Sunday Salon with some bookish and not-so-bookish thoughts

Tulips. April 2016.

Weather: Overcast but no rain so far today. We seem to be moving toward more spring-like weather. The spring so far has been quite cool.

National Poetry Month ends: How did I do on my poetry reading goals? See this post for my plan for April and poetry.

• Chalked a short poem on the sidewalk in front of our house. ✓
• Completed 5 of the 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry month. ✓
• Read and reviewed these seven poetry collections. ✓
• 100 Poems to Break Your Heart
• Home Body
• The Rain in Portugal
• Ten Poems for Difficult Times
• Patriarchy Blues
• Bright Wings
• Out of Wonder
  
• Visited a used bookstore (just yesterday.) ✓
• But, I checked out three or four other volumes on poetry and decided for a variety of reasons to NOT read them. That's okay, too.
  

Bookish thoughts: All month I've been aware that I keep adding more books to my TBR (To Be Read) pile than I actually read. I recently culled down my TBR to right around 210 titles.  (Check out my TBR at Goodreads here.) My goal for this May is to ONLY read books on that list or books I currently own. No trips to the bookstore or library to get teased into trying something else! I usually read 10 books on average a month, so I hope to make a small dent in my list. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Not-so-bookish thoughts: Well, this thought is tangled up in something I read this morning about not getting all of our information from one source. Apparently in 1958 Mao incited the Chinese people to destroy sparrows because the birds ate so much grain and there was so many of them. The people took this message to heart and soon there were no/few sparrows left. The next year a famine began that killed 45 million people. It seems that sparrows also kept insects and locusts in check. Without sparrows, the locusts were free to eat and destroy whole fields. It is thought that this one event, called Smash Sparrows is the greatest environmental disaster ever. All caused by one man thinking he knew the solution to a problem -- not enough grain for everyone, get rid of every source of competition -- and the results were way worse than the problem. We must take this cautionary tale to heart and refuse to be people who insist on getting our information from only one source and never fact checking elsewhere. Whatever the topic: vaccines, masks, politics, environment, voting, etc.

Books read this week:

• The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. A book club selection which was way out of our comfort zone but I ended up liking it for it's positive message. Audio.
• The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. The fifth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. A reread for me. I liked the story better than in the past but was more aware of sterotype person used as the villains. Read for Narniathan. Print book that I own.
• 100 Poems to Break Your Heart by Edward Hirsch. The book is a tome but I worked my way through it over six week so I got a sense of accomplishment at completion.  Print from library.

Currently reading:

1. Good Enough: 40(ish) Devotions by Kate Bowler. I have been enjoying these devotions immensely. I'm on devotion #36. Print book that I own. 91% complete. 
2. So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olou. A book club selection. Tough but necessary topic. Audio. 30% complete.
3. The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne. So many people have recommend this book, including a woman I didn't know when I was carrying it around at the book store yesterday after purchasing it. 6% complete.
   

Thank you, Joe Biden:

 

 

Hands dirty: Today Don and I got out in the yard and removed some ugly shrubs and replaced them with brightly colored azaleas.  I say "we" but Don really did most of the work.

On the lighter side, animal version:

-Anne