The first Sunday Salon

Sunday Salon is a weekly event in which bloggers share their reading and comment on others doing the same. It’s a mini readathon and an excuse for bloggers to find time in the week to read together. January has been a miserly month for reading as I get back to the old routine. I’ll be very busy until April, and beyond that, uncertainty abounds in reading times. I hope Sunday Salon can remind me to blog and take some time to read for fun. I am not going to promise to do this every week, and doubtlessly, the amount read and blogged will probably vary. TSS will also allow me to muse on reading, allow me time to contemplate and note observations as I read, and do some bookish linking.

Today, I finished reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; the review will be up tomorrow. I started it nearly three weeks ago, and I read two thirds of it today. I much prefer to read books in a couple of sittings rather than spread over a long time in bits. I find I lose the train and sense of the book if I read it in too many sittings. It works sometimes as my life sort of becomes parallel or I start to slowly absorb the book (Of Human Bondage summer before last). Most of the time, I find I hard to get back into the book over such few readings as I like to be engrossed completely over a short period. It can’t be helped that I have books ongoing for weeks on end though, and especially since I am so busy.

I must announce that I am going to actually fail one of my reading challenges. The Seafaring Challenge ends January 31, and I have not touched either Horatio Hornblower books I said I would read. Partly because I only managed to get one of them. Ah well, this will teach me not to join any more challenges less than six months.

There is still some time this evening so I may pick up graphic novel later on in the night. My TBR piles are getting out of hand so I weeded a couple of books today. Not many because I do not like weeding.

Upcoming Books: I just subscribed to read The Last of the Mohicans on Daily Lit. Never used to service, and I am not a big fan of reading books off the computer, but I just had a last minute switch for my Decades challenge. The 1820’s does not seem to be a really enticing literary decade. I don’t have TLotM in book form, but I requested a copy so the DailyLit ones can hold me off til then.

Next weekend, I am going spend a lot of time reading books for school. Life and Times of Michael K is going to be read for an online book group in February so that’ll be picked in the near future. I also have all the graphic novels necessary to finish the Graphic Novel challenge so I’ll wrap it up next week or so.

Literary Links:

100 Books Every Child Should Read (Introduction) – Features a lot books I liked as a child.

Pirate Coelho  – Paul Coelho (The Alchemist) is pirating his own books because he is convinced that free copies of the book increases book sales.

Books that make you dumb – Someone used Facebook and SAT scores to determine people’s favourite books. Are there people in Facebook that actually list “I Don’t Read”? Given, I don’t even add my favourite books when I’m on it. In any case, I have no idea what my SAT scores are any way, but the results are amusing none the less.

7 thoughts on “The first Sunday Salon

  • Debra Hamel

    I feel the same way about reading books in a few sittings, when possible. I lose the train of thought, too. Short books are good!

    I read both Frankenstein and Of Human Bondage roughly a lifetime ago. Can’t say anything intelligent about either, except that I became a big fan of Somerset Maugham for a time and read everything by him I could get my hands on.

    Also: I really love the design of your blog.

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  • Ann Darnton

    I have to admit to never having read ‘Frankenstein’ but I’m going to have to as I shall be teaching it in September. I’ll be interested to see what you thought of it. For the most part, I agree about preferring to read in just a couple of sittings, but some books seem to beg for a much slower read. I’ve just finished and posted on Richard Russo’s new novel, ‘Bridge of Sighs’ and that was just such a book – absolutely remarkable.

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  • Andi

    I read Frankenstein in October and absolutely loved it. Much more than I actually expected to, so I’m excited to read your thoughts on it when you get them posted.

    Reply
  • Clare D

    Yes, I agree about the few sittings ‘policy’ too. I really ought to read Frankenstein – I hear it’s excellent. I read another well-known horror story – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde a couple of years ago and was most impressed. I was surprised, really, because it seemed quite fresh somehow.

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  • Debra Hamel

    Some years ago I read Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and The Invisible Man all around the same time. I wanted to because we are so seeped in these stories, we know them so well, and yet I (and probably a lot of people) had never read them. We’ve soaked them up through Bugs Bunny cartoons and other modern references. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. It’s been a long time, but I remember being kind of surprised that, say, Dracula was not more immediately gripping, surprised that a rather slow epistolary novel could have so captured the throat of society.

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  • Wendy

    Hi Athena! I think you and I share a few groups together 🙂 Welcome to the Salon! It is great to read the posts, and I find it an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday! I have yet to read Frankenstein – it just hasn’t appealed to me, but maybe someday!! Life and Times of Michael K is also on my TBR pile for February 🙂

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