5 posts tagged “books”
I'd planned (in as much as you can call a scribbled note on a whiteboard a plan) to spend my day off in the garden today, getting rid of the last of the weeds, and planting some spring/summer veges. When it came down to it though, I couldn't really be bothered - and besides, the weather is still so unpredictable at the moment, I rather not subject newly plante seedlings to hail and strong winds. So, I'll leave the gardening for my lunch breaks or that extra hour we're supposed to have now that DST is here.
The day was not wasted, however! I got out the book of kids knitting patterns I really should not have bought (though I have learnt I've become a great aunt again since its purchase, so maybe it will come in handy), and got to work. No booties or hats, or little jumpers though. I knit a penguin!
It's a pretty straightforward pattern (and one of a handful of toy patterns in the book I shouldn'thave bought), and despite me knitting it on 2 mm with 4 ply baby wool instead of the suggested 3 mm needles and double knitting yarn, not all that fiddly (the wings, feed and beak are worked separately). It was my first attempt at intarsia (for the white belly), and that went well. Even the sewing up went pretty quickly.
This is an "extra" for an exchange pal (not so secret now) but I do have enough of the black wool left to make another, so there may be another one made eventually.
In other knitting, I've been plodding away at my Somewhat Cowl, just about to start on the post-waist increases (more on Ravelry). And for a sister's birthday, I've completed a scarf (three strands of different fibres/textures in a creamy shade, as in the Purl Scarf from LMKG), and a cotton washcloth. I haven't made any progress on my Endpaper Mitts since last weekend, but there is no pressing need for those!
In non-knitting "news", aside from the surprise arrival of another great-nephew, I've been reading more, sleeping less (despite starting work an hour later), and getting back to planning meals, eating properly, and acknowledging that I've been feeling crap lately and that I have only my bad eating to blame. I'm trying not to visit the wool shop constantly or otherwise spend too much money, which explains the abundance of knitting books and novels I've collected from the library lately (gotta leave the house to break from work, and it's shopping or the library). I'm all geared up to start the gift making endeavour, and have ideas galore.
A few weeks ago (quite possibly more than a few), as I was checking out some knitting book from the library, I spotted a book on the Bestsellers stand at the library. You know, the small collection of books that enough people want now that the library can charge $5 a week for them and a $1 a day overdue charge.
Typically I'm cheap enough to be patient, and will add my name to the list of holds for the regular stack copy of the book, and hand over the $1 reserve fee for the usual free 3 week lending period.
As I can, and frequently do, race through a good book in an evening or two, I do occasionally splurge if something takes my eye. And this is all a long way of saying that The Woman In The Fifth by Douglas Kennedy was such a book. I'd never heard of him before, and I can't really say now what it was about the book that suckered me in (though it was not the hardcover book that usually puts me off), but I handed over my money, and went home to read.
I enjoyed it. It'd suck to have handed over $5 for a book I didn't enjoy! There's enough going on in the book that the inattentive reader would wonder constantly what the hell was going on. Really, even the attentive reader will find them in that position from time to time, as that's what the main character is doing at various points, and never truly does he get an answer.
Having found an author with a unique enough style that it was worth the effort, I reserved a few books penned by him, and patiently waited. So far I've read Temptation, and now have The Job on the ready to serve as an escape from numerous unfinished knitting projects!
Unlike some authors who like to recycle, intentionally or otherwise, locales and plot devices, it seems that Kennedy is taken with exploring the questionable decisions men make, temptation, greed, manipulation and betrayal. The things we do, and later wish he hadn't (sometimes only when our lives begin to spiral out of our control).
I've been doing a lot of reading lately. In a way, it's actually been spurred on by my rediscovery of knitting - popping down to the library to check out knittng books, and scouring the catalogue online for other treasures, I've picked up the odd book there and then. And knitting in the evenings and during my breaks tends to keep my focus away from the television, which doesn't hurt. The quiet solitude that I fall into with my knitting is also a good environment to follow lines in a book.
I've always read quite a lot, but I seem to go through phases where not much is happening on that front. These days I head down to the library very frequently. I still feel a little bad that a book with NZ on spine, branding it as a homegrown work, are much overlooked by me. I do realise that if I avoid them I won't read the good one that will encourage me to read more, but so goes it for now. If you're a NZ author reading this, you might consider asking libraries not to brand your books so - I'm sure I'm not the only one unreasonably biased against you from the outset.
For the most part, I've enjoyed all of the books I've read lately. I was pleasantly suprised by Kate Jacob's The Friday Night Knitting Club (my slight distrust spurred by the knowledge that Julia Roberts will be invovled in the movie), and found that I did smile, nod, and yes, get a little teary at the actions and thoughts of the eclectic little group of women.
Lisa Gardner's Hide was pretty darn good, I thought. I am a bit of a sucker for a thriller with a psychological or criminal twist, and this story of a woman hiding from a past unknown to her has all of that. I will definitely check out other books from this author - and remark that a lot of the more gripping crime novels I've read in the last few years have been written by women, not at all the way it used to be.
The central character in Hide is Annabel Granger, and whenever I read that I struggled to remember why that meant something to me. Was this a actress, another author, a TV character, or a defendant in some criminal law case I should not have forgotten about? Googling the name, I eventually discovered that Annabel was a character in a very different story which I listened to as an audiobook last year. Nothing like hearing a name read to you to make it stitch in your head. I did like that novel (a funny romance about a matchmaker - so different from Lisa Gardner's plot), so found that the library had another novel by the same author, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, that was rather like a spin-off from that initial story, picking up with another character. Sure enough, Natural Born Charmer was just as much fun.
Next off the library shelf was The Honey Wall, which I found a little disappointing. I enjoyed the writing style, and really felt like it could have really sucked me in. But I was left with the impression that it wasn't finished, that the characters hadn't developed enough - almost as if it were a series of excerpts from a completed novel. I'd be interested to see if the author has written anything else, though. Maybe when I've cleared the next six books from my "to read" list.
Right now I'm working my way through (in addition to various knitting books), The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory. I'd be lying if I said that historical novels, particularly those back on a semblance of a true story, are really my thing. I've never read anything by this author before for that reason, but this book was a freebie from HarperCollin's Prime Reads and so with it being delivered to me door, I had no reason not to give it a shot. And you know, I'm actually liking it. I'm about half way through, and Catalina, destined to to be Princess of Wales and Queen of England is now out of mourning for Arthur, and working her way into the sights of young Harry, now his father and namesake King Henry is dead.
I will say that I haven't been reading a lot of it in one sitting, which is my usual fashion, but I'm not sure if that's due to the nature of the book and subject, or if it's just me being tired and otherwise distracted. We'll see!
When you say "animal drawing" to me, the first thought that come to mind is Animal, drawing. Not that I'm aware of the drumming muppet having artisitic talent to match his music ability.
The second and third thoughts are Beatrix Potter, and Hairy Maclary. I do have an old edition of a Beatrix Potter story somewhere, but as it's not on my bookshelf, I'm not sure where that somewhere is. Hairy Maclary, however, is close by.
Show us a drawing of an animal.
I don't think I owned a copy when I was a youngster, but I definitely read it, and had it read to me, like a lot of New Zealand children. This copy was a gift from a flatmate and friend, the Christmas of 2000.
I spent that Christmas alone, but it was a good one. There's nothing like reading the book aloud to cheer you up. The fact that I was accompanied not just by Maddy, but the other "flat cats" I was babysitting, as I read might have helped too.
I've bought quite a few books lately. Given my recent prediliction for audio-books, this has been interesting for me, standing in the bookstore, waiting for inspiration to strike. The variety is, of course, much greater than those for audio-books, and that is half the fun, and frustration.
If you don't like an audio-book, it's much easier to ignore it. You can't see it (unless you care to scroll through the play list on your ipod), and thus, there is no weighty burden sitting on your bookshelf taunting you at every turn. I'm not the only one haunted by unread books, right?
So, it's a bit weird to me that I've chosen to increase the odds of unread books by taking advantage of HarperCollins' Prime Reads offer - where you buy a book from a certain list, and then select a free book from a list with no descriptions. Buy one, get one free, essentially.
Picking a book, sight unseen, when you all know we judge a book by its cover, if unnerving, and fun. Sure, you can go hunting for the book online, but I figure taking a risk is a good thing now and then. Add in the fact that the free book is mailed to you (and who doesn't love a package), it's like Christmas. Except you get to keep the present you bought, too.
I'm certainly reading books by author I've never heard of, or whom I've passed by because, well, the cover was unappealing. And I'm enjoying them.
In fact, the only book guilt I'm currently suffering is due to the fact that I'm taking to reading the free book before the one I carefully selected!
One thing I must say about paper over audio -
it's much easier to pick up where you left off when you fall asleep reading the real paper kind.
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