · Then & Now Bookshop · Village Books

I visited twelve bookstores in April. 

Here is my fifth bookstore:

Kindred Stories is an independent bookstore located in Houston's historic Third Ward. Kindred Stories is a celebration of Black and other marginalized voices, and it seeks to create a community in which people "can unite over our shared love of these books; delve into the ways we see ourselves reflected in their stories; learn about new and upcoming Black writers, artists, creators, and changemakers; and find connection at a time when we need it more than ever."

Kindred Stories

2304 Stuart Street, Houston, Texas

Closed Monday

What I bought.

Summer Reading Challenges

Summer is a great time for those of us who like to try a challenge or two.

Big books. A lot of people like to take on a big book for summer. 

And fortunately for all of us who enjoy big books, Sue Jackson of Book by Book hosts a Big Book Summer Reading Challenge. 

Here's a little about the challenge.

The idea behind this reading challenge is simple: Use the ease of summer to tackle a Big Book (400+ pages) or two or ... however many you want! You set your own goals. And if it is the start of winter where you live, then it's your Big Book Winter Challenge. Everyone is welcome to participate. 

The Details:
Hey, it's summer, so we'll keep this low-key and easy!

• Anything 400 pages or more qualifies as a big book.
• The challenge runs from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend (May 23 this year) through Labor Day (September 1 this year).
  
• Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal. Wait, did you get that?  You only need to read 1 book with 400+ pages this summer to participate! (though you are welcome to read more, if you want).
• No sign-ups are necessary! All readers are welcome to participate.

What kind of books "count"? All kinds! Middle-grade, YA, graphic novels, classics, all genres, all types--as long as they are at least 400 pages. Yes, e-books and audio books count, too--just check online for the number of pages in the print edition. 

My potential reads:

• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry - 964 pages
• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang - 545 pages 
• Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty - 505 pages
• Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt - 955 pages
• Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 474 pages
• Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome - 548 pages
• Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Lacios - 400 pages
• There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone - 420 pages                    

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - 590 pages

 

 

But maybe you are not a person who enjoys reading big books. Maybe you like to read in quantity over the summer. In that case...

When Cathy of 746 books announced last year that she would not host 20 Books of Summer this year after ten successful years, Emma of Words and Peace and Annabel of AnnaBookBel both volunteered to take it on. 

• The #20BooksofSummer2025 challenge runs from Sunday June 1st to Sunday August 31st
• The first rule of 20 Books is that there are no real rules, other than signing up for 10, 15, or 20 books and trying to read from your TBR.
• Pick your list in advance, or nominate a bookcase to read from, or pick at whim from your TBR.
• If you do pick a list, you can change it at any time – swap books in/out.
• Don’t get panicked at not reaching your target.
• Just enjoy a summer of great reading and make a bit of space on your shelves!

They’ll have monthly summary posts where you can add progress reports and recommendations. The final one at the at the beginning of September will stay open for a while to catch all the last reviews.

Emma designed some new logos, and for the first time they’ve done one specially for our Antipodean friends for whom it is winter rather than summer. Resize them to fit your needs. Emma has also made a book bingo card to match your reads for more fun, too.

If you’re planning to join in please do add your blog / planning post link to the Mr Linky here.

Here are my (planned, but subject to change) 20 Books of Summer:

*James by Percival Everett.     *The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. 

*Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson.  *Bake Happy by Judith Fertig.      *Sanditon by Jane Austen. 

*The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang.    *Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty.     

*Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt.    *Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat.

*Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.    *Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngosi Adichie.

*Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton.    *Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer.

*Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.     *The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger.

*A Bakery in Paris by Aimee K. Runyan.     *The Love Haters by Katherine Center.

*There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone.   

*Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.     *Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome.

Do you have any special plans for your summer reading?

Do you like to plan things out or are you more of a person who likes to read at whim?

Last year's post about summer reading:

Summer Reads: Seventeen Summer-Filled Books You Might Consider for Your Summer Reading This Year

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.