The Sunday Salon: Hiatus Over

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....

Unplanned Hiatus: As you might have noticed I took an unplanned hiatus. It was for several reasons. The major one is that I had been out of work of a while and starred looking (really hard) for a job. Notice that I used had... I found a job. The problem with finding a job is trying to find a way to fit in reading. I could read on the bus but for some reason I don't. Another reason that I was gone was that I was having really spotty internet connection. That problem was solved months ago, but that was on of the initial causes of my absence. The last and final reason was that I was in a reading slump. I just wasn't really interested in anything that I read. I am hoping that I am out of the slump, since I have so much to read.

Hosted Challenge: I am still hosting the Toni Morrison mini Challenge. I am hope people are participating and didn't drop out because of my absence. So, for the month of December, it looks like I will be reviewing one Toni Morrison book a week.

Current Challenges Status: Not counting the Toni Morrison Mini Challenge. I have signed up for 7 challenges this year. I still have 5 to complete. I am going to officially state in this post that I am going to fail at least one, I am bowing out of the Round The World Challenge. There is no way that I can complete it. I signed up to read 18 books, and so far I have only read 8. I will write a separate post on this fail, later in the week.

I may or may not be able to complete the 1% Well Read Challenge. I'm three books away from declaring victory, but I might have a problem getting the books The Handmaiden's Tale from the library in enough time. I am like number 4 on the list and they have 27 copies but the library here in Miami can be kind of slow at times.

With the Serial Reader Challenge, I have three more books to read in the L.A. Banks Vampire Huntress Series before I am complete. The next book is The Bitten, there is only one copy in the whole Miami-Dade, library system. I am number 4 on the hold list. I technically can declare a victory now, even with completing the VHL. I did read the Uglies Trilogy which wasn't apart of my original list. If I rearrange it a little, than I am done (the rules don't say I can't do this). I will decide latter in the month depending on if I get The Bitten.

Challenge Addiction: Now after stating that I might not complete the challenges that I signed up for, I am ready for new reading challenges. I will be repeating several challenges from last year, deleting some, and adding new ones.

The Returning Challenges:

1. TBR Challenge - great of getting some the books that have been sitting on my TBR pile forever off.
2. 1% Well Read Challenge - because I love list and this is a great way to challenge myself to read outside my comfort zone.
3. The Pulitzer Project - a nice perpetual challenge that gets me to read prize winning books. I normal don't pay attention to awards but enjoyed most of the Pulitzers that I have read so far.

New Challenges (so far):

1. Read Your Own Book Challenge - this should be a great challenge to combined with the TBR Challenge. It will get me to read some of my own books instead of them just collecting dust.

All together I think that I want to do about 3 additional challenges this year. I might add one perpetual challenge (like the Orange or Nobel) and do smaller challenges that perk my interest when I see them.

Coming Up This Week (Reviews Scheduled):

Dancing With Ana by Nicole Barker

Hair Story: Untangling The Roots of Black Hair in America by Ayana D. Byrd and Lori L. Tharps

Don't Move by Margaret Mazzantini

The Impostor's Daughter by Laurie Sandell