The Sunday Salon

It’s been a slow day here after an exciting week, both personally and in the blogging world.  It was Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and I won Best History/Historical Fiction blog!  In addition, I received my visa and reviewed some great books:

• On the Way to the Wedding, Julia Quinn
• Circus Queen and Tinker Bell: The Memoir of Tiny Kline, Tiny Kline
• Immortal, Traci L. Slatton
• The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea, Christopher Meeks

In case you hadn’t noticed, I have started posting fewer reviews.  I made it my goal for a little while to post a review a day, when I was backlogged, but I know that isn’t going to be realistic soon, so I’m going to stop posting reviews on meme days – Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  I’m still thinking about a fourth meme, but I’m not sure if I’m actually going to pick one up.  Three might just be enough for me.  I’ve got four or five reviews in my queue right now and I’m making good progress towards getting ahead for my adjustment period in England.

As for what I’m reading, I took a couple of days off from ARCs to read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  Wow.  I’m not done yet, but it’s making its way towards being as amazing as The Kite Runner.  My expectations were high and I’m pleased that they are being fulfilled.  Hosseini is going to have a lot to live up to if/when he writes another novel.

Back to ARCs; today I made two piles of them.  Books that have already been released and should be read ASAP, and books that will come with me to England.  There are 8 in the first pile.  There’s no way I’m reading 8 books in one week – maybe if I did nothing but read – so I’ve decided instead to read the hardcovers from both piles and then see what I can squeeze in before I go.  That means this week I’ll be reading The Dracula Dossier by James Reese (I am so excited for this book, it’s up next!),  Stalin’s Children by Owen Matthews, and The Popes of Avignon by Edwin Mullins.  If I have time left, I’ll read my two little ARCs, The Other Side of the Horizon by K. Lynch and A Civil General by David Stinebeck and Scannell Gill.  Realistically, I suspect that will be it for me this week, leaving me three immediate ARCs to take and seven to be reviewed in October.  Oh, and I will finish Passions and Tempers.  It’s getting slowly but surely read.

And then I have to par down the rest of my 250 strong TBR pile to a measly 10 or 15 books to bring with me!  What a difficult choice this is going to be …

Have a great week, everyone! Next Sunday, you will find me in the UK!