It’ll be a brief visit to the Sunday Salon for me this week – I’m leaving for the East Coast first thing tomorrow morning, and I’ve got packing to do. I’ll return to the Salon after I get back from my vacation – see you then!

I’m leaving the blog in excellent hands, with a great lineup of guest bloggers posting while I’m away:

• Average Jane gives a peek inside the world of a polygamous book-clubber
• Mike from Everything Under the Sun (will probably) evade the wrath of a Derby Doll with his first book review!
• Nomadreader (Carrie) talks about the Big Orange (no, NOT Tennessee football)!
• LA Moms Blogger Teresa kicks off her Summer Reading Challenge!
• The polar opposite of the “reluctant reader”: meet Melina from Reading Vacation!
• Molly from The Bumbles Blog launches an attack on feed-reader chaos!
• Kori from See Kori Rant reflects on a life of stories!
• Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness proposes a new literary genre!
• Author/blogger Susan Helene Gottfried speaks up on why reviews – good OR bad – should be shared!
• Lisa from Lit and Life shares “What Celebrities Are Reading” (or what they say they’re reading, at least)!

But I’m not quite out the door yet – I have another post coming later today to take care of some BBAW business. (And I’ll probably be peeking in every now and then anyway – it’s hard for me to stay away from this place for long, you know!)

New to the TBR:
(for me)
The Singer’s Gun, by Emily St. John Mandel (thanks to Literary Feline for passing along her ARC!)
After You: A Novel, by Julie Buxbaum (moved from the Wishlist)
The Late, Lamented Molly Marx, by Sally Koslow
Await Your Reply: A Novel, by Dan Chaon
 (the last two were also “on the Wishlist,” but never officially listed there, so I can’t note them as “moved from” there)(for review)
This Is Not The Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness, by Laura Munson (for an upcoming SV Moms Group Book Club)

I’m hoping for some more additions here when I come back – bookstore visits during my trip, of course, but there are also some books I know are on their way to me that didn’t arrive before I left, so I hope to find them waiting for me!

Engagement, objectivity, considering the Big Questions…and other reasons to write about books

An author reflects on reactions to a new novel and other things she can’t control; an author learns more about the benefits of working with bloggers; an author’s anxiety about asking for blurbs; a publicist spills what she looks for in book blogs (a companion to her earlier post about what she learned from book blogs)

Anna Lefler‘s funny reading recommendations; recommending when it might be prudent to read the last page first

Are there any truly bad books, or does everything that’s published have some merit (at least to somebody?)

Care’s Online Book Club begins to live up to its name!

You know that nagging feeling that book blogging has made you read less? There’s some science to it

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird‘s publication in July with Capricious Reader and She Is Too Fond of Books, who are coordinating a bunch of activities involving the landmark novel.