The Sunday Salon... National Women's History Month & which Women writer's made history with you!

Spring has finally poked its head up from one of the piles of snow you can still find in Connecticut. The temperatures are starting to rise a little and the sun actually came for a visit! The one year Blogoversary celebration wrapped up this week with Cheryl winning Pillars of the Earth, Elaine winning The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns, Helen winning Last Night in Montreal, throuthehaze winning the Romance Bundle, rubynreba winning The Power of Half, Nunah winning The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, and Alyce winning the Kindle Gift Certificate. I'm still waiting to hear from the lucky winners for Alice I Have Been and the Historical Fiction Bundle, so check your emails! And Congrats to all the winners! Even though my celebration is over, there is still some celebrating going on...

March is National Women's History Month! National Women’s History Month provides an excellent venue to recognize and celebrate women’s historic achievements as well as an opportunity to honor women within our families and communities. In 1980, President Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation recognizing Women’s History Week. In 1987, the week was expanded to the entire month of March, and 2010 will mark the 30th anniversary of this celebration! March is the month to celebrate women! From Rosie the Riveter, the fictional character who eventually would come to represent strong independent women, to Sally Ride, the first american woman in space, women (and even fictional women) have made their mark in history. Which women writers do you feel have made their mark in history? Which women writers have made their mark on you? In honor of National Women's History Month, I thought I would mention some great classic women writers...

Sylvia Plath suffered from extreme bipolar depression that ultimately led to her suicide at the age of 30. Her largely autobiography novel, The Bell Jar, "draws the reader into her breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies." And it is this intense honesty showing the origins of Sylvia's own tragedy that made this a landmark in literature. Originally published in England in 1964, there was so much demand for a copy to be printed in the US, that in 1971 through much

controversy, Harper & Row published a copy. Frequently referred to as the female Catcher in the Rye, The Bell Jar is also a coming of age story.

Harper Lee wrote her greatest and only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, which painted a picture of racial inequality and dealt with the serious issue of rape. Controversial in its subject matter, it has repeatedly been challenged and attempted to be removed from more than one library. At the same time it is one of the most widely read books dealing with lessons in tolerance and decrying prejudice.

Harriet Beecher Stowe best known for writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which portrays the "moral outrage of slavery and its destructive effects on both whites and blacks". Ms. Stowe lived in Cincinnati across the river from the slave trade and witnesses first hand some of the atrocities of slavery, such as a husband and wife being sold apart. Her observances prompted her to write Uncle Tom's Cabin, which sold half-a-million copies by 1857!

There are some writers that are important to me because they held a hand out to me as I was growing up and invited me in... these are some of the writers that helped along my reading obsession...

Louisa May Alcott who invited me into a family of sisters, when I was an only child; Emily Bronte who gave me Heathcliff; Carolyn Keene, who really is just as fictional as her character Nancy Drew, but let me tag along to investigate with Nancy and learn all about how to solve a mystery & who eventually introduced me to Agatha Christie, who taught me about how to use a flashlight under the covers, and why nightlights are necessary...

Of course there are many more contemporary women writers I love & admire too... but we'd be here all day as I list them! OK, here are just a few... Lisa See, Diana Gabaldon, Bernice L. McFadden, and Margaret Atwood... Emily Carmichael, Sarah Strohmeyer, and Janet Evanovich... Audrey Niffenegger, Maya Angelou, & Judy Blume...Which are your favorite women writers? And who would you like to celebrate this month?!

Happy reading... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon... The Blogoversary Wrap-up, Books with Buzz and National Women's History Month

Winter comes visiting...

It's been a wintery week here in Connecticut. Above is a photo of a visitor to my yard the other morning. It was so beautiful outside, but I am so tired of snow! It does give me an excuse to stay inside and read... (I can always make an excuse for reading- no snow necessary!)

The Blogoversary Celebration has been so much fun! Thank you to everyone who stopped by and sent their Congrats! And thank you for everyone joining in on the celebrations by entering the great giveaways and following Chick with Books! There have been almost 350 entries in all the giveaways! There's still time to enter the BIG ROMANCE Giveaway, The Power of Half memoir giveaway, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Alice I Have Been giveaway, The Kindle Book Gift Certificate giveaway, and the BIG Historical Fiction giveaway!

I've been reading a great book this week, thanks to the author Bernice L. McFadden who sent it to me. It's called Sugar, and it is filled with wonderful characters and an amazing story. Bernice had read on Chick with Books that I enjoyed The Help by Kathryn Stockett and thought that I would enjoy her book too. The timeframe of Sugar is the same as The Help- when segregation is at its height, but where most of the action takes place in the homes where the domestics worked in The Help, the story of Sugar takes place in the black community. The story starts with a horrendous murder of a young black girl whose murder makes profound changes in the young girls mother, Pearl. 15 years later Pearl is still grieving for her daughter when a young prostitute, Sugar, moves next door to Pearl. Their unlikely friendship changes them both. I loved this book! Rich characters and great storytelling! Read my review in early March. (*and there's going to be a special giveaway thanks to Bernice!) *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

This week was also a week for some interesting new books... Here are a couple of the Books with Buzz this week...

The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee... From Publishers Weekly, It's a harrowing tale: bleak, haunting, often heartbreaking. The Surrendered bursts with drama and human anguish as it documents the ravages and indelible effects of war. June Han is a starving 11-year-old refugee fleeing military combat during the Korean War when she is separated from her seven-year-old twin siblings. Eventually brought to an orphanage near Seoul by American soldier Hector Brennan, who is still reeling from his father's death, June slowly recovers from her nightmarish experiences thanks to the loving attention of Sylvie Tanner, the wife of the orphanage's minister. But Sylvie is irretrievably scarred as well, having witnessed her parents' murder by Japanese soldiers in 1934 Manchuria. These traumas reverberate throughout the characters' lives, determining the destructive relationship that arises between June, Hector and Sylvie as the plot rushes forward and back in time, encompassing graphic scenes of suffering, carnage and emotional wreckage. Powerful, deeply felt, compulsively readable and imbued with moral gravity, the novel does not peter out into easy redemption. This book has gotten a lot of amazing praise! Penguin Group has a wonderful interview with Chang-rae on their website along with a readers guide. The Surrendered will be released March 9th. I look forward to reading it!*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz... What would happen to a fairy if she lost her wings and could no longer fly? Flory, a young night fairy no taller than an acorn and still becoming accustomed to her wings -- wings as beautiful as those of a luna moth -- is about to find out. Wh

at she discovers is that the world is very big and very dangerous. But Flory is fierce and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. This book is charming. Written for young readers age 7 - 11, this will also capture your heart. The front cover is beautiful, with the book title in a silver foil. Inside their are beautiful illustrations by Angela Barrett. Oh, and the author Laura Amy Schlitz is a Newberry Medal Winner! I have this on my nightstand, so look for a full review soon...

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez... Wench eloquently plunges into a dark period of American history, chronicling the lives of four slave women—Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu—who are their masters' mistresses. The women meet when their owners vacation at the same summer resort in Ohio. There, they see free blacks for the first time and hear rumors of abolition, sparking their own desires to be free. A story that raises provocative questions of power and freedom, love and dependence. This book is based on an actual resort! And it's gotten wonderful reviews. I love historical fiction and thanks to Danielle of Harper Collins, I just received this in the mail! It was released in early January. Look for my review later in the month... *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

And speaking of month... March is National Women's History Month! This year celebrates the 30th anniversary of the celebration, which started as a week celebration in 1980, until 1987 when the United States Congress declared March National Women's History Month! This years theme is Writing Women Back into History. You can find out more at the National Women's History Project website.

I hope you've found something to peek your reading interests here! What have YOU been reading?! Share your reading picks here! Happy Reading... Suzanne