Hello, friends, and happy November! The photo above was taken Friday on a fall foliage cruise up the Connecticut River. There is still quite a bit of color near the mouth of the river where it empties into the Long Island Sound, but colors begin to fade as you travel upriver. It was a beautiful sunny day and, in addition to the vibrant colors, we saw quite a few bald eagles, a great blue heron, cormorants, and assorted gulls. I'm glad we had binoculars!
So what happened to October? It seems like we were just getting started and then all of a sudden it was over! We began the month in NYC, but returned to CT to meet our newborn granddaughter Lucy. There was a quick trip to central NY to see my folks, several more Lucy visits, a couple of dinners out with friends, and many lovely afternoon walks. Our planned interior painting project has been delayed again - this time until spring - after the contractor (and his assistant) developed Covid, then couldn't guarantee completing the job before Thanksgiving. So disappointing, it would have been nice to have a fresh look for the holidays.
Recent reading//
American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee
This book dominated my month! When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about the characters, their lives, and the challenges they faced. It's a complex family story spanning decades, continents, and cultures with education at its core... specifically the emphasis (obsession?) Korean culture places on education as the path to success. The novel takes us from the early 1990s, to the 1997 Asian financial crisis and finally the US subprime mortgage crisis beginning in 2007. With sections in Seoul, Australia, and even Brazil, the bulk of the novel takes place in Orange County, California. There's a lot to unpack in terms of the pressures surrounding education, but Lee also seems to emphasize the value of strong family and community connections. I continue to think about this novel... easily a favorite of 2026.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
by Katie Clapham
This memoir turned out to be a perfect, lower-stakes follow-up to American Hagwon. It reads like a journal. Each month constitutes a chapter, which is full of dated entries and anecdotes. The reader is privy to the financial worries of owning a business, its daily challenges, interesting customer interactions, and (sometimes hilarious) overheard conversations. This book was entertaining, relatable to readers (and surely even more so for booksellers!) and just plain fun. I read it straight through, but think it might be even more enjoyable to read a few entries each evening or maybe even a month of entries in between other books.
⭐⭐⭐💫
Current reading//
Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry
I received this book through my monthly Shelf Subscription from The Bookshelf in Thomasville, GA. It's a memoir about the death of Perry's father-in-law and I doubt I would have picked this one up on my own. It's relative short and very well written. I'm approaching the 90% mark.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Ten months in and two to go, the slow read with Footnotes & Tangents continues. 86%
Nonfiction November//
Nonfiction November starts today and all the details here. I haven't read much nonfiction this year, but plan to post at least a couple of times this month. With a little luck, I'll have a "My Year in Nonfiction" post up before our house fills up next weekend.
The week ahead//
Today we have tickets to see the musical, Annie, at the historic Goodspeed Opera House. It's been years since I last saw that show!
Tuesday is Election Day and I cannot wait for the political texts and ads to stop. We voted by mail and have been able to check the status of our ballots all along the way. They have been received, accepted, and counted. Vote-by-mail is one thing the state of Florida does well!
That's the news from here. How have you been? What was your favorite October read?
The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.
