Sunday Salon: February 28, 2010

What a gorgeous day here in NYC - the sun shone all day and, although it was a cold, it was great to see the shining sun and a crystal blue sky! I had made plans to meet friends in Central Park for a walk and was glad I had made the commitment. Otherwise, despite the good weather, I may not have trekked over to the Park but it was so worth the trip over there. We had a great walk catching up and admiring the scenery. I have included below a couple of shots I took on the walk.



After the walk I headed over to the American Museum of Natural History to see an exhibit on water. It was suggested as one of the media recommendations for this month's theme (water) of the Social Justice Challenge. I clearly need to pay better attention when I read the directions for these challenges. If I had taken the time to click through to the website, I would have seen that the exhibit closed in May 2008 and what was recommended was actually the online resource that had been created from the original exhibit at AMNH. That would explain the looks of confusion from two different museum guides when I asked them where "the water" exhibit could be found! Someone finally directed me to the marine life section of the museum - there was water there but it was obvious that the exhibit was not about water. Anyway, I learned some valuable info and had a pleasant afternoon in the museum! I will post my "water" post for SJ Challenge later this week.

Reading
This week I finished and reviewed Joseph Monninger's Eternal on the Water (my review is here) - this novel is beautiful and has stayed with me since I finished it. I love when books have that effect on me!

I am now reading (will finish early tonight for sure) Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman for a blog tour that will come by my blog this Tuesday (please stop back for my review). This is a smart read which recounts Gilman's post-college backpacking trip to Communist China. I love to travel and am finding this memoir very funny!

Speaking of travel, I posted a review of Bill Bryson's Notes from A Small Island. I so enjoy Bryson's humor and I apparently am not alone in my affection for Bryson. I got many comments on this post from other bloggers who are also Bryson fans. Both Amy from the The Black Sheep Dances and Becky from Page Turners recommended Bryson's travelogue from Australia, In a Sunburned Country while Tea and Tomes recommended Bryson's commentaries on the use of language - Made in America and The Mother Tongue. So now I have a few more of Bryson's books to pick up - thanks to everyone for stopping by with your recommendations!

Blog Stuff
I chose winners for my first giveaway this week - congrats to the three winners! I still have the audiobook of Swan Thieves up for grabs (see sidebar) and I will be posting a few more giveaways later this week.

I signed up this week for the Blogger Con - yahoo! I am excited for this opportunity to learn from other bloggers and best of all - meet other bloggers! Let me know if you will be in NYC for BEA and Blogger Con!

Have a great week!