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May
02
The Sunday Salon 5.2.10
2010 at 10am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Finally, a lazy Sunday! I’m right where I belong, on my favorite corner of the couch, in my PJs with what is seemingly a bottomless cup of coffee, and I couldn’t be happier. My best friend is visiting, and she’s curled up in the easy chair with Jenny Gardiner’s Winging It; the hound is snoozing in a sunny spot on the floor, and Bob is commencing with his Sunday morning puttering. All is right with the world.
And boy oh boy, has it been a week!
First, the bookish stuff. Thanks to urging from Jen and Heather, I read and LOVED The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni, and I can’t recommend it enough if you enjoy a quirky narrative voice and a fun coming-of-age story. I also (finally) finished reading Frederick Reiken’s Day for Night, which was awesome beyond words, and I can’t wait to share my review with you soon. But don’t wait for that—just take my word for it and go get it. You can thank me later.
Day for Night isn’t entirely Holocaust fiction, but a main narrative line involves tracing a family’s history back through the Holocaust, and the sections of the book that involve characters reflecting on their experiences surviving Nazi persecution were powerful and incredibly well-written. I was especially sensitive to this in the wake of Beatrice and Virgil—another Holocaust-themed novel—and ended up feeling like someone should send Yann Martel a note to let him know that 1) People DO write Holocaust fiction and 2) People do it better than he did! With all these thoughts churning around, I think it’s fair to say that there might be a compare/contrast blog post about this in the future.
Last week, I also shared a pillow talk post in which my husband laments the fact that I don’t obey, a tribute to my sister and her husband (they got married on Friday), and a wrap-up of my April reading.
I’m currently running a giveaway for a 16 x 20 canvas art print, and you have until this Friday to enter. I can’t wait to see some of the wedding pictures from this weekend so I can surprise my sister with a print of her favorite.
As I mentioned, my best friend Heather is visiting this weekend—she’s a pastor and officiated the wedding for my sister—and we’re hunkered down inside, trying to avoid the first really hot, sticky Virginia weekend. I started The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel last night and was really tempted to stay up all night finishing it, but wedding fatigue got the better of me. Can’t wait to dig into it more today.
Tonight, Heather and I will be joining the gang from Fountain Bookstore at an A.J. Jacobs event, so I will have to put on real pants at some point today, but I think Jacobs should be totally worth it.
In the coming week, look for reviews of Orange is the New Black, Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training, and Day for Night.
Also (and there will be a post dedicated to this soon, but I figure it can’t hurt to throw it in now), if you subscribe to The Book Lady’s Blog in an RSS reader, please check the feed and change it to http://feeds.feedburner.com/thebookladysblog if you’re not using that one already. I’ll be unveiling my new design and switching to self-hosting soon, and that will be the only feed available.
What are you up to today?
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Today is a working day for me! (Hence why I’m avoiding getting out of bed.) I thought The Singer’s Gun was pretty great, I’m glad you’re liking it! I’m hoping to get to The House of Tomorrow in the next couple of weeks.
I hope the Jacobs event is fun. I loved your remark about having to put on “real pants” for it. I know what you mean!
I like your blog! I’ve added a link to it from my blog, on a new Book Review Blogs page. I’ll soon be blogging about the importance of reviewers.
Thanks for doing what you do!
Thanks!
Man, so jealous of your lazy Sunday.Am sitting here with a stack of papers to grade. Drat!
My day was made when I got the library and discovered the air conditioning was (finally!) on. I had difficulty picking a work appropriate outfit for 87 degree weather. Enjoy A.J. Jacobs! I’ll look forward to hearing about it!
You HAVE had an amazing week! I hope the toast went well…no ugly crying? And you need to stop reading such great books! You are bad for my budget!!
There was a little ugly crying as she came down the aisle, but I made it through my toast dry-eyed!
I’m really interested to see your post on Day for Night – I love the notes you want to send Martel. lol
Wow, what a week! I’ve changed the subscription in my Reader.
Sounds like you have had quite a week in life and in reading! Looking forward to your review of Day for Night. I love well-done Holocaust fiction, so it sounds like it could be right up my alley. I’ll probably be done reading Orange is the New Black within the next few days. I’m really enjoying it, and I’ll be looking forward to reading what you’ve got to say about it, too!
Oh, thanks for the notice! I was definitely still subscribed to your old feed.
Thanks for the warning on your feed – I was also subscribed to the old one! I’m looking forward to the new design. Also to your review of Day for Night – I will be reading that for my June book club!
So, Rebecca, does that mean A.J. Jacobs is pants-worthy?
I suppose that could be some sort of sub-set of the pantyworthy authors?
Yay for lazy Sundays! We have rain, so I imagine that your heat and humidity will disappear later this week for you. I can’t wait to see wedding photos and what your new design will look like! When are you going to unveil it?
Can I say that if I were voting for most influential blogger, it would have to be you. I think you have single-handedly added about ten books to my wish list this week alone. Between you and Jen, I’m going to have to read faster!!
Just got my feed updated so as to not lose you in the transition. Can’t wait for the unveiling!
A lazy Sunday … I remember those! I used to have them before my son came along. I wonder if I will ever experience one again? Gosh I would love to see A.J. Jacobs.
thanks for the mention! I lOVE how relaxing your day sounded! To be able to don sweats for the day, carefree, is a good thing. And then to just read…dreamy. Hope the AJ Jacobs thing was a blast!
Hah! It’s not the opposite of pantyworthy, it just means you’re worth getting dressed for. I like it!
Well, it’s Monday now, but I have to say I’m jealous thinking of your Sunday! At the same time, I deliberately didn’t do a lot of “have to” stuff. My youngest daughter was off at her post-prom trip to a state park. First I fed 5 girls and gave lectures on staying on the path (people die on those “cliffs!”, etc. etc. I took one of the pictures from the night before and had Walgreens make a 5 by 7 — it’s just gorgeous! Then a friend of mine and I went walking — ended up going twice around the trail for at least 4 and 1/2 miles. Then, processing more prom pictures. I finally relaxed with Ovary Wars which has an original and unique idea for terrorism — unknowing sterilization of women, leading to no pregnancies and then to economic collapse. Quite thought-provoking. The author is Mike Hogan and it’s his first book, but not his last, I’m sure.