Feb 20, 2011

Sunday Salon: Books, Poetry, and a New Language

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Snow has melted,  but expect another freeze today and rain turning to slush. Will Monday roads be slick? Hope not. I have errands to run!

Did more than I thought I had over the week, though it's not as much as I would have liked! Slowing down with book reviews as I also am trying my hand at writing poetry, both on my poetry blog and in my journals!

Book reviews this past week:
A Red Herring without Mustard, the most recent  Flavia de Luce mystery
Fashion Unraveled, a how-to do fashion/craft business book tour
Thieves of Darkness, an international thriller
I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, a teaser and book description.
A Blog Hop featuring a look at a new travel memoir set in Nepal, Little Princes.

Cat Sitter Among the Pigeons: A Dixie Hemingway Mystery (Dixie Hemingway Mysteries)
I finished reading a new Blaize Clement pet sitter mystery, Cat Sitter Among the Pigeons: A Dixie Hemingway Mystery (Dixie Hemingway Mysteries) and gave it four out of five stars.

Good Poems
One of my favorite book of poetry, one I go back to time and again, reading wherever the page opens, is an anthology of easy-to-read poems: Good Poems, edited by Garrison Keilor. Another is The Giant Book of Poetry edited by William Roetzheim. Definitely relaxing to read. I recommend it when you don't have time to tackle a long novel but want to read some one's opinion or feelings or observations on a variety of topics. Surprising how many poets have similar experiences and reactions. And of course, I love the way they express themselves.

I am now reading Red Jade: A Detective Jack Yu Investigationby Henry Chang, a mystery set in a big city China Town.  I've also just finished  the ARC of Zero Hour, a cyber terrorism thriller by Andy McNab and will be doing a review. On Feb. 24, I'll be doing a TLC book tour and posting a review of a travel memoir, Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth. Please come back and look for it!

Would you believe I'm also trying to learn Japanese so I can communicate with my 3 year old grand daughter. Here's the book and CD that I'm listening to: Berlitz Japanese in 30 Days (Berlitz in 30 Days) (Japanese Edition). So far, I how how to end a sentence so that it becomes a question. I also know how to say goodbye, sayonara, with the proper intonations, so that it sounds like Japanese!  I'm slowly getting used to the sounds, stops, tones, etc.

What have you been doing over the long winter week?

7 comments:

  1. What an intriguing and eclectic post! Love the idea of learning a new language to communicate with your granddaughter...lovely!

    Here's MY SUNDAY SALON

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  2. You have been busy! Love that you're learning a new language.

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  3. Yes, the weather is depressing me again! We are experiencing unusually nice weather the past few days and the snow has finally melted, but tonight more snow, and as the weatherman says, "heavy at times"!

    As far as reading, I really enjoy Good Poems by Garrison Keilor too! It's a great collection, and one that you can easily open and enjoy just for a moment or two if that's all the time you have.

    Thanks for sharing your week!

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  4. I'm glad that the snow has melted at least. I'm impressed that you're learning Japanese - tonal languages intimidate me. I almost took Japanese in college, but chickened out at the last minute and switched to Italian.

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  5. How wonderful that you're trying to learn Japanese. I've wanted to understand that language, but not having much success.

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  6. Good luck with your poetry writing. I found several of my old poems while cleaning out a trunk a couple of weekends ago. It's been ages since I last wrote anything like that. I'm really not very good, but I enjoy jotting down what comes to mind now and then.

    I hope the roads are in good condition for your sake tomorrow. Have a good week!

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  7. You have had a busy week! Japanese, eh? Daunting. Poetry is wonderful, and Good Poems is one of my favorites.

    Have a great week!

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