The Sunday Salon and... "Sunny" Book Covers for a Winters Day

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! The special day of the week we talk books!  It's been a gorgeous weather week in South Carolina, with a few days of short sleeves and barefoot reading on the front porch to breezy & sunny and ending in better put on you winter coat and maybe even a raincoat. I've tuned into finding some more great books this past week, adding a few more to the TBR pile, as well as starting my January Book Club pick, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (which I am half way thru reading and am loving it!). I also finished my First Book of the Year 2020, Such a Fun Age by Kiely Reid and really enjoyed that! It seemed like a light read at the beginning, but there was plenty of depth to the characters and story that I could not put it down. In fact I read it in one day. Now there's a book that would make a great book club read. You can read my full review here. But what "new" books did I find this week? To go with all the Sunny South Carolina weather this past week, I happen to find "Sunny" Book covers... books that in some way I thought had "Sunny" covers... I may have stretched that a bit...

My Sunshine Away by W.O. Walsh... Oprah magazine called this book "A tantalizing mystery and 

tender coming-of-age story...Unputdownable." And from the book jacket:  In the summer of 1989, a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom is rocked by a violent crime when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson—free spirit, track star, and belle of the block—is attacked late one evening near her home. For such a close-knit community, the suspects are numerous, and the secrets hidden behind each closed door begin to unravel. Even the young teenage boy across the street, our narrator, does not escape suspicion. It is through his eyes, still haunted by heartbreak and guilt many years later, that we begin to piece together the night of Lindy’sattack and its terrible rippling consequences on the once-idyllic community.

For the life of me I can't remember how I stumbled upon this book, but since finding it I've looked thru countless rave reviews about it. Published in 2016 by G.P. Putnam's & Sons, I have this one on my nightstand this week, part of my Library Loot this week.

The Yellow Bird Sings by  Jennifer Rosner ... In Poland, as World War II rages, a mother hides

with her young daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives.

As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons. To soothe her daughter and pass the time, Róza tells her a story about a girl in an enchanted garden.

I requested this book from the publisher, Flatiron Books, because it seemed like such a great story. And of course for all of us WWII story fans, this just seemed perfect. I have the digital copy in my eReader as we speak and just reading the little I have inbetween books, I have decided I really like author Jennifer Rosner's writing. This book will be released March 3rd.

Late MigrationsL A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl... Growing up in

Alabama, Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents―her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father―and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver.

And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds―the natural one and our own―“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.

First of all, I have to say I love this cover! Secondly, I love the idea of reading little snippets, miniature stories or small essays about nature and family. I read about this book on Ann Patchett's bookstore Parnassus' blog. (Which if you haven't visited, the bookstore or the blog, you should!) And then I read a sampling of the writing and essays, and just loved it. So, I ordered a copy from Parnassus. Besides me enjoying the sample I read, it has gotten rave reviews from countless bookish places, including Indie Next, Oprah, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library and Publishers Weekly. Released in July 2019 and published by Milkweed editions.

How Do You Find Your Next Reading Book?

Week in Review...
This week I highlighted a couple great books in my Memoir Monday and First Lines Friday post.

In Memoir Monday I posted about The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which isn't really a memoir as much as a love story to libraries. You can read Memoir Monday here.

First Lines Friday, I posted the first lines of Bird Cloud by Annie Proulx. How anyone can resist reading anything by Annie Proulx would amaze me. Her writing is beautiful and this book is no exception. Read about it here.

Book Review of And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman. It's a novella that will strike a chord with anyone ever effected by a loved one with Dementia or Alzheimers. You can read my review here.

That is about all that has happened this past week, how about you?! Any great book finds this week? Next week there will be more books to talk about but also... Book Bingo!! Yes, next week I'll reveal Chick with Books Book Bingo Card for 2020! Ever play Book Bingo? It's a year long "game" where we try to fill our bingo card with books specific to the bingo squares. You have to check it out! It's another good one this year. My Book Club meets this Thursday, so I can't reveal it until after then.

Happy reading... Suzanne