The Sunday Salon - Books and Awards

The Sunday Salon.com

Good afternoon Sunday Saloners. It is a balmy and sunny 78 degrees out, though for some reason it feels so much hotter. I finished my literary anaysis questions for "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad for my Modern Literature class. The next two weeks we'll be reading "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf and analyzing it. Honestly, I have never read anything by Virginia Woolf so looking forward to it.

Just returned from my successful mission in picking up a new patio table umbrella. Now I can enjoy reading outside without getting totally burned. I somehow managed to burn just my knees last week. Not quite sure how that happened. Gottshalks is going out of business and having a 50 to 75% off everything sale, so dropped by there and picked up some new king size sheets and blanket for a wonderful price. Will have to drag hubby back there before they close to pick up some nice shirts. As soon as I returned home, Father and James dragged me into watching the rest of Kung Fu Panda. Cute movie, but the fight sequences between the Pando "Po" and the tiger "Tia Lung" were quite intense. James was practically bouncing off the couch with nervous energy. I can just imagine folks who brought their littles to the theatre to see the movie. A roomful of bouncing, nervous kids. :) Now I have to go back and watch the beginning of the movie since didn't catch it from the beginning.

I just finished reading and rereading "Virgin River" by Robyn Carr.


I forget which blogger reviewed Temptation Ridge and totally captured my attention. I'm going to have start writing these things down. But she suggested I start with Virgin River first and I'm glad I did. I don't know what happened but when read it the first time, I felt like I read it too fast and missed something. So went back and read it again. It's one of those stories that pulls you in and doesn't let you go until the very end. Leaves you with the feeling of wanting more. Now I definitely have to read the rest of the series. Went to my favorite used bookstore but guess what he didn't have any Robyn Carr books at all. Guess that tells you how good they are. No one wants to give them up.

I added several more books to my TBR Pile. A used copy of "The Associate" by John Grisham - Yeah! Been wanting to read it for a while. I picked up "Promise Me" # 8 in the Myron Bolitar Mysteries by Harlan Coben. I seem to working my way backwards in this series since I started with his newest book "Long Lost". Also tagged "The Judas Strain" by James Rollins plus two by Anne Stuart "Ice Blue" and "Black Ice." Haven't read any books by either one yet but have heard good things. Also picked "The Angel" by Carla Neggers while at Savemart.

I managed to finish 3 other books this week. I read "The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholal Flamel" by Michael Scott.

Even though it is a young adult, enjoyed the heck out of this story and will be reading the rest of the series, once I've worked my way through my current pile. Also read "Safe Haven" by Hannah Alexander and "Homicide in Hardcover" by Kate Carlisle. Will be reviewing these as well sometime this week.

I'm still working on two non fiction books "French Bred" and "Living the Charmed Life" by Victoria Moran. I have a tendency to read non fiction at a much slower rate and when I have nothing else to read. Horrible huh! But I'm supposed to be reviewing both these books for the authors, so I'm going to make a concerted effort to finish them this week.

The wonderful sweet and kind Desert Rose of Desert Rose Booklogue bestowed an award on me this week.


"The Literary Blogger Award acknowledges bloggers who energize & inspire reading by going the extra mile. These amazing bloggers make reading fun & enhance the delight of reading!"

Aw! How nice is that. Thank you Desert Rose. I'll be passing it along soon. Also my Homeschool group book reading challenge blog 52 books in 52 weeks received an award this week called the Most Wonderful, Favorite Award.

The award says ""These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers."


It is actually quite nice to be recognized by someone who likes reading the blog and isn't part of the group. Interestingly enough, she has never visited or read read My Two Blessings, only 52 books. I've been feeling out of sorts about the challenge blog lately, because it hasn't seen much activity lately. I try to come up with something unique at least once a week, that's book related and educational, while keeping the group advised of where we stand in the challenge. We only have three or four people who actually post their book reviews on the site, besides me. I've done all I can to encourage folks to participate more, but there is only so much you can do. Getting the award made me feel good and realize it isn't the number that counts, but the quality. So will keep plugging away and cheering on the quiet ones who are reading and making the challenge, but don't post about it. And appreciate the ones who do post.

My guys are pacing and waiting for me to finish blogging so we can barbecue so signing off. How a wonderful week!

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the awards! You have the right realization there. It isn't numbers, it's quality. That's so true. Lurkers are great in their own way, too, I think. Sometimes they come out of the woodwork to let you know they're there. I love that. :)

    Have a great barbecue. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel in the bookstore and thought it looked interesting, but I didn't buy it. Are you planning on doing a full review of it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum, barbecue! I'm also really bad at noting down exactly who has made me interested in a book. Usually it's a variety of people who make me buy one, but I have no idea who they are. =(

    Have a good week!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really like Robyn Carr's books -- though, I've only read one series of her's, so far... the Grace Valley one ("Deep in the Valley" is book 1).

    ~MizB

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations on the awards! And I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The Alchemyst so much because I know my review made you lower your expectations of this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm glad you like the Alchemyst. Oh I started a discussion forum on my website called Cafe Blue.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks everybody. Yes, I do plan on doing a full review on The Alchemyst. Sometime this week. Don't know if will have time today. We'll see. :)

    ReplyDelete

Unfortunately due to being spammed, all comments will be moderated and will appear after approval. At least I'm not using the dreaded captcha. Thank you for dropping by!