Professional Cynic

Singing along like the idiot I am...

2011-06-22T17:37:00.006-04:00

This morning my local radio station played this:

(Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him)

And I sang along like a complete and total idiot. With abandon, glee and no shame.

Until I pulled up to the stop light. And was completely caught by a slick dude in his Mercedes.

I was, in my defense, doing a cover of a cover, as in I only sing that song as if I were Mama Spell. Who apparently doesn't have a version of it online. Trust me, it's fantastic.

When I'm not busy embarrassing myself in traffic, these are two songs I've been really enjoying lately:

(Noah & The Whale - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N)

(Iron & Wine - Me and Lazarus)

April Books/Crafts/House Wrap Up

2011-04-30T18:08:00.001-04:00

Books Finished:
1) There's a (Slight) Chance I Might be Going to Hell (Laurie Notaro)
This was my book club book of the month. I had not heard of Notaro before, but have been told her nonfiction collections are laugh out loud funny. I went into this hoping for some comic relief, in the same vein as Fannie Flagg, but admit that it was only at the very end of the book that I finally laughed out loud (the description of a dog in costume). This is a classic fish out of water tale, with a little bit of mystery thrown in. I remember all too well moving somewhere new and trying to break into existing established cliques, so part of it resonated with me, but I'd like to think that the exaggerated absurdities are really just that. Enjoyed it enough to potentially check out her nonfiction. (I will note however that there is a negative portrayal of a pit bull in the book. Since one of the gals in my book club is a pit bull and dog fighting rescue advocate, that didn't sit well.)
2) The Peach Keeper (Sarah Addison Allen)
There aren't a lot of authors that are on my guaranteed must-read list, regardless of what they publish. There are even fewer authors outside of the mystery or fantasy genre that are on my list, let alone someone who is widely considered a "women's fiction" genre writer. In fact, Allen may be the only such writer on that list. I have enjoyed each of her books greatly, often keeping them on my "comfort reading" stack to just go back to certain passages again and again. My only complaint with this title is that it felt shallow. Not in a vain way, but in that it was so quick and light, I really wished she had taken more time and given us more, more depth, more spice, more interaction. Covering stereotypes in small towns and how relationships and friendships change as we age (and cross generations), both with just the right amount of struggle and realism, this still throws a little bit of her "magic" that her readers expect. Of the four books I have read by this author, I'd place it third on my list. (But only because The Girl Who Chased the Moon rarely leaves my bedside stack.)
3) With this Ring, I Thee Bed (Alison Tyler)
One of my biggest complaints as a happily married reader of erotica is how often adultery plays into the plots. When I came across this title as a preview read on NetGalley (having just published April 19th) I jumped at the chance to read a marriage themed short story erotica collection. And indeed, some of them do feature married or engaged couples, however others still flirt with adultery or cheating in some form to find their spice. Many of them bend the traditional concepts of relationships and marriage with varying degrees of success and hotness, but I think that's more a reflection on me and my expectations than the actual content. Of the collection I thought that the Jax Baynard, Kristina Lloyd, and Kristina Wright stories really stood out (especially the last of the three). In recent years I've been very disappointed with similar collections that I've purchased in bookstores, but this is a step above by comparison.
4) The Twisted Thread (Charlotte Bacon)
The blurb on NetGalley (releases June 14th) for this title compares it to The Secret History, which is one of my favorite books of all time. I couldn't pass up reading something that promised me similar "gripping suspense" and wasn't disappointed. Like the Tartt book, this dips into the life of privileged education in a private school (high school here, instead of college in TSH) and the book begins with a murder. Through compelling twists and turns, more than one secret comes to light. I liked that the story was told through the voice of different (likable) characters, and that the conclusion was one of hope. My only complaint was that the ending felt a little rushed. *Sort of vague allusion to a potential spoiler* While one person committed the actual murder, the author did a great job of showing how a larger society led to the death. However I would have liked if the actual murderer had been more of the plot and less of a device. *Done with vague spoiler* All of that said, I couldn't put this down.
5) Locke & Key Volume 3: Crown of Shadows (Joe Hill)
All I can say about the third installment of this series is - are you reading it yet? And why the hell not? The fourth compilation comes out later this year and I promise you, you're going to want to have read this in print before the miniseries airs. When I didn't think the plot could get more shiver inducing creepy or heart wrenching, it does. Seeing how the three children in the Locke family struggle through all that they've gone through, and are going through, is a testament to the strength of the young. (I admit that the youngest is my favorite.) Seriously, read these books. If for no other reason than I need someone else to geek out over them with.
6) Sew Up a Home Makeover (Lexi Barnes)
This is my final NetGalley title of the month, and publishes in July. We are planning on some fairly significant remodeling and redecorating in our home over the next year or so, and a major component of that includes my sewing. I wanted to review this title for inspiration, and wasn't disappointed. I think this title will appeal to both those who are fairly new to sewing, as well as those with more advanced skills. The beginning of the book talks about how you can use quick changes in fabric accessories to update the look of a room, and all of the projects demonstrate that with colorful photos. There are more detailed skills, instructions, tips and tools for beginners, but still more challenging projects like an entire sofa cover, for those with more experience. Among the projects included are switch plate covers and lampshades, as well as a few pieces of clothing, all of which were pleasant surprises. I know I'll be incorporating at least one project (envelope pillow covers) into our plans this year.
7) Knitting 24/7 (Véronik Avery)
What I love about this title is that it addresses how many of us knitters are "one row when we get time" knitters. The patterns in this book are meant to work with that concept, so are fairly portable, with easy to knit on the fly patterns, where you can easily pick up where you left off in a few seconds. While there were a few projects that go against my personal knitting style (I've sworn I'll never knit a skirt, and I'm not a sock knitter) there were several more that I'm filing away for future reference. This obviously leans towards smaller projects (hats, scarves, mittens) but one of my favorites was the Elemental Pullover (Ravelry link). Fantastic concept, good book.
8) Brave New Knits (Julie Turjoman)
This title takes 26 blogging knitters, offers a profile for each of them, and then a pattern demonstrating their designs. I usually have mixed feelings about titles like this, often concerned that they're going to date themselves with the speed that technology changes (like the bird craft book earlier this year that focused on Etsy stores) and turn into the next "Modern Computing" title from 1950. That said, if you ignore the overarching "knitwear blogger" concept and just look at this for the patterns, it is a very solid knitting title. The Silke Jacket by Shannon Okey? Good Lord do I wish I had a body to pull that beauty off. I'd like to think that when the contributors were asked to participate they each thought "I'm going to kick ass with this submission" and there was a little bit of competition going on, because I think this was a step above a lot of the pattern books I've looked at in recent months. (The Global Cable Coat by Jennifer Hagan? YES PLEASE.)
Books NOT Finished:
I'm ashamed to say that there were two books on my list that I started and could.not.finish this month.
1) The Invisible Bridge (Julie Orringer)
This is the historical fiction genre winner from RUSA, and part of my friend Katie's genre fiction challenge. I tried. I really did. I picked up the book in print. I made it so far and couldn't do it. I tried the audio version. Still couldn't get very far. This book has won multiple awards and from what I struggled through, was well written, with detailed descriptions and complex characters. Regardless, I'm going to consider myself conquered and take it back to the library. Out of a good faith effort, I'm going to give one of the short list RUSA titles a shot during our summer reading break, but I think it's time to admit that historical fiction isn't my bag.
2) Smokin' Six Shooter (BJ Daniels)
I won this title on Twitter, and really didn't know what I was getting into. I admit I've never picked up a single Harlequin romance in my entire reading life (even as a teen), so I didn't know what to expect. What I learned is that there are apparently various imprints within the publishing house, and this is one of their "Intrigue" series, meaning more mystery, less smut. And dude, if I'm going to endure the mocking of my husband for reading a pure romance novel (pure romance goes against my normal reading taste), I want some smut (which is apparently the Blaze imprint, good to know). From what I could get through, this was a culture clash tale where a city girl hits the country to investigate a mysterious inheritance with an even bigger mystery attached. She meets a hot cowboy. Smut doesn't ensue. I'm confident that this is the perfect title for someone, but not me.

Crafts/House:
* I have been woefully non-crafty this month. On the other hand, we spring cleaned two bedrooms and a hallway, and I could not be happier with the progress. I am on a pitching spree and determined to re-embrace simplicity as much as possible. As an end result, we donated seven boxes and two bags of "stuff" to the VA (and I haven't even touched my closets yet). Walls and windows are washed, carpets shampooed, linens washed and ironed, closets and drawers neatly organized. (And yes, boxes from the Container Store were purchased.) We also got rid of a second television and cable box in our bedroom, and it makes the room so much lighter and more airy.
* On a bigger accomplishment level, this month I wrote a check that meant our only remaining debt is our house. (And then immediately got letters from my credit card companies lowering my rates, of course.) This has been something I've been working on for years and I can't tell you what a relief it is to have that "monkey" off my back. A lot of the debt goes back many years to when I was just working part time, but it's a huge relief to now be able to plan major things, like new carpet in the living room, another new car, and a complete remodel of our dining room.

Last year was a year we struggled through for a lot of reasons. It was tough. But we're both making a concerted effort to bend the will of 2011 into being good by force. Four months in, and despite colds and infections and stress, we're pulling it off. I can't tell you how much we've both learned about looking around every day and realizing the blessings that surround you. A lot of what we're doing around the house are part of that - streamlining, donating, gifting to those who can use better than us, eliminating excess - it's all good and freeing.

March Books/Crafts/House Wrap Up

2011-04-05T17:26:00.000-04:00

Books Finished:
1) Living Dead Girl (Elizabeth Scott)
This is the second of the three books pulled from the list of Bitch Magazine's 100 YA Books for the Feminist Reader, as well as the first book for my new book club. Then I ended up being too sick to go to our meeting, so I don't have the full analysis of my friends. This was an incredibly difficult book to read. It was short, and in theory I could have read it in one sitting, but based on the content I split it into three readings (interesting, one of the other girls in book club mentioned stopping at the same spot I did for my first break). Told from the point of view of a 15 year old who has been abducted by a pedophile, she is now "too old" for him, and facing the reality of what she must to do to survive. As an adult, this was just too realistic for me - I think I know all too well the horror of what adults are capable of concerning children. I wonder however, as a YA novel, what teenagers think of it. Is it the same level of vicarious reading that we got passing around VC Andrews as teens? Or is it indeed a precautionary tale?
2) Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay)
This is the second book in my friend Katie's Genre Book Challenge - the Fantasy winner as decided by RUSA. Based on some changes in Katie's life, we've agreed to only read the winners each month, so the challenge has changed a bit (which is fine with me). I can't express enough how 1) this is NOT a book I would normally have read, but 2) how much I loved it. Each of the characters were vivid and detailed, and the ending wasn't predictable or obvious. The main character, honored for offering tribute to fallen soldiers, finds his life at risk and more complex than he had ever dreamed. Thrust into fame, riches, and danger, he rises to the challenge and changes the empire around him. If I gain nothing else from doing this challenge, it was the pleasure of reading this book.
3) There's Cake in My Future (Kim Gruenenfelder)
This was my fluffy book for the month. A bride-to-be rigs the cake at her wedding shower so that each of her friends will pull the cake charm she feels they need. Of course the cake gets shifted and hilarity ensues. Told from altering points of view between the bride and her two best friends, they each deal with the changes in their lives that the unwanted charms have brought to them. Two of the three characters were great, the third only truly rose to the occasion at the very end of the book, but as a whole, I enjoyed it. A step above the average chick lit.
4) The Night Bookmobile (Audrey Niffenegger)
This is a graphic novel by the well known author of The Time Traveler's Wife, and I can't say that I'm what you would call a fan. A young woman roaming the streets comes across a bookmobile that holds every work she's ever read. It changes her, and she begins to live her life to impress the librarian and becomes a librarian herself, all the while seeking another visit to "her library." The twist at the end made me gasp out loud, and I think it made me realize that Niffenegger is comfortable going places that make me uncomfortable (having read Her Fearful Symmetry last year and being similarly disconcerted at the end).
5) Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard (David Peterson)
I'm a fan of the Mouse Guard universe, and this book was a given to me as a gift. This title is framed as a competition between the mice in a tavern, the mouse having told the best tale will have their bar tab wiped clean. The bridges between each tale are guided by Peterson's masterful hand, but the sub-stories allow other artists and story tellers to dabble in his universe. I absolutely adored this book, and cherish it as the gift it is. Highly recommend (but hey, you should read all of the Mouse Guard books anyway).
6) Stitch n Bitch Superstar Knitting (Debbie Stoller)
When I first started to knit, I was overwhelmed with the number of how-to knitting books out there, and often frustrated by the different techniques and methods from book to book. Fortunately, I came across the original Stitch n Bitch book, and realized that it was a series that worked the same way my knitting brain works. I count on Stoller's books as my handy reference manuals when I need guidance. This is an advanced technique book, and walks through each skill with clear directions and visuals. The final section of the book has a series of patterns to accompany each technique. I'm not in the market for learning any new skills right now, as far as knitting goes (drafting patterns, intarsia, steeks, etc...) but when I get there, this is the book I'll buy to help me out.
7) Knit Kimono (Vicki Square)
I was poking around Ravelry the other day for a sweater shape that would better fit my arms, and discovered that the shape I'm looking for falls under the "kimono" category. Then I discovered that several of the patterns I want to make come from this book. My rule is to always check craft/cooking books out of the library before buying them, but with this title I could have skipped that step. While some of the patterns are beyond what I could ever dream of making (full length robes with complicated colorwork) there are at least four that I have on my to-do list for fall. I still have the book checked out from the library, but I've also ordered it. There is a second book in the series (I'm on the waiting list at the library) and the only reason I haven't cast on yet is because I want the whole collection to choose from before I pick what will be first.
8) Amuse Bouche (Kelly Maher)
Disclaimers: 1) I won this short story on Twitter, and 2) I know the author behind the pen name. I'll admit, based on the latter, it was a little weird for me to read erotica written by a friend. Despite that, I think my biggest complaint was that it was indeed, just a short story. I read it, then took a nap, and when I woke up I thought "hmmm, there's something I was thinking about before I fell asleep, something I was looking forward to enjoying." Then I realized that I was looking forward to reading more, and sad that there isn't more to be had. Two chefs come together to prep for a competition, and have to face their attraction to one another before they can get to work. That the female lead is a curvy girl is a bonus.
9) Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Cookbook: Desserts (Wanda E. Brunstetter)
My husband and I love to travel to the Lancaster PA area on vacation, and try to do so every year. We find it to be peaceful and relaxing, but still full of enough places to visit (and dine!) that we keep going back. Based on that, I asked to be able to preview this title via NetGalley, as it is exactly the kind of book I would give to him as a gift. This is a compilation of the dessert recipes from the author's other Amish cookbooks, and breaks them into seven chapters - Cakes, Candy, Cookies & Bars, Ice Cream (Toppings), Pies, Puddings & Cobblers, & Other Desserts. It is a very balanced mix of recipes from scratch and recipes using pre-made ingredients (cake, pudding mixes) that are modified. None of the recipes are overly complicated, and the percentage of ones I want to make is exponentially higher than ones I wouldn't. I have only two criticisms - 1) that there could be more photos of the finished products, and 2) there are some recipes that cry out for more information - why are Boyfriend Cookies called that? Grassroot Dream Cookies? Broken Glass Dessert? There are several others, but some additional information would be most welcome. Contains an index. Publishes July 2011. Don't tell my husband, but this is headed for his Christmas stocking.
10) Natural Patchwork (Suzuko Koseki)
This is my second NetGalley title of the month, and publishes April 12, 2011. The layout of the book first shows colorful examples of the 26 projects. While you might think that these would lean twee or country, it is obvious through fabric choice and styling that these aren't your grandmother's patchwork projects. After the examples, a very detailed set of lessons provide a basic introduction to patchwork, quilting and applique (loved this), and then each project how-to is presented in detail. I also appreciated that the projects could be altered to either machine or hand quilting (acknowledging that there are differences between the two types of quilter). I am making note of this title for next year when we redecorate our bedroom, as I think the Alphabet Pillow Covers are fantastic, and at some point would love to tackle at least two of the purses. The diagrams, how-to, and construction guidelines take this a step above your everyday quilting/sewing title.

Crafts/House:
March was a month of home remodeling and the beginning of spring cleaning. I'm going to start including a tally of that as well, since there's overlap.

* We took the month and remodeled and redecorated our "computer room" (name in limbo as there are no computers in there anymore, but "library" is a little pretentious. Ideas? Suggestions?) We're almost done, but we are using the room as a staging area for spring cleaning. Once that's done, I'll bore you with pictures.
* As a result of the spring cleaning and the remodel, we weeded our books. Two boxes mailed to Powells, seven taken to Half Price books, and five boxes of magazines recycled at Construction Junction. We also have two boxes of toys/board games/miscellanea to donate to the Vets.
* Finished knitting the Knotty But Nice hat for M.
* Completed knitting a blanket to put in the room we've redecorated.

Knitting - modified "Fast Finish Throw"

2011-04-01T20:47:00.004-04:00

A few years ago, dear friends of ours sent us a blanket from Pottery Barn as a Christmas present. The color goes well in our living room, and it has spent some time on every seat in the room. It has seen us both through many illnesses and naps, and most importantly, appears to have been woven of pure catnip. It is a magic charm to lure a cat onto your lap. Pull out this blanket, and you'll have one, if not both of them, attempting to wheedle their way onto it (or under it) with you. (The picture to the right is our more serious cat, Mia, who is very clearly saying in this photo "You did not catch me secretly making biscuits on this blanket. I am a grown cat, and grown cats do not biscuit." To which I replied "Yeah whatever baby cat, try not to blink in the next picture.")

We're in the process of renovating the room we store our books in, and I wanted to make a similar blanket to go down there. The blanket has three purposes 1) facilitate napping, 2) to protect a new piece of furniture that we haven't bought yet from cat fur, and 3) to pull a little bit of accent color in. We recently repainted, the walls a light grey and the trim a dark grey, with a purple grey as accent.

I've made the "Lion Brand Fast Finish Throw" in the past, to pattern specifications. This has only very slight modifications. To replicate the texture of the throw the cats adore, I used Homespun instead of Jiffy. Mind you, I hate using Homespun (even the cashier at Joanns warned me against it) but it has a very distinct texture. I bought eight skeins, and the yardage appeared to vary wildly. This was done holding together two strands of dark purple, a strand of light purple and a strand of grey. The needles only really can handle the 34 stitch width, so I couldn't make it wider than the original pattern. Instead of a straight stockinette, on the purl side I knit one stitch on each end to stop a bit of the curling. I used the entire first skein of each color, and then cut the fringe to be sure that I had enough. Then with the freedom to use the rest of the skeins, I just knit until I reached a length I was happy with (it covers me from toe to shoulder, pre-fringe). I have about a quarter of the second grey skein, half of the second dark purples and three quarters of the light purple left. At some point I might be motivated to make a matching pillow or something with what's left (but again, I hate Homespun). As you can see from the photo above, Mia approves, saying "Can you leave me alone so that I can biscuit the new blanket?"

Wordless Wednesday #8

2011-03-23T21:16:00.001-04:00

Knitting - Knotty but Nice hat

2011-03-14T19:11:00.002-04:00

When this hat pattern was released as part of the Winter 2009 issue of Knitty, I immediately thought "ooh, I really want to make that" and then saw the 'piquant' rating and thought "ooh, that's too hard for me to make." So I put it on my queue and left it for a few years.

These days, I've been on a cable kick. Now that I've conquered that fear and made it a skill, I love that such a simple technique gives the illusion of a much more difficult project than it really is. The only major difference this time is that this pattern required reading a chart, which I'm not normally fond of.

I must say, I absolutely LOVED knitting this hat. I love the results, I love the pattern, and I love the way the cables work together perfectly to the end results. If M needed more than one cable hat (believe me, he has a lot of knit hats as it is) I'd make this all the time. If I had more men in my life that would actually wear this, I'd make it over and over again. Fun to knit, warm & toasty hat.

Details - Cascade 220 in Olive Heather - less than a skein. Size 7 needles, pattern followed exactly, and fits perfectly despite my fears that the stretch wouldn't be enough for a larger than average noggin. Perfect ear tip coverage.

So what have we learned from this project? That letting an arbitrary rating of a pattern difficultly level stop you from creating something is bunk. If you want to make it, do it, the only way to learn is to try.

February Books/Crafts Wrap Up

2011-03-08T17:44:00.000-05:00

Books Finished:
1 & 2) The Tourist & The Nearest Exit (Olen Steinhauer)
This was the first month in my friend Katie's "RUSA genre book challenge" and the genre is Adrenaline. The winner from this genre is the second in a trilogy, and I can't pick up a book in the middle of a series, so I read both. Milo Weaver was a "tourist" - a former undercover field agent who in the first book is wrapped up in a conspiracy that has the potential to ruin the post-field life he has created for himself. In the second (winning) book, Milo is forced back into the field and struggles with how both he and the world around him have changed. I found Milo and all of the characters, both supporting and main, to be compelling and dimensional. I generally don't read this genre as I find it too stressful, and this was the case as well. It seemed to me that Milo could.not.catch.a.break and I struggled to make it through both books. (It helped a bit to think of Milo in the form of George Clooney, who I have read has opted the film rights.) I sincerely doubt that I'll read the third in the trilogy, however I will highly recommend it to my family members who are Clancy/Ludlum fans.
3) They're Watching (Gregg Hurwitz)
Of the four runners up for the award, one I'd already read (Coben), one had graphic plane crash details (Haynes), and one is the 17th in a series (White) - that left me with They're Watching. Which I struggled through for a different reason - I just couldn't care about the characters, or the conspiracy. The wife in the main couple grated on every single of my nerves and I thought it was sad that the character I cared the most about was a sarcastic and jaded security guard. A screenwriter is being stalked and then blackmailed, while his marriage is crumbling and he has no idea who to trust. The conspiracy is larger than any of us can imagine (or believe) and felt to me like it should have skipped book form and just gone straight for the big screen. (The rights have already been purchased.)
4) Little Birds: 26 Handmade Projects to Sew, Stitch, Quilt & Love (Design Collective)
I checked this out of the library, hoping to come up with an idea of little birds for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately for me, I can't read subtitles well and in this case, 'stitch' does not include knitting. The majority of the projects here lean a little more country than our own style, and I can't see making any of them save for the embroidery ones, but that doesn't make any of them less beautiful. My only other comment would be that the inclusion of each of the artists' Etsy stores make me fear that this could become dated fairly quickly.
5) The Knitter's Year 52 Make in a Week Projects (Debbie Bliss)
I'm constantly on the look out for easy and quick, but attractive, knits to keep up my sleeve as gifts for friends. Debbie Bliss is a known name in the knitting field, so I had hoped to find a few standouts here, but can't say that anything struck my fancy. I liked how the patterns were arranged seasonally, spring through winter, but in the time of Ravelry and the search capabilities that it brings, think compendiums like this are becoming less useful to a knitter like me.
6) Sisters Red (Jackson Pearce)
In the end of January, Bitch Magazine released a list of 100 YA books for the feminist reader. And then a fiasco ensued. (Summary of the fiasco by author Diana Peterfreund). Being contrary, I decided that I should read the three books that were pulled. The first of these is Sisters Red, which was removed as 'promoting rape culture.' Do I think it does? No. Do I think anyone involved with Bitch even read the book? No. Is it a feminist book? Yes. Would I recommend it to my young niece? Probably not.
It is a modern day retelling of the Red Riding Hood story, set in the Atlanta area. Two sisters witness the murder of a family member by a modern day wolfman, and spend their lives hunting these men. There's a twist of course (more than one really), but it is a very good interpretation of a historical fairy tale. The particular passage that got it pulled, to me at least, spoke to the strength of a victim turned vigilante who was envious of a life she can't have. She knows too much to be a naive party girl, and has aged beyond her years. But I don't believe that the passage glorifies rape or violence towards women.
7 & 8) Locke & Key Parts One & Two (Joe Hill)
These books are another big tip of the hat to my husband. He picked them up ages ago and recommended them, and I didn't bother because I haven't read horror in years. It was recently announced that a miniseries is being made, and filmed not that far from where I work. Out of curiosity I picked them both back up and was stunned. The first book, Welcome to Lovecraft, may be one of the best series beginnings I've come across in years. Graphic yes, (especially considering that these are graphic novels so the blood is right there visually) but I devoured it. The second, Head Games, tips a little more into the creep of the supernatural than the first, but the only thing stopping me from buying the third (Crown of Shadows) is that we're waiting for the fourth (Keys to the Kingdom) to be able to complete the series in on fell swoop (March 29). SOOOO GOOD. Seriously, you should read this.

Crafts:
This month was full of snow and sickness, and I didn't sew at all. Sometimes I just can't bring myself to go up to my sewing room when instead I can sit on the couch under a blanket and knit. I don't think March will be any better regarding sewing, since my main concentration is going to be finishing up our computer room renovation.

All that said, I finished three knitting projects:
* My little love birds for Valentine's Day
* My pumpkin orange 'cozy bolero' that I'm not thrilled about
* The painted cables scarf, first in what I hope to be a 3 piece set
I'm also 75% done with a cable hat for M, which yet again, I'm hoping he won't need to wear until the fall.

Knitting - Painted Cables Scarf

2011-03-07T18:35:00.000-05:00

My mom bought me the Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar for Christmas, and the January 7th pattern is for this Painted Cables Scarf.

In the original pattern, the yarn called for is variegated, and the waves of color work together with the cables to show each other off. However, I am attempting to stick to a "yarn diet" this year, so searched through my stash to find a compatible yarn. I have a boatload of Manos Silk Blend, enough to do this scarf and eventually matching gloves and a hat. (Ideally I'd like to find patterns that match the cables, but haven't found any quite yet. I suspect I'll end up modifying a glove pattern to incorporate the cable at some point.)

The first half of the scarf was a very quick and entertaining knit, (note in the pattern from the calendar, there's an error in row five - should be c4f not cbf) and then the cables flip mid way and reverse for the second half. By that point I had the pattern memorized, and found the flip problematic. Knowing I had to reboot my brain, I shoved this aside for a week while I finished my sweater instead. Once I had that done, I was able to come back and pick up the latter half without a problem, and actually found it a faster half. You can see where the pattern flips in the picture to the right.

If I were to knit this again, I'd probably add a few more repeats of the cable on each side, and make it longer. Otherwise, I'm extremely happy with it, and am looking forward to finding complimentary patterns to go with it. I'm truly hoping that the snow in the first picture is the last of it for this year, and that I won't need matching gloves until the fall.

Wordless Wednesday #7

2011-03-02T17:07:00.004-05:00

Wordless Wednesday #6

2011-02-23T06:40:00.000-05:00

Knitting - "Cozy Bolero"

2011-02-17T20:46:00.001-05:00

Earlier this year, a craft blogger that I read posted photos of herself in what I thought was an adorable knit sweater, the Cozy Bolero. (Inspirational blogger - Betz White). She mentions that it's thick yarn, big needles and a quick knit, so I thought "Why not?" I bought the pattern and went to Joanns to pick up some of the recommended yarn (Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick).

When I went to pick out yarn, I took along two beautiful buttons I'd bought awhile ago at Parker Button, and stashed away for the perfect project. I've been favoring 3/4 sleeve sweaters this winter, so I chose the pumpkin and claret colorways, believing that this could be the project that the buttons were meant for. The next quest was to find the size needles recommended, which are two sizes of 19 circulars (Natural Stitches). I cast on and four nights later, I was done. (And not entire nights, just an hour or two of watching television each night. So a super fast project indeed!)

The pattern is pretty nifty - no seaming, knit from the top down and then you put the arms on holders while you finish the rest of the body, and pick up the ribbed collar and trim later. Obviously, I am not the same size as the blogger who inspired me to pick this project. I worked the largest of the sizes available in the pattern, and then did some additional modifications.

I added six additional rows to the body, as a few other people have done on Ravelry because despite knowing going in that it was meant to be a "bolero" I wanted something a little longer. I have short legs and a long torso, but the extra rows took it below my rear. Also, when I picked up the stitches for the arm, I did seven stitches instead of the three in the pattern, since my arms are one of my weak points. I tried it on as I worked, more than once, and could tell that I would also need to add at least a few more rows in order for it to meet in the middle enough for me to use the button (but not enough...).

The problem is, now that I'm done, despite all of the modifications, I don't think it's the "perfect button project." I knew going in that this was meant to be a fitted sweater (which is so not my style normally). I may just chalk this up to being a learning experience, stash the orange button again (side note, I know my oranges clash - that's just the jersey I wore to work today) and then go at it again with the claret and try to wing it enough to make it work. (To quote Tim Gunn.) I'm hoping that since today we had sixty degree weather in Pittsburgh - in February! - that this is all a moot point until next winter.

What do you think? Should I just suck it up and sew the button on? Or should I stash the button again and hope to find my perfect button project someday? There are no button holes, so it's not like I need a button to consider this a done deal...

I've got my fingers crossed that spring is indeed on the way, and that means I'll be moving my knitting over to things like wraps and shawls soon, so I don't have to make a decision now. But I'm being a typical wishy-washy Libra and can't make up my mind, so opinions are more than welcome! :)

Wordless Wednesday #5

2011-02-16T17:10:00.004-05:00

Black birds, love birds - redux

2011-02-13T21:24:00.005-05:00

I mentioned earlier this month that crows and ravens hold special significance for us. We generally don't make a big deal over Valentine's Day, choosing more to be practical with our gifts (I get him an Aviary membership, he gets me one for the Zoo), but sometimes we throw in a token gift or two.

This year I decided to knit the Little Birds pattern and make a "nesting pair" for us. In the original pattern, she's a little bit more realistic, doing bright colors and um, well, lacking the bow tie and hair bow. But I wanted ours to be representational, so I'm ok with that.

Notes/Modifications:
* I used some spare Cascade 220 that I had floating around from the hat I knit M last month.
* When she mentions using green twigs so that you can bend them into place for the feet/legs, she's correct. It's still full blown winter around here, and our twig options were limited and hard to manipulate.
* I had two absurd glue accidents (seriously, one of the glue containers cracked in my hands as I was walking down the steps, leaving me with a hand full of glue) while finishing these, so I ended up using my glue gun for the bows/legs/beaks. I found it easier to put the legs/beaks into the bird and then to pull "out and up" a bit, put a bare minimum of glue on the bottom of the wood, and quickly slide it back in. Very little excess glue mess.
* The eyes are sewn, because it was easier to be obsessive about their spacing with thread than with the permanence of glue.
* At one point in the pattern there's some stitch shifting that initially didn't make sense to me, but is to ensure that the tail lines up evenly with the back of the body. Very sneaky.
* Thank goodness for the Knit Witch and her kitchener tutorial. I have to watch it EVERY SINGLE TIME.
* I should go on record that M is not a bow tie man, but though I did try to make a neck tie for his bird, it wasn't going to happen. Also, my bird is stuffed a bit more than his, because so am I.
* The additional photo includes a matchbook for scale.

As a side note, I had thought it would be a good challenge to see if I could blog every day in the month of February, and I made it 10 days before I realized I'd rather be about quality instead of quantity. I figured if I was grasping at straws this early in the month, I really didn't want to see what I'd end up with by the 28th. So while I "failed" I'm completely good with that.

Raul Malo, San Antonio Baby

2011-02-10T20:49:00.001-05:00

Raul Malo, San Antonio Baby
From the album Sinners & Saints, 10/5/10

I am all about the zydeco accordion in this. While it was released last fall, it has only recently come to my attention, and it just makes me smile.

Wordless Wednesday #4

2011-02-09T16:53:00.002-05:00

Caught Singing in the Library

2011-02-08T19:37:00.002-05:00

This video resonates with me for many reasons, but most of all because I am continually getting caught singing like an idiot in the library. In our old location, I had an office and could play my iPod on speakers almost as loud as I wanted without disturbing anyone. In our new location, I tend to use earbuds except for the days I work alone. I think I'm still getting used to our new space, because while in the past I'd get caught once in a blue moon jamming out to something, lately it's been chronic. Fortunately most of the people who come into the library don't blink when they hear whatever I'm listening to (and sometimes instead of readers advisory I can pull off a "listeners advisory.") Anyhow, this episode popped up on our Tivo tonight, and I have the song stuck in my head now.

Librarians have fans in unlikely places...

2011-02-07T18:56:00.003-05:00

Quote without context from Lil Wayne:

"Earning your Masters in Library and Information Science is beautiful."

Rolling Stone, Issue 1123, February 3, 2011, Page 47

January - New To Us Restaurants

2011-02-06T19:42:00.003-05:00

One of our "goals" for this year is to make an effort to try "new to us" restaurants more. It isn't really a resolution, because we've been trying this for several years, but I'm hoping if I keep track, maybe we'll be more accountable this year. We don't eat out that often, so one of the things we struggle with is the balance between wanting to try new (potentially good) places versus the knowledge of the well known, sticking with some place and something that we know will be satisfying. In January, we tried two "new to us" places in town, the Shiloh Grill and the Original Pancake House.

The Shiloh is a rebuild of an existing establishment, with new owners and a new menu. We started out the New Year there, trying their prix fixe menu for New Year's Eve. There were four courses as well as a full drink menu, and I think that our entire table left almost too full of tasty food. The cauliflower gratin that accompanied my prime rib was so good it nearly eclipsed the steak, and M's horseradish mashed potatoes had a fantastic kick to them (and were a nice compliment to his pork chop). For a holiday evening, the service was as good as we could expect, and it was comforting to see the number of managers on hand ready to wrangle those people at the bar who had started to celebrate a little too early. We went back a few weeks into the new year with a friend to try their regular menu, and were pleased again - as silly as it may sound - the tater tots that came with my sliders were PERFECT, and the chocolate mousse was a perfect cap to a meal. It's nice to finally have a place of this caliber right in our neighborhood, and it's a bonus that they have an amazing beer selection and drink menu as well.

The Original Pancake House is a national chain. I should go on record that in the great Pittsburgh breakfast debate, we fall firmly in the Pamela's camp. However, with a certain football team making it to a certain big game, the Strip District (our Pamela's of choice) has been insane lately. We have driven past the Pancake House in Scott several times prior and decided that since until football season is over we're without our traditional breakfast spot we'd give it a shot. On a Sunday morning the parking lot, pre-church crowd, is their weakness - many empty booths, not a place to park. (I can only imagine the insanity once the post-church crowds hit.) However, once we were actually inside, we were pleased. Their strength is their diversity in both menu and syrup choice. M had the blueberry pancakes, and I mistook their blueberry syrup for a bowl of fresh fruit, there were that many berries in it. I had brown sugar banana walnut French toast, and it was delicious enough (and caramelized enough) that I didn't need to use their recommended "tropical" syrup. The portions were huge, the service fantastic, and we learned that our side orders of breakfast meat (me bacon, him sausage) were unnecessary. While to a certain extent I felt like we were cheating on Pamela's - I think that having another breakfast place in our back pocket that is in the suburbs, will be handy for us.

So our January new to us restaurant adventures were both successful. We both feel that we can safely add both The Shiloh and The Pancake House into our regular dining rotation. I have a "wish list" I track on Urban Spoon, so I'm hoping that we'll be able to continue (to be successful) through the rest of the year.

Black and yellow, black and gold

2011-02-05T20:40:00.002-05:00

Looking for a Girl - Teddy Thompson

2011-02-04T06:38:00.000-05:00

Last year when I compiled my favorite songs of the year, I had the sneaking suspicion that all of the songs released in January and February had been forgotten. So I'm going to make a better effort to track songs through the year...

Teddy Thompson - Looking For A Girl
From the album Bella, released 2/7/11

The lyric that caught my ear:
"I guess it's good lovin' that I want the most
Someone who turns my bread into buttered toast"

Black birds, love birds

2011-02-03T06:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday when I turned the corner onto our block, I looked down into the park across from our house, as is my habit. Normally the reason I look into the park is that a group of our neighbors who have dogs meet almost every afternoon, and the dogs are friends. It warms my heart to see how happy the dogs are to see each other, and I love that our park is being used not just by the jerky baseball players who block our driveway, but also by people who arrive on foot and actually live here. But that's a side rant.

Anyhow, when I turned the corner, instead of seeing the snow covered ground, what I saw was a sea of black. Crows or ravens, I'm not sure, and in the largest flock I've ever seen in my life. The entire park was full, and believe me when I say that the photo above doesn't do it justice. So many birds that I exclaimed aloud "Holy schnickes!" (Which is a phrase I've picked up from my friend Rebecca.)

As I backed the car into the driveway, my thought was "please let them stay long enough for me to get the camera." It was such a magical sight that I wanted to share it with M, since we both love the corvidae birds. (We have a piece of art in our living room featuring two blackbirds that is symbolic to us.) I took the first two photos from our porch, not confident that I could get closer before frightening them away.

Sure enough, once I crossed the street, they rose into the air, cackling and taunting me, and most of them took roost in the trees surrounding the park. I stood there for several minutes, just listening to their gossipy shouting and trying to take pictures (despite having this camera for a bit, and it being intended to be "my" camera, I'm not very good at using it).

As I stood there enjoying the entire experience, I noticed someone slipping their way up the path in the park. As he climbed the steps near me, I said cheerfully "It's a good thing they didn't carry you off!" He confided that in his 40 years in the neighborhood, he'd never seen anything so "creepy." I shared the pictures I'd taken with him, showing him what he had missed a mere seconds earlier. We talked for a bit more about how neither of us had ever seen anything like it before, but I suspect that he was conveying disturbance while I was radiating excitement. He waved as he continued on down the street, and I stood there in the dimming light of the afternoon, determined to stick around as long as the flock would. Soon a bus came down the cross street, and as a united group they took to the air again and left me standing there, staring up at them, sad to see them go before I could share their magnificence with anyone else.

One of the things I love the most about living in this city is that despite the fact that we are well within the city limits, we are constantly surrounded by green space and wildlife. I consider myself blessed that I could come home from work and find such an amazing sight.

Wordless Wednesday #3

2011-02-02T06:33:00.000-05:00

Deja Vu - Knitting Olympics 2010

2011-02-01T19:15:00.007-05:00

I made a comment today that I might challenge myself to see if I can blog every day in the month of February. My friend Akeisha encouraged me, and since I generally do what she says (including trying kumquats for the first time) here goes...

Last year around this time I took part in the Knitting Olympics. I even blogged about it - one of my very few posts in 2010. The goal of Knitting Olympics is to cast on during the opening ceremonies, and to be binding off by the closing. I really enjoyed the challenge of the time limitation, especially since I can be the type of knitter who starts something and gets bored and puts it away for years.

An additional challenge of Knitting Olympics is that the knitter should seek something to challenge themselves. It isn't fair to intentionally pick a two hour project and call yourself done. I decided that it was time to conquer my fear of cables, and picked a scarf-hat combination that I could wear while I clean snow off of the sidewalk and car every morning. I really enjoyed the pattern - it was well written, and a perfect first cable project. I struggled a little bit with the short rows to "turn the heel" of the hat, but otherwise, it was a really great project to knit. The original pattern called for three skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease, but I had enough Crystal Palace Yarns Fjord in my stash to finish this. (In fact, I also have enough to pair with some pink and light brown Sublime Merino Wool Dk to make matching mittens/gloves at some point.) I didn't modify the pattern at all, and completed the scarf is long enough to wrap around my neck twice and still have a lengthy tail to tuck into my coat.

However, once I actually finished it, I didn't like how it looked on. Not that it really matters, since I'm generally moving snow around before the sun comes up, and the only person to ever see me is the paperboy. I think the problem is that I have a lot of hair. A LOT OF HAIR. So what would look like a normal hood on other people, I look like one of those mushroom creatures from Mario Brothers. Or Juggernaut from X-Men. Or as M kindly pointed out as he took the picture to the right, "It looks like the kind of hostage picture I'd send to your family after I'd kidnapped you. Bad things happen afterward."

I'm glad I tried this pattern, as now I really enjoy knitting cables. I haven't worn it much this year, but *knock wood* we have been blessed so far that our snowfall hasn't reached snowpocalypse proportions. I'm hoping that having this done and ready is the lucky charm I need to bring on spring!

I should point out in the first two pictures, kitty toes are present. Because that's what knitting is like in this house - a cat is ALWAYS around.

January Books/Crafts Wrap Up

2011-01-31T18:39:00.002-05:00

Books Finished:*
*Probably a longer list than will be in the future, since some of these were started in December.
1) My Name Is Memory (Ann Brashares)
Brashares might best be known for her Traveling Pants series for young adults, but here she jumps into an adult audience with a tale of soul-mates and reincarnation. I can only assume the abrupt ending is due to the fact that it is the first in a trilogy. The librarian at the circulation desk told me I'd devour it, and she was right. Rumor has it that the movie rights have already been optioned. Can't wait for the next one in the series.
2) Death's Excellent Vacation (Edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner)
I generally like short story collections because they're a great way to learn about new authors. For the majority of these, I felt like they were "bonus features" for readers of already existing series, series I don't read. The basic premise was supernatural beings going on a trip or vacation of some sort - vampires on a road trip, a mysterious creature in the hotel room next to a man, etc... One or two standouts (my favorite of the book was A. Lee Martinez's "The Innsmouth Nook" about a B&B with a special clientele, and Lilith Saintcrow's "The Heart is Always Right" gargoyle story was touching), but I'm not itching to track down the other two collections they've edited together previously.
3) Knitting Mochimochi : 20 Super-Cute Strange Designs for Knitted Amigurumi (Anna Hrachovec)
Super cute and indeed strange. Highlight - slippers shaped like hippo heads where you put your feet in their mouths (check out the book cover for a pic). I don't really have anyone in my life that needs this kind of knitted gear (though more likely, my friends who would wear hippo slippers also have dogs who would devour hippo slippers), but perhaps the first Amigurumi book to make me not regret my lack of crochet skills.
4) Gifted: Lovely Little Things to Knit + Crochet (Mags Kandis)
I can't say that anything really jumped off of the page and screamed to be knitted. A broader book that covers several other gift ideas (including bath salts recipes, things like that), this is more of an inspiration piece than a pattern book to keep on hand.
5) Songs of Love & Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love (Edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
Unlike the other anthology I read this month, I really jumped into this. (Though full disclosure, I did not read the three main pieces that were indeed parts of other series.) The title says it all - tales of loves found and lost, loves gone wrong, many with a supernatural bent, but not all. I picked it up for the Neil Gaiman story, but as much as I love him, there were other stories I enjoyed more. Specifically I would be thrilled if Marjorie M. Liu's "After the Blood" was fleshed out into a novel (the world created there fascinated me, the Amish meet vampire zombies?) and M.L.N. Hanover's "Hurt Me" was short, grim and powerful (being haunted by the past, with a twist). I also enjoyed the Yasmine Galenorn's "Man in the Mirror" if for no other reason than the portrayal of protective cats (though it was touching in and of itself).
6) Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories (Zack Whedon)
A graphic novel companion piece to the web series offers a few nice behind the scenes bits, like the back story for Moist and a heist by the Evil League of Evil. A quick read with good graphics, but probably only for the true Whedon completion-ists.
7) The Red Pyramid (Rick Riordan)
The first in his newest series, this tackles the mythology of Egypt in the way that the Percy Jackson books covered Greece. I understand that this was really a lot of set up and world building, especially if the average reader isn't as up on Thoth and Bast as they are on Zeus. Towards the end I thought it was getting a little long, and I'm more than 20 years older than the target audience, but I'm curious enough about the Anubis plot-line to probably read the next one.
8) The Monsters of Templeton (Lauren Groff)
A doctoral student returns to her hometown amid a research scandal. Her mother refuses to let her wallow in failure, and sets her on a new research project - through the telling of the history of her town (an homage to Cooperstown NY), to discover her father's identity. Some side supernatural bits (a real "monster" and a ghost) but in all a nice telling of a genealogy through the voices of ancestors. I enjoyed it, but I think that the present day characters were much more interesting than any from the past.

Crafts:
* The Cookbook project that wouldn't die.
* Sewn swaddle cloths for three pregnant friends. Welcome to the world Miles and TJ! (Girl baby has not yet arrived.)
* I sewed the ultimate DINK project - a cover for our Keurig. A little boxy, but it does the job and it matches the curtains.
* M came home with a hole in his grey knit (store bought) cap, so I re-purposed one that I'd been knitting far too long (April 2009) for a friend. Then I ran out of yarn, so the last inch was in a similar hue of sock yarn, and I used three strands together to match gauge. Then when I was cleaning out my knitting bag, I found the other skein. So I ripped it back again, added another inch to cover his ears (he must have a bigger head than our friend) and now the top matches. (Now he wants a new one with cables.)
* I finished a book purse for a friend, and it's been so long since I've made one that I hated the results and ripped it back apart completely. When I finish it (again) I'll do an actual update on it.
* I cast on for the Cozy Bolero for myself, which is going to be super quick to finish. And I am about half done with the Painted Cables scarf, also for myself.

Wordless Wednesday #2

2011-01-26T06:36:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday #1

2011-01-19T06:30:00.003-05:00

Craft Project #2 of 2011

2011-01-16T15:02:00.009-05:00

Last August I found this Self Binding Swaddle Blanket Tutorial from Tea Rose Home via the Craft Blog. At the time I filed it away mentally, because I have several friends who were either pregnant or trying to become so. I generally like to knit for friends when they're expecting, but in 2010 I was knitting so slowly and so infrequently that the babies I was knitting for were outgrowing the gifts before I could finish them. In the next three months of 2011 there will be three new babies among my friends, so I decided to pull this project back out of the recesses of my mind and give it a shot.

It's a pretty straightforward tutorial, and I really enjoyed making these. I can tell that this is going to be come a regular staple in my baby gifting repertoire. In these specific cases, I have two little boys and a little girl taken care of, two blankets each. I should also note that the Steelers print is considered gender neutral around these parts.

Notes:
* By the time I hit my fourth out of six blankets, I was able to get each one done in under an hour. The bulk of the time for me, truly, was ironing, measuring and piecing, not sewing.
* In any project when you're using two fabrics by different manufacturers, I recommend pre-shrinking first. I'm sure that goes without saying, but pulling from the dryer and ironing flannel does take some time.
* Double check that the corners are at the angle you want them to be before you trim the excess. For some people who sew, they follow the "measure twice, cut once" adage, but I'm not so good at that. I've done corners like this before on purse bottoms, but since these were gifts I made sure to check every corner twice before cutting.

Modifications:
* Her flannel was wider than mine, so these were done using 41"x41" and then 34"x34".
* I did not hand stitch around the opening after I'd turned it right side out. My hand stitching can be crap, so I chose to modify that a bit (at least if I'm looking at her pictures right) and just machine sew around the edges.
* I also chose to do the top stitching around the inner print, instead of the outer binding fabric. When I picked up the threads for these, I wasn't thinking about contrast colors, and matched the solids instead of the prints. I wanted the stitching to show, so I went on the inside instead.

Musical Inspirations:*
Bust a Move - Young MC
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Peace Train - Cat Stevens
I Need Love - LL Cool J
Jackie Wilson Said - Van Morrison
That's Life - Skanatra
Paul Revere - Beastie Boys
Exhuming McCarthy - R.E.M.
Beethoven's Fifth Goldigger Mashup - A + D
(*I have an iPod in my sewing room that I keep on shuffle. These are the songs that made me happy during this project. I think I'm going to add this in for each of the projects I do this year.)

"Craft" Project #1 of 2011

2011-01-09T21:17:00.001-05:00

I have put "craft" in quotes, because there really wasn't any craft to this project. However, since working on it has kept me away from other actual craft projects, there's a part of me that considers it one.

We have a lot of magazine subscriptions. We've both been told that we're hard to shop for, so both sets of our parents have given us magazine subscriptions as gifts over the years. We decided in 2009 that it was time to get rid of the incredible collection of cooking magazines, many of which dated back to 2004. I started then to go through the many subscriptions, pulling out pages that contained recipes we would make. It should be said that I'm a fairly picky eater, so keeping all of those magazines around "just in case" was an enormous waste of space for us.

I can't really understate to you the amount of cooking magazines we've had cross our door since we moved into this house - from Better Homes & Gardens to Food & Wine, to the brief lived Chow and then the Travel & Leisure subscription that automatically replaced it. Bon Appetit, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Saveur, you name it, we had it. Then to make matters worse, a few years ago I started reviewing Cooking & Cookery magazines for a reference book, so I had a whole new selection of cooking magazines that we might never have seen - Chile Pepper, Taste of Home, Everyday Food - in our house.

Seven years of a variety of magazines has been turned into our ultimate family cookbook. I found a great three ring binder recipe book at Costco in December of 2009, but quickly ran out of the blank pages supplied (switched to some matching card stock). Sorted into categories, it took four rolls of tape to add all of the recipes in. I sub-categorized the recipes into pages, for example, a page of brownies, a page of muffins, etc... I also started to use plastic page protector sleeves for the larger recipes.

34 Appetizers, 24 soups and salads, 26 main dishes, 7 side dishes, 30 breakfast, 21 drinks (breakfast & drinks are under miscellaneous) and then um, desserts. Yeah, I've got a problem. 211 dessert recipes. So if you invite us to anything in the near future, we're probably going to bring a dessert.

What has come out of this project, is not only a nice family specific cookbook, but also regained shelf space for new books, and made a tidy realization about us when it comes to cooking - that 98% of recipes are wasted on my picky tastes. So as a result of that, we are not renewing the majority of the magazines that come to us that have recipes. I'm sure our mail person will be thrilled.

Ten Favorite Singles of 2010

2010-12-31T16:32:00.017-05:00

In no particular order, and with the caveat that I know there will be little to no overlap with any of my other friends' lists this year (if ever). But music for me is about being happy, and darn it if these aren't the songs that have made me happy this year.

1) CeeLo Green, F*ck You
It's no secret that I'm a fan of the Dungeon Family. (I guess truly it's a bigger surprise that I don't have Big Boi on this list.) There are so many things I love about this song - but mostly it's just that it puts a huge smile on my face when it comes on, it's so catchy and really sums up my attitude towards 2010 as a whole. Plus, it's got "I guess he's an XBox, and I'm more Atari, but the way you play your game ain't fair." I prefer the text version more than the "official video" - so forgive me if the embedding doesn't work for you due to language issues.

2) Hanson, Thinking 'Bout Somethin'
Hanson? Yeah, yeah, but hear me out. I can hear your incredulity. Really, I can. But I went on record back in June in Erin's blog that there is no shame in liking Hanson. In fact, I've been defending, emphatically (perhaps too emphatically, my husband says "the lady doth protest too much") enjoying Hanson for years. So this release - with a video that is a tribute to one of my favorite musical movies ever, featuring a horn section, hand claps, a gregarious and swivel hipped Weird Al on tambourine, and the band just having fun - really, there's not much more I can ask for. In fact, the first time I saw it I broke into an enormous grin and declared it the "best thing to happen in 2010*."

* Actually, the best things of 2010 is a different post, coming soon.

3) Colonizing the Cosmos, C the C
How to describe this? Nerd folk? Geek pop? (But definitely not Weezer.) I was sold by the lyric: "If you can remember, bring the red leather, jacket I tore, when the dragon was king." They're local to Pittsburgh and this is their first release. Love them.

4) Fitz & The Tantrums, Money Grabber &
5) Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Come and Get It
Last fall, when I came across Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears' 'Sugarfoot', we started the big funk versus soul debate in our household. We even extended it out to many of our friends, several bartenders, and my Facebook wall. Husband is a big fan of old school soul, citing Sam & Dave as a major musical influence in his life. I like a little bit of funk in my world. So this year when I've been rambling on repeatedly about how much I've been digging 'Money Grabber', he kept saying "I think you should listen to Eli Paperboy Reed," and I kept saying "yeah, yeah, I'll get around to it, soul-boy."

The other night I started combing through You Tube for videos of my favorites for this list, and was digging for a snappy Sam Cooke-esque song that I hear on WYEP that also puts me in mind of Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. Using my librarian-fu I came up with it, and started jamming out to 'Come and Get It' - to which my husband asks "So, who you listening to over there?" "Um, Eli Paperboy Reed?" "Yeah, after 14 years, don't you think when I tell you an artist you'd like, you'd listen? When's the last time I secretly made you listen to Swedish Death Metal?"

With an enormous tip of my hat, and an official "My husband was right" I give you these two sharp soul tunes from this year:

(Plus, who doesn't love a man who can pull off a pinky ring the size of a doorknob?)

6) Ben Folds, From Above
Oh Ben Folds, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways - I love the way you pound on the keyboard, I love that you perform with symphonies and a cappella, I love that you make being a music nerd of the nth degree cool. Most of all, I love that every song you perform makes my completely musically challenged soul want to learn to play piano. What I also love about you, under normal circumstances, are your lyrics. So that Lonely Avenue was a collaboration with another genius wordsmith (Nick Hornby) was a two-fer. Is this my favorite Ben Folds song? Not by a longshot. But it's still one of my favorites of 2010.

7) Amy Correia, Powder Blue Trans Am
What this song captures for me is the perfect staccato of a woman on the prowl. I love lyrics that tell a story, and this presents a vignette of a woman in charge of her sexuality out for the night, and nails it. The lyrics and her voice, combined, are just perfect. I couldn't find an "official" video of the song, but if you want to listen to the album version of the song, check out her website.

8) The Whiffenpoofs, Grace Kelly
It's my blog, I can be completely and totally self indulgent. And so I'm going to be. I know this doesn't count in so many ways, it's not a single, it's technically a cover from a song from 2006, but it just brings my heart a stupid amount of joy. A cappella? Check. Ivy league boys in formal wear? Check. Covering an artist that has permanently earned a spot in my car's CD player? Check. Completely and totally cheesy? Check. Name checking Freddie Mercury? Check. I'd feel worse that they didn't make it far in the competition, if they didn't go to YALE, and are going to control the world someday.

(Here's the brilliant original, fwiw. Check out the entire album, Mika is made of pure joy.)

And now I cheat:
9) GirlTalk - All Day &
10) Best of Bootie 2010
I am a big supporter of mashups, and over the past five years, many of my favorite songs have been from this genre. As a Pittsburgher, I really couldn't be prouder that we can claim GirlTalk as one of our own. I can't pick just one track from All Day, because I listen to his albums in their entirety. He's a freaking musical encyclopedia. What I've noticed over the years with Best of Bootie is that depending on my mood, my favorite from the album changes. So I'm refusing to pick a single track from either of these. Download them and jam. While you're at it, if you don't have the previous years of Bootie, get those too.

Book Challenges in 2011

2010-12-30T17:30:00.007-05:00

In 2009, I had two book related goals as resolutions. One was to read (and blog reviews for) at least four books a month. The other was to go on a significant book buying diet. I was more successful at the latter than the former (though that fell down mostly at the reviews, not the reading) and only bought eight books total.

In 2010, I was fairly lax about my reading. Skipping and jumping around, almost always with four or five books on my nightstand, but without rhyme or reason, or keeping track of anything. I think it reflected my overall mental state - flitting around, not settling on anything for very long.

I'd like to return to my habits from 2009 again, as I move forward to 2011. The first step of that is by doing my friend Katie's Genre Breakout Challenge. What it breaks down to is reading the eight genre fiction award winners as chosen by ALA in January, as well as a 'short list' title from the genre. The genres are Adrenaline, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Women's Fiction.

Tied in with that, I mentioned this challenge to my husband last night and he pointed out (kindly) that none of those are really genre challenges for me. Like I've said, I flit around and really read what strikes my fancy, versus sticking to a particular genre. To actually make it challenging, he has suggested that I dip into his "genre" - which is almost exclusively non-fiction.

(As an aside, we are both currently reading YA books by Rick Riordan - he the first in the Percy Jackson series and me the first in the Kane Chronicles. This is nothing new for me. This brings down the average reading level/age of his nightstand books by probably 15 years. I am fairly certain, without checking, that he's got a Viking Saga book, two books about the war in the Pacific, at least one book about one of the World Wars, and probably two IT management titles.)

I've accepted his challenge, and letting him assign me four books that he thinks will be both "good for me" but that he thinks I will enjoy. I'm not putting any restrictions on his choices. I don't know what to expect other than non-fiction - it could be history, could be philosophy, could be the first book in the complete Icelandic Sagas. So we shall see.

Monkey Grabber

2010-12-22T20:05:00.008-05:00

I'm often amazed at how easy moods can shift based on the presence of a great song. Earlier in the month I was sitting in my morning traffic, waiting to merge onto the bridge. My local independent radio station played this song, which has largely been the soundtrack for my December. I turned it up and JAMMED. Dour Monday morning mood completely vanquished.

As an aside, there's a fairly large divide between the results of looking up "Money Grabber" and "Monkey Grabber" on YouTube. Take my word for it.

Just after I merged onto the bridge, a large SUV that had not bothered to clear the snow off of any of their side windows moved into my lane and almost ran me off of the bridge. It was probably one of the top ten scariest moments I've ever had in my entire driving career, and that includes hydroplaning and a few accidents. Excitement over a great song shot to hell.

Regardless, this is currently in the running for my favorite song of 2010.

A Weed By Any Other Name - Nancy Gift

2010-03-07T22:05:00.002-05:00

In full disclosure, this is probably not a book that I would have picked up, if it weren’t for the fact that I met the author at a surprise birthday party for a mutual friend. Dr. Gift is the director of the Rachel Carson Institute (and a professor of Environmental Studies) at a local university. Since meeting her, I’ve enjoyed both this book, and reading her blog (most specifically her adventures in keeping chickens as pets in a fairly swank suburb of Pittsburgh.)

This book is organized by the seasons, and there are short vignettes in each season talking about plants that most of us traditionally consider being weeds that are present during that season. Each season has four or five "weeds", and Dr. Gift details in a first hand perspective why we should value each plants’ impact in our world. She is a natural story teller, and her writing conveys a very natural ease with words as well as a passion for a natural, healthy, ecosystem. My only complaint is that there are no images to accompany the chapters, which led me to spending time doing Google image searches to confirm I knew what she was talking about.

I am a very particular gardener. I don’t like certain colors in my garden, and my father has laughed at me for planting bulbs in obsessively straight rows (he knows I get my Type A personality from him). At times my obsession with pulling weeds and keeping “just flowers” in my beds takes all of the pleasure out of gardening for me. I needed this book. I needed to read about the environmental benefits of weeds – what they signify in a healthy yard and garden. Really, this was like sitting down and having a conversation with a fellow gardener, and at the end of the conversation having a light bulb moment of understanding. Towards the end of the growing season last year, we had so much rain that one of my beds flooded and the mud washed out several beloved annuals. And thanks to this book I can see how my weeding contributed to that. I’ve been progressively migrating to a chemical free garden, and this was a reinforcement of that process. I’m glad I read this last year, and am keeping the knowledge from it close to me as I plan another planting season this year.

Book link on Amazon

Knitting Olympics 2010

2010-02-10T20:19:00.002-05:00

Back in 2006, The Yarn Harlot started the tradition of the Knitting Olympics. This knitting "competition" entails casting on a new and challenging knitting project during the opening ceremonies of the winter Olympics, and having it finished in 17 days, by the time the flame is extinguished during the closing ceremonies. I participated in the 2006 challenge, completing my Clapotis during that time.

In the intervening years, I haven't had time to participate, but one of my New Year's resolutions for 2010 was to take part in this year's Knitting Olympics. For awhile I kicked around the idea of doing another Clapotis, since I love the pattern so much, but inherent to the project is that it should indeed be a challenge to the knitter. For several months I've been debating what project to do this year, with little satisfaction.

This week I realized that the ceremonies are Friday, and that I'll be at my monthly knitting group during part of the ceremonies - I had better figure out a project, and soon! My husband is a great person to bounce knitting ideas off of (no really, or perhaps, to his chagrin), and in light of the Snowpocalypse of 2010, he suggested that I do a hooded scarf - to use while I help out in our snow removal. (Ironically, that's one of the uses of my current Clapotis, which sort of breaks my heart that it has seen so much use.) I spent a bit on Ravelry, doing some research, and have come up with the pattern of the "Heelhead Scarf." It meets two crucial requirements for this - in that it is something that I can knit and complete in 17 days, but also that it will challenge me, as it will be my first cable project and I have only used short rows once before. I have yarn in my stash that will be perfect, so now all that I have to do is bide my time until the ceremonies begin, and get started!

2009 Reading Wrap Up - Bought & Best Of!

2010-01-04T21:44:00.002-05:00

Even though I still have 15 book reviews to write up for 2009, I want to write a “year end best of wrap up” before we get too far into January.

One of my goals for 2009 was to support our local branch library more, and to buy fewer books. We have six bookshelves full of books as it is, and every year when we spring clean we weed out to make room for the year’s acquisitions – so I was hoping to decrease the necessity of that process.

I’m pretty proud of myself then that I (personally – the books that my husband bought aren’t included in this calculation) bought a mere eight books this year. Of those, two are reference titles – Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, and Warm Fuzzies by Betz White (not yet reviewed). A third nonfiction title that I haven’t read yet is The Tattooed Lady: A History by my amazing friend, rock star librarian and tattooed lady herself Amelia Klem Osterud. Four of my purchases were graphic novels – two Buffy titles because I’m a collector, and both Jellaby and the New Brighton Archeological Society because I believe in financially supporting that medium. My lone fiction purchase this year was the final book in Diana Peterfreund’s Secret Society Girl Series, Tap and Gown, because I devoured the first three and there was no way I was going to survive the library reserve list while waiting for closure with those characters.

I feel a little weird doing a “best books of 2009” list, because I seem to have weird little rules that make sense only to me. For example, I know that my friend Katie listed both the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Thirteen Reasons Why on her best of 2009 list. However, I feel weird putting them on my own because I took the recommendation of both of them from our mutual friend Alison on her 2008 list. Personal quirks aside, there are six books that really stood out for me this year.

1) The Book of Lost Things – John Connolly
That I went to a book signing for his newest book and ended up spending the rest of the evening sharing stories and beers with Mr. Connolly and my friends, is completely irrelevant to me putting the book on the list. (No really.) The real reason is that he is a gifted cross genre story teller, and the notion of “books talking to people” is one that he can express all too well.

2) The Arrival – Shaun Tan
Not a kids book, not quite a graphic novel, not quite in the adult market – but really a piece of art in book form. Beautiful, compelling, and without a word expresses so much emotion and wonder, not since discovering Griffin & Sabine have I been so impressed with an innovative story.

3) Graceling – Kristin Cashore
Sometimes there are books that need to reach larger audiences than the genres they’re relegated to by marketing (here YA and fantasy). I read a LOT of YA fantasies, and Cashore is in my opinion above and beyond in her ability to craft a compelling universe, realistic characters and page turning plots.

4) Fire – Kristin Cashore
I haven’t reviewed it yet, but I finished it in October and I knew by the end that it was one of the best books of the year. A companion piece (not sequel) to Graceling, I kept it checked out from the library for a few extra days after finishing it just to re-read a few key touching scenes.

5) Warm Fuzzies – Betz White
I haven’t reviewed it either and I came across this in December but it has completely revolutionized my crafting life, so much so that I knew within the first few pages that I’d have to buy it to keep it handy.

6) Impossible – Nancy Werlin
There’s a part of me that wanted to keep my top list at a tidy five, but after finishing this, one of the last books of the year for me, I knew I had to add it. A young woman is either fighting a family curse or a mental illness – as well as teenage pregnancy, rape survival and getting married before graduating high school. Very well written and a good twist on my standard genre.

The Enchantment Emporium (Tanya Huff)

2009-12-18T20:00:00.004-05:00

After I read the first chapter of this book, as I put it on my nightstand my husband asked me how it was. I said “well, everyone seems to be sleeping with everyone else, and it doesn’t appear to matter if they’re related or not, and the men apparently have antlers.” So I think it says something about the characters that despite the very different plot direction, I kept reading. It’s said that hindsight is 20/20 and knowing (or still not knowing) what I know now about this book, I would still recommend it to a certain audience.

The first of the two things I wish I knew in advance is that Huff is incredibly comfortable writing about sex. And that the people involved are fairly interchangeable. Towards the end of the book I made the offhand comment that I was fairly certain the main character was going to sleep with every person in the book, save for one underage dragon lord and an evil wizard – to which my friend Katie said (and I paraphrase) “don’t put it past Huff – the book isn’t over yet.” In this universe, sex is a power source, so going at it for these witches is pretty much the equivalent of me changing a burnt out light bulb. If you’re down with light fluffy (not detailed, not trashy) implied relations with no strings attached, then this is a good way to kill an afternoon.

My other complaint is actually something that others have praised – that the rules of this universe aren’t spelled out. I must not read enough about witches, or I just don’t know what, to have the basic cannon down to extrapolate out a lot of what was implied. I’d like to think that maybe if I knew more about the lore of power sources among witch clans, then the sex (or antlers) wouldn’t seem so arbitrary. I certainly don’t mind thinking as I read, but a little help for a newcomer to the genre would have been welcome.

So my two complaints aside – I did enjoy this a lot. The main character is a strong young witch who doesn’t really know how strong she really is (of course). A missing family member leaves her a curiosity shop that has become a centerpiece in the lives of the urban fey, as well as the mystery of what happened, so she leaves the safety and predictability of her family clan to investigate. Along the way relationships and kinships evolve, characters mature, dragon lords invade and set fire to part of downtown, a leprechaun shows up, millions of sweets are baked, and a cute little love story pops up. I am hoping that this is the first in a series, because there are just certain books that are meant for reading in the hammock on a hot summer day, and this was one of them.

Thief & The Queen of Attolia (Megan Whalen Turner)

2009-12-17T20:30:00.001-05:00

Back in June, author Diana Peterfreund had a post on books that everyone should be reading. I’m a fan of her work, and from reading her blog I’ve gotten the impression that we have fairly similar tastes in literature, so I took the advice that she was receiving and borrowed the first two books of Megan Whalen Turner’s “The Queen’s Thief” series from the library.

The first book “The Thief” is slow going, but once it gets going, it’s addictive. A cocky but incredibly skilled thief is taken from prison by the king’s mage, as there is a legendary item that can be obtained by no one less talented than Gen. Primarily a story of four men travelling and their growing relationships, there are side stories about the mythology of the kingdoms of this universe, and as the book progresses you realize that there are twists and turns upon top of the twists and turns. By the end, I agree completely that the raving fandom around this book is well deserved.

The second book in the series “The Queen of Attolia” deals with the repercussions of the actions in the first book. I hesitate to say much as a means of avoiding spoilers, other than that the thief is back and he has been captured. His punishment impacts his livelihood and his mental state. The three lands of this universe are inching closer and closer to an all out war, and it isn’t always clear if the Queens are acting in their own stead or as pawns on a chess board. Gen must find closure and an inner maturity to change the fates of those he loves. Similarly slow going as with the first, I found that the lengthy bits on military strategy to be wearing and a bit of a slog, but worth it as a whole.

There is a third book in the series currently available – “The King of Attolia” and then a fourth book that will be published in March 2010 entitled “A Conspiracy of Kings.” I am going to wait until the fourth is published before reading the third, as a means of stretching out and savoring the universe that Turner has created.

Cupcakes & Encyclopedia of Crafts (Martha Stewart)

2009-12-16T22:04:00.006-05:00

I have a few personal theories about Martha Stewart. One is that she never sleeps. Another is that she’s sold her soul for fame, or that one of her secret beauty tips falls in line with Elizabeth Bathory. But the most likely of my theories to be true is that she’s got an army of frazzled but talented minions at her beck and call. I like to think that it’s a minion army, that way there are a lot of people out there making me feel inadequate as a competent craft and home maker, instead of just one.

This summer I checked two new Martha Stewart titles out of the library – first Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes – which I admit was so full of drool worthy creations that I broke by book diet and picked up a copy of my own at Costco. This title includes 175 different recipes and design styles for a wide variety of cupcake tastes and preferences. They’re all beautifully photographed and the instructions are clear and well written. I think the cupcake recipes themselves are going to fall down to a personal preference thing – some reviewers hate the way the cupcakes have turned out, others think they’re amazing. Most of my friends know that I love cupcakes, and in my time spreading the joy of tiny baked goods I’ve found that they’re really “controversial” – some people like whipped icing, some like butter cream, some like ganache. Some people want a dense almost muffin like texture, others want almost Angel food like cake – so no single book on a single cooking topic is going to please everyone. Even if you don’t like the way the cakes turn out, I think this book is well worth it for the inspiration.

So the idea of “inspiration” then leads me to the second book from the Martha Stewart brand that I enjoyed this summer. The Encyclopedia of Crafts is not what I would traditionally consider to be an encyclopedia, while the sections are indeed organized alphabetically; semantically I take issue with it being considered an encyclopedia when it is really just not that comprehensive. If this were called something like “Martha Stewart’s Craft Inspirations” I would be 100% in favor of this title. (That said the subtitle includes Inspiration in it, so I’m not just winging this theory.)

There are over 30 different craft techniques in this book, and as I have come to expect from any thing of this brand, it is beautifully photographed and the instructions are concise and well written. The sections on each craft are fairly detailed, including demonstrations on more than one way to do something (my personal favorite was the variety of ways to make candles), but I wouldn’t consider it to go beyond a beginner’s expertise on a topic. Instead, if I were to look at this title again, it would be only for inspiration, to be inspired to start a new craft and then to move on to a more detailed explanatory title to learn more. So as an encyclopedia, the librarian in me balks at the title, but as a crafter, yes, check it out from the library and be inspired!

The Fire - Katherine Neville

2009-12-16T20:58:00.002-05:00

When I was in grad school in the late 90s, I did a field placement at the main branch of the Carnegie Libraries. During my time there, I got to see an amazing librarian in action – someone who patrons would come in specifically to see, for his amazing reader’s advisory skills. He turned those skills on me one afternoon after discussing books we’ve enjoyed in particular, and he was stunned to hear that I’d never read Katherine Neville’s “The Eight.”

I’m not exaggerating that this book changed my life - my reading life at least. I devoured it, and couldn’t get enough of the genre. A genre that today is probably best known as “DiVinci Code books” – but Neville did it first and she did it better (though, there’s a major nod to Umberto Eco missing in this review, I’ll admit). 20 years later a sequel was released, and there was a part of me that didn’t want to read it. I didn’t want to taint my memory of “the perfect book.” And then I heard bad reviews from friends who warned me – please, don’t read it. One of my faults is the need for closure, and I read it anyway. And boy, how I wish I listened.

Isn’t there a cliché that everyone has one good book in them? Neville didn’t just have one good book, she had a great book, but the sequel isn’t just a sophomore slump. It’s a second rate follow up that might have been written by a different person all together. The characters weren’t compelling – my favorites from the first novel were either mere cardboard cutouts of themselves or worse yet – my favorite character (so favorite we’d considered naming a cat after them) was killed off before the book even started during 9/11! The plot and the mystery wasn’t a coherent puzzle that could be pieced together, rather a ramble that required flipping back and forth among chapters for clarification, and then there was the potential for an amazing and passionate love scene that turned into the ultimate tease with a page turn and a “and then the next morning.”

So in summation – please listen to my friends – if you loved the first book, don’t read the sequel. If you haven’t read the first book yet, you really should. But the sequel – it broke my heart a little.

Now Archive: My to Read and Review List

2009-10-18T21:11:00.019-04:00

Edit 12/30/10:
As I re-dedicate myself to updating this blog again, I'm going to just have to set this as an "archive" and let it go that at this point I'm not going to review these books, nor keep these to-read lists active. From this evening forward, this is static.

To Review:
A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick (Finished September 09)
Widdershins - Charles De Lint (Finished October 09)
Fire - Kristen Cashore (Finished October 09)
Day after Night - Anita Diament (Finished October 09)
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger (Finished November 09)
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception - Maggie Stiefvater (Finished November 09)
Van Alen Legacy - Melissa De La Cruz (Finished December 09)
Owl Killers - Karen Maitland (Finished December 09)
Impossible - Nancy Werlin (Finished December 09)
Ruined - Paula Morris (Finished December 09)
Warm Fuzzies & Sewing Green - Betz White (Finished December 09)
Ballad - Maggie Stiefvater (Finished December 09)
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica George (Finished January 10)
Rampant - Diana Peterfreund (Finished January 10)
Hate List - Jennifer Brown (Finished January 10)
The Lace Reader - Brunonia Barry (Finished February 10)
A Homemade Life - Molly Wizenberg (Finished February 10)
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe (Finished March 10)
A Fair Maiden - Joyce Carol Oates (Finished March 10)
All Cakes Considered - Melissa May (Finished March 10)
Wish - Alexandra Bullen (Finished March 10)
The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen (Finished March 10)
How to Sew a Button - Erin Bried (Finished April 10)
The Broken Teaglass - Emily Arsenault (Finished April 10)
Caught - Harlan Coben (Finished April 10)
Casting Spells - Barbara Bretton (Finished April 10)
Soulless - Gail Carriger (Finished April 10)

To read Fiction:
The Gates - John Connolly
Selected Works of T.S. Spivet - Reif Larsen
The Story Sisters - Alice Hoffman
Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler
Angels of Destruction - Keith Donohue
A Single Thread - Marie Bostwick
Bread Alone - Judith Ryan Hendricks
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery
The Whiskey Rebels - David Liss
Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey
The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
Bellwether - Connie Willis
The Victoria Vanishes - Christopher Fowler
Kiss Me Deadly - Anthology
Exile of Sara Stevenson - Darcie Hannah
We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver
A Curtain Falls - Stefanie Pintoff
In the Shadow of Gotham - Stefanie Pintoff
The Changeling - Kenzaburo Oe

To Read Non-Fiction:
Losing my Religion: How I Lost my Faith Reporting on Religion in America - and Found Unexpected Peace - William Lobdell
An Apple a Day: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Truths about the Foods We Eat - Joe Schwarcz
The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness - Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
The Wordy Shipmates - Sarah Vowell
Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness - Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life - Paul Ekman
The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia - Laura Miller
The Smartest Animals on the Planet - Sally Boysen & Deborah Custance
Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses from Myth to Reality - Helen Scales
The Power of Slow - Christine Louise Hohlbaum
The Power of No - Beth Wareham
My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them - Michael Montlack
Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics we Never Stopped Reading - Lizzie Skrunick
Do One Nice Thing - Debbie Tenzer
Service Included - Phoebe Damrosch
The Fiddler in the Subway - Gene Weingarten
Woven Treasures - Sara Lamb
Alchemy Arts - Kate Mackay
Good Stuff Cookbook - Spike Mendelsohn
Cow in the Parking Lot - Leonard Scheff
Wisdom of Pixar - Robert Velarde
Big Yoga - Patricia Kerr
Real Food has Curves - bruce Weinstein
The Andy Goldsworthy Project - Molly Donovan

Deja vu all over again

2009-10-11T10:57:00.005-04:00

Last year around my birthday, I decided to start the 101 things in 1001 days project. That's actually how this blog started, as a means to track that effort - I can see how well that went. I think what I learned the most from that effort was that as much as I love to make lists, that making lists that track minutia don't last as far out as two and a half years.

My wise friend Rebecca decided last year to do a modified version of it, and do 10 things in 100 days. I'm hoping that is more my style, so we were talking about this on my birthday and realized that if we start again on October 10, the day before Christmas Eve is 75 days. So instead, I'm doing 7.5 things in 75 days - coming up with 10 "goals" to give myself some wiggle room.

1) Do the first four weeks of Couch to 5K
2) Lose 15 pounds.
3) Learn to make Scrabble Tile/Glass pendants.
4) Knit three hats (gifts).
5) Knit four pairs of mittens/gloves (gifts).
6) Bring my this blog up to date with all of the books I've read.
7) Sign up for one of the Mango language tutorials online and work through 1 section.
8) Set a firm Xmas shopping budget, and be done shopping by the Monday after Thanksgiving.
9) Mail 10 written cards or letters (there's roughly 10 weeks).
10) Pay off the remaining amount on the couches.

I doubt that I'll blog much about the goals beyond this - but I want some accountability. And since one of the goals is to write up my book reviews, I figure I might as well just lump it all in one place. Wish me luck!

The Magicians (Lev Grossman)

2009-09-08T22:19:00.001-04:00

For The Magicians I am going to fall back upon my beloved Venn Diagrams and call this the intersection of the Narnia series with the Harry Potter series, with one of my favorite books, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. With the thought that this book combines three of my favorite pieces of literature, I had really high hopes for it, perhaps too high.

The main character, Quentin, is one that many of us can identify with. Too bright for his own good, he struggles to find his place in the world, and falls back on his “Narnia” as a comfort mechanism (called Fillory). You would think that finding out that not only is magic real, but that he has the gifts required to enroll him in a secretive magic academy, would knock some of the teenage angst out of his system. While in school, he falls in with an interesting clique and finds out that being in a magic college isn’t that different from a regular one. I think at the point when they graduate, the book split into two parts. It is after graduation that his clique discovers that Fillory is real, and they travel there to have adventures (references to the Fellowship of the Rings of course). So here too, a second fantasy is completely fulfilled, and still, Quentin isn’t happy. Adventures to ensue, as well as chaos and heartbreak – though you can see how these things might have happened no matter what land they had made their way into.

I think this book just tried to do too much. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t fall in love with it, which was truthfully what I was hoping for. And I do really wish that it had been split into two (or three) smaller books, that way I could anticipate and savor the series. The message of it is one that we can all take home – happiness is what you make it. If you can’t be happy in a magic college, or in the land of your fantasies, then where are you going to be happy? In our real world, the manifestations of our deepest fantasies aren’t going to be handed to us and suddenly make everything all right – so it’s up to us to figure it out for ourselves.

Mind of the Raven (Heinrich) & Bird Brains (Savage)

2009-09-07T22:35:00.005-04:00

Last winter I came across a thread on Ask Metafilter that asked – what do you notice that other people overlook? It got me to thinking, and while I still can’t come up with a firm answer, I do know that something my husband notices that others tend to overlook are birds. From the many hawks that perch above us as we drive Pennsylvania roads, to the doves that nest near our bathroom window, to me he appears more aware of our feathered friends than most people. His favorite birds are ravens and crows. I don’t come from a family of birders, so I decided between his interest, and reading two interesting entries on crows and ravens on the larger Metafilter site (Thread One; Thread Two) perhaps I should learn more about these fascinating and intelligent creatures.

The book most recommended in the above threads is the Heinrich book, Mind of the Raven. This title details the first hand research that he (a biology professor), and colleagues around the world, participate in while attempting to learn more about ravens. While occasionally what some might consider to be dry, even as a first time reader in this genre I found the information fascinating, and his passion comes through in every chapter. While he may be a biased author, having raised ravens from hand and dedicating years of research to the birds, coming away from this book it would be hard not to appreciate the intelligence of these animals. Without anthropomorphizing them, it’s easy to see them squabble and bicker in one minute and be thoughtful in the next. This left me thinking yet again that the difference between animals and humans isn’t as broad as we might like to think.

As an accompaniment, I also checked out Savage’s book, Bird Brains, from the library at the same time. It was a perfect companion piece to the heavier Heinrich book, which only featured b&w pencil sketches – this was lushly photographed with anecdotes and brief text snippets, occasionally referring back to the Heinrich book as primary source material. It was a very fast read by comparison, but worth the time – the story of one of the birds mourning for a lost family touches me still. I would recommend these books as a duo to anyone with interest in these intelligent creatures.

Percy Jackson Books 1 & 2 (Rick Riordan)

2009-08-24T21:54:00.002-04:00

Last fall I was discussing books with my friend AmyP who, upon learning that one of my favorite genres of books is one where we learn what happens when ancient gods aren’t needed anymore, recommended to me the Percy Jackson series. (For the record, my three favorite books of this genre would be Gaiman’s American Gods, Pratchett’s Small Gods, and Adams' Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.)

Percy Jackson is trouble. He’s a 12 year old diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, he can’t stop getting expelled from any school that he enters, and mysterious inexplicable events keep happening around him. It turns out that he is a half blood – the illegitimate son of a Greek god – and that explanation is just the tip of the iceberg as to why Percy’s life is so filled with chaos. In the first book in this series (The Lightning Thief), Percy makes his way to “Camp Half Blood” where he starts learn about a world that surrounds him that he hadn’t noticed before. During his time at camp, he learns who is father is, and that his father is being framed for a theft from another god. Percy then goes on a cross country quest to clear both his, and his father’s name.

There’s a larger conspiracy afoot that bridges across the series, as well as an ominous prophecy about Percy in his 16th year, so there’s much more to the plot than meets the eye. From the outset, when I learned that the main characters were all 12, I thought that this skewed a little young, even for me – but once the action started, it was easy to forget that the protagonists were pre-teens. (The only blip on my skepticism radar was if it really is that easy for three 12 year olds to fly cross country alone, even if they are demi-gods. I guess if I can have a suspension of disbelief concerning a present day Ares being part of a biker gang, then I shouldn’t doubt the TSA.) I really enjoyed how the author managed to update the Greek myths and apply them to present day America (Mount Olympus is now in Manhattan, Medusa sells ceramic yard statues) and hope that if the allusions do fire above the heads of the intended audience, that they’ll be inspired to read the original myths.

In the second book in the series (The Sea of Monsters), Percy is finishing up the school year and is looking forward to another summer with his friends at the camp for demi-gods. After an altercation, it comes to light that the camp’s protective barriers have been damaged, and that their beloved sanctuary is no longer a safe haven. Percy’s best friend Grover is also in trouble, and several of the students leave the camp on quests – to find the Golden Fleece and heal the camp, as well as to save Grover from his peril. If anything, this book is more densely packed with allusions to the original myths, and is a great adventure with a lot of good humor as well. The conclusion allows many characters to save face and restore their reputations, as well as opens up a whole new kettle of worms that I’m sure will be addressed in the third book. I’ve enjoyed these two books, and as an adult they were easy, quick reading. I’d recommend them to any preteen who is looking for a stepping stone into more traditional mythology.

The Arrival & Tales from Outer Suburbia (Shaun Tan)

2009-08-16T19:51:00.006-04:00

I came across the work of Shaun Tan through a short story on the Guardian website, about an exchange student. Told in twelve images, the ending of the story proves to be heartwarming and whimsical - something I think most of us could use a little more of these days. After finishing the short, I immediately requested his two most popular titles from my public library, The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia.

Both of these works are not just books, but pieces of art. I started with The Arrival, which is 128 pages of wordless black and white drawings. It details a story of a family man who leaves his wife and child to set the foundation for a new life in a new world. I would be curious (in the case of both books) to hear what children think of the stories, as an adult I found this touching and all too realistic. In fact, I sped through the first reading, concerned perhaps that the book would not end well, that the immigrant would come across some cruelty and horror in the new land, only being able to savor it through a second reading. The man enters an alien land, where things are completely unfamiliar to him - it doesn't take much of a leap to imagine what things were like for the first immigrants to this country - when things are foreign to you, there's a fine line between foreign and completely alien. The Arrival is the kind of art that I suspect you could spend time pouring over again and again, each time noticing a new detail. I loved it.

Tales from Outer Suburbia is a short story collection, told more often in art than in words - but it is not exclusively a graphic novel. I can see where this would be a difficult title to place in a library collection - it's more than a children's title, but might get lost among the greater adult collection and not valued for the treasure it really is. The short story from the Guardian piece is included here - "Eric" - as are 14 other vignettes, that some might feel leave with more questions than answers. Regardless, I felt that this was another example of a whimsical, heartwarming title, full of fantastic and beautiful art. The closest comparisons I could come to for adults would be the Griffin and Sabine series (without the mysterious love story) and the art of Michael Sowa. I suspect that Tan will continue to be a niche author, but would be pleased to see his work reach a much wider audience. Both of these books made me very happy.

East (Edith Pattou)

2009-08-09T18:42:00.002-04:00

I first saw this book in paperback while browsing through Borders while on vacation. I liked the cover, and the recommendations on the back cover had me curious enough to make a note to request it from the library when I got home. The library copy that came to me was a hardback, and my foolish mistake was to re-read the book flap, and make note of a reference to a famous fairy tale, which pretty much was an enormous spoiler for the book and I think to a certain extent, ruined it for me.

Despite this, I enjoyed the book. Each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view, from the heroine Rose, her brother, her father, the goblin queen, and the great bear. Rose is the youngest child of eight, born to a superstitious mother and a diligent father, and a secret surrounds her birth that leads to betrayal and conflict. At the lowest point in her family’s life, a great white bear comes to their house and bargains – Rose comes to live with the bear, and her family will find health, wealth and happiness. Rose’s decision is enough to break apart her family, but it’s not a simple choice for anyone. Questions remain – are the events in her family’s life a coincidence or a direct result of Rose’s actions?

Rose is a strong heroine, smart and capable outside of the historical stereotypical confines of what a woman should be in her universe. The bear was a highly sympathetic character (but I love animals) and the goblins were fascinating in description. The rest of Rose’s family were almost place holders or used for exposition, but as a whole, well defined and interesting. I think I would have enjoyed the ending more had I not known the eventuality of what would happen, but I would recommend this to anyone with a love of fairy tales anyway.

Graceling (Kristin Cashore)

2009-08-09T13:30:00.007-04:00

I heard about this title from my friend Jen, in her review which made me want to read it myself.

As Jen points out, in this universe certain people are born with eyes of different colors – they are known as “Gracelings” – and each person is graced with a different gift. When a Graceling is born, they are taken and raised in the castle – if their gift is one that is useful to the Kingdom, they are kept in service, if not, they are returned to their family and often shunned by outsiders. Katsa is an orphaned young woman, the niece of the king, who is graced with the ability to kill. As she matures, she becomes less comfortable with being the king’s bully and muscle, and part of the story is her quest to know herself, her grace, and her place in the world.

While on a secret mission, Katsa meets another Graceling who turns her world upside down. It would have been easy for this story to turn into just another romance novel, but it is an adventure, it is a personal as well as physical and geographic quest, it has political intrigue, and well, some romance. I admit that part of the reason I wanted to read it was Jen’s mention that the heroine didn’t want to get married or have children – and I wanted to see how well that plot point was written. Katsa remains a woman true to her ideals and herself, while you can follow along as she comprehends a mental paradigm shift when it comes to female roles and relationships. Just because she doesn’t want to be a wife and a mother, doesn’t mean she’s an uncaring, unloving soul.

I thoroughly loved reading of this universe – the seven kingdoms, the kind of people in each land and their politics. Cashore really has a gift at laying out a universe and making it mentally visible. She has two more books planned for this universe – Fire – coming this fall, and Bitterblue, a more traditional sequel to the first that is currently being written. This is one of the titles I’ve been most enthusiastic about so far this year, but should warn that there is some graphic violence as well as some other themes that were hinted at (animal abuse, child abuse) that might make others uncomfortable.

French Girl Knits: Innovative Techniques, Romantic Details, and Feminine Designs (Kristeen Griffin-Grimes)

2009-07-22T20:39:00.002-04:00

I have a rule when it comes to buying knitting books and magazines. If it is a magazine, it has to have at least two patterns I'm interested in knitting, and if it is a book, it has to have at least three patterns. For this reason, I love to look at the knitting books at the library - to have time to take the books home, look over the patterns in detail and really think about if I want to spend the money or not.

From the outset, this should have been a fantastic book for me. My most hated thing to do in knitting is seaming. I hate to finish and sew the thing together - I've got a baby sweater right now that is ready to go, save for an arm I need to sew on. It's been that way for a month. In the meantime I've knit two hats. Bah on seaming. The majority of the patterns in this book rely instead on either seamless construction or a kitchener stitch. So to that end - if you're like me, I recommend this book and the theory and construction techniques.

I also lean a little more romantic in my knitting for myself as opposed to what I can buy from the store. I want my projects to be dramatic and beautiful, but also practical. I guess at the end of this title I realized, well, I'm just not French. The book is divided into four themed sections - the second of which pretty much screamed "ren faire" to me ("Rustic with a Gypsy Edge") - but the fourth had a sweater I could almost see wearing ("Streetwear with Style") but realize in fact it just wouldn't be practical. So as a library book, and for construction and design theory, a thumbs up - pattern wise, probably perfect for someone else, but not me.

Book link on Amazon

Six Word Memoirs (Larry Smith & Rachel Fershleiser)

2009-07-21T18:29:00.011-04:00

I still remember the first time I read Hemingway - in high school AP English, we read the short story "Hills Like White Elephants," and in many ways, it was a revelation to me. I've had a soft spot for his efficient writing style ever since then, and was tickled to discover the "Six Word Memoir" contest as I was browsing the Powell's website. (One of the Powell's winners - "Turned lemons into lemonade. Added vodka." is genius!) This series is based on the touching six word short story written by Hemingway - "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." In 2006, the editors of Smith Magazine asked readers to contribute their own six word tales.

The first of these titles, "Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure" covers broad ground in six words - life, death, children, illness, love, education, jobs - some are comical and flip, some make you want to cry. While you can finish it in less than 30 minutes, many of them will stay with you for a long time after. So sticking with the "six" theme, I've picked my six favorites:

I'm my mother and I'm fine.
In a Manolo world, I'm Keds.
Carbohydrates call my name every day.
Put whole self in, shook about.
Laughter and inappropriate humour since 1985.
The freaks, they always find me.

And here is my own: "Napping is my addiction of choice."

After finishing the first in the series, I quickly moved onto "Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak" - which seemed to be a natural progression from the first title. So many people define their lives based on who they love, or who has loved them. Again, my favorite six:

Where he is, I am home.
Maybe some pots have no lids.
You holding my hair, me puking.
She knows what my kryptonite is.
He always stirs my chocolate milk.
You were my little red-haired girl.

The next version of this series is due in the fall, and I'm looking forward to it. These books are charming, well laid out, and lovely little diversions. In a time when so many of us can "self publish" as many words as we'd like to, it can be a challenge to limit to just six words. I'm still struggling to do one for my relationship - it's truly hard to put something you value and cherish into just six words. But try it yourself - it can be fun, and frustrating, and you'll figure out a little bit about how you define yourself.

Not Quite What I Was Planning - book link on Amazon

Summer on Blossom Street (Debbie Macomber)

2009-07-03T19:31:00.002-04:00

This is the fifth book in the Blossom Street series, the third to focus on the yarn store "A Good Yarn." Two themes carry through this volume, moving on and family. The knitting store starts a 'knit to quit' circle where characters new and old struggle to move through various issues, and throughout each character learns that the definition of family is a broad one. Like all of the books in the series, it was a quick read and a heartwarming one.

My only nitpick of the series is that none of the titles stand out and are memorable to me. The analogy I'd make is that they're like eating junk food for dinner - the next day you completely forget what that junk food tasted like, so you think, hey, maybe I'll do that again. And then the next morning you groan and think "my god, I'm a grown up, I need actual nutrition." Only with these, it's getting three chapters into the book and realizing "my god, I've already read this!" Reading the descriptions online, I have no idea if I read the two books in the series not focused on the knitting store, and I struggled through most of this title to remember if I'd read even the second knitting one. In reality I know I've read all five - they're just not life changing. Regardless, the sucker in me still got a little teary eyed during the last section of this one.

The Quilter's Kitchen (Jennifer Chiaverini)

2009-07-02T19:08:00.001-04:00

Back in May, I read the first two books in the Elm Creek Quilts series. My biggest complaint going into the third book was that it introduced new characters, and I was much more interested in the core group. I found this title on the new fiction shelf in the library, and was looking forward to a quick dip back into the lives of the quilters.

The women of Elm Creek Manor have hired a new chef, Anna, who is excited about a new job, but hoping more for new friends. The kitchen in the manor is being renovated, and each chapter brings a tale of the manor's past as housewares are uncovered, as well as a multitude of recipes. Most other reviewers have been upset at the plot versus recipe ratio, but I thought it was a nice little taste of an update into the quilters' lives. There are over 100 recipes here, but I can't comment on them as I was really only there for the story, which was warm if too brief.

The New Brighton Archeological Society (Mark Andrew Smith & Matthew Weldon)

2009-07-02T18:49:00.004-04:00

Back in May, I read a review of this graphic novel on Boing-Boing, that recommended it as one of the best all ages graphic novels in years.

The original New Brighton Archaeological Society was made up of two couples, who perish during an expedition. Their four children are taken in by caretakers, and that's where their fantastic adventures begin. Their new guardians know more than they're letting on, not in a malevolent way, but in a way that lets the children learn about their parents' adventures and fate, as well as the truth of the world around them - that all is not as it seems, and not everyone can be trusted. The animation is bright and appealing, and the action moves quickly. I agree that from the outset it is "all ages" but would caution those with kids who are easily spooked - there are some creepy parts. The kids are inspirational - brave, smart, and adorable. I can't wait for the next adventure.

Book link on Amazon

Tap and Gown (Diana Peterfreund)

2009-06-03T20:05:00.004-04:00

Eons ago, back when I was searching for a college, one of my main stipulations was that I wanted to go somewhere without a Greek system - so an extrapolation of that was that I definitely didn't want to end up somewhere with secret societies. In my high school mind, I thought that the Greek system was one where you paid for friends, and one that was full of people who would only accept you if you were judged worthy of their merit. Life doesn't always work out the way we expect it to though, and it turns out that I did end up at a school with a Greek system, and not only did I join a sorority, I married a man who was in a fraternity. I'm still friends with many of those women, and am thankful for the support they lend to me, not just during college, but even today.

Last spring I happened to see a copy of Secret Society Girl while I was roaming the aisles at Target, and made note of it as something to borrow from the library. Despite having gotten over my prejudices against the Greek system, I still have my suspicions and fascinations about secret societies, and in this case the protagonist shared my name to boot! In the first book, a secret society at Eli (a thinly veiled Yale), decides to tap women for the first time. Chaos ensues, leaders emerge, friendships are tested and cemented. I devoured it, and instead of getting the second book (Under the Rose) from the library, I went to Borders and bought both it and the first title, and then waited three agonizing months until the third title (Rites of Spring Break) came out. With the third book, the author took some chances and risks with several of the characters, and ended up creating one of my favorite fictional romantic male leads in a long time. (Let's just say that there's a shower scene where the water isn't the only thing that's steamy.) The final section of the third book was a tantalizing trailer for the final in the series, which frankly just added to the year long tension of waiting out the finale.

There were a lot of ways that the author could have gone with this final book of the series, and I admit to being hesitant that it might not live up to expectations. There was the potential to take one of several easy ways out, and she managed to make the characters accept mature adult decisions and not become a cliche. That's just the romantic section of the plot however - the main plot being that the class needs to find new taps into the society, and cement their legacy, while balancing an Ivy League workload, friendships, and decisions about their future. I really am not sure what else Peterfreund could have done to make me happier with this conclusion, other than maybe a 10 year in the future "where are they now" epilogue. I think that this is the perfect example of an author who has grown into a comfort level as a series and professional career progresses, and I am anxious to see what else she comes up with.

Book link on Amazon

Fragile Eternity (Melissa Marr)

2009-06-03T18:05:00.004-04:00

Fragile Eternity is the third book in Marr's Wicked Lovely series (I've reviewed the second, Ink Exchange earlier this year) and more of a true sequel to the first, while the second could be considered a brief sidestep in the chronology.

In the first book, a mortal girl becomes the queen of the Summer Court of fairies, bonding herself forever to the immortal Summer King - an immortal partnership that is not based on love but attraction and duty. Through all three books, Ash struggles with her desire to remain "normal" - attending high school, splitting time with her remaining family and human friends and the court. Her rock through this is her mortal boyfriend, Seth, and an obvious love triangle (though really a square, since the king has his own immortal relationships to contend with) is set into place.

So this then seeks to answer the question - how far would you go for your love? What sacrifices would you make to be with your true love? (And I more seriously think this - when I think back to the boys I dated in high school, I'm glad none of us had to ponder spending eternity together.) While all of the characters are featured equally, this is truly Seth's tale. It is his decisions both good and bad, that propel the plot forward, and I think his control and allegiances will bring interesting things in future books.

In each of the three books, Marr has focused on different faerie courts - the first being Summer, then the Dark court, and now the High court - and as she expands this universe, it keeps getting better. In Ink Exchange I loved her descriptions of the Dark court and almost blew through the descriptions of the Summer court in favor of the more lush and interesting Dark. Now in the third book, the third court is my new favorite, and it gives me hope that as the series progresses, the rest of the universe is as addictive.

Book link on Amazon

Animals Make Us Human (Temple Grandin)

2009-06-02T21:15:00.006-04:00

Growing up I came from a dog family, from my earliest childhood memories there have always been dogs in our house. My brother and I have made a list of our mother's favorite children, and acknowledge that we come in third and fourth, after Chip, an amazingly bright cocker spaniel and Hershey, a gentle giant of a chocolate lab. It saddens me to say that we don't currently live a lifestyle that is fair to a dog, so we have cats. And my cats are spoiled. Some would say very spoiled. But they're the first cats I've ever owned, so I rely greatly upon the wisdom of two of my friends who have proven to be amazing cat owners, Laura and Amy, and then on books about cats. If there is a book out there that is going to tell me how I can provide a better life to any animal under my care, then I'll read it. So from the outset, the subtitle of "creating the best life for animals" intrigued me - I wanted to be sure that I'm doing the best that I can for my girls.

The author is autistic, and that is a factor in her writing, in that she thinks in a different way from those of us who are not. The premise to this title is that animals are cognitive, emotional creatures that share several core emotions with humans, and that through the understanding of these shared emotions, we can be better to all animals. What this book is not is a how to manual - you aren't going to get a specific step by step plan on how to make your pets' life better. It is through the understanding of the hypothesized needs that we would be able to create the "best life" for them - and anyone tentatively familiar with Maslow's Need Hierarchy will be comfortable with the tenets set out here. So while it wasn't quite what I was hoping for, it was still an good read. However, for those of us who already struggle with the morality of eating meat, this wasn't easy going - as a warning - and some critics point out that Grandin is much more comfortable discussing livestock than she is companion animals.

Book link on Amazon

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 (Volumes 3 & 4)

2009-06-02T18:09:00.004-04:00

In many ways, I’m a believer in completing a collection, sometimes to my fault. So in breaking my book purchasing diet this year, it was a given that I’d do so for the third and fourth volumes of Season 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I am a big fan of Buffy, for that matter, pretty much of anything Joss Whedon has done. So after the series ended on television, I was delighted to see it continue in print form. I think that the comic medium lends itself to so many new things that television couldn’t – due to either special effect limitations, limitations placed by actors, or limitations placed by networks – and was pleased with the plot arc through volumes one and two.

In volume three, a gang of Japanese vampires possesses powers that Buffy and her slayers aren’t prepared for – their castle fortress is infiltrated and a key object stolen. In order to steal back the object, the slayers must reunite with a previous nemesis – Dracula. I think the parts of the volume that I most enjoyed were the interactions between Dracula and Xander – expanded nicely from the comedy of the Dracula television episode. Buffy continues to work through her issues and personal relationships, and on that point, I think that perhaps the plot took a little bit of a sensationalistic and unnecessary dip. (I’m not a prude; I just didn’t think it added anything to the plot beyond drawing beautiful women semi clothed.)

The fourth volume of the series is a crossover between Buffy and the slayer of the future, Fray. (I think having read Fray as well was infinitely helpful here.) Set in present day New York, as well as the mangled shell of the city in the future, Buffy struggles to find who she can trust in both worlds, and returns to a horrible secret that only she can keep.

In all - well worth breaking my book diet for - and I am looking forward to the next volume this fall. My only hope for the future of the series is that Dawn finally finds a plot point beyond tepid comic relief, though there is some cover work of her that hearkens back to pin-ups of old.

Links on Amazon: Volume 3 & Volume 4

Jellaby in the City (Kean Soo)

2009-06-01T20:22:00.004-04:00

Several years ago, I read a long list of web comics, but one by one that list has dwindled down to one (Questionable Content). The reason the list dwindled varied from comic to comic, either a platform change (Little Dee moving to Comics.com) or a plot line I couldn’t stomach (For Better or For Worse and Liz ending up with Anthony) or moving on to bigger and better things – Jellaby.

Jellaby is a giant purple monster that is found by a lonely girl named Portia. Portia appears to be smarter than the other kids in her grade, and is struggling with the absence of her father. At first, she doesn’t really want a giant purple monster in her life, but who can resist such an adorable creature? Through Jellaby, Portia becomes friends with Jason, a fellow misfit, and the three of them begin new adventures, which are covered in the first book in the series, simply called Jellaby. The second title covers their adventure as the trio goes to Toronto in the attempt to find Jellaby his way “home.” As they battle real and symbolic monsters, they discover the importance of friendship, loyalty, honesty, and where home really is.

I admit to mixed feelings for Kean Soo’s success – I’m delighted to see Jellaby, an accessible all ages graphic novel, come to print – but I’m also selfish enough to miss reading about Jellaby on a regular basis. I can’t recommend this collection enough, and tangentially, also can rave about the Flight graphic novel series (geared for adults) and the kids’ Flight Explorer series (for kids, featuring a Jellaby short). This is one of the very few titles that I'm breaking my book diet for this year, and am glad to have bought it.

The Third Angel (Alice Hoffman)

2009-06-01T16:51:00.005-04:00

I have read several Alice Hoffman books in the past, and have enjoyed each of them (Practical Magic, The Ice Queen, The Probable Future). I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but it is nice to have a prolific author in the background that I know I can use as a “go to” when I need something new to read. I think that might be part of the reason that I haven’t delved more deeply into her work – it’s nice to have the rest of her collection as a safety net.

That said, it seems that I do find myself drawn to authors who seem to have a little “Hoffman” in them – people who combine the magic in everyday life and make it work believably. Sarah Addison Allen is another author in this genre that I’ve enjoyed, but Hoffman did it first, and continues to set the bar high.

In The Third Angel, the stories of three women are interwoven around events that occur at a hotel in London. The tales go backwards in time, weaving a complicated tale that at some points were so intricately brilliant that I had to go back chapters and confirm their occurrence. The story starts with a wedding and a betrayal (other reviews claiming that this part is about the mistress, but I found the bride and groom’s story much more compelling), moving backwards to the tale of the groom’s mother in the 60’s and then finally to the bride’s mother as a small child in the early 50's. The concept of love – between sisters, children and parents, lovers and strangers – is strong here, and the definition of it grows broader with each section. Proof that perhaps I need to move her other works from the safety net in the background up to my active to-read list.

Book link on Amazon

The School of Essential Ingredients (Erica Bauermeister)

2009-05-06T19:28:00.005-04:00

At my job, we’re lucky enough to subscribe to Library Journal, which is known in the library field for offering book reviews on a variety of topics in each issue. I love to go through the reviews for new and not yet published books, and with each issue, I end up adding one or two new titles to my “to read” list. It’s a little bit like going through the Christmas Wish Book, only more frequently. I found this book reviewed in LJ, and am glad that I did.

A diverse group of people comes together to take a cooking class, and in turn, each individual discovers a dish that heals a part of their life. The chef teaching the course has a little bit of Alice Hoffman “magic” in her – and teaches her students to savor every sense, that romance is in every tiny moment of our life, and that by appreciating the briefest sentiment will bring reward when you least expect it. Each character gets their own chapter, and the author is overwhelmingly fond of similes. But like true comfort food, the plot is warm and filled a nice hole for me. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (which is saying something, since I really don’t read books I don’t intend to enjoy), and was pleased with the end (other reviewers complained about the last bit in the online reviews). I hope she writes more, because I’ll certainly read it – a really strong work for a first novel.

An Elm Creek Quilts Sampler (Jennifer Chiaverini)

2009-05-06T18:47:00.005-04:00

I am the type of person who shops all year long for birthdays and holidays. I’ve got a drawer in our guest room full of things that I pick up when I see them, as an item makes me think of a particular person. The only problem is that there is never anything in that drawer for my mom. My mom is the hardest person I know to shop for, probably because she, like me, will just buy what she wants and not wait for people to do it for her. Several years ago I stumbled across the Elm Creek Quilts series, and since my mom is an amazing quilter who loves to read, I picked up what was then the first half of the collection for her. (As a follow up, my father seized on my idea of the book series, and bought her the other half for the next holiday. The bum.)

The first three novels in the series are available in one super thick book as the Elm Creek Quilts Sampler. This collection includes The Quilter’s Apprentice, Round Robin, and Cross Country Quilters. The edition I checked out from the library was so thick that the spine had broken down the middle – that’s how thick this is in hardback. These books are set in central Pennsylvania (the author knowing the area as a former professor at Penn State) which is home to many amazing quilting artists and has many fantastic supply stores that I like to visit on an annual basis.

A young woman relocates to a small town where her husband can find a job. The plot of the first novel focuses on her struggle to find a place in her new home – friends, a job, her relationship with her husband – but the conflict is resolved neatly. The broader cast of characters is introduced and as a whole it lays a nice groundwork for the entire series. The second novel then throws in a bit more conflict, but is divided between the entire quilting circle. You can tell that the author was settling in more comfortably with the premise, and the characters, this time. I enjoyed it more than the first. However, I didn’t get very far into the third title (Cross Country Quilters). Part of the issue was that it was already overdue at the library, but the other part was that it introduced a new group of quilters into the mix, and in the first few chapters I really couldn’t get interested in them. I know in my heart that at some point I’ll read the entire series, just so that I have the closure of what has happened to the main Elm Creek women, but for now, I’m content to just stick with where I am in the series. And next time I’ll just borrow them from mom since her late fees aren’t as high.

Ink Exchange (Melissa Marr)

2009-05-06T17:27:00.005-04:00

I’ve mentioned before how Pittsburghers love it when other Pittsburghers become famous. Something else we love, is when a film or book is set here. I bet if you looked up the statistics on income from the Bruce Willis movie Striking Distance, the majority of the gross comes from Western Pennsylvania. When I was in grad school, I did a field placement at the Carnegie Library’s main branch in Oakland, which is also where several scenes from Flashdance were filmed. I struggled every single day of that internship to not run through the sculpture hall and pretend I was Jennifer Beals.

More than one review of the first book in this series, Wicked Lovely, claimed that it was either set in Pittsburgh, or in a city just south of it. Having grown up just south of Pittsburgh, I figured that meant the southern suburbs. Wicked Lovely was indeed vague enough to have been set here, the theory being that all of our steel and iron were key in keeping humans safe from metal fearing fae. This, the second book in the series (not a sequel per se) makes it clear however that they’re about four hours outside of the city. Specifically, there’s a “quick train ride” mentioned where the main character escapes into the city to go to the art museum, the same one where I wanted to run through the sculpture hall. I am confident at this point that my issue is with the reviewers more than the author, but it still put me off a bit.

As I said, this isn’t really a sequel, though the events in the first book do impact the events of the second. This plot revolves around a second, darker faerie court, and the concept of using tattoos to tie humans and their emotions to those who feed on them. I liked the concept, wasn’t 100% satisfied with the conclusion (probably because I do like the bad boys, and was rooting for a doomed romance), and have the third book in the series on the way from the library now.

Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America’s First Lady of Food (Susan Marks)

2009-04-04T20:53:00.001-04:00

The problem with having so many friends who are fellow librarians, sometimes it’s hard to keep straight who recommended what, and why I wanted to read it in the first place. I’m also sort of amused that I’m fairly certain that one of my friends named Kate/Katie recommended this, and that even narrowing that field to the Kate/Katie’s I know who are librarians, I’m still coming up with four potential people. So whoever recommended this – thank you!

This book was a quick and enjoyable read as far as non-fiction goes. The author has the ability to write in almost a folksy storytelling manner that is comforting, which compliments the subject matter nicely. This traces the creation of Betty Crocker as a “face” in front of a flour company, and “her” hand in guiding homemakers through print, then radio, then television, and now internet. I found it fascinating to see how this fictional woman was created to sell flour, and how this marketing was balanced with the yearning American women had for an authority to tell them the “right” way to do things.

I thought this was an interesting compliment to the Bittman book, that provided an analysis on the overconsumption of convenience food by today’s American – demonstrating the juxtaposition of a time where dessert (mostly cakes from scratch) was a mandatory part of every dinner, and yet obesity wasn’t a problem, but where now our desserts are a “luxury” but we’re all fat. I also thought it was interesting how sugar and flour rationing during the war led to the initial creation of so many of our “mixes” that use corn syrup, and how after the wars we as a country have not stepped back to doing things by scratch.

This book also made me yearn for what was depicted to be an easier, less stressful time. (I don’t know if I really believe that, and wonder rather if it is just how the “good old days” have been branded.) Traditional gender roles don’t really mean anything in my marriage (my husband doing the majority of our cooking) so I had a lot to think about as a woman – It is interesting how a marketing tool shaped the opinions and perceived self worth of so many women (and of course that continues today). And as a librarian, I’d love to peek into their library sometime to see their collection and archives.

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating (Michael Bittman)

2009-04-04T15:08:00.001-04:00

I should preface this with the statement that I do not cook. I bake, but cooking isn’t my gift. I can do it, I just don’t like to. I’m far too concerned with keeping the kitchen clean than I am with actually making food. My husband on the other hand is an amazing cook. He likes to experiment with ingredients, seasonings and spices, and everything he puts on the table is a blessing. (Baking on the other hand, I appreciate the science of.) So I have sort of a love/hate relationship with food. Certainly, I like to eat it, but I acknowledge that if left to my own devices my diet would be radically different. As a general rule, my husband is much healthier than I am – I’m the great corrupter in our relationship, bringing white bread and convenience foods into our home.

Several years ago we made a concerted effort to become vegetarians. It’s something I struggle with emotionally on a regular basis, and after our failed attempt (the decision being made that with someone who has as many food issues as I do, we have to pick our battles) we came to a decision. We would try to eat as “well” as we could, but not to leave anything out of our diets. We shop locally when we can, we lean as organic as is practical, we have belonged to a local farm, we plant a garden, and we seek out humane proteins when we can. Believe me, this is something I still struggle with as an animal lover, so I suspect our habits will be fluid. All that said going into this book I knew that it was going to be a little bit of “preaching to the choir.”

This was an incredibly easy book to read, and graphically, I liked the layout and design of it just as much as I was interested in the content. This is an exploration of the idea that “big agriculture” is a bigger cause of global warming than “big oil” – in that global factory farming and the convenience food market create more greenhouse gas than automobiles. His proposal is to eat locally, and use meat as a garnish and for flavor, at one meal a day. He claims to have lost 35 pounds, to not deny himself any food, and to be the healthiest he’s ever been. It’s not a diet book, but more of a study of the history of food in our country (I was very interested in the creation of the USDA nutrition chart) and enlightening. There are 75 recipes included, but I would really consider them more “guidelines” or “suggestions” – they give you an idea of how to make a certain dish, rather than “add a teaspoon of this then a cup of that.” My biggest take away from reading this was to start eating more fish than in the past, as well as an acknowledgement that our lifestyle is a blessing, especially during the present economy.

Pet Projects: The Animal Knits Bible (Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne)

2009-04-02T22:02:00.002-04:00

Most people who know me realize very quickly that I don’t plan on having biological children. It’s not that I don’t like kids (I am in fact a fantastic aunt), it’s that I just don’t feel a clock ticking for me to pass on my genes, I never have. I’m blessed in several ways on this account, I have a husband who feels similarly about human children, and he is also incredibly tolerant of the way I treat our pets; we also have a close group of friends who also understand and treat their animals similarly, or those of our friends who do have kids don’t think we’re foolish for choosing children with fur over children we’d have to send to college.

I am also a knitter (and more broadly a crafter). I am a firm believer that knitting is something you do with love. Knitting is meditative for me, and it is time consuming. I envy my friends who are more prolific than I am when it comes to knitting. I don’t knit for profit, I knit for pleasure, and I knit only for people I love. Every stitch is a meditation on the person you are creating for; I’ve never really had a backlog of finished projects that I could gift on the spur of the moment, as there are so many variables when you create something for someone else– size, yarn preference, fiber allergies, favorite colors, style, just to start.

So this book, as a crazy cat lady and a crazy knitter, should have been right up my alley. And maybe I’m missing the point. All of the reviews on Amazon seem to hint that the book was done tongue in cheek. (But I missed that, as a general rule the text of a knitting book doesn’t matter to me. I want attractive pictures and well written patterns.) What I saw instead were beautiful time consuming projects for animals that really can’t appreciate the time and effort. I’m not going to deny that I’ve knit for my cats before – toys that I know will be destroyed, and a beret done purely for my own amusement – but I can’t imagine the hours I’d spend on a bean bag for them to sleep on, only to see the little beasts destroy it the next time they decide to sharpen their claws. There were some beautiful collars and clothes for dogs – almost all of the dogs I know do things like chew on rocks and destroy indestructible toys – so while I’m sure that there’s a market for this sort of book, it’s not me. I will say however that the pattern for the balaclava for pugs had me laughing so hard that I have indeed recommended this to several knitting friends (one even has a pug).

Dogs and Goddesses (Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stewart, and Lani Diane Rich)

2009-04-02T17:16:00.002-04:00

If you were to ask me the genre of fiction I’m least likely to read, I’d probably respond with romance. Most of my life I’ve been a bigger fan of mysteries and science fiction or fantasy than I ever have of anything where the plot focuses on the girl getting the guy. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with romances, it just isn’t my traditional cup of tea. So I personally find it very surprising how much I love Jennifer Crusie’s writing – she is like comfort food to me. At the peak of my most stressed, I’ll check out one of my two favorite audio books by her (Bet Me or Manhunting), and use it to relax during a commute. I like how she writes banter and snark between adults (and that her women have brains, and usually don’t want kids), and I like that the happily ever after you might predict isn’t always what she comes up with.

I’ve read one other collaboration that Crusie has done, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes (about three sisters who are witches) and liked how each author took a character and wrote their tale, while still collaborating on the over arching plot. How this collaboration occurs, and still has a well put together plotline is fascinating to me. The same happens here, only in this case, a Mesopotamian goddess is Googled back into existence in suburban Ohio. Three women discover that they’re descendants of demi-goddesses. All hell breaks loose. Crazy sex is had. Dogs begin to talk. Pastries are baked. Right up my alley for a weekend of decompressing.

One of my favorite parts of Good Omens (Gaiman/Pratchett) is that I’m familiar enough with both authors that I know who wrote what. (Good Omens being one of my favorite books in the entire world…) I’m not quite to that point yet with Crusie and her collaborators (what, with she being the only romance writer I really read) but I think if she does one more (fingers crossed) I’ll have it down.

The Stolen Child (Keith Donohue)

2009-04-01T23:01:00.006-04:00

Something that outsiders should know about Pittsburgh is that we cling tightly to “local kid done good.” Anyone who grew up anywhere close to this region (or spent any significant time here) and has gone on to some level of acclaim is embraced warmly for the duration. (Except for Sienna Miller. You don’t want to get me started there.) From Gene Kelly to Christina Aguilera, from Michael Keaton to Michael Chabon, not to mention any of the professional athletes who continue to make this city their home, we revel in their successes. So I fully admit that part of the reason I picked up The Stolen Child was because of the review in the local paper of Donohue’s newer book (Angels of Destruction), and the recognition that he was a local who had graduated from Duquesne. (The other part of the reason was because the wait list for his new novel was too long at the library, so I went backwards in his collection.)

It was only after I finished this book that I started to suspect that it was set in Western PA, with incredibly subtle references to our strong German ancestries and our rivers. Apparently the second book continues with this trend as well. I really like that Donohue has allowed his knowledge of the region to seep through his writing – for those of us with strong affection for the region, it is comforting to know that others feel similarly.

The Stolen Child is the story of a changeling and his struggles through growing into adulthood during a stolen time, in contrast with the human child who has been forced into a harsh new world of endless childhood. I liked how the two tales were interwoven, how the two boys almost, but not quite, crossed paths as they grew older – which of course came to a head in the conclusion. What I didn’t like was that Donohue likes to take four chapters to tell a segment that could have been told in two (chapters alternate between the characters). For a first novel, he did a great job, but looking at it in a meta-analysis you can see how he had an outline laid out, and refused to deviate. I totally understand that, I have very similar characteristics – not everyone can be (or should be) as brief as Hemingway.

Book link on Amazon

Mermaids in the Basement (Michael Lee West)

2009-03-01T15:38:00.005-05:00

One of the ways that I pick books out is by browsing the trade paperback tables at bookstores. What I recently discovered, to my delight, is that the Borders website provides the ability to browse by book cover, and their corporate website appears to match their featured books on the display tables. Since I am the type of person who is often attracted to a book visually, and almost never has a piece of paper to write down book titles, this is fantastic – I can just scroll through the covers until I find the one that originally piqued my interest at the store.

(As an aside, I’m on a book buying diet this year. Between my husband and me, we have six large bookcases bursting with books. All attempts to institute a “one in one out” rule have failed, so I am making it a goal to almost exclusively patronize the public library this year. So needing to remember titles – or covers - is key when I get home and sit down to request a title from the library.)

The cover of Mermaids in the Basement attracted my attention in that it has followed along with the trend to include female body parts on the cover – something my husband comments on fairly regularly. Sometimes it’s just legs, sometimes feet, sometimes a reclining torso, and in this case, a headless woman on a swing. (I understand why these women never have heads – so that the reader can decide what the characters look like for themselves. It doesn’t make it any less creepy.) Regardless, I was intrigued by the plot synopsis enough to look into checking it out, especially since it was favorably compared to a Fannie Flagg.

Some reviewers have talked about how this book is the tale of a daughter and her relationship with her father. That’s only partially true. The main point that this book brought forward for me was that normal families are normal in the same boring way, but dysfunction is different in every family, especially ones from the American south. The main character is grieving, both for her mother and her relationship, and returns to the family home to find herself and her history. Mysteries and secrets from her childhood are unveiled bit by bit, like pieces of a puzzle, which had the potential to be really interesting. However, each chapter is told from a different character's point of view, which was distracting to me as the female characters didn’t have enough of a distinct “voice” to easily determine who was who. I enjoyed the "mystery" and the resolution, but won't seek out the other books that have tangentially related characters.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows)

2009-03-01T14:42:00.011-05:00

I have never been what I call a “bandwagon jumper.” Things that have broad, mass, popular appeal have almost always repelled me, for as long as I can remember. Back in the day my friends thought that I was weird because I didn’t have a favorite New Kid, the 30 seconds of Titanic that I’ve seen were work related, the only episode of Seinfeld that I enjoyed was because of Roger McDowell, and until Fight Club, I really struggled to see the appeal of Brad Pitt.

This flaw in my personality could have caused me to miss out on what I consider to be the best book I’ve read so far this year. There are only two bad things that I’ll say about this book – the first is that it was too short, it ended far too quickly. The second is that the title was a little too twee for my taste. While eventually appropriate to the plot, it rang a little too Ya-Ya Sisterhood for me (another bandwagon I never jumped on) and had it not been for my friends Alison and Alice (both of whom have great taste in books) I would have mentally lumped it into the same pot as Ya-Ya and never thought twice about it.

A young single female author, through a stroke of fate, begins correspondence with first one, and then almost all of the members of a book club on the Guernsey Islands. Told entirely through correspondence, Juliet becomes fascinated with the lives of the club members and their tales of the Nazi occupation of their island. I’ve said before that I’m not generally a fan of historical fiction, but this was an incredibly touching and heartwarming story of how strong people can be in the face of adversity. I blew through it in a weekend, and am glad I did. If you’re looking for a quick read that will leave you feeling better about the world after you finish, this could be it.

Book link on Amazon

Revelations (Melissa De La Cruz)

2009-03-01T09:36:00.005-05:00

Revelations is the third novel in the YA "Blue Bloods" series. The premise behind this series is that vampires roam among us - the elite blue bloods of (mostly NYC) society are in fact immortal vampires - their wealth, beauty and privilege is a special kind of "good breeding."

The first book (Blue Bloods) introduced the concept through the eyes of Schuyler, an outcast in both the human and vampire cliques at her swank private school. A mystery is introduced, and I really enjoyed learning about this version of the vampire mythos as Schuyler did. Fortunately for me, the second book (Masquerade) was already available so I jumped in and enjoyed the good plot and character development, and it moved things along nicely.

I then had to wait for a year for the third book (which I had mistakenly interpreted to be the final book in the series). I don't know if it was that I had gone into this third book expecting closure or not, but I ended up just angry at the end of it. While it was suspenseful and offered new exotic locations, no questions were answered, and it just offered more questions. (And to make two comparisons, one of the reasons we quit watching Lost was their habit of more questions, no answers. And at times, the descriptions of the lush and lavish lifestyle put me in mind of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.) At the end of this book, I felt the same way I did after the sixth Harry Potter book - that it wasn't really enough of a book in it's own right, but rather a way to 1) keep the fans content and 2) move the plot along to the next book in the series. The fourth book, (The Van Alen Legacy) comes out in October of this fall, and I have already looked to see if the library has a copy on order. I'd consider this one a blip of inconsistency in the series, and hope that the fourth is as good as the first two.

Knit Two (Kate Jacobs)

2009-03-01T09:00:00.004-05:00

A few years ago I was on a business trip, and as is my habit, I stopped into the bookstore at the Pittsburgh Airport. As bookstores go, it's not what I would consider remarkable, but as airport bookstores go, it's fantastic. Up to that point I'd been avoiding the "fiber arts fiction" genre, but I sucummed and picked up "Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs, figuring it would be nice easy plane reading. By the time I finished it I was a hot sobbing mess, because I'd become so involved with the characters and their story. I'm sure the guy in the business suit next to me thought "what did I do to deserve this basket case in the seat next to me?"

So when I saw the sequel "Knit Two" had come out in paperback, I was pretty excited to be able to continue on with the stories of these women (and men and children). Five years have passed in their lives since the last book - children are older, relationships have changed, and each of the women seems to "know themselves" better - but they're still struggling to get their lives together. I thought that it dragged on in parts, but like the closure offered and how it wrapped everyone's lives up in a neat little bow. I wish I could say that the writing had me as invested as the first time, but no tears came when I finished this. For those of us who loved the first in the series, I'd recommend this if only for the closure, but for those who were ambivalent about the first, the second isn't worth your time.

Two more "YA" novels

2009-01-27T01:04:00.006-05:00

I have a friend, Alison, who is an amazing school librarian in Texas, and who is also an incredibly prolific reader. I trust her judgement when it comes to book recommendations, so when she made a list of her top thirteen books of 2008, I ended up picking three of them to read myself. I already have talked about Thirteen Reasons Why, but here are the other two:

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce - is a retelling of the Rumplestiltskin tale set in England at the start of the industrial revolution. Features very strong and well written female characters, and just enough malevolence to keep me intrigued. I thought it ran a little too long (I caved to my horrible habit of reading the last chapter midway through the book, which is a general sign of me getting bored), and often reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode, but in an enjoyable way.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig - two tales combine as one, when an American researcher goes to London to uncover the secret identity of the Pink Carnation - a spy along the lines of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chapters switch back and forth between the researcher's tale and the tale of a young woman's travels and her escapades with the Purple Gentian, another spy. I truly enjoyed the parts with the Pink Carnation, which is odd since I'm usually not a fan of historical fiction. I didn't feel that the "modern" parts of the book were as strong - but maybe I'm just tired of the cliche of the dumpy girl falling for the annoying but dashing man, who over a series grows to see how fantastic she really is. (I'm not saying that happens here, but since their relationship appears to be the connecting thread through the series, that's a prediction.)

I found this in the YA section of the public library, again because the main character is a young woman - but there's a sex scene that I wouldn't feel comfortable letting my tween niece read. (Wholly admitting that I was reading Jackie Collins as a kid, and I turned out ok. This is vanilla and tame. Just surprising.) The banter between the spies was quite well written (not quite Joss Whedon or Aaron Sorkin banter, perhaps early Moonlighting banter) and I admit that it's a comfort knowing that there's already an entire series of these out there, when I'm ready for more. There aren't really enough strong young women in a historical context books out there (though it's not like I've been actively seeking them out).

Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher)

2009-01-26T22:40:00.008-05:00

The main character in this YA novel, Clay, receives a mysterious package containing a collection of cassettes tapes, a chain letter of sorts from a classmate who has recently committed suicide. Clay is the last of 13 people to receive the tapes, each side of the tapes recounting a tale in Hannah's past, the moments of her life that she considers the contributing factors into her decision to end her life. The book encompasses one night, when Clay listens to all of the tapes from start to finish, walking through the landmarks of the tales, listening to Hannah tell her story.

This was gut wrenching in parts, and incredibly well written (another example of a story only being YA because of the characters ages) and despite the angst, had an uplifting ending. I would recommend it to pretty much any parent of teens.

I fully admit that I identified deeply with Hannah. Thinking back at my teen years, I was a child full of angst and drama and self hatred, some self inflicted, some the result of relationships with others. I understand all too well her decisions, only the difference that I had was that my Clay stepped in and saved me before I got to Hannah's point. As an adult I truly appreciate the ending - knowing with the hindsight that adulthood brings that HS is only four years and once you leave that behind, you don't have to open your hearts to those people ever again. I finished this in less than 24 hours, because I didn't want to put it down.

The Book of Lost Things (John Connolly)

2009-01-26T21:43:00.006-05:00

This book came highly recommended to me by my dear friends Amy and Elise, and was supposed to be the second book of our "book club." (The extent of our book club discussion, over a game of Trivial Pursuit - "So how about that deer girl - how creepy was she?" "Yeah, that whole Huntress was really intense!" "You didn't really just answer that Woodstock was Snoopy's best friend for a piece of pink pie, did you?")

I get teased at work for using Venn diagrams to describe things a lot. I make the perhaps foolish assumption that since I work with a lot of PhD chemists and scientists, that Venn diagrams are going to be right up their alley. Apparently I am in the minority among my love for this descriptive technique, (I spend as much time teaching about Venn diagrams as I do making the actual description), but that doesn't stop me. (Minority meaning that there are less than 500 of us who subscribe to the bloglines for the great Venn diagram blog - Indexed.)

So if I could draw you a Venn diagram this book would be the intersection of Neil Gaiman with CS Lewis and Lewis Carroll. And I mean that with the utmost praise - Gaiman is one of the authors, not just fantasy authors, but authors period, that I hold in the highest regard.

A young boy, upset with his family and the war surrounding him (England WWII), finds his way into another world. Only there's no white rabbit or a lion voiced by Liam Neeson waiting for him. The boy ventures on a twisted version of "follow the yellow brick road" in order to find his way back to his family and the "real world," and at the end of the tale is a more compassionate and understanding man. In the author notes, Connolly mentions that he knows that this is an adult book that kids will probably read (I would have been blessed to find it as a kid) - but I think there are layers and depth to it. Sure, kids might think it's funny that the main character bumps into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but that the dwarfs are union organizers and that Snow White has a litigious past, well, that's nice satire for his adult audience. I absolutely devoured this book, and loved the over arching theme of the "books talking to you" in both your waking and fantasy lives. For those of us who have books in every room of our homes, I think we understand all too well what it's like to hear a book calling to you.

Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie (Holly Black)

2009-01-26T21:33:00.012-05:00

I admit that I probably read more "YA" literature now than I did when I was actually a young adult. Back then I was as deep into Stephen King as I could be (while Mr. King was prolific, as a voracious reader, he wasn't prolific enough, and John Saul wasn't either), and had made my way through the YA collection at the public library long before I technically should have (I'm sure my mom was thrilled that I moved on to the true crime section.) I stumbled across the first of Holly Black's Faerie Tales Tithe through Amazon's "Customers who have bought this item have also bought" recommendations, after looking into the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray.

I often debate the idea of young adult literature versus adult literature with my husband, who has been known to tease me for reading "pap"(by which he means pulp novels). While I admit that some of the adult novels I read are indeed pap, I don't think that YA writing as a whole can be lumped into a disposable category. In the years since my addiction to Judy Blume, Lois Duncan, Christoper Pike and Julian Thompson, I would say that the line between YA and adult fiction has blurred incredibly. While many of the writers of my youth could get away with broader swipes at character descriptions and a shallower depth of plot, I don't think that's the case anymore. I think now that the only reason a book is YA is because of the age of the characters (though, reading as many supernatural series as I do, apparently age is a relative term. Immortal vampires and faeries seem to have a lot of teenage angst these days.)

To that end, in Valiant, the main character is in high school, therefore this is a YA title. A family disruption (understatement for the sake of spoilers) causes Val to run away from Jersey, ending up in the subways of NYC. She's befriended by a group of homeless teens, one of whom has "the sight" and they show Val another side to the world, a dark side that is less pretty pink fairy princess than it is one of Grimm's tales. Through her own temper, Val ends up tangled deeper and deeper into the fairie world, but to save herself and those she cares about she must find balance between her human life and the fairie one. Much like in Tithe, one thing that Black really has going for is creating sexy, masculine, other worldly love interests. There's some violence, some sex (though while casual, there's definitely consequences that the characters learn from), some shocking animal abuse, and a few characters that were easy for me to hate. But at the culmination of the drama, there's a romantic line that made my heart swoon. Characters from Tithe pop up in cameos, which provides a nice tie between this and the third novel, Ironside.

Book link on Amazon