Sunday Salon... Books with Buzz and A Kindle related gift

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....

One of those very busy weeks, with a few trips to the vet for my reading companion BJ (he doesn't do any of the reading though, he just listens..), but now he seems to be on the road to recovery, with a course of rest and anti-inflammatory drugs. So in between reading doggie 'health books', there have been quite a few "Books with Buzz" to talk about this week... and I'll be making up for my lack of reviews this past week, this coming week! For now though here are a few notable books to put on your TBR list!...

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf. "It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night. Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli's mother, Antonia, tried tobe the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice. Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. " So much good talk about this book. A few people I know who have read it were drawn in immediately to the story and couldn't put it down. So, this is on my TBR list and I think it's going to be on quite a few 'must read lists' in the coming months.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman "Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. He's a senior in high school, and a certifiable genius but he's still secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read as a kid, about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, anything in his real life just seems gray and colorless. Everything changes when Quentin finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. But something is still missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he thought it would. Then, after graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real." This book has been described as 'Harry Potter discovers Narnia is real' and is suppose to be an adult story book. Lot's and lots of positive buzz for this book! A homage to Harry P. For all of us who miss reading about Harry this might fit the bill, but with more of an adult twist here and there.

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. Thanks to the Man Booker Prize longlist I read about and was intrigued by this book. "Olive Wellwood is a famous writer, interviewed with her children gathered at her knee. For each, she writes a private book, bound in its own colour and placed on a shelf. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh the children play in a storybook world - but their lives, and those of their rich cousins and friends, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets. Born at the end of the Victorian era and growing up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, a whole generation grew up unaware of the darkness ahead; in their innocence, they were betrayed unintentionally by the adults who loved them." The saga of the families plays out in the changing times of the culture and we are swept away with them... The change of life from the victorian times to the more 'progressive' edwardian times.

Ok, now a little something for your Kindle.... (also meant for books too!)

A Kindle friendly present... Have you ever tried to lean your Kindle against something to read it hands free. To have it stand up while you're lying down? Well, I bought a Peeramid BookRest, a kind of pyramid shape pillow with a ledge to rest your book and a tassel bookmark to keep your page. But I thought my Kindle would fit perfect on that little ledge and it sure did. Use it on the floor, on your lap, etc. It comes in a lot of colors and a few different material choices. It looks like a throw pillow when not it use... Click on the link above to go directly to the Peeramid's website....

I ordered mine from Amazon.com, but if you do a google search for Peeramid Bookrest there are quite a few places that sell them. They retail between $32 and $40 depending on the fabric.

I hoped I peaked your interest a little here! Don't forget there are some great giveaways going on and next week there will be a couple more interesting giveaways. One of which is going to be international! So keep in touch, tell me what books you're reading this week! And if you have a furry pal at home give him or her a big hug!

Happy reading...

Suzanne