My Head Is Full of Books: Sunday Salon -- End of November and First Sunday of Advent.

"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, November 30, 2025

Sunday Salon -- End of November and First Sunday of Advent.

Thankful for family. Photo credit B. Powers

Weather: Cold with light rain. Feeling: chilly.

Thanksgiving gathering: we had a small crew with us this this, just our immediate family, a niece and her husband. But you know what? It was nice to have a meal where we all fit at the same table and we could just hang out together. Feeling: grateful.

November reading challenges are now complete: I've participated in Nonfiction November AND Novellas in November this year, a first participating in both. I spent this last week frantically finishing up all the back reviews that had piled up all month. Last Sunday I would have described my feeling as overwhelmed, but now I'm feeling: relieved.

Photo credit: A. Parr

Eugene: Last week-end we were in Eugene again, this time for the last home football game of the regular season. Our daughter and son-in-law drove down to join us for the game and to visit their grandma, my mother, who just moved into a retirement community recently. Feeling: proud (and embarrassed at how silly I look all wrapped up in the blanket.)

My last Sunday Salon was November 9th: Since then we've been to Eugene twice, I've written 16 blog posts, and completed 13 books, many novellas, making the number a tiny bit less impressive. So as not to bore you to death listing all the books and hyperlinking all the posts, I will just list a few, which I think may be of interest. Feeling: caught up.

Ranked list of all the novellas I read in November. On this post are links to all 12 of the novella reviews.
Nonfiction November Wrap-Up post with hyperlinked reviews for all the nonfiction books from the month.
The only novels not considered novellas this month: Persuasion by Jane Austen and Heart the Lover by Lily King. Both so good.
And some Top Ten Tuesday lists:

End of the Year Project: I've been busy collating all the end-of-the-year-best-books lists I can find. So far I've found 30 major lists, like those from NPR, NYT, Oprah Mag. etc. So far almost 900 different books have been named. I have quite the long spreadsheet. I hope to publish my findings soon. Stay tuned. Feeling: geeky.

Today is the first day of advent: What is advent? "Advent is a sacred period in the Christian calendar that calls believers into a time of anticipation and spiritual preparation for the birth of Christ. Marked by the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, it is a journey through themes of hope, peace, joy, and love that inspire deeper faith and meaningful reflection." Our church prompts us to ponder these attributes through a candle-lighting ceremony and singing at the beginning of the service. Feeling: peaceful.

And so it begins -- the battle between Christmas trees and cats: Our daughter and her family set up their Christmas tree yesterday afternoon. By dinnertime, their cat, one of those sweet-looking things under the tree, had already knocked the tree over. Happy holidays and good luck to all you cat owners! Skimble says he's feeling: mischievous.

Closing the book on November.

-Anne