Sunday Salon - November 4, 2012

Well, another month has passed, and this one has been busy! I gave up on job prospects here in Ohio and decided to try the waters in Minnesota where my family (and many friends) live. I won't move until December, but I've already made one trip to move my stuff up there. I can't believe it costs less to make three trips in my car than it does to rent a truck!!! What's with that?

I also got lots of books read and participated in a few blog events. :)

Weekly Update

Reviews

The Poisoner's Handbook, by Deborah Blum

Assassin's Code, by Jonathan Maberry

Flesh & Bone, by Jonathan Maberry

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Events/Memes

• The first three books that I reviewed were for the R.eaders I.mbibing in P.eril VII event hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. That was my first time participating in the RIP event, and I really enjoyed meeting all the new bloggers and seeing good spooky/scary books to read!
• The last book reviewed was for the Harry Potter Read Along hosted by Lost Generation Reader. This event is still ongoing, but I'm beginning to fear that I won't make it through all the Harry Potter books in time! Oh well, I can continue them on my own. :)
• I participated in my second Feature and Follow Friday, a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. I found several new book blogging buddies there. I really like the you-follow-me I-follow-you rule. I think I'll generally try to return the favor to book bloggers who follow me on GFC from now on. It broadens my horizons and increases my own following. :)
• I joined Random Reads hosted by i'm loving books. I've been feeling trapped within a highly structured reading curriculum for a while now. This way, I can introduce one random book a month into my reading schedule. Yay for structured randomness! :D My random book for November is Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
• I joined Project Fairytale hosted by The Cheap Reader.  This event will take place either in February or March of next year. Each person chooses a different fairy tale, reads the original, reads a few retellings, and does a comparison. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? :) Sign-up ends on November 30th, so you can still join! (Vote for March! :p) My fairy tale is Donkey Skin. My introductory post is here. 

And now! Let me introduce the theme that I'm hosting in February 2012: Social Justice Theme Read

This is going to be an informal theme read where people can hop in at any time and   comment with a link to their blog posts about social justice (or social injustice). At the end, I'll have a wrap-up post including everyone's links. To see my potential reading list, you can read my introductory post. If you'd like to participate, you can sign up in advance at my intro post, or you can just jump in at any point as it suits you. If you sign up on my introductory post by February 7th, 2013 AND write one blog post / book review about social justice (or the lack thereof) you will be entered to win a $10 gift certificate from Amazon. 

Finally, my post popular blog post for this week was: Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff. I have no idea why this post is suddenly so popular. :)

October Wrap-up

Books Reviewed

1. The Headless Cupid, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
2. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J. K. Rowling
4. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor
5. Surprised by Joy, by C. S. Lewis
6. Devil's Pass, by Sigmund Brouwer
7. Narcopolis, by Jeet Thayil
8. Blood and Other Cravings, ed. Ellen Datlow
9. Pride and Prejudice (A Norton Critical Edition), by Jane Austen
10. The Poisoner's Handbook, by Deborah Blum
11. The Assassin's Code, by Jonathan Maberry

Additionally, I led a discussion of The Embittered Ruby, by Nicole O'Dell for the ACFW bookclub. 

Plans for November

Our theme in the 75ers group on LibraryThing is "New Novels November," so I will try to read a few books that were published in 2012. :) I'm also participating in a Russian Reading month over at Tuesday in Silhouette. I'll be reading Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov.

I'm participating in Let's Read Plays! hosted by Fanda at Fanda Classiclit and Dessy at Ngidam Buku. This is a year-long event in which we will read classic plays. This month, I'm reading Shakespeare's Hamlet.