The Sunday Salon

Good Sunday Afternoon! I'm slowly coming back from my break. Last Sunday my husband and I rode in the Chicagoland Ride for Kids on our motorcycle. This ride benefits The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and has become one of our favorite rides. We rode 140 miles roundtrip which is nothing when you think about what these kids and their families are going through.

This week I managed to finish The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells for bookclub and was less than thrilled with it. I felt there was no emotion in the story. I am amazed that she came through her childhood so well. I will have a review up this week.

I have about 50 pages left of The Questory of Root Karbunkulus which was sent to me by Pump Up Your Book Promotion. I have to finish it today and get my review posted. I am so behind.

On top of having a mounting tbr pile I threw my back out today and this is the first time I have gotten up. I have been doing way too much! The worst part is when I am in so much pain I cannot concentrate on reading. I am not traveling this week so I will be able to get some reading and reviewing done! Yeah, it's about time!

I hope everyone has a great reading week!

Sunday Salon

Good Sunday Morning! I managed to finish one book this week, Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. It was a quick read and very reminiscent of my college years. Last night I started White Mary and was immediately drawn in. So far it is fantastic and will probably make it to my top 5 reads of 2008 along with The Gargoyle.

I also started The Watercooler Effect yesterday which is a study of the psychology of rumors. So far it is very interesting. My only complaint is that it is a bound manuscript so the text is very small making it very difficult to read but I'll get past that, hey it was free!

Congratulations to all of the 24 hour read-a-thon participants! I wish I would have found out about it sooner, I would have loved to participate. Although I am not sure how my husband would react to me reading for 24 hours straight!

Unfortunately, this week will not be a great reading week. I have neglected laundry and housework long enough and really need to take care of that today. This week we are having 3 barbecues, yes, I know crazy! This has become an annual event over the 4th of July. Our town has a festival that we can walk to with live music and a beer garden so we usually bbq here and then walk over to the fest. I did take two vacation days this coming week so hopefully I will sneak some reading in somewhere!

That's it folks, I hope you have a great reading week!

Sunday Salon

Good Sunday Morning! This week I managed to finish The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories by Pagan Kennedy and really enjoyed it. My full review is below. Most of the stories were very inspiring and this was a welcome break from all of the fiction that I have been reading.

I am almost finished with Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. I hope to finish it today. Henkin has been gracious enough to offer a signed copy to giveaway so be sure to check back here in August for giveaway details.

Up next, The Fires by Alan Cheuse which is another book from Santa Fe Writers Project. I must start The Laws of Manu today, I must! I have been dragging my feet on starting this. I received it 3 weeks ago and only have 3 weeks to read and review it for Penguin Classics. It may take me 3 weeks to finish it!

While I was out of town this week my husband called me to inform me that our car was stolen from right in front of our house. Horrible! I felt so helpless being in another state while hearing this news but honestly what could I do here, drive around to look for my car? Unfortunately, my Ipod was in the car with 6 audiobooks loaded on it. I know, I should not have left it in the car and normally don't leave it in there but I was running late and honestly forgot about it. I know, my car was stolen and I'm complaining about my Ipod, sick, I can't help it! I also had 3 books in the car. Our insurance company said it will take 30 days to process the claim. This just sucks.

On another note, have you checked out the "Unsuggester" on Librarything? I had no idea about this feature until I read about it on koolaidmom's blog. Here are the top 10 books that Librarything does not see as a good fit based on the books listed in my library.

The new 'Mayflower' by Alan Villiers
The pleasures of God : meditations on God's delight in being God by John Piper
Benedict's way : an ancient monk's insights for a balanced life by Lonni Collins Pratt
The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission by Rick Warren
Christian-theistic evidences (In defense of Biblical Christianity) by Cornelius Van Til
Brothers, we are not professionals : a plea to pastors for radical ministry by John Piper
The Radical Reformation (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Michael G. Baylor
The American College Encyclopedic Dictionary by Clarence Barnhart
The Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reasons Why He Came to Die by John Piper
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

What are your "unsuggesters"?

It looks like it is going to be another stormy day here in Chicago. I plan on curling up with a good book until the Cubs game starts. Game 3 of the cross town classic, hopefully the Cubs will sweep the Sox today! I hope you have a great reading week!

Sunday Salon

Good Sunday Morning and Happy Father's Day! It is storming outside so what a perfect day to stay indoors curled up with a good book. My husband is gone for the day golfing with his dad and I have the whole house to myself. Yay!

I finished up The Gargoyle this week by Andrew Davidson and loved it. I will have a review up today. This book is in my top 5 for 2008. The subject matter is far fetched but underneath it all is a beautiful love story.

I have several books waiting to be read this week that are up for review and I still have my bookclub book The Tea Rose waiting to be read. I will be out of town this week so I will miss out on the bookclub discussion but still want to read this. At least the pressure is off!

Today I will most likely start The Dangerous Joys of Dr. Sex by Pagan Kennedy and The Aviary Gate. We'll see how those two work out. I was reading at a steady pace this year until May and everything went downhill because of work. My travel schedule has let up a bit but not much. I will be gone for four days this week visiting lovely Pittsburgh for work.

Well that's it for today folks. I am off to change the laundry and take a Claritin and then will grab a book and enjoy the day. I wish you all a good reading week and Happy Father's Day!

The Sunday Salon

Good Sunday Morning and Happy Memorial Day weekend to my fellow US readers. This past week I finished The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton and loved it! I will have a review up shortly.

Last night I started Black Wave by John and Jean Silverwood. This is an ER book that I received from Librarything. It is a true story based on the Silverwood's adventure at sea. I am only 50 pages into this and really don't know how I feel about it yet. John and Jean Silverwood had spent their youth around the sea and always knew they wanted to go back to it. One day, they packed up their four kids, who thought they were crazy, and set sail across the world. This is the story of what happened one fateful night that changed their lives forever.

Also on the agenda this week:

The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman (ARC)
The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly (Bookclub)
Songs for the Missing by Stuart O'Nan (Barnes and Noble First Look club)
Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs (Sent by the publisher)

And of course, Middlemarch by George Eliot which is taking me forever to get through. I am only reading about 20 pages at a time so at this rate I will have it finished in August!

Today I will have the house to myself since my husband is golfing, yay! In between laundry, I will hopefully be making a dent in my ever growing tbr pile and writing a few reviews.

Have a great day reading!

The Sunday Salon

Happy Mother's Day everyone! This will be a very short post today as it has not been a productive reading week. I gave up on listening to Outlander. I hope that this is one I will enjoy reading because I have read so many good things about it. I just did not like the narrator's voice!

I did manage to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. One of my coworkers is obsessed with Alice and having never read it I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about. I enjoyed it but still don't understand the obsession!

I am currently reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. My mom recommended this to me after reading it for her book club. So far so good, I am not far enough in to really have an opinion yet. I started Middlemarch, got to Part II and have not picked it up again.

This will be a busy week for me work wise so I am not sure how much reading I will actually get done. I have a few Early Reviewer books I am waiting for and have to review so those will be moved up.

Short and sweet today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

The Sunday Salon

Good Morning! It finally feels like Spring in this part of the country. The sun is shining and my plants are starting to come alive again. Yay! On the agenda for today, Spring clean-up in the backyard, give the little dog a bath and laundry. I'll try to squeeze some reading time in there too!

This week I finished listening to World Without End, wow, what a book! I started listening to Outlander after reading so many wonderful things on Librarything and am very disappointed. My problem with this book is the narrator, Davina Porter. Her voice is slightly irritating me. I have only listened to two hours of this so I will give it another hour and then will give up listening to it. I have had this happen a few times where I just could not follow the narrator because of their voice but then read the book and loved it.

I finished reading Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks last night and am now a huge fan of hers. I might try to run out and buy March today. Her writing is beautiful. She takes such a tragic story and turns it into a story of survival and hope.

Last night I started The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde not knowing what to think based on the front caption of the book "Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion and bibliowit, The Eyre Affair combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But its quirky charm is all its own." -The Wall Street Journal. I am not a fan of Monty Python, haven't read any Harry Potter (I know, I know, it's on the list), read one Stephen Hawking book several years ago and have never read any Buffy the Vampire Slayer books. So, what am I doing reading The Eyre Affair? I have no idea. I needed a change of pace from all of the historical fiction I have been reading lately and this fit the bill. I am only 50 pages in and am already sucked into it. Fforde is very clever indeed.

This week, thanks to Devourer of Books, I signed up for the Penguin Classics Blogging Challenge and will be getting The Laws of Manu by anonymous. I am pretty scared about this one! Penguin sends the book to you free of charge for committing to post a review within six weeks of receipt.

That's it for today. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

The Sunday Salon

My apologies for being so late with this post. Not much going on today other than work. This is my busiest time at work from now until the second week of June. I will be working most weekends which I normally do not do so I will not have much time to read.

I did make progress this week on World Without End by Ken Follet. I have one part to go on the audio book. This was the longest audio book I have ever listened to but it has gone by so quickly. The stories are interesting and the reader is by far the best I have listened to. I am slowly making progress on Middlemarch for the group reads group over on Librarything.

I have not made any book purchases this week which makes me feel as though something is amiss in my life. I love to walk around book stores, I feel so comfortable among all of the shelves of unread books. Hopefully I will have some free time tomorrow night when I am out of town to do this.

I am still waiting my Early Reviewer copy of The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. Hopefully this will come this week. I can't wait to read this one!

My book club selection this month is The Tea Rose. I am looking forward to this one as well. A few people have read it already and had great things to say about it. The last two months have not been very good as far as selections go. Last month was Honeymoon With My Brother which nobody enjoyed. Most of our group enjoys historical fiction which is right up my alley but there are a few who would rather read Danielle Steele which just does not appeal to me. How do other groups make their selections? Do you feel like some people really take time to research the book before the selection is made? I always research the book before making the selection. I want to make sure that it would be a book worthy of discussing. Others simply look online and select the shortest read which really annoys me. It may be a short read but not worth discussing.

Have a great week everyone! Happy reading!

The Sunday Salon

What a week! I have finally taken the plunge into blogging. I have wanted to do it for some time but did not have the time to update and keep current until now. I am overwhelmed by how many blogs are out there and find myself reading them instead of the mounting tbr pile I have.

This was not a good reading week for me due to work conflicts. I did start Middlemarch for a group reads group over on Librarything. I have to say that I was disappointed when I started it but now am at a point where I am starting to enjoy it. I was in agreement with all those who were calling it Muddlemarch.

I am about half way into World Without End by Ken Follett which I am listening to on audio. Very enjoyable so far. I hope to finish it this week as I have a long road trip to Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin for work. I will have to download a few others just in case!

I entered my first contest from Amater de Livre's blog and won The Poetry of Murder! How exciting.

I am off now to finish my last load of laundry, go for a motorcycle ride with my hubby and then hope to get some serious reading time in today. Have a good week everyone!