How’s everyone doing this Sunday? I’ve spent a lot of time reading so far this weekend but I don’t know that I’ve made much progress. You see, I’m juggling six books right now! Yes, I usually have a few books going on but four has usually been my max. I don’t know what got into me this time.
Yesterday, I packed up my book bag and headed off to another coffee house. There are tons of indie coffee houses here in Austin so I’m sure I’ll have a good time discovering many more. It’s funny though because I never realized there were so many. I guess it’s because when I lived here during my University years I didn’t drink coffee.
So anyway with my cold and delicious hazelnut latte in hand, I settled down to read for a good while. Here’s the progress on the books so far:
- Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor. I did sort of stall on my reading of this book but it’s no fault of the story. I find this to be a very intimate look at how a woman deals with the sudden death of her husband, more specifically how she handles her friendships. It’s very good and I should be finishing it soon so I’ll tell you more about it then.
- Apples and Oranges by Marie Brenner. Another book I began reading a couple of weeks ago.
- The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte. This one is going much more slowly than I expected and then I made the mistake of starting another mystery set in a foreign land which somehow grabbed my interest a bit more. I do plan to get back to this one though.
- La Perdida by Jessica Abel. A great graphic novel exploring the idea if one can be exiled from a country that isn’t your own. It’s set in Mexico City and the dialogue is peppered with a lot of Spanish. I love this one so far!
- The Amnesiac by Sam Taylor. I really expected this one to be a traditional mystery novel but so far it’s not that. A young man feels he’s lost three years of his life. He must now uncover what he’s forgotten.
- The Hellfire Conspiracy by Will Thomas. I was in the mood for a good historical mystery so I picked up the third in the Baker & Llewelyn series. This is so enjoyable and perfect timing too as the a new book in the series, The Black Hand, is out this month.
I have finished one book but I’ll save that post for another day. As for the rest of the weekend, I hope to catch up a bit on blog reading and hopefully spend some time bookbinding. Then again, I told my husband about the new Half Price Bookstore I found and he wants to go check it out. So we may just have to do that and there go all of our plans for the weekend. Heh.
Hope you enjoy your weekend and Happy Sunday Salon!
Sounds a great way to spend the day. I seem to be reading lots of books at once at the mo aswell I’m sure it’s more of a hinderance
katrina – I know, you feel like you can’t make any progress right? I think though I may be able to finish at least one book today so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.heh.
Have you been to the website http://www.indiecoffeeshops.com? You can type in your city or zip code and it brings up locally-owned coffee shops nearby!
I’ve finally moved close to a Half Price bookstore. I can’t wait to check it out!
I’m feeling in the mood for a good historical mystery. I’m not familiar with the Baker and Llewelyn series, so I’ll have to check them out.
There’s a huge used book sale going on at a local church this weekend. I’ve been trying not to go, because I doubt if I could control myself. I haven’t bought any books in a long while.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of La Perdida. It’s been on my wishlist for a long while now. Too long!
Wow, six books! For some reason, I’ve reverted back to reading one book at a time…not sure why that is, but there have been a couple of page turners lately.
I’m impressed, Iliana! I can’t read more than two books at a time, LOL. Though I love coffee, tea is still my favourite! Can’t wait to read your reviews on those books! Hope you’ve a great weekend. 🙂
Having two little ones makes it difficult to sit down to read awhile in a bookstore, so I’m jealous!
I was rather disappointed with ‘The Seville Community’. I’m fairly sure that had it been the first of his books that I’d read I would have loved it, but because I was comparing it with the likes of ‘The Dumas Club’ it came up a bit short.
Is reading several books at the same time a good idea to break the “readers block” ?
Le sigh – London should be better for indie coffee houses than it actually is. Has some great tea places, but dammit I want my caffeine!
Now I’m craving a hazlenut latte…
WOW — 6 at once. I can’t concentrate enough to do that! 😉 I discovered a Shakespeare and Co on the upper west side on Saturday and I was reading the jacket for The Amnesiac!! How weird…because I added it to my wish list (plus a few more, which I need to post about).
La Perdida – sounds like a novela. Is the Spanish translated or are the words explained later on?
Good for you for supporting indie stores.
Though, I feel for the people at Star Bucks. They did offer health insurance and now 600 stores closed.
Glad you’re enjoying LA PERDIDA. That’s on my list to read at some point. I’ve seen it in the bookstores and it looks really good.
I saw a copy of La Perdida in the library the other day and thought it looked quite good. Glad to hear that’s the case! I may have to check it out.
I managed to get some reading in this weekend, including being reintroduced to the wonder that is Alice Munro.
Alisia – Oh no, I’ve put in my zip code and am going to be one very caffeinated and happy camper! ha,ha… Love that. Thanks for sharing. Oh and have you been to HPB yet?
Ravenous Reader – Actually the book I’m reading is the 4th in the series. It’s really quite good. I like that’s also narrated not by the main sleuth but by his associate. Did you go to the sale by the way?
Andi – Well, I finished it and I’ll have a review up about it soon. I was disappointed actually. Bummer.
Tara – I was reading only one at a time too last month I think. I ended up with 6 I think because I was having such a hard time deciding upon one! This is a bit crazy but I’ve finished 2 so I’m making progress 🙂
Melody – I like tea too but for some reason I can only drink it in winter. I know, makes no sense! ha,ha…
Stephanie – Oh I can imagine that would be hard. I’ll try not to brag too much about all of my coffee shop outings 🙂
Ann (Table Talk) – Yes, the Club Dumas was great! Maybe that’s why this one feels a bit slower too. I haven’t gone back to it yet but I will. I do like the descriptions of Sevilla though!
dinu – I do enjoy having a couple going on but sometimes I do feel like I’m not making much progress. I guess it just depends what mood I’m in.
Kaite – Yea, I’d assume that London had a lot of coffee shops too. Well, hope you found a hazelnut latte 🙂
christine – ooh we were in sync girl! How was Shakespeare & Co? You gotta write up about that!
Isabel – It is translated and there’s a fantastic index of vocabulary which doesn’t just translate things but explains the context. Yea, poor Starbucks employees that will be out of jobs. I still go to Starbucks but mainly when I’m in Dallas as there are hardly any indie coffee shops there!
marie – the beginning was fabulous… the end not so much. I was really let down.
Lesley – I would recommend checking it out. I think it is worthwhile but I’m having some problems with the end of it. Ooh what Munro did you read? I need to visit your blog and see if you wrote about it.
I would find reading six books a little much too — I like to have around 4 or 5 going — preferably 4. I’m glad you’re enjoying the Taylor — I’ll have to read another one of hers one of these days.
Oooh, good luck!
PS, you finally broke me. I’ve been hearing about the Sunday Salon for a million years, and I finally joined!
Dorothy W. – Well, that was really a bit much for me too but I have finished two so it’s a bit more manageable now 🙂
Jordan – Yay, so glad you are joining on the discussion. I need to catch up with your blog 🙂
I want your life. Is that too much to ask?
Nancy, aka Bookfool – Ha,ha.. Today I was complaining about so many things. I think I needed to read over this post to remember what a fun weekend I had 🙂