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The Sunday Salon

A couple of weeks ago I challenged myself (well, it’s not a challenge considering this is a pleasure to do) to read Virago Modern Classics during the month of August. So far I’ve read three: The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth Von Arnim (a great vacation read), I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (why oh why haven’t I read this earlier? Likely to be one of the reading highlights of 2010 for me. I would have loved this when I was seventeen, but it's no less wonderful ten years on), and The Lacquer Lady, by F Tennyson Jesse, a novel set in 1870s/80s Burma right before and climaxing with the British takeover. It was a bit out of my comfort zone, but I did enjoy it a lot. It’s definitely an off-the-beaten-track book and worth reading if you can track down a copy (mine came from a fellow LT Viragoer).

I said last weekend that not every book I would read in August would be a Virago, but I’m having fun with this and so I think my next read may be Winifred Holtby’s South Riding (local government in a Yorkshire town in the 1930s). Or The Ante-Room, by Kate O’Brien (1880s Ireland). Truthfully, I have a whole stack of really good-looking books to choose from, so the choice is hard!

This month I found out that I’ll be receiving yet another book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. I’ve been on LT for two years, and every month that I’ve entered, I’ve received something—and it’s not as though I’m randomly clicking on everything that looks appealing. This month I’ll be receiving The Pindar Diamond, by Katie Hickman. I received The Aviary Gate also through LTER, and enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to reading this new one. I’m not sure how I get chosen so frequently to receive books (especially since I’ve not yet reviewed my book from April, oops), but I can’t complain about my success rate!

How was your weekend/week? Read anything memorable lately?

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