The Sunday Salon April 11, 2010

Welcome to The Sunday Salon, a place for readers and book lovers to come together to escape into our books for a bit.  Each Sunday, we set aside some time to read and to discuss that reading, our reading throughout the past week, and other events in our lives.  Please join in the discussion here and take some time to visit some of the over 500 bloggers who participate.  I admit to not being as regular in my participation as I would like to be but that is one of my goals for improving on my blog this year.

The biggest news for me right now is that we are closing on the new house tomorrow! I am really excited about this but nervous at the same time.  We've crunched all the numbers but I still wonder if we can really afford this without me having to go back to work.  I'm a worrier though so I'm pretty sure I would feel that way no matter what the loan amount.  It will still be a few weeks before we can move in because we are having a bit of work done first.  The house will have almost all new flooring and the inside will be completely painted before we move in.  We also needed to get all new appliances since the former owners (the house was a foreclosure) took them when they moved out.  We will be really close to the schools and the library is right down the road.  It isn't a big library but it is part of a larger library system so I'm hoping we will be able to request the materials we want from other branches.  It also looks like they have a great childrens' area and maybe even a play group that my daughter and I can participate in.  We've heard really good things about the neighborhood and it has seemed very nice every time we have gone down to see the house.  I am really looking forward to having more space!

I don't generally do an In My Mailbox or What are you Reading type post each week because they would be pretty boring.  I don't get books too often in the mail and at most it is one or two in a week - not really enough to bother with a whole post about it.  Same with the What are you Reading posts - I'm generally only reading one book at a time or at the most one fiction and one non-fiction.  This past week though we finally got our Barnes & Noble order from January.  My husband and I had received several gift cards for Christmas and decided to do just one big order to use them.  The result was that we pre-ordered a bunch of books in our favorite series and Barnes & Noble held the entire order until they were all released.  I can't promise that I'll get around to reviewing any of these books in the very near future with the move coming up but the majority of them will probably be reviewed on here at some point.

Books Received this Week:

Changes by Jim Butcher (Book 12 of The Dresden Files)

Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher (Book 4 of The Codex Alera)

Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher (Book 5 of The Codex Alera)

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson Book 5)

Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison (The Hollows/Rachel Morgan Book 8)

Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton (Meredith Gentry Book 8)

Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake Book 18)

At The Gates of Darkness by Raymond E. Fiest (Book 2 of The Demonwar Saga)

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (Book 12 of The Wheel of Time)

This week, I'm going to be focusing on Longbourn's Unexpected Matchmaker by Emma Hox.  The book officially comes out on Thursday so look for my review then.  I'm about halfway through right now and I'm really enjoying the book so far!  Tomorrow will start a giveaway with a chance to win your own copy.  I'll also have some information about Jane Austen and a Q & A with Emma Hox this week.

Last week I read and reviewed The Power of Half by Kevin and Hannah Salwen.  I admit to being skeptical as I started the book but it ended up being a very inspiring read for me and got me thinking about some issues in new ways.  Also my April Giveaway is up and running for US residents.  Deadline is April 28, 2010.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.  What are you up to this week?

Note: All opinions provided on this blog are my own. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I do earn a small percentage for each item purchased through those links. Any other referral or associate links will be noted within the post.