Sunday Salon

sunday salon

Happy Sunday Salon everyone. It’s been a while since I had the chance to participate but here I am today.

The trip to Austin was a quick one but oh what fun. Aside from doing a bit of wandering around the South Austin area, where it’s filled with an eclectic mix of shops and restaurants, we also went to the Austin Museum of Art to see the exhibit on New Art in Austin. My favorite pieces were from Alyson Fox who used old books for her art. She stripped the books of the pages and then made some illustrations on covers. You can see more on each of the artists by checking out the interactive website.

We also spent a couple of hours hanging out in BookPeople. Aside from a wonderful selection of books, they also have some great gift items. I fell in love with a few pieces from the Flash Fiction Gems, jewelry with a story behind it. How clever is that?

Of course I added more books to my wish list and bought a book but I’m going tell you about that in another post. Right now I have to get ready to go have lunch with a friend, and then I have a 50% Off coupon to use at Half Price Books. Can’t let that go to waste. So hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday.

bookpeople

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Around the World

I know I had mentioned that I planned to join the Orbis Terrarum Challenge and now I finally have my list of books. I’m going to be a bit sneaky in mix in a couple of books from my foreign authors book group and also from other challenges but you never know, I may end up reading a lot more foreign fiction and I’ll adjust my list to show other choices.

The challenge runs from April 1 through December 20. The bottom line: choose 9 different books, written by 9 different authors, from 9 different countries.

Here is my tentative list:

  • Madame by Antoni Libera (Poland). I’ve already started this and it’s great. I hope to finish it by next Tuesday as it’s also a book group read.
  • Wild Swans by Jung Chang (China). Also a book club book.
  • The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Spain). This is also another challenge read.
  • The Sleeping Car Murders by Sebastien Japrisot (France). A Very Long Engagement was a favorite read a couple of years ago. This Japrisot novel seems quite different but should be interesting.
  • The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Brazil). I’m the last person to read this right?
  • April Witch by Majgull Axelsson (Sweden)
  • Women with Big Eyes by Angeles Mastretta (Mexico)
  • The Quest for Christa T. by Christa Wolf (Germany)
  • Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (Japan)

I tried to stay away from listing British and Canadian authors as I seem to read a lot from these authors anyway. So, I think I’m set to go on a nice trip around the world with this list. Thank you B&b Ex Libris for hosting the challenge. I think it’ll be great fun.

Speaking of trips, I’m off for a quick visit to Austin. Hope to hear a little music on Sixth Street, do a bit of browsing at BookPeople and savor some good eats at Kerbey Lane. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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More Reviews

Slowly but surely, I’m catching up on my reviews. I still have a little pile of books waiting for me and of course now I’m trying to keep in mind this article when I write anything about a book. Too late. I am sure I use some of those words quite a bit. Oh well, anyway, let’s talk about some books.

First up is Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I read her first book a couple of years ago and knew then that I’d be eager to read more from her. I wasn’t disappointed with this book at all. It challenged me in that I had to evaluate how I felt about characters who I cared about after they commit offenses. It made me think of issues of forgiveness and most importantly it made me wonder why I have never studied anything about Biafra throughout my schooling. I sort of knew about it but really it wasn’t that long ago that this happened and yet I felt like I was just hearing about this for the first time. I highly recommend this book. For more on the book click here.

I also finished The Scent of Shadows by Vickie Pettersson. Already one down for the Once Upon a Time II challenge. I wanted to like the book, actually I liked the beginning, but just wish it had been condensed a bit more. Too many things going on. You can read more of my thoughts on it here. I am a bit curious about the second book but wonder how it compares to this one. Anyone read it?

I’ve got a couple of books going on right now but I’m kind of in the mood for a mystery so I may have to put all my current reads aside. I’m off to look at the shelves.

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