Sunday Salon - April 12th

Happy Easter! 

Thank you to whoever recommended What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt. What a super story that was; I could not put the book down all while wanting to read to learn how it would turn out. I liked the characters, and the writing was interesting. A good insight into the art world and those who inhabit NYC.

I am now reading Columbine by Dave Cullen. It is a detailed accounting of the truth of what happened and how the press distorted the 'facts' at the time of the massacre. Another book I can not put down. The author is a reporter and his writing shows that: enough facts without getting bogged down. 

Next will be a happy story, I think!

Enjoy those Easter egg hunts, my book friends! 

Sunday Salon

Just finished The Way Through Doors - Ball. Whew! What a wild ride. It was clever without being too cute. I wanted to know how it would end and whether the author could possibly tie all these stories together. He did, and I didn't feel manipulated. A very satisfying read.

Six chapters into Every Man Dies Alone - Fallada. Good first-hand account of a German man who stands up to the Third Reich when his soldier son is killed. The characters, who all live in the same apartment building, and their mail lady have been introduced. I think she will join the man whose son died in resisting the SS. It is based on a true story, originally published in Germany in 1947, and recently translated and published here. 

Reading, too, in between the above which is intense and sad Delicate Edible Birds - Groff which I was delighted to find on the bookstore shelf after really enjoying The Monsters of Templeton. I prefer reading short stories as a break from intense reading or when I can't decide what book to read next. So far, the first two stories are good.

Short story writers who can place us readers in the middle of the story with the right amount of detail so we can understand what is happening are truly gifted. We, the readers of the good story writer, know we will be with the story and characters for a short time, but while reading we sense we have known them and the place for a long time. 

Hope every Sunday Salon member has a lovely Spring week!

Sunday Salon

Wow! The Way Through Doors - Jesse Ball has been fascinating: writing style and imagination. I am drawn into the story on top of the story within the story. I am so interested I let it take me all around and back again. I went to buy Jesse Ball's Samedi the Deafness and when it was on the shelf, I bought this instead. Good! Looking forward to that one soon to be on TBR.  

Sunday Salon

Isn't this March Madness Tournament so fun? This is the best time of year!

Finished the O'Connor biography - very good. As predicted, this week, I bought her Complete Stories.

Started The Help, but I am disappointed. I do not like or care about these characters.

Moved to The Mercy Papers; it's a realistic (non-fiction, in fact) telling of her mother's cancer death, but it is full of the family's real life memories. Recommended for anyone whose mother has not recently passed away. 

On a happier note, my golf game is improving!

It's been a good week. Hope the same was true for all of you.

Happy Reading, Sunday Saloners! Thanks for all your posts welcoming me last week.

Sunday Salon

I'm a first-time SS participant. Thanks for many months of pleasurable reading based on your recommendations. Just like all of you, I love to read. I am anxious and lost without a good book. I hunt on-line, ask my friends and visit bookstores till I crack the spine of a new and good book. then I visibly settle down and enjoy the literary journey.

I am really enjoying the Flannery O'Connor biography. Now, on my list to buy is her Complete Short Stories.

I am 1/2 way through The Kindly Ones. I am unable to write about it yet. I am repulsed and drawn in; I am horrified by the protagonist's actions and in awe of how the author has me right in the scene. All the while, my eyes keep on reading....

Have a good reading week, fellow Sunday Salon guests!