The Sunday Salon was originally started in 2008, but over the years has grown too large to accept new members. They are now a facebook group and open to all. 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....
Past Week - Personal Stuff
Pretty busy week, and a lot of reading done. Work was normal - I've felt pretty happy and in good spirits (more than normal) for some reason. Not sure if it's because of sleeping habits being better, or drinking more water, but it's probably due to a combo of both.Thursday night I went to see a friend and her new baby - adorable three-week old girl. Spent a few hours with them, which was fun, haven't been around a newborn for an incredibly long time. We met up again Saturday to check out the moved Tea Largo - I had posted some pictures of the original shop in 2012 in it's old location, and those photos can be seen here in Where in the World are you? post - here are a few updated photos of the larger location -
Friday night I rocked late into the evening with my friend Amber listening to live bands do their music at Preservation Hall. First time I've been there, will definitely go again. Hearing the bands was a delight, especially since they were all good.
What I'm Making -
I'm kind of sucking on my daily monthly Tumblr picture challenge. My camera quality on the phone is lacking, so I'll likely start using my regular camera for those. I also didn't pre-take and pre-post enough. Just not working right yet so I've been missing days this month. Oh well, can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs and ambitions.
I also dyed my hair to try and even out highlights - had three applications of highlights and the last wasn't as good, so hair was looking a bit patchy. Strangely the lighter color made my entire head darker. Ugh. Doesn't look bad but wasn't what I planned.
What I'm Watching - Finished Daredevil - good to have in the background but didn't suck me in. Maybe the next season well. Watching Grimm now. Once Upon a Time was rather dull, hope that show kicks up again soon. Think it's from the lack of Rumbelle chemistry. Arrow - wow. The episode may as well have been a season finale with all that happened. Can't wait for the follow-up next week. Haven't caught the other shows yet this week.Reading Updates
Read This Week
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I think this may the most I've finished in one week this year. Two of them were children's Goosebumps so those were easy reads. They're on my reading order to finally finish and I've had a lot of fun with them. The age group is young so I review with a children's rating, but they're cute and bring back memories. Bad Hare Day was with a young magician who sneaks out to his favorite magician's show and gets a twist ending, while Attack of the Mutant took comic book worship to another level. I'll post up a kids recap soon, similar to mini Harlequin reviews I do.
I re-read Jaws finally, something I've been meaning to do awhile. I read it as a teenager and remember finding it dull. Now I found it interesting and got into the character's lives more - I think back then the personal intricacies of the issues were lost on me, while this time I recognized the depth for what it was. Still the movie wins, but it's a 4 star book.
I finally finished Brother Ray, a great book that was hard to read without breaks due to some repetition. Review will be up for that one tonight.
Relic I read this week - being over four hundred pages, I breezed through it. Started reading now rather than later since the Goodreads group, Horror Afficianados, were doing a group read of it. This is the second group read I've done with them this year, and I'm finding them quite fun - the first was Mr. Hands (review here.) It's the first of a series, and one I have the next few books on due to a book buy from a friend. The series is over ten books and I have a feeling I may end up collecting and reading them all. The writing was well done, the story addicting, and I liked the characters. It was made into a movie, Relic, that I saw as a teenager, but the book was less cheesy and kept the main character, Pendergast.
Finally, I read and finished Neverland by Neil Gaiman, something else I've been meaning to read for a long time. I was a Gaiman virgin but can't say that any longer and look forward to more of his stuff. Loved his way with words and the story moved at a good pace. It's hard to classify genre-wise, but I'm settling for dark fantasy. Horror elements for sure, but not quite that kind. Some mark it as Urban Fantasy, which is kind of accurate, but since it's in a fairy tale type world, dark fantasy fits better.
Currently Reading
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The Exorcist will be another re-read; I've been doing so many of these this year. I read it in my early twenties and wanted to see how the book held up. I actually went to re-read it years back, but found out (to my annoyance) I didn't own it like I thought it did. Now I finally own it again.
The Lost Locket of Windbrace Hall will be my first pure Gothic read of the year outside of Barbara Michaels reads. Haven't started it yet but in that goth kind of mood.
Since I've finally finished Ray's biography, I can read change out my non-fiction, this time to a book about books (love those). The reviews are mixed so I'm curious how it will hold up.
Vengeance of a demon was released last week and a pre-order - it's the seventh book of the Kara Gillian series. Covered it in this week's Mailbox Monday post.
Website Progress
Reviews Posted
Sadly, none. Hasn't been a busy week with the website.
Weeklies Posted
Mailbox Monday - Weekly Recap (previous week)
Tune-In Tuesdays - Gods and Monsters
Until Next Week....
