sunday salon

Via Maxine Clarke at Petrona, I learned of The Sunday Salon and thought I’d try to participate since weekends are when I do most my reading. (Late at night on weekdays, I use books more as a way to fall asleep than to get any meaningful reading done.)

Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week’s Salon get together–at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones–and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another’s blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one’s earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book.

Participation is open to anyone with a blog and a stack of unread books.

That’s me! Although in my case (and I’m sure in most of yours), the stack is really stackS plural. My situation has been made worse after Lilian introduced me to The Book People. I’m currently eyeing this Stranger Than Fiction set of 10 books of which I’ve only read The Perfect Storm.

My goal each month is to get through at least one non-fiction book and one fiction book each. Sometimes I end up having read more non-fiction than fiction or vice versa depending on my mood but it all balances out in the end (see my list of books read since 1995). This month, I’ve found my non-fiction book of choice, After Dolly, to be slow going. It’s not the writing that is hard to plow through but more the topic. I’m 100% saturated by thoughts of DNA on a daily basis and really need an escape!

What I’m reading now:

  1. Secret River by Kate Grenvile
  2. After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning by Ian Wilmut
  3. Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman

I’m sure I’ll be able to finish Secret River today and will push myself to finish After Dolly this week. I got Secret River after finishing This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson (highly recommended) about Charles Darwin and Captain Robert Fitzroy’s lives and their many-year journey to the Galapagos, Australia, and New Zealand.

Secret River reminds me of what an easy life I have (despite my complaints about housekeeping). Nobody I know clears land for planting food, lives in huts loosely constructed from eucalyptus bark, or eats moldy salt pork day in and day out like the early settlers of Australia and New Zealand. I think that’s why I need to read. To remind myself that there’s no place else I’d rather be and no other life I’d rather live. Life is good here and now.

Update: Join The Sunday Salon Facebook group!

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