Sunday Salon: January 3, 2021

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz runs The Sunday Salon. 

What I've been reading: 

 

• Until We are Lost by Leslie Archer (a TLC Tour)
• Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh
• The Book Collectors by Delphine Minoui

What it's like outside:

We got rain! 2 whole inches. Hey, you all may poo-poo 2 inches, but for drought-ridden southern California, it's great.

My one tree that makes me feel that we have seasons (even though we really don't) has shed its leaves and its bark has turned red. I love that the bark turns red!

What I've been watching:

My daughter and I finished What is Wrong with Secretary Kim? and it was wonderful, funny, romantic, and a great K-drama. I also finished Start Up, which was equally good but so very different. 

I watched the 2020 Christmas special for Call the Midwife as well. British shows really do Christmas specials well. One of my all time favorites is Call the Vicar,  which was on years ago!

What going on in my life:

New Year thoughts:

• I am not one for new year's resolutions.
• I do kind of like choosing One Word. For 2021, I am thinking about Connection since 2020 was so much about not having connection with people and places.
• I feel like we're all pinning huge hopes on 2021 to be vastly different from 2020, but I am also wary that things will not be better for quite some time.

Bookish thoughts this week:

The finalists for the CYBILS have been announced and reading for round 2 has begun. I am a judge for the YA Fiction and YA Speculative Fiction categories, which were combined this year due to the pandemic so have 14 books to read by early February. You can see my CYBILS finalist post here. Here are the finalists for each category. I am not allowed to post reviews of the books until we announce the winners next month.

How I am doing on my 2021 challenges

• A to Z (titles)--2 book total
• Alphabet Soup (author edition)--2 books total
• Big Summer Book Challenge--0 books total (this doesn't begin until the end of May)
• Children's Historical Fiction--0 books total
• Cloak and Dagger--1 books total
• Diversity--1 books total
• Historical Fiction--0 books total
• Literary Escapes Challenge--1 state and 2 countries total
• Popsugar reading challenge--2 books total
• YA Award Winners--0 books total (winners aren't announced until February)