Readerbuzz

The Sunday Salon: Heart-Shaped Bruise

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome! We are happy that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon.

What is the Sunday Salon?

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

I am home after taking care of three dogs, five ducks, hundreds of chickens, and a horse with my daughter-in-law's Aunt Susie while my son and his family went on vacation.

I am exhausted.

What I Read Last Week:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson (Nonfiction)

The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim (Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Chicken Sitting

Books with Handwriting on the Cover

Make Life Happier: 23 Practical Ways to Feel Better, Find Meaning, and Make a Difference by Mark Williamson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

A Carolina Wren

is nesting in a hanging basket

on our front porch.

Photo from iNaturalist.

Good Thing #2:

I did not photograph any

new-to-me birds in East Texas,

but at dawn, when I awoke each morning,

I heard this one, a Chuck-Will's Widow:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/369657895.

Good Thing #3:

At my age, I bruise easily.

I got this bruise from trying to

quickly close a chicken pen.

It's a reminder to me

of my purpose here on Earth.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

Make Life Happier: 23 Practical Ways to Feel Better, Find Meaning, and Make a Difference by Mark Williamson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

Make Life Happier:

23 Practical Ways to Feel Better, Find Meaning, and Make a Difference

by Mark Williamson

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: 2026

Page Count: 392 pages

Summary:

This book offers 23 practical ways to make life happier. It's based on evidence from the latest scientific research combined with unique insights from the author plus proven ideas that he has helped thousands of people to adopt successfully in their everyday lives.

It goes much deeper than typical self-help advice, covering a wide range of themes which contribute to lifelong wellbeing. Crucially, the book combines actions you can do to improve your own happiness with actions that benefit others too. The first part covers self-care themes such as mindfulness, optimism, self-acceptance, goals and purpose. The second part covers relational themes, including listening, vulnerability, forgiveness and community.

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

I'm not a happiness gury and this book can't change your life.

So why am I writing it---and why should you keep reading?

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky.

Despite good intentions, I really struggle with my tech use and often find myself staring at a screen instead of being there for my kids, listening to someone, enjoying a meal, or noticing my surroundings.

Mark Williamson is the CEO and host of the British series, Action for Happiness. He was trained as an engineer, and he applies hard science to ways to find more happiness in our lives.

I'm a huge fan of Action for Happiness and I wanted to read this book so much that I pre-ordered the book from Great Britain last April and I've been reading it ever since.

I've listened to a couple of dozen speakers on happiness at the Action for Happiness website, I've taken the six-week Happiness Habits course, and I download the monthly happiness calendar to point me in the right direction each day.

The official book launch in US and Canada will be later, so the book isn't currently on Amazon or other stores here. These British retailers ship internationally, so please order here instead: Blackwell's or Waterstones.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

How do you decide which books to highlight on your blog? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

I highlight books I love and want to share with others.

Books with Handwriting on the Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

The Sunday Salon: Chicken Sitting

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome! We are so glad that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon.

What is the Sunday Salon?

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

I am spending the week up in East Texas with my daughter-in-law's aunt, Susie, taking care of chickens while my son and his family take a vacation to Nashville. To give me strength and courage while trying to care for 200 chickens (last time we did this, Susie fell and I got pecked by a mean rooster), I'm wearing my Texas chicken earrings my daughter-in-law and son gave me.

Please forgive me for not visiting your blog this week. I promise to catch up when I get back home next week!

What I Read Last Week:

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (Nonfiction)

The Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Children's Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson (Nonfiction)

The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim (Fiction)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: My Library Card Collection, Nine 1001 Children's Books Read, and Ready for the 20 Books of Summer

Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1, 2, and 3:

I plan to follow the Joyful June calendar every day this month.

Day 1 is "Decide to look for what is good every day this month." Yes!

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

The Good Earth

by Pearl S. Buck

Genre: Fiction

Published: 1931

Page Count: 356 pages

Summary:

First published in 1931, ''The Good Earth'' by Pearl S. Buck, set in early 20th-century China, is the famous and memorable saga following the life of Wang Lung. It portrays an authentic, detailed picture of Chinese life and follows Wang Lung from a humble farmer to a prosperous landowner, highlighting themes of class mobility, family struggles, and the importance of the land.
Key themes include marriage, parenthood, human emotions, reverence for the land, and the conflict between old and new ways of life.

The novel won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and contributed to Buck receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

It was Wang Lung's marriage day.

Buck, Pearl S.. The Good Earth Trilogy: The Good Earth, p. 1. Kindle Edition.

The old man slept day and night, and ate what was given him and there was still strength in him to creep about the dooryard at noon when the sun was warm. He was more cheerful than any of them and he quavered forth one day in his old voice that was like a little wind trembling among cracked bamboos,

“There have been worse days—there have been worse days. Once I saw men and women eating children.”

“There will never be such a thing in my house,” said Wang Lung, in extremest horror.

Buck, Pearl S.. The Good Earth, p. 56. Kindle Edition.

What’s the quirkiest or most unexpected place you’ve ever read a book, and why? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

A cornfield.

Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

No judgment, please. These are books I should have read. But I have not. If there is something on this list that you loved or if there is something you hated, please share your thoughts in the comments. If you have never read these either, I'd appreciate any commiseration you can offer.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

The Sunday Salon: My Library Card Collection, Nine 1001 Children's Books Read, and Ready for the 20 Books of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 30 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome! We are happy that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon.

What is the Sunday Salon?

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

My dad's wife, Rosa, celebrated her 97th birthday, and we went to a baby shower for our soon-to-arrive great-nephew, Cooper, and the birthday party of our great-nephew, Jack, 2, last week. I went to my swimming class a couple of times, and it felt good to be back in the pool with my friends. I'm now an official member of the Flamingos, called the Flams for short, a 30-year-old writing group that meets every Friday in Galveston.

What I Read Last Week:

South to America:

A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

by Imani Perry (Nonfiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson (Nonfiction)

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (Nonfiction)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim (Fiction)

The Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Children's Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Home from Georgia

My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors

Summer Reading Challenges 2026

Sift: The Elements of Good Baking by Nicola Lamb

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I do yearly challenges, but I also like to do perpetual challenges. Last week, I worked hard on one of my perpetual challenges, the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up challenge. Last week, I read some of these books I've found on Internet Archive, a library of books that you can read for an hour at a time online. Here's what I read last week:

The Lark and the Laurel by Barbara Willard

The Little Captain and the Pirate Treasure by Paul Biegel

Hurrah for St. Trinian's by Ronald Searle

Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver by Michael Ende

Los suenos del sapo by Javier Villafañe (in Spanish)

El sapo que quería ser estrella by Oscar Alfaro (in Spanish)

Tatu and Patu in Helsinki by Aino Havukainen

Cuentos pintado y morales by Rafael Pombo (in Spanish)

Mi reino por uno caballo by Ana Maria Machado (in Spanish)

Now I need to find and read the last 184 books I have left on the list.

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

I added two more library cards to my collection,

one from Georgia and one from North Carolina.

Good Thing #2:

We had nine inches of rain last week,

but we were dry, and the water quickly soaked into the ground.

Good Thing #3:

It was fun to get ready for the 20 Books of Summer

last week, and to see what all the other participants are reading.

I ended up adding a couple of good books to my list

from ideas others had listed.

How did your week go?

Did you read anything you would recommend?

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 29 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

by Bill Bryson

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: 1998

Page Count: 279 pages

Summary:

Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.

For a start there’s the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson’s acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America’s last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is a modern classic of travel literature.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town.

A sign announced that this was no ordinary footpath but the celebrated Appalachian Trail. Running more than 2,100 miles along America’s eastern seaboard, through the serene and beckoning Appalachian Mountains, the AT is the granddaddy of long hikes. From Georgia to Maine, it wanders across fourteen states, through plump, comely hills whose very names—Blue Ridge, Smokies, Cumberlands, Green Mountains, White Mountains—seem an invitation to amble.

Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, p. 1. Kindle Edition.

Then, with as much pride as if I had baked them myself, I brought out a little surprise—two packets of Hostess cupcakes.

Katz’s face lit up like the birthday boy in a Norman Rockwell painting.

“Oh, wow!”

“They didn’t have any Little Debbies,” I apologized.

“Hey,” he said. “Hey.” He was lost for greater eloquence. Katz loved cakes.

Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, p. 56. Kindle Edition.

First review (1999): Bill Bryson. A middle-aged guy and a friend hike the 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail...or, at least, 890 miles of it. Funny.

Second review (2011): Reread: Oh, how I love Bill Bryson. He's everything I look for in an author. A good writer. Brave, but not too much. Human. And funny. Most of all, funny.

So last week I reread A Walk in the Woods. I reread it slowly. It was one of those books you don't want to end. All along the way you are laughing. You just have to laugh at Bryson. He tries to do the hard thing, but it's...well, hard. And his companion, Katz, is equally human. Quintessential Americans.

So much fun.

Third review (2026): I brought this book along on our trip to Georgia last week. My goal was to walk part of the Appalachian Trail. The start of the trail is in Georgia, but the start is nine miles from a highway. That wasn't doable for me. Instead, I found a place where the trail (1) crossed a main road, and (2) there was a parking lot for my car.

I found it. Unfortunately, the trail was both rocky and steep. I did not want to fall. So I walked the Appalachian Trail. The entire width of it. Yes, about eighteen inches. And then I revised my hiking plan for the day and walked on a track running parallel to the Appalachian Trail, through the Chattahoochee National Forest, a path neither rocky nor steep. It was lovely.

I'm still reading the book. It's still just as humorous as it was the first two times I read it. And now I have a much better idea of what Bryson and his sidekick experienced.

Does the headline “Must-Read Books” grab your attention? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

It depends on who wrote the headline. If it is a blogging friend, yes. If it is a publicity team, no.

Sift: The Elements of Good Baking by Nicola Lamb

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Thu, 28 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

I have a lot of cookbooks in my TBR, and there is nothing my husband loves more than for me to cook. To inspire me, I took photos with 24 cookbooks I have and I've prescheduled one post a month for the next two years. I'll plan to link up with In My Kitchen, hosted by Sherry's Pickings, and Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker). To further inspire me, I've created a Cooking/Baking Challenge for me for 2026 in which I read and bake from and post about one cookbook a month.

I'm not a math-y person. I forced myself to take every math class I could find when I was young. I always had high hopes that one day I would find a math class that was just for me. It never happened.

Sift is a baking book for math-y people. I've been told over and over that it is important to measure precisely when baking, but I just can't make myself do that. After all, my grandma baked biscuits and pies and cakes all ninety-eight years of her life without owning measuring spoons or cups.

So, I read Sift and numbers and percentages and ratios floated through my brain. Nothing stuck. I didn't try making anything in the book. Why? Because I didn't want to.

You, though, you who weigh your flour and carefully follow all directions? You who read math books for fun? This is a book for you. I will not rate this book because it is more a measure of my incompetence than of this baker/author's skills.

Be a part of the friendly In My Kitchen (IMK) community by adding your post at Sherry's Pickings each month - everybody welcome! We'd love to have you visit. Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month. Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on. And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related. The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

Weekend Cooking was created by Beth Fish Reads and is now hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker). It is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Image-in-ing, Soul and Mind and So On, Wild Bird Wednesday, and My Corner of the World.

Summer Reading Challenges 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Wed, 27 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Summer is a great time for those of us who like to try a challenge or two.

Big books. A lot of people like to take on a big book for summer.

And fortunately for all of us who enjoy big books, Sue Jackson of Book by Book hosts a Big Book Summer Reading Challenge.

Here's a little about the challenge.

The idea behind this reading challenge is simple: Use the ease of summer to tackle a Big Book (400+ pages) or two or ... however many you want! You set your own goals. And if it is the start of winter where you live, then it's your Big Book Winter Challenge. Everyone is welcome to participate.

The Details:
Hey, it's summer, so we'll keep this low-key and easy!

Anything 400 pages or more qualifies as a big book.
The challenge runs from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend (May 22 this year) through Labor Day (September 7 this year).
Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal. Wait, did you get that? You only need to read 1 book with 400+ pages this summer to participate! (though you are welcome to read more, if you want).
No sign-ups are necessary! All readers are welcome to participate.

What kind of books "count"? All kinds! Middle-grade, YA, graphic novels, classics, all genres, all types--as long as they are at least 400 pages. Yes, e-books and audio books count, too--just check online for the number of pages in the print edition.

My potential reads:

Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Lacios - 400 pages

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen - 418 pages

Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel - 482 pages

The Earth by Émile Zola - 512 pages

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser - 557 pages

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - 592 pages

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - 992 pages

Two are book club reads---Pillars and Beyond Words---so those are the two I'm most likely to read.

But maybe you are not a person who enjoys reading big books. Maybe you like to read in quantity over the summer. In that case...

When Cathy of 746 books announced in 2025 that she would not host 20 Books of Summer this year after ten successful years, Emma of Words and Peace and Annabel of AnnaBookBel both volunteered to take it on. This year, Annabel will run the challenge alone.

The 20 Books of Summer2026 (#20BOS26) challenge runs from Sunday June 1st to Sunday August 31st
The first rule of 20 Books is that there are no real rules, other than signing up for 10, 15, or 20 books and trying to read from your TBR.
Pick your list in advance, or nominate a bookcase to read from, or pick at whim from your TBR.
If you do pick a list, you can change it at any time – swap books in/out.
Don’t get panicked at not reaching your target.
Just enjoy a summer of great reading and make a bit of space on your shelves!

Annabel will have monthly summary posts where you can add progress reports and recommendations. The final one at the at the beginning of September will stay open for a while to catch all the last reviews.

If you’re planning to join in please do add your blog / planning post link to the Mr Linky here.

Here are my (planned, but subject to change) 20 Books of Summer:

*Bake Happy by Judith Fertig.

*Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

*The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim

*Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina.

*Don't Call It Art by Austin Kleon.

*Serena by Ron Rash.

*Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Mcfarlane.

*The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.

*Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson.

*Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne.

*The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

*The Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy

*The Earth by Émile Zola

*Uncharted by Gordon Ramsay

*Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson

*The War of the Buttons by Louis Pergaud

*A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

*My Friends by Frederik Bachman.

*East Post Like by Emily Arden Wells

*Write Yourself Out of a Corner by Alice LaPlante.

*Paris Metro Tales by Ruth Paget

*The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

*The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

*The Lark and the Laurel by Barbara Willard.

*Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

*The Shippers by Katherine Center.

*The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith

*The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse

Do you have any special plans for your summer reading?

Do you like to plan things out or are you more of a person who likes to read at whim?

Previous years' posts about summer reading:

Summer Reads: Seventeen Summer-Filled Books You Might Consider for Your Summer Reading This Year

Summer Reading Challenges

My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Tue, 26 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

My ~~ten~~ ~~eleven~~ ~~twelve thirteen~~ fifteen favorite authors and my favorite book by each one are:

Pearl S. Buck...The Good Earth

William Steig...Rotten Island

Annie Dillard...A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

James Thurber...The 13 Clocks

J.R.R. Tolkien...The Hobbit

Ruth Krauss...How to Make an Earthquake

Edith Wharton...The Age of Innocence

Sinclair Lewis...Main Street

Maira Kalman...The Principles of Uncertainty

Alexandre Dumas...The Count of Monte Cristo

Larry McMurtry...Lonesome Dove

Anne Lamott...Traveling Mercies

Sid Fleischman...Chancy and the Grand Rascal

George Orwell...Animal Farm

Robert M. Pirsig...Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Do we share any of the same favorite authors?

Do we share any of the same favorite books by the same favorite authors?

The Sunday Salon: Home from Georgia

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 23 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon.

What is the Sunday Salon?

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

We will be on our way home today from our trip this week to the Georgia mountains.

What I Read Last Week:

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel (Fiction)

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Fiction)

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts (Nonfiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson (Nonfiction)

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry (Nonfiction)

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (Nonfiction)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Baby Alligators on Mother's Day

Favorite Minor Characters

Yesteryear: A Novel by Caro Claire Burke: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:
Almost everything we had for supper

was from our garden.

Good Thing #2:

I picked up my t-shirt for

the adult summer reading program.

Good Thing #3:

Flowers are everywhere.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

Yesteryear: A Novel by Caro Claire Burke: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 22 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

Yesteryear: A Novel

by Caro Claire Burke

Genre: Fiction

Published: April 9, 2026

Page Count: 400 pages

Summary:

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children―they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

This is the last day of the life I imagined for myself.

In the daylight, it's easier to see how ramshackle this house truly is. The floorboards are old and rotted. Through the ceiling eaves in the kitchen, I can see slivers of sky...In this kitchen, there's no hidden pantry containing a massive refrigerator, two dishwashers, and a microwave...

What do you think about rising prices for hardcovers, paperbacks, and eBooks?

It's important that people are able to read and think about what is going on in the world. Books should always be affordable.

Favorite Minor Characters

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Tue, 19 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

In all my favorite books I have favorite minor characters.

Lonesome Dove has Gus and Call, of course, but it also has Lorena and Newt.

I love Calvin and Charles Wallace as well as Meg in A Wrinkle in Time.

It's obvious who the title character is in Anne of Green Gables, but who can resist Marilla and Matthew?

India Opal Buloni and her father, The Preacher, and the dog, Winn-Dixie? I adore all the characters, minor and major, in Because of Winn-Dixie.

How often do you run across Death as a character in a novel? It's Death that makes The Book Thief so poignant.

By the Great Horn Spoon is full of crazy characters: 12-year-old Jack Flagg; his butler, Praiseworthy; Jack's Aunt Arabella; and the dastardly Cut-Eye Higgins.

There's Head of Ranch Security, Hank the Cowdog, of course, but there's also his loyal assistant, Drover; Hank's chief annoyance, Pete the Barn Cat; two buzzards, Wallace and Junior; two coyote brothers, Rip and Snort; and the humans, ranch owners High Loper and Sally May, and their kids, Little Alfred and Baby Molly. All the characters of the Hank the Cowdog series are favorites.

You never know what characters you will encounter in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, but I have come to love inept wizard Rincewind and his luggage and Cohen the Barbarian, the tourist Twoflower, and witches Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching. Oh, and, you can't forget Death.

Don Quixote has the lost dreamer himself but also the wonderful Sancho Panza.

You might be thinking about reading The Count of Monte Cristo now that you've seen the series on PBS. I encourage you to do that. You love The Count in all his pain and hurt, but you will also find yourself intrigued, I think, to read more about Mercedes and Abbé Faria, and the wicked Danglars and Fernand Mondego and Gérard Villefort.

The Sunday Salon: Baby Alligators on Mother's Day...and a New Classics Club Spin!

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 16 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome! I am glad that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon.

What is the Sunday Salon?

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

Intarsia

I'm leaving on Sunday for a week in the mountains of Georgia. My husband is going to a lapidary school to learn intarsia and I shall be hiking and, of course, reading and writing and drawing.

What I Read Last Week:

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds

by Jennifer Ackerman (Nonfiction)

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts (Nonfiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson (Nonfiction)

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel (Fiction)

The Classics Club has issued the announcement of the Classics Club’s 43rd CC Spin.

What is the Spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday 17th May, 2026, create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List.

You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.

On Sunday, May 17th, The Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by Sunday, July 5th.

Let's see who can make it the whole way and finish their spin book!

I have a lot of books to read on my latest Classics Club list. Let's see where the needle stops.

So here is my list.

1. Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasure by J. Frank Dobie

2. Afoot in England by W. H. Hudson

3. Lost Horizon by James Hilton

4. The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse

5. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson

6. Bevis: The Story of a Boy by Richard Jefferies

7. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

8. Brendon Chase by B. B.

9. The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim

10. In the Mountains by Elizabeth von Arnim

11. Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton

12. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

13. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

14. The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen

15. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

16. In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor

17. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym

18. Stowaway to Mars by John Wyndham

19. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

20.The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

Have you read any of these?

Do you recommend any of these?

And the spin has stopped on number…

Note: Originally, I had Far from the Madding Crowd listed as #9, but, upon checking my past reviews, I remembered that I'd spent the summer of 2015 reading this book, and I am not interested in a reread. So, forgive me for cheating, but I've put in The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim here.

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Reading Nonfiction

Cultivating My Garden

Enormous Wings by Laurel Frankel: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

A friend took this picture

at the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

on Mother's Day.

Now doesn't this make your own swarm

feel much more manageable?!

Good Thing #2:

A friend made me this

lovely patisserie.

How did she do this?!

Good Thing #3:

Is there anything better than

receiving a book as a gift for Mother's Day?

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 15 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

Enormous Wings

by Laurie Frankel

Genre: Fiction

Published: May 5, 2026

Page Count: 303 pages

Summary:

At seventy-seven, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas―that would be her three grown children―but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. She fears it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more shocking: She’s pregnant.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

You know how it ends.

Everyone in the whole world knows how it ends.

Of course that's true anyway for all of us, no matter what.

When Alice annouced she was adopting twins, I had reminded her of this conversation. "Babies need their laundry washed and their meals cooked and their clothes shopped for and their egos stroked all the time, you know. You have to clean their bathroom sometimes several times a day."

"But only for eighteen years," said Alice. "Then they're grown up and off your to-do list."

I couldn't tell her how untrue that was. Some things you just can't know until they actually happen to you.

Are you team dog-eared pages or strictly no creases? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

Sometimes I dog-ear. Sometimes I keep a book pristine.

Cultivating My Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Tue, 12 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

From Candide by Voltaire:

“As Candide went back to his farm, he reflected deeply on the Turk's remarks. He said to Pangloss and Martin: "That good old man seems to me to have made himself a life far preferable to that of the six Kings with whom we had the honor of having supper."

"Great eminence," said Pangloss, "is very dangerous, according to the report of all philosophers. For after all, Eglon, King of the Moabites, was assassinated by Ehud; Absolom was hanged by his hair and pierced with three darts; King Naab son of Jeroboam was killed by Baasha..."

"I also know," said Candide, "that we must cultivate our garden."

"You are right," said Pangloss, "for when man was put in the Garden of Eden, he was put there ut operaretur eum, to work; which proves that man was not born to rest."

"Let us work without reasoning," said Martin, "it is the only way to make life endurable."

All the little society entered into this laudable plan; each one began to exercise his talents. The little piece of land produced much. True, Cunégonde was very ugly; but she became an excellent pastry cook; Paquette embroidered; the old woman took care of the linen. No one, not even Friar Giroflée, failed to perform some service; he was a very good carpenter, and even became an honorable man; and Pangloss sometimes said to Candide: "All events are linked together in the best of all possible worlds. for after all, if you had not been expelled from a fine castle with great kicks in the backside for love of Mademoiselle Cunégonde, if you had not been subjected to the Inquisition, if you had not traveled about America on foot, if you had not given the Baron a great blow with your sword, if you had not lost all your sheep from the good country of Eldorado, you would not be here eating candied citrons and pistachios."

"That is well said," replied Candide, "but we must cultivate our garden.”

Cultivating our garden

Books That Have Helped Me Cultivate My Garden

Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim (Adult Fiction)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Children's Fiction)

Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy (Nonfiction)

The Sunday Salon: Reading Nonfiction

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 09 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

We are glad that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Welcome!

What is the Sunday Salon? The Sunday Salon is a spot to link up and share what we have been doing during the week, and it's a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

We went to Dallas last week and spent time with our granddaughter, Bailey, and our great-granddaughter, Lucy. We went to the Perot Museum and did yoga and ate ice cream and went to the park. Happy days!

What I Read Last Week:

Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance by Richard Powers (Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds

by Jennifer Ackerman (Nonfiction)

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts (Nonfiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: A Nature-Filled Week: City Nature Challenge and Migration Celebration, What the Owl Knows and The Book of Birds

Authors I Wish Were Still Writing Today

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Harvest from our garden

Good Thing #2:

Glass art I brought to Bailey as a housewarming gift

Good Thing #3:

We enjoy dinosaurs at the museum with Lucy.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 08 May 2026 01:53:00 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

The Ride of Her Life:

The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last Chance Journey Across America

by Elizabeth Letts

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: June 1, 2021

Page Count: 337 pages

Summary:

In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didn’t even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorse, her faithful mutt, and her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness.

Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, rode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand miles, through America’s big cities and small towns. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. She received many offers—a permanent home at a riding stable in New Jersey, a job at a gas station in rural Kentucky, even a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher. In a decade when car ownership nearly tripled, when television’s influence was expanding fast, when homeowners began locking their doors, Annie and her four-footed companions inspired an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly changing world.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

In November 1954, Annie took her dog and got on a horse and started riding. Destination: California. From a modern perspective, her journey seems almost bewildering—imagine trying to navigate without the benefit of GPS, to travel with no cellphone, no credit or debit card, not even a bank account to draw from. In fact, when she first set off, Annie didn’t even have the kinds of tools that were available in 1954: road maps, a flashlight and batteries, a waterproof raincoat. Annie headed south, a Quixote in the company of her Rocinante, a run-down ex-racehorse, and her Sancho Panza, a little mutt. Society has called these people by different names: vagabonds and drifters, pilgrims, hoboes, and hippies. She called herself a tramp.

Letts, Elizabeth. The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America, p. 1. Kindle Edition.

Annie fed Tarzan and fastened two blankets over him to keep him warm. Depeche Toi was so tired that he settled his nose on his paws and fell asleep. She had to wake him up to feed him. After they’d all eaten, she stretched her bedroll out and lay down under the stars, and fell sound asleep.

Sometime later, she was awakened by the low sound of Depeche Toi’s growl.

“Keeping holding that dog,” a man’s voice called out. “We’re officers of the law.”

Annie held tight to Depeche Toi, who didn’t stop growling. “We have the owner’s permission to be here,” she called out, her voice unsteady.

Letts, Elizabeth. The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America (p. 56). Kindle Edition.

The Ride of Her Life is our book club selection for May.

If you designed a cover for a beloved book, how would it look, and how would it reflect the story? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

I'm working on the cover for my own book, the story of the summer I spent at Yellowstone Park in 1975. It will have elements of that summer---hiking, playing guitar, a bear, the natural wonders of Yellowstone, and the last remnants of the hippie days of the 60s and early 70s.

Authors I Wish Were Still Writing Today

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Tue, 05 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

I keep a list of my favorite books on Goodreads. The list currently has 247 books on it. Happily, many of my most beloved writers are still alive and writing including Clint Smith, Maira Kalman, Bill Bryson, Erik Larson, Anne Lamott, George Saunders, and Elizabeth Strout. But there are also some of the writers whose books I have loved most will write no more books. Those are:

Émile Zola

Sid Fleischman

Terry Pratchett

Italo Calvino

Hermann Hesse

Franz Kafka

Truman Capote

George Orwell

Alexandre Dumas

John Steinbeck

Charles Dickens

Edith Wharton

Leo Tolstoy

Carol Shields

The Sunday Salon: A Nature-Filled Week: City Nature Challenge and Migration Celebration, What the Owl Knows and The Book of Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 02 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome, everyone! We are glad you joined us at the Sunday Salon.

What is the Sunday Salon?

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

I spent two days chatting with visitors as I ferried them in a golf cart from the parking area to the wildlife refuge for the Migration Celebration. We had over nine hundred visitors at the event where kids and adults enjoyed hearing speakers on nature; seeing a raptor show; taking a swamp buggy tour; feeding butterflies in a butterfly tent; examining pond water through a microscope; holding snakes, turtles, and alligators; climbing a rock wall; and sifting through sand for nature treasures.

I went with friends to hear Yann Martel speak about his latest book in Houston.

I chased butterflies and birds and other living things (mostly plants, but that does not sound like something you have to chase, does it?) for the City Nature Challenge. I managed to photograph 141 species over four days.

Now we are headed to Dallas to visit with our granddaughter, Bailey, and her daughter, Lucy, for a few days.

What I Read Last Week:

The Museum of Lost Things: True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History by Sam Kean (Nonfiction)

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance by Richard Powers (Fiction)

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds

by Jennifer Ackerman (Nonfiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Migration Celebration at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge

The Biography of Things

What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

A new-to-me species

I found during the City Nature Challenge:

Turk's-cap White Skipper

Good Thing #2:

A new-to-me species

I found during the City Nature Challenge:

Wild Indigo Duskywing

My photos: First place (blue) and honorable mention (green) for Invertibrates of Texas.

My photo: Honorable mention (first green ribbon in second row), Birds of Texas

Good Thing #3:

Some of you asked to see my nature photos

from the Migration Celebration Photo Contest.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 01 May 2026 01:23:21 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

What an Owl Knows:

The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds

by Jennifer Ackerman

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: June 13, 2023

Page Count: 351 pages

Summary:

With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Some two hundred sixty species of owls exist today, and they reside on every continent except Antarctica, but they are far more difficult to find and study than other birds because they are cryptic, camouflaged, and mostly active at night. Though human fascination with owls goes back centuries, scientists have only recently begun to understand the complex nature of these extraordinary birds.

In What an Owl Knows, Jennifer Ackerman joins scientists in the field and explores how researchers are using modern technology and tools to learn how owls communicate, hunt, court, mate, raise their young, and move about from season to season. Ackerman brings this research alive with her own personal field observations; the result is an awe-inspiring exploration of owls across the globe and through human history, and a spellbinding account of the world’s most enigmatic group of birds.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

Owls are probably the most distinctive order of birds in the world, with their upright bodies, big round heads, and enormous front-facing eyes—hard to mistake for any other creature. Even a young child has little trouble identifying them. The same is true for a range of species, including other birds—chickadees and titmice, ravens and crows—which can spot the shape of an owl instantly and single it out as an enemy. But beyond the basics of that telltale form, what makes an owl an owl? And how did these extraordinary birds get to be the way they are?

Ackerman, Jennifer. What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds, p. 1. Kindle Edition.

Once scientists manage to find their owls, capturing them for study can be a magician’s trick. Owls are wary, and researchers often have to be highly inventive.

Ackerman, Jennifer. What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds, p. 56. Kindle Edition.

L to R: Burrowing Owl in Galveston; Eastern Screech Owls: Adult in my friend's nesting box; babies in the same box.

We are listening to this audiobook as we travel this week and next week. I've only seen an owl in the wild a couple of times in my life, and I am eager to learn more about these fascinating birds.

Is there a book you've been meaning to read forever but haven’t gotten to yet? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

I keep a list of books I want to read before I die (there are 627 books on the list to date). Some of the books I've been meaning to read the longest are probably: Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez; The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham; Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance by Richard Powers (I'm reading this right now); Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson; and Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

The Biography of Things

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0000

MaryZee was a longtime member of BookCrossing who passed away in 2012. She loved to share her books with others through themed bookboxes, and one of her favorites was the Biography of Things Bookbox.

Here's MaryZee's definition of what she what she wanted to see in the bookbox: "This box is all nonfiction, and more specifically biographies of things. Many books will be classified as science, and some will be history. If the book does not qualify as science or history it may not be right for this box. (If in doubt, don't hesitate to check with me.) No reference books, please."

Even after her death, her books and boxes continue to circulate among BookCrossers. GoryDetails sent out the latest iteration of the box in April. He writes, "So, what are biographies of things? Non-fiction books dealing with the history, science, and/or cultural aspects of a single (non-human) topic or a group of related topics. We're not looking for reference books here - no "catalog of saw-blades," for example - though a book about the history and culture of saw blades would definitely count. [Is there one? I want it!] These are sometimes called "micro-histories" for their (relatively) narrow focus."

I see a biography of things book as one that takes on a topic that initially I would have said that I had little interest in reading about. Oranges by John McPhee is a classic example, and it might have been one of the first biographies of things when it was published in 2011. A biography of things should also be written like a novel, not like a textbook.

The Biography of Things Bookbox arrived at my house last week, and that inspired me to write this post.

So what have been some of my favorite Biographies of Things?

Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond.

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases by Lydia Kang.

Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori.

American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee.

A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca: The Extraordinary Tale of a Shipwrecked Spaniard Who Walked Across America in the Sixteenth Century by Andrés Reséndez.

Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy by Stephen Carter.

Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green.

Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong

All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat.

The Common Good by Robert Reich.

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson.

Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel.

The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea by Jack Emerson Davis.

Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore.

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson.

Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis.

And here are some I want to read:

Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

Butter: A Rich History by Elaine Khosrova

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel.

Have you read any biographies of things?

The Sunday Salon: Migration Celebration at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome! I am very happy that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon.

What is the Sunday Salon?

The Sunday Salon is a spot to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to stop in at other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

What I Read Last Week:

Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry (Novel)

The Temporary European: Lessons and Confessions of a Professional Traveler

by Cameron Hewitt (Travel)

Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis (Science Fiction)

Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (Fantasy)

The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life by Arthur C. Brooks (Happiness)

The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly (Memoir)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

The Museum of Lost Things: True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History by Sam Kean (Nonfiction)

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Little Women, Project Hail Mary, Shades of Gray, Spring Fling, Emily Dickinson, and Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon: April 18-19, 2026

April Showers: Eleven Books That Made Me Cry

The Museum of Lost Things: True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History by Sam Kean: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I'll be at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge

all weekend with Migration Celebration,

a huge outdoor activity event.

In years past, I've done face painting

and I've worked in the butterfly tent.

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

I read for 16 out of the 24 hours at

the readathon last weekend.

I finished a total of 9 books.

Good Thing #2:

My husband and I learned about pollinators and

plants at UTMB's OLLI's Gardening Symposium last week.

Good Thing #3:

I won three ribbons for my nature photographs

at Migration Celebration.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

The Museum of Lost Things: True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History by Sam Kean: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Nance at Readerbuzz) — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today's Featured Book:

The Museum of Lost Things:

True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and

Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History

by Sam Kean

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: September 15, 2026

Page Count: 400 pages

Summary:

Discover the astonishing story of the world’s greatest lost treasures in this enthralling narrative by a writer with "the anecdotal flourishes of Oliver Sacks and the populist accessibility of Malcolm Gladwell." (Entertainment Weekly)

Spanning a million years of history, the mysteries in these pages include fabled relics, legendary cities, mythical species, and undeciphered languages that have bedeviled seekers for centuries.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

After amassing one of the largest empires in history, Alexander the Great died unexpectedly at age 32 in Babylon in 323 BC. His retinue reported embalmed him with honey and spices and placed him in a golden sarcophagus draped with gaudy purple tapestries. But rather than let him rest in peace, his successors turned his body into a pawn in a power struggle so complex that George R. R. Martin himself would have been baffled.

Whatever his (many) failings, the amateur Schliemann had taken on thousands of better-heeled, better-read, and frankly smarter scholars---scholars who thought him a boorish ass and lying scoundrel---and proved every single one of them wrong. He never tired in pointing this out. It was the best story he ever told, and it was completely true.

A friend recommended The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (my review is here) in 2021. I discovered Sam Kean is one of those marvelous writers who can explain complex ideas in a way that makes them easily understood by regular people. So when I asked a publisher's representative at the Texas Library Association Conference about new nonfiction, and she pulled this advanced reader copy out and gave it to me, I was delighted. And it's a captivating read.

Imagine creating a book-themed board game—what kind of gameplay would it have? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

I would love to play Book-opoly or The Little Bookshop or any other bookish game that might be out there. I'd like to play some of the bookish games that have already been created before I try to make my own.