Sunday, May 8, 2011

Sunday Salon - Back After a Break

I decided to take last week off from blogging when I realized on Monday or Tuesday that I had been out every night since the previous Tuesday and would be out every night for the remainder of the week, leaving me exactly zero time for online anything. Some of the stuff I was out doing was fun, like the Newburyport Literary Festival, going to my improv class and having dinner with friends; some of it was heavier but it was all important. But rather than clutter up my site with memes and filler I thought better to just step back. Now things are settling down again and hopefully my normal schedule can resume.

My theme this month is 2011 releases and I've been reading steadily despite the drought in blogging! I read The Dry Grass of August, by Anna Jean Mayhew, a coming of age story about race in the South that manages to be powerful without being yet another treacly rewrite of To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Last Brother, by Nathacha Appanah, required reading for lit fic readers and those interested in the Holocaust; I gave up, finally, on The Tiger's Wife, which just wasn't holding my attention, and finished the engaging What You See in the Dark, by Manuel Munoz. Then, after all that, I started The Elected Member, by Bernice Rubens, this month's Booker winner about a London Jewish family dealing with drug addiction. After I'm done with the Rubens I'll be taking on Stefan Merrill Block's new book, out in June, called The Storm at the Door; I won it from LibraryThing and I'm going to put everything else aside to read it immediately.

So as far as what to expect on the blog this week, I'll be reviewing Life and Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee, and Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively, to catch up on my Booker winners, and see what else I can come up with. Maybe a post on summer reads? I'm working behind the scenes on a new blogging project which I hope to be able to tell you about soon, too! And soon I'll have some reviews of a couple of the 2011 releases I've read recently.

It's nice to be back with you. I'm going to spend today relaxing and trying to catch up on your blogs. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. What are you up to today? Have a great Sunday whatever it is.

More Sunday Salon here.

9 comments:

Sandy Nawrot said...

YOur life sounds like mine! I actually long for an evening when I am home once in awhile. It is hard to keep up with blogging when we have ten irons in the fire! It sounds like your busy-ness hasn't stopped the reading though, and I can't wait to get the story on some of the ones you've been working on. I'm particularly curious about The Tiger's Wife. So much ranting and raving, but enough people have had issues too.

Anonymous said...

You'd think with my working only two part-time jobs and being a volunteer at a senior center, I'd have more time than I do, but I don't. Like you, I'm swamped, especially when little things come up with each of the jobs. Bottom line here: I can relate.

Other lines :): I am reading Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs, the second of the Temperance Brennan/Bones series, today, taking a break from the Harry Potter series. Only one more to go, but I'm trying not to gobble them all up.

Trisha said...

It definitely sounds like you need some time to relax!

JoAnn said...

Welcome back, Marie! I'll be looking for your review of Moon Tiger. It's been on my wish list for a long time.

Zibilee said...

Glad to see you back, Marie! There are some times when blogging is just too difficult to get to everyday, so I understand what you mean about having to take a break. I am also not surprised to hear that The Tiger's Wife was a DNF for you, as it seems that not a lot of people did like it, even if they finished it! Looking forward to your bloggy announcement!

bermudaonion said...

I'm glad to see you liked The Dry Grass of August. I'm anxious to read it after meeting the author.

Anonymous said...

I would be interested to read your thoughts on life and times of michael K. Really, really, looking forward to it.

Athira said...

Welcome back! I know how those weeks ago. I had something like that last week, and it's still busy this week. So I'm considering taking some time off as well. Hope you get some good reading/blogging time!

Michelle (Red Headed Book Child) said...

Nice to see you back! It needs to happen every once and awhile. I took mine unexpectedly when blogger crashed and I lost the blogs I was following. I was so fed up, i just didn't do anything for a few days.

Hope all else is going well with you!

Take care,
Michelle