Sunday Salon ~ a weird week

My life outside books

I edited last Sunday's Salon post at 9:35pm after learning that my brother Bill had died, and I haven't been motivated to post anything all week long.  This is the picture his family chose for his obituary.  I'll just leave it here and see if I can get back in the groove to blog again.  Our sister Ann died eight months ago, so only two of us siblings remain:  my baby brother Jim and I.  I'm the oldest and feeling my age this week.  Bill was 74, and I'll be 77 in a couple of weeks.  Rest in peace, little brother.

My life in books

Books I've completed since last week's Sunday Salon:

29.  Windless Summer ~ by Heather Sharfeddin, 2009, fiction (Washington), 8/10

"It was July, 104 degrees that afternoon on the bluffs overlooking the Columbia River in eastern Washington State" (p. 1).

30.  Little Boy Lost ~ by J. D. Trafford, 2017, fiction (Missouri), 9.5/10

My father took a deep breath, and then he walked toward the door.  As he went into the hall, he turned around.  "I fought the battle over segregated lunch counters and the right to vote, but this is different."  He pointed at me, lying injured in bed, my face swollen and cut.  "The White Only signs have been taken down, but they're still there.  This is your fight now" (p. 57).

31.  The Color of Hope: A Color of Heaven Novel ~ by Julianne MacLean, 2013, fiction (California and Massachusetts), 8/10

"I longed for a sibling, but I knew I didn't have any because I'd been told my real mother never had any other children previously" (p. 36).

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.