The Sunday Salon: Climbing Over the Wall
by Menagerie ~ July 12th, 2009
Last week I wrote about hitting the “Reading Wall.” I think that I’ve climbed over it and am back on a normal reading pace. However, I remember certain months that I just read one great book after another and I haven’t had that feeling about the books that I’ve been reading lately. Because I’m over the wall and reading at a good pace again, does that mean that I’m enjoying it? I’m not sure. I haven’t had a 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 in a while. Oh where, oh where are my LOVE-LOVE-LOVE books?
I have a stack of books that I’ve purchased that I’m hesitant to start reading. I should give my review books my priority first, right? I’m wondering if I pick up a “purchase” if it’ll be a 10 out of 10. Do I rate books higher when I am excited about reading it before I crack it open? Do I rate books higher if I’ve heard so much about them and then subsequently purchase them? In my heart, I don’t think so because there have been some fantastic books that I’ve won or gotten as an ARC that I’ve just loved. So… is it just by chance that I’m reading a lot of 7 out of 10’s lately? Or, is it my mood? I’d hate to think that my mood is making me enjoy my reading less. Even more so, this feeling of questioning myself just sucks!
I got some great feedback from fellow bloggers on my “Reading Wall.” I’m going to slow down, smell the roses, and really try to be open minded to the next book I crack open! Yes, that’s the next goal now that I am over the wall!
This Week’s Reads
This week, I reviewed:
In My Mailbox for Review
I received A Year of Cats and Dogs by Margaret Hawkins, The Last Days of The Lacuna Cabal by Sean Dixon, and This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.
Contests
You CHICKLIT FANS… the CONTEST has a few more days. You still have a chance to enter!
Reading Challenges
On . Kaye’s 100+ Reading Challenge… I’m at 94 books read. Therefore, my statistical update for this challenge is that I’m 94% completed with 53.22% of the year completed. This puts me ahead of schedule by 40.77%. I really am almost there! Only 6 more books to go. I can do that by the end of summer, no problem. This will be the biggest challenge I’ve ever completed! Can we say, “Snoopy Dance?”
ANM Got an Award!
Have you visited Bloody Bad Book Blog? I’ve been a follower/reader for many months now and I always enjoy Trin’s blog. First of all, she’s got all kind of mad talent with web design and she’s always got something new and fun to share on her blog. (I appreciate that because I know how hard it is doing it all). Just look at her rating symbols (# out of 10)… super cool. Second, she’s just got such an organized blog. I can always find what I’m looking for with ease. I really like what she did with her awards in her sidebar (it’s groovy… check it out). Anyway, Trin gave me an award! And, this weekend was the perfect weekend to give it to me for many reasons…. I was so stoked!
Here’s the award:

“The Humane Award is to honor certain bloggers that are kindhearted individuals. They regularly take part in my blog and always leave the sweetest comments. If it wasn’t for them, my site would just be an ordinary book review blog. Their blogs are also amazing and are tastefully done on a daily basis. This award is to thank them for their growing friendships through the blog world.”
So, I am supposed to pass this onto an unknown amount of other bloggers. Trin chose 6, so 6 it is for me as well. Who I love love love and am giving this award to are:
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- Marie at The Burton Review. Thanks to the Bloggisiesta thing that Natasha Maw hosted earlier in the year, I would have never have gotten a new Blogging Buddy! Marie mentioned that she didn’t grab one one of those, so I volunteered. What I love about Marie’s blog? She’s got it set up all green, “Irishy,” and super organized. She provides honest reviews that are cleverly written. She’s a beautiful person inside and out and she’s a great mom!
- Lenore of Presenting Lenore. Now, I’m sure many of you are regular readers of hers. I’m totally addicted to Emmy and Finn, her two beautiful “kittehs.” She’s got an amazing blog which hosts A+ writing and super reviews. No matter how popular her blog is, she takes time for her readers and that means so much!
- Cathy of Kittling: Books. Cathy has grown so much as a blogger in the past year! She commits to the blogging community by dedicating a weekly posts to other bloggers. It’s called Scene of the Blog. She h0sts pictures of fellow book blogger’s desks so we can envision where our friends sit and write to us. She’s also got my favorite weekly meme Friday Feud. It’s just like the gameshow where you have to name a popular answer that nobody else has said before you. I love playing that one! Anyhow, she’s as kind as she is talented and is much deserved of this award.
- Mishel of Mis(h)takes. I’m a regular reader of this book blog. There is just something about this blog that resonates with me. Simply, I just enjoy it! She participated in most of the memes and is active in the blogging community. She’s always got a new post to read and the effort she puts into her blog is super evident!
- Florinda of 3 R’s. Most of you know Florinda. Her very popular blog always has good stuff to read. My favorite post of hers is on Saturdays when she hosts her Weekend Review. She links to all kinds of neat articles she’s read during the past week. But, the way she does it… it just takes you on an adventure. Florinda is just as kind in person as she is on her blog. She’s got an awesome doggie and is an animal lover (which I love love love!).
- Alyce of At Home With Books. Alyce knows that she’s just about my favorite blogger out there! I feel a friendship with her that is irreversible! I never have to think twice about what I say to her because I know that she accepts me for who I am (craziness and all!). She’s always there for her fellow bloggers and has always been there for me! Her blog is totally awesome and I love her posts with her husband and boys. They are cute little ones! Oh, and she’s a musician! Gotta love a musician!
Thank you, Trin! Really… thanks!
On TV
The Bachelorette
Another week with a great episode on ABC! I loved this show nearly as much as last week’s. This upcoming week she’s taking them to Maui and narrowing it down to 3 guys. I really enjoy writing these reviews and absolutely LOVE your comments even more! If you’ve missed this week’s review, you can check out my wrap-up from this week.
At Home
Since I posted my Sunday Salon post early last week (i.e. prior to July 4th), I didn’t get to post any 4th of July pics. Here are a couple of the kids at the parade.

At The 4th of July Parade: Colie is on the right in the hat

DeeDee is on the right (pink shirt) and Lisa's Munchkin is in green shirt
My daughters were more-than-hormonal on the 4th and it took Colie the better part of the day to snap out of it. I want to know when they will go back to their normal selves, please! We went swimming and played until midnight andthey had a good time. My favorite part of the day was hangin’ with my GIRL LISA and talking all kinds of gossip. She’s so easy to talk to! I’m lucky to have her as a friend!
Other than the 4th… I’ve had some personal stuff going on this week that just ate me up, ALIVE! So, I don’t have any fun stories to report. I did haul my butt into the gym and wrote a post about it on Friday.
I’ve been so sad all week because I learned that my change in website address has caused me to be lost on Google Reader and Blogger. Missing my “peeps” out there in Blogger Land, I went through my blog roll and reader and visited all of my favorite sites to let them know that I’m not dead. If I missed you and you’re catching this only via The Sunday Salon Feed, you can see the details on how to fix the links/feed here: http://anovelmenagerie.com/2009/06/30/blogging-update/. The good news was that I realized that there are several bloggers that I am following through Blogger/Google Reader that weren’t on my blog roll. I’ve since updated and added y’all. If I missed you, please email me so I can get you on there. (It’s good to be linked on other sites as it increases your SEO! OH, yes it is!)
This week was my 2nd edition of my new feature.. The Score… a weekly post about a musical artist and song that I appreciate. This week was The Platters’ “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.” I’m a sucker for classics! This upcoming week I have a COOL surprise and will be giving away a CD!
And, for the movie lovers, this week’s Monday’s Movie was Last Chance Harvey. I have NO IDEA what I will post for Monday… but, I’ll figure something out.
Oh, and one last thing… I got highlighted on Cathy’s Scene of the Blog this week. I really like her blog and read it regularly. You can check it out HERE.
As always, my thanks to all of you for reading not only this post, but the others as well. Your readership means the world to me! AND, your comments are invaluable to me!
































In great hopes that my girlfriend doesn’t read this article, I have to share that I am so annoyed and completely disgusted at this guy at the gym. Let me tell you why and what it has to do with my girlfriend… let’s call her “Jane.”



