Sunday Salon: November 3, 2019

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz has taken over running The Sunday Salon.

My life in books over the past week: 

• November Road by Lou Berney
• 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston
• Allies by Alan Gratz

Challenge progress:

• A to Z Reading--I have read books with titles for 21 letters so far: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W.
• Diversity Reading Challenge--I have read 56 books.
• Literary Escapes--I have read books set in 33 states so far, adding no new states in the past 2 weeks. I have read in 51 countries so far, adding Okinawa in the past 2 weeks.
• Motif Reading Challenge--The October motif is "Tricks and Trades" (books set in a theater, an amusement park, a circus, or a book involving magic, illusions, or characters with special powers.)
• Non-fiction--I have read 23 books so far.

Completed challenges:

• My Own Books--I read 21 books off my shelves from March 15 to May 15, 2019.
• Big Book Challenge--I read 8 books over 400 pages during the summer.
• YA Award Winners--I have read all 11 winners

My life outside books:
I spent three days this past week at a conference in Palm Springs with a large number of my colleagues. The conference wasn't as great as I hoped it would be, but it's always good to learn new things and think about old ideas in a new way.

Unfortunately, I got a touch of illness at the conference and on Friday was hit with a sore throat and fever. Yuck. By this morning the fever and sore throat are both gone though I can tell I am not at 100% yet.

And my state seems to be on fire these days though we are at least an hour away from the closest one. I do feel for the people who are evacuating since that was us two years ago.

My daughter was home last week for her October break (her college gives them 9 days!). We had weather in the 80s and a fun week of chatting, walks, and just hanging out (she's with my dad in this photo). It was great to see her. One of our outings was to the new Target. Can you believe we haven't had one until now?!

It's always a good day when our local independent bookstore has a 20% off sale! 

Oh, I finished all 8 seasons of Call the Midwife. What a wonderful series. Have you seen it? It follows a set of midwives and nuns as they work in east London from 1957 to 1964 and it's wonderful to see the political and social changes taking place and to be swept up in the stories of the women's lives.