Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sunday Salon Update: Feb. 10, 2013



We enjoyed the comfort of watching the great blizzard on television from the comfort of couches in Virginia. We missed the excitement of a great storm—waiting in line at the supermarket the night before the hyped big one, filling the bathtub with water, hunkering in, watching whirls of white blastagainst kitchen windows and hoping the electricity wouldn’t fail --  an excitement we felt when we lived for so many years near Portland, Maine. Snow fall records were broken in that great small city.  Snow we are glad we are not shoveling today.
Nevertheless, we acted a bit like Saturday was a snow day. We lounged for hours with books, coffee, computers and the TV remote.
Still reading. Still luxuriating in the afterthoughts of reading and composing those thoughts into words.
This week’s harvest: books read: Ian Rankin’s Bleeding Hearts, Gene Kerrigan’s The Rage; listening to audiobook I should finish in the next few days: The Fault in our Stars.
 I have thrown myself into the Europa challenge. I thought I might read 6 books this year. Already I have read 3 and have two more piled in the TBR pile. I am enthusiastic, like a kid wanting to ride a new bike as much as possible. The quality of the writing is remarkable even when I’m not particularly fond of a book as I wasn’t with The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I could certainly see why it garnered so much crtitical attention in Europe and here. I am currently writing review of The Rage.  I’m very drawn to Kerrigan’s writing and I only wish there was more of it. A lot more.   Looking forward to “The Midnight Choir,” one of those books in my TBR pile.
One goal I have not met, and maybe I should abandon is finishing half written reviews of books I read during the time I was not posting. Some are so close, it seems a pity not to post them if only for my own satisfaction.

Sunday Salon is a group on Facebook.

2 comments:

  1. Yes, I think I wish push for a national Snow Day. February would be a good time of the year for it. Maybe even a Snow Week. What do you think?

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    1. I'm for it -- although in Virginia they do call off events, school etc. for glazings of snow or ice -- and given the roads, it can be treacherous driving. Also there are increasingly other big weather events. When I was in Maine, I often thought it would be nice to have Sun days or Great Weather days in the spring and fall -- days so beautiful it made no sense to try to work during them. Days the governor should spontaneously declare no work days. (So you have the surprise element.) Days you could go walk or read on the beach or enjoy the woods.

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