The Sunday Salon and You Gotta Have Heart... or 3 Books that Have a Heart (in their title)

Welcome to The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post! It's that day of the week bloggers from all over the internet get together virtually in a large gathering place called The Sunday Salon and talk books!  And The Sunday Post, which is a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, in which more bloggers share their bookish news!!

 My biggest bookish news this week is that it's my Blogiversary! 

7 years ago on February 18th I posted my first post on Chick with Books! It was a review for Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, one of my favorite books still to this day! I didn't know where I was going to go with the blog, I just wanted to talk books! But in the 7 years I've been book blogging, I have met so many wonderful readers, bloggers, authors, publishing reps and all around great people! I've read so many great books and shared them all with YOU! Thank you for sticking around and taking this journey with me! As a thank you, I've got a little giveaway going on! Want to pick out a book from Chick with Books? One lucky winner is going to get to pick out any one book that I reviewed or highlighted on Chick with Books from the last 7 years! Enter HERE! Don't be shy!

And on to some new books I've spotted this week... 

It's still February, and so there still is a little romance in the air. Or at least our hearts are still going pitter patter. Well, here are 3 books that have heart...or at least heart in the title.

The Heart by Maylis De Kerangal... Just before dawn on a Sunday morning, three teenage boys go surfing. Returning home, exhausted, the driver lets the car drift off the road into a tree. Two of the boys are wearing seat belts; one is sent through the windshield. He is declared brain-dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. His heart is still beating.

The Heart takes place over the twenty-four hours surrounding a fatal accident and a resulting heart transplant as life is taken from a young man and given to a woman close to death. In gorgeous, ruminative prose it examines the deepest feelings of everyone involved--grieving parents, hardworking doctors and nurses--as they navigate decisions of life and death. As stylistically audacious as it is emotionally explosive, Maylis de Kerangal's The Heart has mesmerized readers in France, where it has been hailed as the breakthrough work of a new literary star.

Finally translated from the French to English, and just released here in the States, The Heart has won praise and accolades already in France, and seems to be following the same path here. I've read that it's beautiful and thought provoking. On my TBR list.

Your Heart is a Muscle The Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa.. On a rainy, cold day in November, young Victor--a nomadic, scrappy teenager who's run away from home--sets out to join the throng of WTO demonstrators determined to shut down the city. With the proceeds, he plans to buy a plane ticket and leave Seattle forever, but it quickly becomes clear that the history-making 50,000 anti-globalization protestors--from anarchists to environmentalists to teamsters--are testing the patience of the police, and what started out as a peaceful protest is threatening to erupt into violence.

Over the course of one life-altering afternoon, the fates of seven people will change forever: foremost among them police Chief Bishop, the estranged father Victor hasn't seen in three years, two protesters struggling to stay true to their non-violent principles as the day descends into chaos, two police officers in the street, and the coolly elegant financial minister from Sri Lanka whose life, as well as his country's fate, hinges on getting through the angry crowd, out of jail, and to his meeting with the President of the United States. When Chief Bishop reluctantly unleashes tear gas on the unsuspecting crowd, it seems his hopes for reconciliation with his son, as well as the future of his city, are in serious peril. In this raw and breathtaking novel, Yapa marries a deep rage with a deep humanity. In doing so he casts an unflinching eye on the nature and limits of compassion, and the heartbreaking difference between what is right and what is possible.  

I've seen this book EVERYwhere, and with reviews ranging from "powerful & ambitious" to "a symphony of a novel". This looks like a "borrow from the library book" for me because it just isn't quite what I'd look for in a read, but I am curious enough to want to read it.This book was released in January of this year.


Sisters of Heart and Snow by Margaret Dilloway... Rachel and Drew Snow may be sisters, but  their lives have followed completely different paths.

Married to a wonderful man and a mother to two strong-minded teens, Rachel hasn’t returned to her childhood home since being kicked out by her strict father after an act of careless teenage rebellion. Drew, her younger sister, followed her passion for music but takes side jobs to make ends meet and longs for the stability that has always eluded her. Both sisters recall how close they were, but the distance between them seems more than they can bridge. When their deferential Japanese mother, Hikari, is diagnosed with dementia and gives Rachel power of attorney, Rachel’s domineering father, Killian becomes enraged. In a rare moment of lucidity, Hikari asks Rachel for a book in her sewing room, and Rachel enlists her sister’s help in the search. The book—which tells the tale of real-life female samurai Tomoe Gozen, an epic saga of love, loss, and conflict during twelfth-century Japan—reveals truths about Drew and Rachel’s relationship that resonate across the centuries, connecting them in ways that turn their differences into assets.

Sisters of Heart and Snow by Margaret Dilloway has 2 things right off the bat that call my name- it's about 2 estranged sisters (I generally love reading about the complex relationships between sisters) and there is a Japanese sword on the cover (I love reading stories taking place in Japan or with Japanese folklore) This seems to have a quiet fanfare, with wonderful reviews. In particular most reviews note what a great job Margaret Dilloway does weaving the stories of the past and the present together. On my TBR list and will be released April 7th, 2016 by G.P. Putnam's and Sons.

Weekly Wrap-up...


Mon. Feb. 15th... Memoir Monday (Between You & Me by Mary Norris)
Tues. Feb. 16th... Review of the movie, Love Between the Covers
Wed. Feb. 17th... It's Twenty Questions! Get to know me a little better!
Thurs. Feb. 18th... My Blogiversary and GIVEAWAY!
Fri. Feb. 19th... The Passing of Harper Lee and some interesting links
Sat. Feb. 20th... Review of The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer

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Looks like a busy week now that I've written it all down! How was YOUR week?! And what great books did you find that made your heart go pitter patter or at least made you take it home with you?!
Share your finds in the comments! I love hearing about books that caught your eye! AND Don't forget to enter the giveaway! I can't wait to see what book someone chooses!

More reading and books next week! In the meantime...

Happy reading... Suzanne