The Sunday Salon is a virtual gathering of booklovers on the web, where they blog about bookish things of the past week, visit each others weblogs, oh — and read ;)
Today I wasn’t supposed to sit at my desk and type up a Sunday Salon. I should have been cheering Mr Gnoe, doing his 15k run across the ‘7 Hills’ in Nijmegen — along with 31.000 other people. Alas, he took up a fever yesterday and needs to stay in bed. I feel really sorry for him: he has been training for quite some time and today’s weather is awesome! To make things worse: it’s his sisters birthday and we were going to have cake with her at the finish line (my brother-in-law is in the race as well). Bummer.
Anyway, I had also hoped to start a new book on the train to Nijmegen — I haven’t picked up a novel since I closed the cover of Soulless on October 14th! :-o That’s almost 6 weeks ago!
True, I was able to finish the Pillow Book read-along in the meantime and have been continuing Geketende democratie: Japan achter de schermen (‘Democracy in Chains: Behind the Scenes of Japan‘), which is more non-fiction. But I couldn’t decide on a new novel.
I really miss curling up in my reading chair with a good story :( Please help?
Below you’ll find a selection of 8 books from Mount TBR. I would be so happy if you could tick one or two (yes, you may choose 2!) that you want me to dust of! The reason for your recommendation can be explained in the comments. Thank you so much!
More exciting news: I received the name of my Secret Santee in the Book Blogger Holiday Swap and got my present ready right the next day! Well, it still needs a finishing touch, but I’m really happy with what I got so far :)
Putting my package together for Carin’s Great Grocery Bag Exchange on A Little Bookish is turning out to be more of a ‘problem’ proving to be more of a challenge. Bags galore to choose from, but postage needs to stay in an acceptable range… Now I can’t decide on whether to send the two bags I decided on and just a tiny Dutch treat, or to throw out one of my choices and upgrade the goodies. *SIGH*
Life is hard ;)
Graasland 
14 reacties
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zondag 21 november 2010 bij 16:57
leeswammes
No novel since October 14th? This is shocking! I chose Oryx and Crake for you. It’s the only book in the list that I’ve read and I do think it’s something you would like.
So sorry to hear about Mr Gnoe falling ill! Hopefully there is another run soon that he can participate in. But what a disappointment!
My grocery bag postage came to €10-45 which I expected and that was fine with me. The presents inside are probably worth half that, but still. If you make sure your package fits through the letterbox it may be cheaper. Mine is a great big envelope that’s bulky but quite light in weight. Good luck with deciding what to include.
zondag 21 november 2010 bij 17:14
gnoegnoe
Thanks Leeswammes! Isn’t Oryx and Crake too misanthropic for a grrl already in a reading rut? LOL
€10.45 is the amount for a letter up until 500gr, packages are even more expensive! Somehow I find that a lot when the contents is worth way less… So I’d rather keep it under 250gr with other swap festivities going on too ;)
zondag 21 november 2010 bij 17:12
Yvonne
Hi Gnoe,
Hope Mr Gnoe is feeling better very soon. He must be pretty devastated after doing all that training.
I have also been pretty ill for most of the week with a stomach chill, so let’s hope that things get better for both of us.
The weather here in Southern UK is cold, dreary and windy so I don’t feel guilty about not going out.
I vote for the Margaret Attwood book, simply because I like her writing.
Enjoy whatever you choose
zondag 21 november 2010 bij 17:13
Caroline
Hi there, I just came from Novroz turtle blog and got hooked. I’m interested in vegetarian cooking as well. And books! I learned Dutch, believe it or not, so I will come back to practize. I recommend We Need to Talk about Kevin as this is a book I read in almost one sitting. I can’t say I liked it (too sad for that) but I found it absolutely fascinating, well written, important.
zondag 21 november 2010 bij 19:18
Maaike
I just finished a book and was planning to start in The Wasted Vigil. Would be nice to read it together!
Poor Mr Gnoe! Give him my best wishes.
zondag 21 november 2010 bij 20:04
Anna van Gelderen
I voted for The Woman in the Dunes and The Accidental, because I’d like to read them myself and would like to know what you think of them.
zondag 21 november 2010 bij 21:34
Mr Gnoe
I absolutely loved The Wasted Vigil. The stories in this book are often horrible and painful but written with so much compassion and written SO well…
and I’ve trying to get you to read this book, so the choice was easy :)
O, and thanks for all the kind wishes everyone :)
maandag 22 november 2010 bij 23:19
elma
We Need to Talk about Kevin. (And remember what happens to boekgrrls who don’t read…http://marathonwomanreturns.blogspot.com/2010/11/eemdijk.html)
maandag 22 november 2010 bij 23:25
elma
http://marathonwomanreturns.blogspot.com/2010/11/eemdijk.html
sorry, last link didn’t work. And I forgot my tip for Mr Gnoe – Bruggenloop Rotterdam on December 19th is a good alternative 15k for the 7Heuvelloop. Look on the positive side – you have an extra month to train for it…
dinsdag 23 november 2010 bij 00:42
Janny
ah, such bad luck. Hope mr Gnoe feels well again very soon .
And if you choose We need to talk about Kevin. It’s on my reading list as well, so I’ll join you.
dinsdag 23 november 2010 bij 16:22
gnoegnoe
Thank you all who’ve voted and responded so far!
@Maaike: Let’s stay in touch and read Nadeem Aslam together!
@Janny: Same thing: I’m all for reading We Need to Talk About Kevin together!
woensdag 24 november 2010 bij 22:57
elsje
As promised… I just voted for Aslam. In addition, I voted for Atwood, since I am an avid Atwood reader. Haven’t read Oryx and Crake however… so I might join you #buddyread :-)
donderdag 25 november 2010 bij 16:42
Maaike
haha, elsje, you’re making it even more complicated. Poor gnoe! I’m getting curiouser and curiouser what her choice will be!
maandag 6 december 2010 bij 23:31
It’s Monday! What Am I Reading? « Graasland
[…] Two weeks ago I held a poll about what book to read next. Nadeem Aslam’s novel The Wasted Vigil is a clear winner and I’d really love to pick it up soon and buddy read it with my friend MaaikeB. She’s already started! […]