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The Sunday Salon


I’ve been very busy for the past couple of weeks! Two weeks ago I moved into my new apartment, so I’ve been very busy with all that entails. There are still some finishing touches that need to be done (I didn’t get the window blinds for the living room until Tuesday), but it’s all looking pretty good! I spent much of the first Saturday unpacking books; I think I had 31 boxes of them! Nothing is organized on the shelves, though. I culled a lot from my collection to trade at the Book trader here in Old City Philadelphia for credit for new books—so I went back there this morning and walked away with The Ice House, by Nina Bawden, The Burning of Bridget Cleary, by Angela Bourke, West With the Night, by Beryl Markham, and Mary Olivier: A Life, by May Sinclair. The Book Trader is a great place to find those hidden treasures—especially those of the Virago kind!

Speaking of Virago, last week I participated in Virago Reading Week. I usually love many of the books they reprint, but for some reason I couldn’t quite get myself to enjoy the books I picked out to read: Devoted Ladies, by Molly Keane, Harriet Hume, by Rebecca West, and The Loved and Envied, by Enid Bagnold. I’m planning on doing Persephone Reading Weekend, which is coming up at the end of the month. I had fun last May doing the Reading Week that was organized, and I think I’ve got some good ones on the shelf that are begging to be read: Every Eye, by Isobel English, A Very Great Profession, by Nicola Beauman, Alas Poor Lady, by Rachel Ferguson, Few Eggs and No Oranges, by Vere Hodgson, and There Were No Windows, by Norah Hoult.

This week I got back into reading historical fiction, with The Lion of Mortimer, by Juliet Dymoke (about Edward II) and The Tudor Secret, by CW Gortner. Both enjoyable, but not favorites. I really am in a reading slump right now, aren’t I? I think after I finish The Tudor Secret, I think I’ll go for some nonfiction, which I’m really in the mood for right now; my last great read was the superb A Woman’s Place.

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