Sunday Salon & It’s Monday Combo Pack 2-2-26

January often feels like the longest month of the year, and this year seemed at least 730 days longer than usual.

Sunday Salon

There’s Root Vegetable Winter Warmer Soup in the Crock Pot; sun is melting some of the snow still on our side street since last weekend; and, as a small act of political resistance, I’m watching Becoming, the Michelle Obama Netflix documentary, instead of paying any attention to that other first lady’s documentary playing in theatres now.

I listened to the audiobook, Becoming, which Michelle Obama narrated herself. I think it was one of my favorites of the year, although apparently I never posted an official list.

Watching scenes from the Obama years (clips from the inauguration just came on) is heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measures. I remember the lines at the polls and the excitement of voting for Barack Obama for President, even though at the time I didn’t pay much attention to national politics.

Here’s a quote from the ending of Netflix documentary, Becoming, with Michelle Obama speaking in an interview with (a very young-looking!) Stephen Colbert, after leaving the White House:

“I like this feeling of not being divided. I do. If we can open up a little bit more with each other, and share our stories – our real stories – that’s what breaks down barriers. But in order to do that, you have to believe that your story has value. Be vulnerable. Dare to be vulnerable. We’re at a crossroads, where we have to think about “who are we”, as a nation. I remain hopeful that people want better, if not for themselves, then for the next generation.”

Weekend Cooking

For anyone interested in the Root Vegetable Winter Warmer Soup, the recipe comes from Everyday Gluten-Free Slow Cooking. I’ve used this cookbook for over ten years, because I reviewed it in this Weekend Cooking post from 2015: Beginner-Friendly Cookbook: Everyday Gluten-Free Slow Cooking by Kimberly Mayone and Kitty Broihier.

Currently Reading

Winter: The Story of a Season by Val McDermid

“The perfect little book to get you through winter’s doldrums . . . a warm look at a dark time.”—The Washington Post

I’m reading this for the 2026 MassBook Challenge. The January challenge is to read a book about winter. I’ll be finishing this short book today.

Isola by Allegra Goodman

“. . . a perfect read for cozying up by a roaring fire—and feeling thankful you’re not the 16th-century heroine the story is based on.”— People, “Most Anticipated Books of 2025”

Recently Read

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE AND THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Elle, Christian Science Monitor, She Reads

I keep highlighting and bookmarking places in the ebooks and audiobooks I borrow through the library and then returning the books before I remember to copy out my notes. I did this with both The Ministry of Time and The Black Wolf (audiobooks) and I almost did it with The Correspondent (ebook) but remembered at the last minute why I hadn’t returned it this past week.

My highlighted quotes from The Correspondent:

“I simply didn’t go. If I regret the decision, then so be it. My life is in winter anyway; only a little while left to nurse regrets.”

“I’m all tucked in here with my tea and thinking about how strange it is, and wondering – have I been lonely? I wouldn’t have ever said that, but now that I sit here thinking, I wonder, was I always lonely?”

The letter-writer who is the correspondent of the title, is an older woman, retired from a successful legal career during a time when mothers often didn’t have careers. The letters (mostly written by her, but also some received) span from 2012 to 2021, and gradually reveal the past through the events –from the quotidian to the life-changing – that are taking place in the present as the letters are being written. Over the years of letter-writing, as our knowledge of Sybil, the letter-writer grows, we readers see the correspondent herself change and grow less lonely, as she gradually forms bonds with people she has kept at arm’s length for almost a lifetime.

Recently Listened To

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny

“The writing is exquisite — the staccato alternating action, violence, humor, evil, and then, finally, the peacefulness of the town of Three Pines, which all fans of this series long to visit or even move to.” – Bookreporter

I keep highlighting and bookmarking places in the ebooks and audiobooks I borrow through the library and then returning the books before I remember to copy out my notes. I did this with both The Ministry of Time and The Black Wolf (audiobooks) and also The Correspondent (ebook.)

The Black Wolf was completed in 2024 and, in the book, the American president is a woman, but the plot (a continuation of The Grey Wolf) is scarily prescient, bringing in U.S./Canadian relations, corruption in politics, and the far-right manipulation of the dark web and social media.

The Inspector Gamache books (The Black Wolf is #20) have gotten progressively darker since the first book, Three Pines, which came close to being a cozy village mystery). The Canadian author has bravely taken on wide-ranging topics and themes far beyond your typical murder mystery or police procedural. Her politics are left-leaning, as I expect most of my favorite authors’ are.

Next Up in Audio

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

“The senior sleuths of the Thursday Murder Club—Elizabeth Best, Joyce Meadowcroft, Ibrahim Arif and Ron Ritchie—are in top form in Osman’s latest caper.” — Washington Post

This post is linked up to Sunday Salon, where conversations about books and book-ish things take place. The weekly link-up and Facebook group are hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz.

This post is also linked up to Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader and Baker.

This post is also linked up to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, hosted by The Book Date – a place to meet up and share what you have been and are currently reading each week. Visit the link-up for more books to add to your groaning TBR pile.