Sunday Salon: Back to the Real World Edition

In the past couple of weeks, writing a book chapter for an edited book on advertising and popular culture was followed by an off-the-grid vacation in North Carolina, making June a blogging bust at Col Reads, pretty much. I did get a lot of fantastic reading done, though, discovering two new authors in the process: reviews are coming for titles from Nancy Mitford and Margery Allingham this week.

The beach vacation was exactly what Clan Ahern needed. From Ocean City to Holden Beach and Myrtle Beach, we found plenty of sunny, sandy fun – and plenty of time to unwind and laugh ourselves silly when we were done playing. Of course, I didn’t get any writing accomplished, so there’s a backlog of reviews to finish up this week, but living agenda-free for seven whole days was worth it!

I got back just in time to put up my post for Leeswammes’ Literary Giveaway Blog Hop. I’m giving away a book by ANY AUTHOR I’ve reviewed on Col Reads. The giveaway is open internationally to all blog followers, so if you haven’t signed up for a chance to win yet, you have until June 29 to enter. The post is here.

This week I’m planning on crossing off a few items from my reading challenge lists, including finishing up Helen’s Middle Eastern Reading Challenge. I have a Georgette Heyer novel, Frederica, on my Kindle, because it isn’t officially summer until I read a Regency Romance. And Ama Ata Aidoo’s Changes: A Love Story is waiting to be picked up at the library, one of my choices for the Book Bloggers Abroad Challenge. All in all, it looks like a good week in the real world on the way!

Hope your summer is off to a similarly sensational start!

Col