Welcome to the Sunday Salon! It's the time of the week to kick back and relax, grab a cup of java and talk books... It's been a while since you've read a Sunday Salon here, but don't worry, I've been reading and finding some great books and we're going to share them all starting today!
First, let's look at two new novels at the top of my reading list...
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, from the authors website...Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their fatherand stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and
brutal winters.
To Abdullah, Pari – as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named – is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.
One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.
Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways in which we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us.
It's been six years since Khaled Hosseini has given us a gift of his writing, and his newest offering has gotten so much positive praise and hype that I have to read it and I can only hope that it lives up to the wonderful writing I experienced in The Kite Runner. A friend of mine just told me that she thinks it's better than The Kite Runner. Published by Penguin Group, this book available right now at your local bookstore. This book is also Kindle Ready! AND Nook Ready!
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls: A Novel by Anton DiSclafani... From the publisher: It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is far removed from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country.
Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea’s expulsion from her family, but it isn’t long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner—a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression—and the major debut of an important new writer.
I just love these "coming-of-age" novels. (Now that I think about it, I'll have to write a post on some of the great books that come to mind!) The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls sounds like the perfect summer read. Scandalous, mysterious, plenty of drama, with a strong flawed female protagonist that may both pull at our hearts and infuriate us. I've heard mixed reviews, but the majority opinion is, that this is the "IT" novel of the summer. It is on my wish list! Published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, it went on sale June 4th and is available at your local bookstore! This book is Kindle Ready! And Nook Ready too!
IN other bookish news... BEA, BookExpo America wrapped up June 1st with a great look, maybe a tease since I wasn't able to attend this year, at some great authors with new books and some great books from authors we are just getting to know. Next week we'll look at a few of the top choices from BEA, and boy am I excited!!
eReaders are all the rage. Lots of reading choices out there. Amazon has announced it's going to offer the KindleDX again. Its' 9.7inch E-Ink display is at a premium price of $299. Is there a market for the KindleDX with the price of full color tablets at almost the same price?
Reviews coming soon... My World Book Night book choice was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer. What a fun book. A chapter book for young readers, which celebrated its' 50th anniversary not too long ago, is a children's book with hidden delight for us older folks. If you like words (and what reader doesn't) you will love this book! I Also read a great novel set in the Vietanam era that centers around 2 brothers. The Turtle Warrior by Mary Relindes Ellis is set in a rural town in Wisconsin and will be pulling at your heartstrings. Overwhelmingly sad at some points, the story just wraps itself around you pulling you in. One of the best books I've read in a long time. AND I also read two great graphic novels recently- Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel, a great YA novel that mixes folklore and history with great fiction and The Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko, which is definitely an ADULT graphic novel. The drawings are beautiful, the story funny and yet poignant. I can't wait to tell you about that one!
How was your week?! What great books are on your nightstand? Share your reading! I always love to hear about a good book!
Happy reading... Suzanne
To Abdullah, Pari – as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named – is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.
One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.
Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways in which we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us.
It's been six years since Khaled Hosseini has given us a gift of his writing, and his newest offering has gotten so much positive praise and hype that I have to read it and I can only hope that it lives up to the wonderful writing I experienced in The Kite Runner. A friend of mine just told me that she thinks it's better than The Kite Runner. Published by Penguin Group, this book available right now at your local bookstore. This book is also Kindle Ready! AND Nook Ready!
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls: A Novel by Anton DiSclafani... From the publisher: It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is far removed from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country.Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea’s expulsion from her family, but it isn’t long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner—a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression—and the major debut of an important new writer.
I just love these "coming-of-age" novels. (Now that I think about it, I'll have to write a post on some of the great books that come to mind!) The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls sounds like the perfect summer read. Scandalous, mysterious, plenty of drama, with a strong flawed female protagonist that may both pull at our hearts and infuriate us. I've heard mixed reviews, but the majority opinion is, that this is the "IT" novel of the summer. It is on my wish list! Published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, it went on sale June 4th and is available at your local bookstore! This book is Kindle Ready! And Nook Ready too!
IN other bookish news... BEA, BookExpo America wrapped up June 1st with a great look, maybe a tease since I wasn't able to attend this year, at some great authors with new books and some great books from authors we are just getting to know. Next week we'll look at a few of the top choices from BEA, and boy am I excited!!
eReaders are all the rage. Lots of reading choices out there. Amazon has announced it's going to offer the KindleDX again. Its' 9.7inch E-Ink display is at a premium price of $299. Is there a market for the KindleDX with the price of full color tablets at almost the same price?
Reviews coming soon... My World Book Night book choice was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer. What a fun book. A chapter book for young readers, which celebrated its' 50th anniversary not too long ago, is a children's book with hidden delight for us older folks. If you like words (and what reader doesn't) you will love this book! I Also read a great novel set in the Vietanam era that centers around 2 brothers. The Turtle Warrior by Mary Relindes Ellis is set in a rural town in Wisconsin and will be pulling at your heartstrings. Overwhelmingly sad at some points, the story just wraps itself around you pulling you in. One of the best books I've read in a long time. AND I also read two great graphic novels recently- Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel, a great YA novel that mixes folklore and history with great fiction and The Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko, which is definitely an ADULT graphic novel. The drawings are beautiful, the story funny and yet poignant. I can't wait to tell you about that one!
How was your week?! What great books are on your nightstand? Share your reading! I always love to hear about a good book!
Happy reading... Suzanne
