The Sunday Salon: Winter Reading

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I've recently finished reading Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton and the image above seems to capture the cold, bleak beauty from that novella. Many of you are probably sick of the "cold, bleak beauty," but my home is in a place that is often quite warm during the winter months (yes, I live in the Northern Hemisphere) so I like to live vicariously through my reading by creating a seasonal reading shelf for winter. I actually do this four times a year, once for each season. I also crave certain types of reading during the year. Here is how it breaks down for me:

• December through February - Mysteries, Scandinavian fiction, or books with a winter setting (i.e. Father Cadfael mysteries or Henning Mankell books)
• March through May - Fantasy, fairy tales, or books with a spring setting (i.e. In the Forests of Serre, The Enchanted April)
• June through August - Science Fiction or books with a summer setting (i.e. Dune)
• September through November - Books with a creepy or autumn setting (i.e. Something Wicked This Way Comes)

Classics and literary fiction (yes, I understand there is some controversy over the term "literary fiction" but I am using it here because I think most readers will understand what type of book I'm referring to) are liberally added to any seasonal shelf. I particularly like to read Dickens during the winter months though.

Creating a seasonal shelf not only allows me to read seasonally, but it also allows me to address my enormous TBR collection by creating a smaller pool of books to draw from without restricting myself too much. I might read everything on my seasonal shelf or I might read just some of those books. I like to allow myself room to read something I hadn't thought of, to accommodate a sudden urge to join a read-a-long, or to read impulsively ... because reading should be fun!

Do you create seasonal shelves?

Related links:

The Sunday Salon is a weekly virtual get together where readers share thoughts about their reading. We write about books and reading on our own blogs and then visit and chat with other saloners through the comments feature.

The Sunday Salon: Snow Country

I pulled quite a few books from my TBR stacks that have a winter theme or setting and saved them to read during the "bleak midwinter" as it were. Well, I live in a place that doesn't get snow and often feels more like summer during those winter months. Hardly bleak. I was hoping this would be one of our "cold" winters, but it has been consistently warm and sometimes quite hot. My seasonal expectations and reality just aren't in sync this year, so I've been living vicariously through my winter themed books.

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata is set in the mountains on the west coast of the main island of Japan. This setting is important to the story. The Introduction to my copy of Snow Country describes the setting:

"In the winter, cold winds blow down from Siberia, pick up moisture over the Japan Sea, and drop it as snow when they strike the mountains of Japan. The west coast of the main island of Japan is probably for its latitude the snowiest region of the world. From December to April or May only the railroads are open, and the snow in the mountains is sometimes as much as fifteen feet deep."

The setting and descriptive passages are often stunningly beautiful. It was this that kept me reading. The setting is cold and remote. The characters follow this pattern and this makes them unreachable and, ultimately, unlikeable. A cold and remote setting has a harsh beauty, but these same characteristics in people are unflattering. Nevertheless, it was this parallel between setting and characters that helped me overlook my dislike and focus on the writing to see the beauty of the whole.

The story takes place at a hot-springs in the snow country. Shimamura is a wealthy idle man who travels to the hot springs without his wife. Komako is one of the hot-springs geisha, a near outcast. There is a sense of wasted and decaying beauty in Snow Country and this comes across in the repeated thoughts of Shimamura about wastedness and in Komako's own impulsive and self destructive behavior. An "indefinable air of loneliness" surrounds Komako, and Shimamura's life seems empty. Shimamura is fascinated with the reflected images of others in mirrors and windows and is drawn to illusion over reality.

Again though, I'm pulled away from the characters themselves by the powerful images that the author creates. Images like that of the rounded snow covered mountain tops turned red by the rising or setting sun. This parallels Komako's white powdered neck curving to her rounded shoulders of red skin that flow and disappear into the wide neck of her kimono. Images of red and white recur throughout the novel and one could write an entire post on these images and metaphor.

I'm guessing there is much I missed for lack of cultural and literary understanding. The recurring themes  and images mean something. Metaphor is abundant. The entire novel is reminiscent of haiku that "seek[s] to convey a sudden awareness of beauty by a mating of opposite or incongruous terms … [a fusion of] motion and stillness" and a mingling of the senses. (Quote about haiku from the 1956 Introduction to the book.)

A deep vein of darkness and loneliness runs through Snow Country and this may not be to everyone's liking. Those who have an interest in Japanese literature, those who crave poetic writing, and those who love imagery or strongly visualize when they read will want to read this short novel by one of the masters of Japanese literature.

Related links:

The Sunday Salon is a weekly virtual get together where readers share thoughts about their reading. We write about books and reading on our own blogs and then visit and chat with other saloners through the comments feature.

Japanese Literature Challenge 7 hosted by Dolce Bellezza

TSS: January 2012 in Review

January has turned out to be a very busy month for me, but I've managed to get in some reading in spite of the busyness and a winter head/chest cold. I've also managed to make progress on all three of my commitments: the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge, the TBR Double Dare, and the Clarissa Group Read.

Merely Mystery Reading Challenge

This month I read three mystery novels and one short story for the Merely Mystery challenge. The novels and short story have all been quite different from each other (except for the mystery angle). I've written one "review" which you can link to below. I do plan on writing reviews for the others.

A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael medieval mystery) by Ellis Peters (thoughts)
The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin Russian mystery) by Boris Akunin
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (short story) by Edgar Allan Poe
In the Bleak Midwinter (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne upstate New York mystery) by Julia Spencer-Fleming

TBR Double Dare

So far, so good. All of my January reading has been taken from my TBR collection. There is one title that is probably "gray area," but I consider it a TBR book. I received In the Bleak Midwinter in early January from the publisher. I was told in December that I would be receiving this book. What do you think? Does it count or did I cheat?

Clarissa Group Read

I've read Letters 1-6 of Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. So far I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to read February's letters. I still need to write up my thoughts and I'll be putting the Mr. Linky post up this coming Tuesday, January 31st so participants can link to their thoughts. I'm looking forward to what you all have to say! On a side note, reading older literature like Clarissa and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" gave me an idea for a blog post that I hope to put up soon.

Books Purchased

As you all know, I'm trying to read down my TBR collection and trying not to purchase too many books. I'm keeping a "Books In/Books Out" spreadsheet to help me try to send more books out than I take in. By and large the spreadsheet is keeping me accountable. The books I purchased this month are classics that I want to have in my permanent collection, which is another goal. Two of them are the new Penguin Clothbound Classics. Want to see them?

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

Well, that was my January in book news. How was your January?

P.S. See that lovely little leaf plate in the photo above? I'm not sure I ever posted about it, but I received that courtesy of Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza several years ago. I love it.

TSS: Merely Mystery Reading Challenge 2012

I mentioned in a previous post that I would be participating in the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge hosted by Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty. I'm trying to be judicious with the challenges I join for a number of reasons. Mainly, I tend to do the reading part of the challenge, but then don't write any blog posts or visit others participating in the challenge. This defeats a great part of the challenge - the social part!

One of the criteria for joining a reading challenge this year is whether or not reading for that challenge will contribute to one of my main reading goals for 2012 - to read down my TBR collection. I've noticed a lot of others have this same goal. (I think we've been enabling each other!) The Merely Mystery Reading Challenge fits this goal and sounds like so much fun. It will also provide reading that contrasts nicely with the year long Clarissa Group Read.

I really appreciate the way Literary Feline has provided a very nice breakdown of the Mystery sub-genres. Sub-genres like: The Whodunit, Locked Room Mystery, Cozy, and others. You really should take a look at these descriptions, even if you're not participating.

Some of the authors and/or series that I'll be pulling from for this challenge are:

• Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters
• Various P.D. James mysteries
• Inspector Banks mysteries by Peter Robinson
• Various Agatha Christie mysteries
• Various J.A. Jance mysteries
• Anna Pigeon mysteries by Nevada Barr
• Hamish Macbeth mysteries by M.C. Beaton
• Elvis Cole & Joe Pike mysteries by Robert Crais

I'm sure there are more on my shelves, but this is a fair representation of what I'll be reading for this challenge. I do want to dig through my stacks and see if I've got some pre-twentieth century mysteries to read (besides Sherlock Holmes). I've had a craving to read some older literature this year. I'm guessing it has something to do with reading quite a bit of YA (young adult) fiction and contemporary paranormal fiction last year. It's been a while since I've read many classics ... but I'm getting ahead of myself. That is an entirely different post!

The Sunday Salon: "Alone Among Others" or Reflections on Read-a-Thon

Thoughts on my participation in Read-a-thon and some inspiration about being "Alone Among Others" from The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon is a fantastic event that brings together readers from all over the world to simultaneously read for a twenty four hour period. How does that work exactly? Well, we all agree to read for a 24 hour period and we use various social networking tools to stay connected. Most participants maintain a book blog for longer posts and comments from other readers. Many use Twitter to send short bursts of information and encouragement, and to leave links to blog posts and videos (vlogs). We use YouTube, Vimeo, or other sites to post videos giving a live action look into our doings. A central event blog is available with hosts that post helpful suggestions for staying awake, information about various prize giveaways and contests, and videos in which they cheer the readers on. There are also teams of cheerleaders that "visit" all of the participants and encourage their reading endeavors. As you can see, there is a lot going on besides reading!

Participating in this Read-a-thon for the first time, I found it a bit overwhelming to balance my reading with all of the social interaction. I expected to read a lot. After all, it is a READ-a-thon. I also wanted to stay connected to the other readers. Since we aren't all sitting in the same room, we have to find other ways to be together. In order to stay connected I had to, at the least, write blog posts and visit and comment at other participant's blogs. Posting pictures and/or videos of our book piles, snacks, reading areas, and activities (like that lovely afternoon walk to rejuvenate us for more reading) is a bonus but it is also an important way to make the event more personal and give it a sense of place.

So how did I do? I did get some reading done, but I spent a lot more time interacting socially online!

Reflecting on all of this, I was inspired by an idea in an essay by Lewis Buzbee that I read during Read-a-thon. In "Alone Among Others," Buzbee puts forth the idea that as readers we are alone with our books but by congregating with other readers we can simultaneously be amongst others. Have you ever seen a room full of people reading together? Or spent time in a bookstore or library browsing among the books? It is quiet with everyone individually focused on their reading or browsing, yet it is a gathering together of those with something in common. I love this idea of being alone among others.

Yesterday I was alone among others worldwide (that's a big room!) reading together. I spent time online making connections to other readers doing the same thing at the same time. Yes, this took away from reading time but it also allowed me to be part of an awesome community of book readers and bloggers. We were together. It allowed me to read and chat with my friend in Canada, someone I've never met but consider a friend none-the-less. I was encouraged by another friend in Texas, again someone I've never met but admire for her unending enthusiasm. I could mention others, but like I said ... it was a BIG room. And it was an AWESOME event.

Will I participate in Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon again? You bet! It was a great experience. And for those who remember Dewey, she would be proud of our ability to be alone among others.

TSS: Spine Bookshelf Tour

I've had a few questions about the books that appear behind me in some videos. I know it looks like I've created a 5 foot tower of books, but the books are actually on a bookshelf called a spine bookshelf.

The books on this shelf are an eclectic collection and the only thing they have in common is that they are mostly hardbacks.

Enjoy the tour!

The Sunday Salon: Too Many Books!

I have a problem. I have too many books. I know, I know ... "one can never have too many books." Yet, I do. I live in a rather small space and have limited storage. I think I have done quite well with the space I have, but it is time to take a good hard look at my book collection and start weeding.

I have two fairly large bookcases ... one in the bedroom and one in the living room. I've also got a great storage system for the overflow. I purchased see-through plastic bins and numbered them. Then I cataloged all my books into LibraryThing and made a location note telling me which shelves or which box held each book. The plastic bins live in the garage ... around 20 of them. So far so good. Then I acquired more books and didn't really want to add to the plastic bin numbers. And I was going to read these books soon (riiiiight). So they sat in a small pile on the bench of my breakfast nook. Guess what. Those books still live there and they have been procreating. I swear. They just multiply. I would really like to have my breakfast nook back ... you know, to eat at ... so I've given the books notice. They must find somewhere else to live. Of course, book lovers that you all are, you already know my dilemma. I want to read most of those books and some I will want to keep, so they won't disappear by tomorrow.

What to do about this dilemma? A plan. Accountability. More books going out than coming in.

I'm a librarian, so I'm no stranger to the concept of weeding the collection. I've just never really applied this to myself ... you know ... to my books ... to my lovely, lovely collection. Gulp. But, I remind myself, I'm feeling overwhelmed. I desire an uncluttered living environment. Books are a major source of clutter in my home. I need to weed. My collection. My books. I need to make it happen. I need to have my own collection development and maintenance plan.

Here is the plan. It is really quite simple.

1. Guidelines for the collection. Basically, criteria for what comes in, what stays and what goes. Should I purchase books by unknown authors or borrow from the library first? (I'm actually pretty good at picking authors/books that I end up liking, so this is a bit of a problem!) Will I re-read it? Does it fit into one of my major areas of interest? Is it special in some way that dictates that I would keep it?

2. A spreadsheet with a page for each month of the year. Each page has 2 columns -- Books In and Books Out. I format each page so that the titles do not wrap around. This makes it easy to see, at a glance, which side is longer. At the end of the month I enter the totals for each column. The Books Out column must be greater than the Books In; preferably MUCH greater until some significant progress has been made.

I can hear your question. "So how is it going??" So far, really well. It has been rather easy to find quite a few books that I'm willing to part with as I begin this discipline. Books I know I will never read again -- OUT. Books I have completely lost any interest in reading -- OUT. The books going out are bagged and stored for about 4 weeks before they are actually sent away. I'm hoping to avoid "OMG! I can't believe I got rid of that book. I want it back!" I'm sure I will regret getting rid of at least a few books, but the waiting period should help minimize this.

I've prioritized reading the books I'm pretty sure I won't be keeping. Does this cut into some of my reading spontaneity? Sure. But it's worth it. I really do want my breakfast nook back!

I know it will get more difficult to identify books to give away as the collection diminishes and I also know that some books will stay because I WANT them to stay. My 19th century Russian literature collection will stay; my Victorian literature collection will stay; my Ray Bradbury collection will stay; books I know I will re-read will stay. You get the picture. I will still have quite the collection and anticipate a need to continue storing some of my books, but hopefully this plan will allow me to reclaim my breakfast nook and develop a more peaceful relationship to my books. I want to appreciate my book collection; not feel overwhelmed by it.

Numbers so far this year:

Books Out = 127
Books In = 41
Net books OUT = 86

*I haven't mentioned that my husband contributes to the book madness and is participating in this latest "bee in my bonnet."

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your book collection? Have you implemented a weeding project of your own?

The Sunday Salon: Catching Up!

This year has been a difficult one so far. Blogging has been rather sporadic for me due to my earlier unexpected medical episode and then the "race" to catch up in all areas of life after that. I'm beginning to feel a little more in control of my time now. Hope it lasts for awhile!

To celebrate, I've spent some extra time in the last week or so doing some blog maintenance and writing some book reviews. I was delighted to see that I wasn't the only one feeling the need to give my blog some attention and do some writing. Natasha at Maw Books Blog hosted Bloggiesta! last weekend. I wasn't quite up to full participation, so I joined in unofficially. I was able to clean up my tags (labels) a bit and also added a social bookmarking button to my posts template. I've got a list of other things I'd like to improve/change, but it felt good to get this much done.

I've written six book reviews in the last two weeks. I haven't been terribly prolific in this area, so three per week is quite good for me. Not sure that I'll keep up THAT pace, but I would like to be more disciplined about writing reviews. Soooo ... one of the things I will be trying to do is to write a review immediately after finishing a book instead of jumping right into reading another. Anyone else have this tendency?? I know I'm not alone!

Books reviewed in the last two weeks (links are to my reviews):

Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
In the Company of Ogres by A. Lee Martinez
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir by Tony Hillerman
A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez
Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

The books I completed for Carl V.'s Once Upon a Time Challenge still need reviewed and are patiently waiting for me on my desk. Still to come:

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Even with all of these reviews to write, I'm still reading! On my "nightstand" now:

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
This is for the Battle of the Prizes challenge hosted by Rose City Reader. It is beautifully written with much to think about.

Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
I'm reading this one because so many of you have recently written about this charming book and I want to be charmed!

Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron
Eva at A Striped Armchair vlogged about this book recently and it sounded fantastic. I'm also starting up something new on the library blog at work. I will be functioning as the editor for book reviews submitted to the library by our faculty and students. So far I've got one student lined up and several faculty. Not bad for the summer when there aren't many people around campus. I will also be contributing reviews and thought that this book would work well for one of my own submissions.

Read about the Sunday Salon and find out how to join by going here.

Sunday Salon: My First Salon!

I've been reading Sunday Salon posts for awhile now and thought I'd join in on the fun. I spend a lot of time reading books, thinking about books, writing about books, talking about books and organizing my behemoth book collection. I also try to keep my husband's collection of books somewhat organized so that I can answer that question, "Honey, have you seen [fill in the book title here]?" So it seemed natural that I should join in on Sundays. I'm sure this additional outlet for my book mania will be a relief to family and friends that don't share this 24/7 passion.

Reading has always been an important part of my life. I've still got some of my earliest picture books -- books about farm animals, numbers, letters, elves and shoemakers, and Christmas. They are in such pristine condition that I wondered if I "read" them. My mother has assured me that I did indeed "read" them often. I just happened to be one of those kids that you could take into a china shop and not worry about the safety of the merchandise. To this day I'm pretty easy on my books.

I was first introduced to the library-as-place during elementary school. The books in that library were organized by grade level. It didn't take me long to work through many of the books in my own level and then begin exploring the shelves for the "older" kids. The summer between third and fourth grade I participated in the summer reading program. I had already determined that there were books in the sixth through eighth grade section that I was interested in reading, so I picked up a few of those books, including Dickens' David Copperfield, and headed to the check out desk. The very nice librarian took one look at my book stack and then tried shepherding me back to more "age appropriate" books. "Let me show you where you can find the books for third and fourth grade," she said smilingly. "Oh, I know where they are ... but I want to read THESE books," I replied very confidently. She looked worried. Very wisely she chose not to contest my stubborn little self and, instead, checked them out to me ... along with a note to my mother. My mom didn't seem concerned by the note, but she did check in with me several times as I worked my way through David Copperfield. "So how's the book?" she would ask. "It's VERY good," I replied. And so it was. I still have my certificate of completion for that summer reading program.

How I wish I could be a kid again and spend my summers reading! Joining in reading challenges seems to fill that desire to participate in some kind of reading program though. The latest challenge is Carl V.'s Once Upon a Time Challenge. I love reading fantasy/folklore/myth, so this challenge is right up my alley. I've created a possible list of reads for my Once Upon a Time journey. If you are interested, it is here. I need to add to that list since I forgot to include: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and Chernevog by C.J. Cherryh. Eeek! How could I have forgotten those two titles?? A fantasy classic (Beagle) and a story based in Russian folklore (Cherryh) should definitely be on my list.

In current reading news, I just finished a gorgeously written book by Sheila Ortego titled The Road from La Cueva. Based on some of my other reading preferences, the author contacted me about reading and reviewing her book. The book setting is New Mexico and, since I have a love for this region of the U.S., I immediately agreed. I didn't want this book to end. I want to start over at the beginning and read it again. I think I will read parts of it again before reviewing it, but look for a review of this book soon. I hope my words will do it justice.

Well, I could ramble on some more, but I want to visit some other Sunday Salon-ers and then get back to my current read, for the Once Upon a Time challenge, of course! Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint. It's VERY good.