The Sunday Salon

Good morning, Saloners!  You may (or may not) have noticed that it’s been a bit quieter around here for a while.  It’s not because I’m reading less – in fact, I have a large backlog of reviews to get written.  It’s because my laptop seems to have died an untimely death.  As most Dells seem to, it’s died after just about three years of use.  It’s had issues with crashing practically the entire time I’ve had it, but it’s now at the point where it will crash after about an hour, so I can’t spend any real time on it.  When it ceased turning on every time I pushed the button last weekend, I knew it was time for it to go.  It’s just too frustrating to start writing a review on a PC that will inevitably die before I’ve finished, so I’ve been mostly leaving the blog quiet until I can afford to buy a new laptop – hopefully shortly after the New Year and my birthday in January.  My husband has a PC (I’m on it now) but he does usually want to use it himself and it’s overall less convenient to just turn on quickly and write.  Unfortunately this also means I’ve been missing out on Twitter for a week and my world has been a lot less bookish, so I really want that new computer as soon as possible!

In other news, we’ve been busily preparing for Christmas.  This is a quick post because we’re off to go shopping for a few gifts.  We’re also hosting Christmas for the first time, as I believe I’ve mentioned, so we’ve been planning out our meal and what we’re planning on doing for the past couple of weeks.  This weekend we also went to the wedding of one of my husband’s cousins, which has made everything feel a bit more rushed!  It was a lovely wedding, but I’ve never done well in the company of other people’s extended families, and I hadn’t met most of the people there.

I’ve spent most of this week reading the wonderful Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker, a chunky epic fantasy that managed to occupy me for a good few days.  You’ll recall that I listed it as one of the books I was sure I’d read this year a few weeks ago, so I’m glad that I both finished it and really enjoyed it.  I’ve been kicking myself for not reading it earlier!  I aim to review it and a few other books this week, but it’s an uncertain prospect.  At least I’m still managing to get my goals accomplished – reading so many chunksters is time consuming but when I’m not on the computer, I do have more time!  Today I’m reading Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively, which is due back at the library tomorrow.  I’m halfway through and still not sure how I feel about it.  Hopefully I’ll have sorted it out by the time I’ve finished.

What are you up to this Sunday?  Preparing for Christmas?  Reading a good book?  Let me know!