Sunday Salon: May 14, 2017

My life in books:
Reading over the past couple of weeks wasn't too bad as I read these books and I've also been reading a couple books for work.

• Bai Tide by Erika Mitchell--Fun spy novel
• Bang by Barry Lyga--Excellent YA novel

• Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin--a mom goes missing and her kids really start thinking about her and what she means to them
• Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq by Sarah Glidden--
• Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan--a touching and great WWII resistance novel

Challenge updates:

• Read Your Own Damn Books--My goal is to read 25 books from my TBR shelves this year. So far I've read 23, adding 3 in the past two weeks. 
• Travel the World in Books--The idea is to read books set in as many countries as possible. I did really well with this challenge over the past two weeks! I added North Korea, South Korea, France, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria to my list since my last Sunday Salon. 
• Literary Escapes--Similar to the previous challenge, this one tracks the US states. This month I didn't add any new states. Bummer. 
• Read all of the ALA YA Award Winners--Sort of pathetic as I didn't read any for this challenge either. But, I only have two categories left.

My life outside books:

Working:
Nothing much to report except that I bought myself a stand-up desk, which makes me happy.

Family:

Circumstances allowed me to see my daughter for a couple days (the photo is her at prom a couple weeks ago), which was really nice, especially since my parents are out of town for the month. I forgot how quiet a house is when one is alone; I've been having the TV on much more so that there will be noise. :-)

Since I'll be alone on Mother's Day, my mom bought me a Liberty puzzle to work on. To be honest, at first I thought it was weird, but I am so glad she did. It's an activity that keeps me busy and I love Liberty Puzzles. If you are into jigsaw puzzles at all you should definitely check them out! They are only available online, cost a bit too much, are made of wood and

each piece is unique and a work of art on its own (the pieces are shaped like flowers, animals, bugs, people, etc). They have beautiful designs of Japanese art, landscapes, some patriotic, and more. These puzzles have become a standard Christmas gift in our house. Anyway, my mother really landed me with a tough one as every single piece is a shade of green!

And, it's Mother's Day here in the US so I've got to include a photo of my mom (with my dad). As I said, they are in the UK for a month so we won't celebrate together and, to be honest, I am not really one to do much for Mother's Day anyway; I feel like it's a Hallmark holiday. And since I live in the same house as my parents, I see my mother every day. But, she is wonderful, does so much for so many people, and is the glue of our family.




Watching:

• I bought an AppleTV so that I can watch Netflix (and other apps) on my TV. Does anyone else out there have an AppleTV and have any suggestions for me?

• I finally watched JK Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the Harry Potter connection was fun. I loved that the muggle, Jacob, was so involved; he was such a sweet character!
• I also watched Minority Report, which I hated and turned off after 30 minutes.
• The Amazing Race is heating up and we're down to only 5 teams. I do love seeing where they travel to and this season has been fun, especially the scenes in Italy. I want to go back to Italy so badly!
• My new TV obsession is Big Bang Theory. I've seen it before, but it is so darn good and funny!