The Sunday Salon # 6 - words

The Sunday Salon.com

It is a blustery Winnie the Pooh day outside and we are cozy and warm inside. I just finished reading Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie. I found myself amused by Poirot's summation of all the characters and who could have committed the murder - you, you or you. Then the person responsible speaks up out of remorse for his fine show of powers. I'll be posting a review within the next few days.

Do you ever step out of your comfort zone when it comes to reading choices? I've started branching out and reading different genres and more non fiction. The other day I signed up for the
Barnes and Nobles First Look Book Program and requested the ARC of "Sag Harbor" by Colson Whitehead. Many thanks to Lenore of Presenting Lenore who wrote up a wonderful new book blogger Faq post which included how you can get Advanced Reader Copies of authors books.

To be honest I had never heard of Whitehead and thought "Sag Harbor" looked interesting. It is a coming of age story about a middle class African American teenager whose family spends every summer at Sag Harbor, the east end of Long Island. I received the book Friday afternoon, started reading it after dinner and finished it Saturday morning. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to joining in on the discussions with Mr. Whitehead about his book. I'll be reviewing it at some point after the discussions. The setting of the story takes place during the 80's and many of the references brought back fond memories of the time, the music, the clothes, colloquialisms, etc. I've added his very first novel "The Intuitionist" to my wishlist for reading later in the year.

I'm currently reading "A Ghost in the Machine" by Caroline Graham which is the last book for my Winter Reading Challenge. Which means I have made it through all the oldest books in my TBR pile. Yeah! I now get to choose from an interesting assortment of books that I have acquired and it will be interesting deciding which one I want to read next from the list.

I've also reading "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler and finished Part One: The Dimension of Reading. Do you find some non fiction books are easier to read in small chunks? When I sat down and tried to read HTRAB as I would a fiction book, I found it cold and dry and quit reading it. However, when I started reading a little bit at a time, I found it very interesting and informative. So, I designated it my bathroom book. I should use a more polite term such as my water closet book. So many terms to use such as water closet, the loo, privy, lavatory, powder room. They all sound much more polite than bathroom. Why is that?

Words. Do you find words other people use rubbing off on you. I have found myself using iteration alot lately. Father uses this word when talking about business or math or working on his electronic designs. I found myself using in conversation and when commenting on someone's blog yesterday. It just came out and seemed so natural. But it made me stop and think about the use of words. When my brother was in high school he once made up a slang word "Tag" just to see if it would catch on and be used. He used "tag" instead of cool or neat. I think he had all his friends using the word by the end of the school year.

I've noticed hip and groovy have made a come back. Do you notice things from the 70's making a reappearance every 10 years or so: Clothes (bell bottoms, hip huggers, mini skirts, tie die), hair (long and straight), words (hip, groovy, cool).

Words. Language. Books.

Which book should I read next?

  1. The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
  2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  3. House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton
  4. Augustine, The Confessions
  5. Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
  6. Killing Fear by Allison Brennan

7 comments:

  1. The Book Thief!

    Glad my post was helpful to you. I didn't sign up this time because I have too many books to read right now, but I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! The 80s were a lot of fun weren't they?

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  2. I was gonna suggest The Book Thief too. I haven't read any of those but that have at least heard of that one. Also, wanted to say thanks for visiting my blog. You're doing some good work here.

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  3. When you post that Agatha Christie Review don't forget to submit it to the ACRC Blog Carnival
    http://acrccarnival.blogspot.com/

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  4. Thanks everyone. The consensus from the ladies over at well trained mind and here is for the Book Thief. So that one will be next. :)

    Kerrie - Thanks for the reminder. I'll submit it once it is done.

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  5. I enjoyed Hercule Poirot's Christmas, its one of my favorite AC mysteries.

    enjoy your reading :)
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  6. The Book Thief! Because it's the only book I'm familiar with on your list, lol!

    How to Read a Book sounds interesting. Also I like the term powder room the best, because it sounds cleaner than all the rest haha.

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