A Retrospective of 2025 Sunday Salon Posts

Visiting three Thomas Danbo Trolls with the family in April 2025

As I look back on a year of my Sunday Salon posts, 2025 comes back into focus before many events will begin to fade from my memory. 

Please click on the hyperlinks to read more about my year.

The only post I made in January was titled "So Much Crying" and I remember why. Trump was back in power and things looked awfully bleak for our future. I read two sad books, attended a play in Seattle, Kimberly Akimbo, where I remember crying my way through it, and President Jimmy Carter died. The photos were taken the same week. The first I named "Sunrise over Mt. Rainier" taken in the small hamlet where our daughter lives and teaches. The second was taken under the convention center with a view of sunset over Elliott Bay in Seattle. It is so uniquely beautiful.
(So Much Crying, Jan. 19th)

In February we made a quick day-trip up to Mt. Rainier National Park with our four-year-old grandson. It was one of those wonderful, magical days, too. In fact, it was so beautiful we all had to shed layers due to all the sunshine creating radiant heat. Just the other day our grandson asked us if we would please take him back up the mountain again soon. Special! (Feb. 2, 2025)

In March my mother turned 96 and the family gathered to help her celebrate her birthday. I love the photos of Mom reading to her her great-grandsons and the silly one of all of us making faces.
(Spring, March 30)

We found ourselves in Olympia in April attending a "Hands Off" rally with other like-minded people. It felt good to be doing something, even if it was such a small effort in resistance against the current administration.
(A Day of Action, April 6)

I like to wander around our neighborhood in the Spring taking photos of the gorgeous flowers in our neighbors' yards. In this post I write about visiting the Thomas Danbo Trolls with the family. (See photo above.) This particular week I focused on flowering trees. Aren't they gorgeous?
(Easter Week and Before, April 20)

How quickly the year seems to be going. In this post I share a photo of Don and Jamie. We went for a hike in the Fairy Forest near our home and Jamie led us on a new route, where we discovered the woodpecker tree. Our special "Jamie Days" were coming to an end. Next school year he would be old enough to go to school and wouldn't need to spend one day a week with us. I didn't realize how emotional I'd feel about this ending.
(Memorial Day and the Beginning of Summer, May 25)

For the second year in a row we rented a house at a national park so the whole family could enjoy a week together exploring nature. This year we went to Glacier NP in Montana. The post is crammed full of marvelous photos of our experience. The above photo is taken on Logan Pass. On our way up to the summit we experienced a tremendous rain storm. But it blew over and we had a wonderful evening -- hiking, visiting with other park visitors, admiring a bachelor herd of bighorn sheep. So many memories. The highlight of the year. (Glacier National Park, July 6)

"Busy Summer 2025" is the title of this August 10th post. That is for sure. We raced around all summer from one event to the next. On this particular post I talked about our family reunion one weekend followed by my 50th-year high school class reunion the next. Earlier in the summer we celebrated Don's 50th-year reunion also. I love this photo of the cousins being photo-bombed by our grandsons. After I got home from the class reunion I created a list of the top 50 books I've read since high school graduation. It is linked in this post. 
(Busy Summer, Aug. 10)

For the first time in a long time our church hosted a weekend family camp. I grew up attending an end-of-summer family camp with the church of my youth. I also attended church camp every summer during high school. It is a tremendously favorite experience of mine. I talked about all three of these experiences in this post. Our older grandson, Ian, taught himself how to paddleboard as you see in the upper right photo.
(Family Camp, Sept. 15)

Don and I spent a week in Eugene in October helping Mom move out of her house and into a very nice retirement community. It was an exhausting, demanding event but all my siblings chipped in to help. And it felt like we stepped out of time for a week. Now we no longer have to worry about Mom driving or wonder what she is eating. Pictured: the moving crew.
(Back to Standard Time, Nov. 2)

Based on this wrap-up one could easily get the impression that all we do is go on vacations or to the theater. Of course, that is not correct but this post will not disabuse of that notion. Our younger daughter took the whole family to see The Lion King musical in Seattle as her Christmas gift to us in early December. Almost right after we got home from this wonderful event, our area was hit with a ferocious rain storm which caused all kinds of terrible troubles for many, many people. I spent a lot of time early in the month creating a best-books-round-up list for 2025 and linked the results here.
(December Fun, Dec. 13)

And that brings me to the end of the yearly wrap-up with a post about all the books I liked and didn't like in 2025. I also find myself finishing up other posts, like my yearly challenge list, and creating other lists, like my favorite novels, nonfiction, and audiobooks. I can really drag out the end of the year almost all the way to the end of January!
(2025 Survey of Books)

Goodbye 2025. Hello 2026!

-Anne

Classics Club 26 for 2026

The Classics Club -- 26 Questions in 2026: 

1. a. When did you join the Classics Club? b. How many titles have you read so far? 

• a. I think I joined the CC in 2007. I'd recently become a high school librarian and suddenly realized how woefully behind I was on reading classics when students started asking me questions about them.
• b. So far I've read 144 books. Link to my current list: Here  

2. a. What classic are you reading next and why? b. Any books from 1926?

• a. Today I am starting A Passage to India by E.M. Forster. Last year, part way through the year I started the practice of reading 12-pages a day of classic books at the encouragement of some book blogger. Magically following that practice I was able to finish more than double the number of classic books compared to other years. I let off that practice in December and am determined to pick it back up in 2026. I purchased a used copy of A Passage to India in an old, overstuffed used book shop this past summer and it seems like a good place to start the year.
• b. I just looked. The only book still unread on my CC list which was published in 1926 is The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. I will make it a 2026 priority. 

3. Best Book I've read so far for club? Why?

• I have read some wonderful books which are also so memorable. To name two: Lonesome Dove (McMurtry, 1985) is one that really stands out. It is such an epic story, one I got completely lost in. // Brideshead Revisited (Waugh, 1945) is another. This one just wrapped me up in its beautiful language and symbolism.

4. Classic author who I've read the most:

• Easy. Jane Austen. I've now read all her major novels and most of her shorter works. Just the juvenalia left to go.

5. An author I'd like to learn more about, read more works by:

• Herman Melville. This year Moby-Dick is my One Big Book.

6. The first classic I ever read:

•  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I read a lot of from a series of Children's Great Illustrated Classics and I remember that one clearly.

7. Favorite Children's classic read as a child?

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I had it figured out that I was Jo, my older sister was Meg, and my younger sister was Amy. My brother, by default, was Laurie. (No Beth.)

8. My most memorable classic

• Pride and Prejudice. Probably because I have interacted with it so much over the years.

9. Least favorite liked classic?

• Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys. I hated HATED that book. And I didn't even have to read it so I should have stopped reading but it was a CC SPIN book for me so I kept going. Another I did stop reading and never finished was Clockwork Orange. Awful.

10. Favorite movie or TV adaption of a classic?

• Pride and Prejudice TV Mini Series/BBC with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet.
• Midsummer Night's Dream movie (1999) with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline

11. Favorite Most recently read biography about a classic author: Harper Lee

• Furious Hours: Murder, Mayhem, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

12. Favorite classic author in translation? Favorite translator?

• Fyodor Dostoevsky.
• I just read the book Brothers Karamazov and was so impressed. In the forward it was mentioned that other translators had flattened out the author's intended humor and recommended the edition I read, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky 

13. A favorite classic poet? Playwright?

• Poet: Rumi, Persian poet and mystic. I just love the imagery evoked from the poems.
• Playwright: Shakespeare. I do not, as a practice, enjoy reading plays by anyone however. Recently I watched the movie "Hamnet" which is fictional story about Shakespeare's family and how he came to write Hamlet. In the last scene, portions of Hamlet is performed. So moving.

14. a. Which classic character most reminds me of me? b. Which character do I wish I could be like?

• a. Anne Elliot in Persuasion by Austen. Often overlooked.
• b. Pippi Longstockings by Astrid Lindgren. More fun-loving.  

15. What is the oldest classic I've read?

• Does the Bible count? The oldest parts of the Bible, the first five books, are considered to be written 13th-12th Century BCE.

16. What classic do I wish had an ending beyond the original ending?

• I've always wished that there was more story to Pride and Prejudice. 

17. Favorite edition of a classic?

• I own the whole Chronicles of Narnia first Book Club Editions with illustrations by Pauline Baynes, published in the 1960s.

18. Do I reread classics?

• Yes, sometimes. I've reread all of Austen's books. Sometimes I pause before rereading others because I don't want my memory of the book to be tainted if I don't like them as well.

19. A classic title I could not finish:

• As I said before, A Clockwork Orange (Burgess, 1962)

20. A classic book I expected to dislike but ended up loving --

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 1954. I hadn't read this as a teenager like the rest of the world and thought I'd escaped something awful but I really appreciate this book and think of it often.

21. Fellow Classic Clubbers whose blogs I frequent:

• Deb Nance at Reader Buzz
• Brona at Brona's Books
• Chris Lovegrove at Calmgrove Books
• Margaret at Books Please
• Adam on Roof Beam Reader (not sure if still active)

22. Readalongs?

• I'm not opposed to them but just haven't participated.

23. If I could, what book would I recommend for a readalong?

• Moby-Dick, since I'm reading it anyway this year.

24. What is my favorite part of being a member of the Classics Club?

• The SPINS for sure. They force me to keep chipping away on the list.

25. What would I like to see more of on Classics Club?

• I wish we had more SPINS, one per quarter. And have them on a specific schedule so I can keep track and know when the next one is coming. For example: One per season, starting dates: January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, October 1st. 

26. A question I have for the questionnaire?

• Q: What is one classic you remember reading and liking that no one seems to talk about?
• A: Lorna Doone by Blackmore. I remember reading it as a kid and loved it. (I bet I read an abridged version.) It is never on any list I've seen as if it has completely slipped off the face of the earth.

-Anne

First Review of 2026: WORTH FIGHTING FOR

John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, activist, and story-teller who writes a blog, Stuff that Needs to Be Said, aimed at anyone who is feeling frustrated with the Christian Nationalist barrage of messages aimed at us every day --  that some people, mainly rich white people -- are more deserving of God's favor than everyone else, especially poor people of color. I became aware of Pavlovitz in 2016 after Trump's election because he wrote a blogpost "Here's Why We Grieve Today" where he spoke to all of us who were aghast at the results of the election. For the past eight years he has kept up the drumbeat, calling to disenfranchised Christians to action. There are many of us -- people raised in the church and Jesus-loving folks -- who simply cannot understand how our faith has been co-opted by a movements which is antithetical to everything Jesus came to earth to teach us -- that God is love and all people were created in His image.

Pavlovitz has written several books, I think Worth Fighting For: Finding Courage and Compassion When Cruelty is Trending is his fifth. Since I find solace in his blogpost, I figured a bigger dose of his essays in book form would bring even more comfort.

In the introduction, Pavlovitz let's his readers know he is not interested in placating anyone. "Love isn't real until it moves from aspiration to incantation." This book provides a wake-up call. God is not going to magically make things better, even if we pray harder. People who are upset about the state of the nation right now need to get moving to make things right. He gives a whole litany of things we need to act on now:

• God isn't going to ensure that schools are safe for all children, including LGBTQ kids.
• Love isn't going to make assault weapons less available on our streets.
• Jesus isn't going to rescue our elections to prevent wannabe dictators from taking power.
• Love isn't going to protect our planet, the, poor, the marginalized.
• God isn't going to dismantle racism and bigotry.
• Love isn't going to push back against anti-immigrant mentality.
• You and I are. "Human beings fighting like hell together for the common good will do all those things."

Since since I am not a regular reader of Pavlovitz's blog, I am not sure if the essays in this book originated there and made their way to the book, or if they are original thoughts. Some of the essays were misses for me, not information I needed at this moment. Others essays cut to the quick. In the essay "How Much Is a Black Life Worth" he begins by asking, "White friend. how much is your father worth to you? Your son? Your sister? Your spouse? Would they be worth stopping traffic for if they were suffocating on a street?" He goes on to say we should all be sickened by a white cop placing his knee on a black man, suffocating him to death. Yet the greatest resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement came from the evangelicals. "Until white Americans are willing to have our own hearts as broken for the injustice Black Americans experience as they would for their own family members, we'll keep perpetrating injustice and rationalizing police brutality" (115).

This is not an easily digested book. Every essay gave me a moment to pause and reflect. And I hope I can remember many of the quips like: "You simply cannot be both 'for God so loved the world' and 'America First.'" God is not small, Pavlovitz argues. Many people treat God as if he is limited and small, as if he can only love and care for a finite number of people, so they shove any marginalized person off the list for not being worthy. Pavlovitz says we need to make our table bigger and invite everyone to join us so we can all partake together of the goodness of our earth.

There are not words minced here. We are in for the battle of our life and the time is now. We have to act now because later will be too late. "America, we are not helpless victims in the fight for our best selves, we are the sole combatants. It is up to us whether we rise to this occasion or find ourselves free-falling. May we become a nation that shuns the toxic fool's gold of greatness and reaches for the invaluable medicinal riches of goodness" (150). Love can win, but it may require overtime on our part.

Pavlovitz does offer a few suggestions of places to start. For example, he started a ministry around the concept of a bigger table -- envisioning a table big enough for everyone. Imagine sitting at a table and being willing to sit and listen to everyone you are supping with, even those whose opinions are not the same as yours, or people of different races and creeds. It is a good thought. Now to make it a reality.

Worth Fighting For was a good choice as my first book of the new year. It sets me up to stay encouraged, ready to stay engaged and willing to fight for the right way to live, a returning to more compassionate country. On the other hand, there is nothing fun or lighthearted in these prose. I would think the book has only limited appeal to many. So many people are discouraged with the state of affairs today, one needs to feel like they are not alone in this fight. Reading this book will help you feel like you are not alone.

Happy New Year! This is my first book/review of 2026. Thanks Sheila for hosting this important event. Join her at Book Journey.

Happy Reading in 2026!

-Anne

Review: A MARRIAGE AT SEA (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst

Book Beginnings quote:

March 4, 1973. 

Maralyn looked out at emptiness. There was little to see but the water, shifting from black to blue as the sun rose. A clear sky, the ocean, and themselves: a small boat sailing west.

Friday56 quote (from page 28, last page of preview):

But like all utopian visions, theirs had its contradictions

Summary: Maurice and Maralyn are an odd couple. He is an awkward loner. She is outgoing and friendly. They both have a dream of running away from all responsibility -- to drop out and sail away. The only thing is neither has ever sailed before. Most people's dreams would stop at this point, but not these two. They actually set about making their dream come true, selling everything they own, building a boat, and in June 1972, they set sail, leaving England forever (they think.) All goes well for nearly a year, before they find themselves in the Pacific stranded in a lifeboat and a dingy after their boat is sunk by a random whale strike. Now the story shifts to one of survival at sea. The couple has to find ways to stay alive while battling their inner demons. The marriage is put to the greatest of tests.

Review: A Marriage at Sea is my last book of 2025. I had wanted to read it as soon as I heard about it. What I didn't realize at the time was how long ago the story happened, over fifty years. It is unimaginable today that someone would set sail without GPS or even a radio. But of course, GPS wasn't invented yet and Maurice, in particular, didn't want to rely on a radio or anything other than his own knowledge and ingenuity when they set out on their worldwide trip.

All goes well for the couple as they cross the Atlantic, make their way through the Panama canal, and find themselves in the Pacific about 300 miles from the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, when a whale surfaces underneath their little boat. An hour later they are marooned in their lifeboat and their dingy with the few provisions they could gather before the boat sank. The next 117 days, the couple have to find a way to survive when all they have is each other and their fraying wits.

I've been thinking about the word "obsession" in the subtitle. What a weird word to place in a book title of a book about a shipwreck. Or is it? Maurice and Maralyn become obsessed with their dream to sail away, leaving their life behind them in England. Maurice becomes obsessed with learning everything there is to learn about nautical tables and tides. They both become obsessed with their roles aboard ship. Maurice, the captain, refers to himself as the god of the boat. While they are in survival mode, Maralyn becomes obsessed with keeping Maurice alive since he deeply depressed. Years after their rescue, we learn of Maurice's deep obsession with Maralyn herself. Yes, it was a story about obsession, making it a unique angle on the story.

My rating 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4.

 

__________________________________________________________________________

Sign up for The Friday56 on the Inlinkz below. 

RULES:

*Grab a book, any book

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader (If you want to improvise, go ahead!)

*Find a snippet, but no spoilers!

*Post it to your blog and add your url to the Linky below. If you do not add the specific url for your post, we may miss it! 

*Visit other blogs and leave comments about their snippets. Expand the community. Please leave a comment for me, too!  

Also visit Book Beginnings on Friday hosted by Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Reading is My Super Power to share the beginning quote from your book.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

-Anne