Sunday Salon | The 342,745 Ways to Herd Cats Challenge
By Mrs S • Apr 20th, 2008 • Category: Sunday Salon, tl;drHello Saloners - do come in - it’s still quite early but I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d get things ready for your visit today.
It’s been a busy week here, I’ve picked up some new books, been gifted some book tokens, finished one book and started another - oh and found another challenge 
Let’s start with the challenge -
I heard about this one from Dewey - and of course it was this adorable pussycat that actually caught my eye - who wouldn’t want to have him snoozing in their sidebar??
Too long; Didn’t Read - that’s what the cat is saying - in case you were wondering
The aim of the challenge is to recommend ten of your favourite books - and then pick at least three from everyone else’s lists to read between May 1 and November 30. What could be easier? I also like the fact that I get to read other people’s favourite books.
To get started head to Renay’s information page
Here are my 10 recommendations - I’ve tried to cross some genres, and included new and old favourites:
- My Sister’s Keeper - Jodi Picoult
- Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
- The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
- The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
- River Deep - Rowan Coleman
- To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
- Big Stone Gap - Adriana Trigiani
- Sea Glass - Anita Shreve
- Three Wishes - Liane Moriarty
- Anne of Green Gables - L.M.Montgomery
I’ve had a search through the other lists and have chosen:
- March by Geraldine Brooks (from Dewey’s list)
- The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O’Farrel (from Alix’s list)
- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Asichie (from Gautami’s list)
There are so many great books to choose from! I have to admit though after some debate I have picked three that are already on my TBR - I really need to get them read before I start buying more books! The great thing about this challenge though is that there are some great lists of books to choose from for when our TBRs do run dry!
So what do you think? Want to play along? Go and check out the challenge details.
Tracking down a lost book
When I was a kid the best bit about Saturday afternoons was that we visited the library - and each week I’d bring home a stack of new books to delight over. There was one particular book that I remember as being heart wrenching and had me sobbing like a baby… but I could never remember the name of the book or who wrote it… until today!
While looking for books to read for the Herding Cats challenge I stumbled across Corinne’s list where she recommends a book written by Cynthia Voigt. The cogs in my brain started turning - I remember that author - I thought. So I looked her up on Amazon - Ah yes - she wrote the novels about the Tillermans. Hang on a minute, one of those books was called The Runner… could it possibly be the elusive book?? To be honest I’m not 100% sure - but I do remember loving the Tillerman series so I’m adding it to my wish list right away! Thanks Corinne 
What I’m reading
Yesterday I finished reading Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes - I’m a big fan of Picoult’s books and really enjoyed this one - although I was slightly disappointed by the end - you can read the review here if you missed it yesterday.
Last night I picked up 26a
Introducing Weekly Geeks
Dewey has dreamt up another challenge for us all to participate in - a blogging challenge! She’s going to post a new theme each Saturday - and we can choose to participate in all or just some of them. Some example themes could be “catch up on library books”, “redecorate your blog” or “organise your challenges”. I think it sounds like an excellent idea - do your blog *housekeeping* on a Saturday ready for the arrival of the Saloners on a Sunday
To sign up head on over to The Hidden Side of the Leaf and do the Mr Linky thing - hope to see you there.
Earning pennies for new books
If you’ve read any of my reviews then you will probably have noticed that I have an Amazon associates account as I usually pop a *buy this book* link in each one. I’ve decided to promote this a bit more on my site - and any time I mention a book I’ll be linking out to Amazon. As I’m in the UK the links will be to the UK site - but I do have a US account so I may add some US links in future. If you are thinking of buying a book that I’ve written about I would appreciate it if you used the links on my site - after all every penny earnt goes towards buying new books to keep the site going
I tend to buy most of my books from Amazon myself - so if you have an Associates account then let me know and I’ll come and buy my books via your site instead of going directly to Amazon.
Advertisement over I think that’s all my book blogging news for this week! Thanks for stopping by and hope to see y’all next Sunday
Take Care
Mrs S
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Mrs S is is a lover of books! These are my thoughts on the books I've read. Have a different view? Leave me a comment below :)
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I can’t tell you how PLEASED I am that you found the book you couldn’t remember. I love when that happens
And thanks for your list as well, I’ve added to my TBR list 
The favorites challenge you mention is so tempting . . . And I love the button for it. It would look great on my blog wouldn’t it? Alas, I am not doing well on any of the challenges I am signed up for currently and so I really shouldn’t sign up for another one no matter how cute the button is.
I have enjoyed the few Jodi Picoult books I have read so far. I am slowly working my way through all of her books.
Have a great week.
Literary Feline’s last blog post..Sunday Salon: Getting On My Soapbox
This challenge does sound cool, but I’m with Literary Feline. I need to catch up on some of my challenges. I think I might fail at a couple.
I’ve heard such good things about March–hope you like it! Great picks from you as well!
Trish’s last blog post..A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
How did you do that widget so you could put your own titles in? I tried to do that, but couldn’t get it to work.
booklogged’s last blog post..The Carpet People
Well, you just added another book to my list to read for Renay’s challenge! I am secretly keeping track of what people recommend that I already have on TBR Mountain! That way, this challenge will help me tame that beast. And you suggested The Book of Lost Things, which I have.
I lovelovelove the little stars above people’s comments.
I’m pretty sure I’ll join the Herding Cats challenge if just to get the adorable button! It does sound fun though I just need to put together my list. I’ve read a couple from yours and recently bought The Book of Lost Things. I’m looking forward to hopefully reading it sometime soon so maybe that’ll be one of my choices.
tanabata’s last blog post..origami for peace
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Glad we’ve chosen the same two books for the challenge! I’ll add your link to my blogroll. Hope to see ya around!
Melody’s last blog post..The Personality Test at 35,000 Feet
@Corrine - always good to be reunited with long lost favoured authors
@Literary Feline & J.Kaye - come on girls - take on the challenge - just do what I did and pick books you’re reading for another - that cat is just too cute to pass up!
@Trish - I’ll be getting to March in the next couple of weeks so stop back for a review - I’ve heard many great things about it so hope to not be disappointed!
@Booklogged - it was one of the options for the carousel widget - you can pick between 6 and 10 items of your own. I think it’s the first option in the list.
@Dew - Glad I’m not the only one picking books from the mountain! I did pick Star Girl but then changed my mind and stuck with ones I already need to read! Glad you like the stars on the comments - I thought they were cute
@Tanabata - hello - go for the challenge - it will be fun - I hope you enjoy TBoLT - I thought it was an amazing piece of writing.
@Melody - hello - good to see your typeface here in my little corner of the Internet. I’ll be interested to read your reviews to see if we agree
hi! i’m visiting from Weekly Geeks. i’m a fan of Picoult too. i recently finished Change of Heart.
alisonwonderland’s last blog post..342,752 Ways to Herd Cats(or tl;dr)
Hi Alison - I have Change of Heart on my wish list for when it hits paperback here in the UK
Nineteen minutes was the first Jodi Picoult book I ever read and I hated it! I posted a review of it after reading it and was blasted by Jodi Picoult fans like crazy. Who knew author fans could be so passionate? LOL One commenter urged me to try another of her books, which I did. I read My Sister’s Keeper and enjoyed it
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@Rebecca - how awful that they blasted you on your own site! We are all entitled to our opinions not to like a book that we read. I’m glad you read My Sister’s Keeper though - it really is her best one
I saw that you are participating in Weekly Geeks 2. We both read To Kill a Mockingbird. I put a link to your review at the bottom of my post. If you would like to put a link to my review, here is the link:
http://teddyrose.blogspot.com/2008/02/to-kill-mockingbird-by-harper-lee.html
Teddy
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