Sunday Salon...

Been a long time since I've Sunday Salon-ed. (It is okay to turn that into a verb, isn't it?) The reason for my long absence: I'm always so impressed with others' SS posts...they're so well-written, so thoughtful, so relevant...but me...well, I just tend to ramble. But. I've decided it's time to stop worrying so much all the time...I need to stop apologizing for being me.

Thanks to everyone who answered the question about how many books you have going at any one time. I wasn't alone in smiling at Wendy's use of the term "monogamous reader." But when I started thinking about carrying that analogy further, well... Seems I'm one promiscuous little hussy. ;) Perhaps I really should think of settling down. Keeping so many books happy all at the same time really isn't an easy thing to do, after all. But who do I kick to the roadside?

Oh, how I love my quiet moments with Twelve Moons by Mary Oliver.
And well, I've neglected Starry Rift for far too long as it is. The first several stories brought me such pleasure earlier this year. Do I now just toss it aside and forget simply because I'm busy?
And then we have Affluenza and The Jungle. I've made commitments. I must stick with them, for the sake of the child (in other words, they're for homeschooling).
And well, speaking of for the sake of the child, there's College-Prep Homeschooling.
And then there's The Scientists, Africa: A Biography of the Continent, and Collapse. Yes, I've fulfilled my commitments to them. I read as much of them as I needed to for school. But considering the time I've already invested into our relationships, do I now just say "good-bye" without seeing where they might lead?
And finally, there's Oh Pure and Radiant Heart. She's new. She's exciting. She's making me look at the world in fresh ways. I don't think I can bear to lose her right now.

And so you see my dilemma. Perhaps I'm just not meant to be a one book kind of woman. I've had a taste of playing the field, and I just can't seem to go back.

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Elsewhere in my bookish world...

I'm rarely one to indulge in retail therapy. Honestly. I'm more likely to drown my sorrows in plate of chocolate chip cookies. But I'm afraid this week my feelings of "overwhelmedness" coincided with Book Closeouts big kids/ya book sale. Yeah, I went a tad overboard. But allow me to rationalize just a bit...a.) how often can you get 29 books for $75?!! (and that includes shipping!), b.) they weren't all for me--I not only bought books for all three munchkins, but I picked up some gifts as well, and c.) some of these books were ones that were high on my wish list so not buying them now for $1.99 would have been stupid when I likely would have paid full retail for them sometime in the next few months.

Okay, before my lovely box of books arrives, I think I should just go ahead and update the Blame Game 3. Not many acquisitions, but all but one come with points to be handed out:

The Planets by Dava Sobel.

Though I've seen this book around since, it was Carl who first brought this book to my attention. Between the nice things he had to say about Dava Sobel's Galileo's Daughter and the extraordinarily beautiful cover on this one, well, I just couldn't help but order it when I saw it on PaperbackSwap.






Normal by Amy Bloom.

No question. Point for Eva. Absolutely couldn't stop myself from immediately hitting our library website and ordering this one after her awesome review.









Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators by William Stolzenburg.

No points. But I am clinging to the excuse that we're likely going to read this for environmental science this year.








The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

I can't tell you how excited I was to find this book at B&N yesterday! Ever since reading Nymeth's review, I have been dying to get my hands on this. And every time we went to a bookstore, I looked for it but no one ever had it. I'd pretty much resigned myself to ordering it, and I almost didn't even bother to look for it yesterday since they didn't have it the last time we were there. But anyway, Hooray!




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Do you enjoy sitting outside during the summer, reading and drinking a nice cold beer? Uh, forgive me...I couldn't find any other way to make this next little tidbit bookish in nature.

I'm so excited...we're going to start brewing beer again! (Okay, truth in advertising time: "we're" is probably more accurately stated as "Rich." But I'll help him as needed, and I'll enjoy the fruits of his labor. :D )