Ten on Tuesday - The Ten Last Books You Have Read.

I've had a lot more time to read lately. Much of it is devoted to satisfying the demands of Miss M who loves a good story. This one is her current favorite. She brings it with her to preschool regularly so that she can share it with her friends. It's got a surprise ending that has the kids in stitches every time.

I've also been reading a lot for my own enjoyment lately. I usually prefer mysteries and thrillers but I've been branching out a bit lately. It's a direct result of my heavy use of Goodreads. I love that I can keep track of the books I want to read and those I already did. I also like seeing what my friends are reading. It gives me ideas and helps me develop my queue.

Here is a list of some books that I've read recently. I wish I could say that I loved them all. 

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Both of my teen girls read and loved this one. The morning after I finished it they expectantly asked how I liked it and "did I cry?". I did like it but I didn't cry. It's very good but I doubt that it'll stay with me in any lasting way. It was a good story well-told but not unique.
2. The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly - I love Michael Connelly. I've heard him speak and I always enjoy his stories.This is the second Mickey Haller book and it didn't disappoint at all. The characters are well crafted and interesting and the story comes together well. 
3. Criminal by Karin Slaughter - Ms Slaughter is another author I love. I owe all of the enjoyment I've gotten reading her books to the National Book Festival. Ever year I check the list of authors scheduled to appear and often I'll check out someone listed who is new to me before seeing them at the festival. She writes pretty intense thrillers with great characters that develop over the series but here's a little hint - don't get too attached. She really isn't kind to her characters. 
4. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby - Four people go up to the top of a building on New Years Eve to kill themselves and don't. Then they spend the rest of the book annoying each other while they try prevent each other from trying again. I didn't like any of them and I didn't really care if they jumped. 
5. two boys kissing, David Levithan - This was an amazingly affecting book. It was beautiful and lyrical and thought provoking. It tells the story of one day in the lives of  young, gay, men in a way that is hopeful and sad and angry and reverent.  This one will stay with me for a long time.
6. Six Years, Harlan Coben - This author is fairly new to me but I like him. It's about lost love, stuff that doesn't add up and a hero who just can't let go. It was a little implausible in places but it was highly entertaining and sometimes that's all you need.
7. Gone Missing, Linda Castillo - This is one in a series of books set in an Amish community. The Sheriff is former Amish and a woman which sent up a lot of interesting situations and relationships. I can't say how accurate these books are as a representation of the Amish but they feel true and it adds a welcome twist on the genre. 
8. Night Film, Marisha Pessl - I hated this book. A lot. I had heard good things and it sounded like my kind of book. It certainly sounded like a neat concept. Unfortunately it was not an enjoyable or interesting read at all. For me it was a slog and took up precious time that I could've spent reading something much better. 
9. Lost Light, Michael Connelly - No surprise that MC appears twice on my list. His books are always winners for me. 
10. The Woman Upstairs, Claire Messud - This was an odd book. It's about a woman who has sublimated her own desires and now she is living a life that is fine but unexciting. She has a nice job, nice friends, and a nice life but she feels insignificant and wonders what could have been. She gets involved with the family of a student and it changes her. The best way that I can describe my feeling about this book is uncomfortable.  

National Book Festival 2012

This weekend one of my favorite annual events was held in DC - The National Book Festival.  It was a gorgeous, sunny, day which meant that there was nothing at all to keep the crowds away.  It was packed.  It seemed like every tent was standing room only.  I think that this is one of the few times that crowds feel so good.  All these people were here for books.  BOOKS!!!



It was a little different because I had Miss M with me and she really doesn't have a favorite author yet. Well, she does love her Happy Hippo, Angry Duck a lot but Sandra Boynton wasn't there and it wouldn't matter anyway. Miss M doesn't really get books yet and she isn't much in sitting still either. But I do and I really wanted to see Michael Connolly again. Mission accomplished.

 

He was great.He spoke a little and answered a whole bunch of questions. As usual, I thought of what I wanted to ask after he took the last question.  Oh well.

At the end of the day we were exhausted. Seriously! I was out cold by 9 which could be a good thing since the house was filled with about 18 teen girls doing youth group stuff. Thankfully, they were downstairs and I was not. Oh how I love being able to say that... downstairs.

 

National Book Festival - 2011

This past weekend was the National Book Festival and once again, I was there with DQ. We are so devoted to this event that not even the threat of a very rainy day could keep us away. We're not alone in that. The tents were packed - standing room only.

DQ and I attended most of the authors together. One for her, one for me, and one we both wanted to see. Happily, all were really good. Although I was worried at first that there wasn't enough that I wanted to see, I came to realize that you really only need one for each time slot and we had that.

We started with Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked and other books. Here he is with DQ. I've neither seen, nor read, his books but I really enjoyed his talk. He talked about his inspiration and how the book became a play. At one point he even broke into song. How great is that?



My pick was Sarah Vowell. I've enjoyed her pieces on This American Life and I had high hopes. DQ had no familiarity and zero expectations. We both laughed out loud. She was a great speaker, very animated and candid. That candid nature led to one of the most interesting moments. DQ went up during the Q&A period and asked the author (who is part Cherokee and has written about the Trail of Tears before) how she "feels about Andrew Jackson". The answer was "I fucking hate him!". There was more to her answer than that but still, they videotape these presentations and put them on the web. On the Library of Congress site. I wonder how many of these presentations need to be bleeped.

The last author we saw was Laura Lippman. DQ and I are both fans of her books. She was great. Even better, we got through the day without any rain. No Rain At All. It goes without saying that I brought my giant umbrella and DQ wore my boots. Had we not been prepared the heavens would've opened and the National Mall would've become a river.

How was your weekend.

National Book Festival 2010

I wish that all the readers I know could experience the National Book Festival because there really is nothing like it.



I'm sure that there are lot's of book festivals but this one feels so grand because everyone is out on the mall and you can really sense just how many people are there. You feel like you are surrounded by readers and you are.

Where else can you find thousands and thousands of people gathered for no other reason than to hear authors speak? Just speak! These are people of all ages whole LOVE books. Small children, teens and seniors wait on line in the hot sun for hours just to get an autograph from their favorite author. People are bussed in from all over for this and they arrive with annotated schedules so that they don't miss anything.



You can hear cookbook authors like Spike Mendelsohn (of Top Chef) talk about their thoughts on why locally grown ingredients are so important. Or he may answer questions on why one of his restaurants plays hip hop while the other plays more rock. Or he could answer questions on what it's really like to be on Top Chef (long, hard, days) . Or why he isn't wearing his trademark fedora. He's smiling in this picture because DQ just asked exactly that question.



You can hear a hot author (like DQ's favorite, Margaret Peterson Haddix) talk about the inspiration behind some of her books. Why is the plane in her book, Found, filled with babies instead of young children?

You may also be pleasantly surprised to find out how gracious that author is when she stays late to sign books for hundreds of fans and agrees to pictures before and after speaking. DQ was thrilled to get books by Katherine Patterson and Ms Haddix signed.



What I love best about the festival is the stuff you never expected. This is James Ransome, an illustrator of childrens books who I'd never heard of before. I only saw him because we arrived early for Ms. Haddix' presentation to get good seats. He was a really good speaker and he ended by having kids come up and draw numbers on sheets of paper that he turned into figures before signing them and giving them to the kids.



I always look over the list of authors who will appear just as soon as it's posted so that I can prepare for the festival by reading the latest by authors I hope to see. I also check out authors on the list that I'm not familiar with and sometimes read something by one of them too.

That's what inspired me to try reading a few by Karin Slaughter. I've read two of her books so far - Blindsighted and Triptych - and really enjoyed them both. She was a really good speaker who had lot's to say. She made a great argument for why thrlllers are good literature and discussed why she gave one of her heroes a disability that my sweet Stinkerbelle shares. I loved her explanation that she wanted a character with a disability that was not a villain or someone to be pitied. She was also funny and we all had a good laugh when one of her fans expressed her surprise at finding that a writer of such dark books was "a goof".



Oh yes, I also met Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, and found that she's just as lovely in person as she is on her blog. Really, really, lovely.

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Books on Your Summer Reading List

If ever there was a timely list - this is it since I just picked up a few books on my list from the library and I'm ready to dive in since last night I finished reading Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham. It was the second book I read by the author, the first being The Painted Veil which I picked up after reading a review on another blog. I really enjoyed the writing style and the stories in both and I will certainly read more Maugham in the future.

I'm an avid reader and I'm always looking for ideas on new authors and books to read. I keep a little book filled with books that sounded interesting to me and the titles come from all over. Many are found in the People Magazine book reviews but others come from listening to authors on the radio, the NY Times or the blogs. They rarely steer me wrong.

1. 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr - People featured this as one of their "Thrillers For Fall" last October and it sounds very promising. It's set in New Orleans and is centered around a woman who marries a mysterious architect who may have a homicidal past.
2. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny - In the same issue they reviewed this book at length and gave it 3.5 stars. It's set in Quebec in a town the reviewer describes as being "as improbably intrigue-filled as Murder She Wrote's folksier Cabot Cove, Maine." I loved that show.
3. Dexter By Design by Jeff Lindsay - I read the earlier books in this series and I've seen the cleaned up, network broadcast of the show based on them. This is my kind of story. A little twisted and very entertaining but not for the faint of heart.
4. Sophie's Choice by William Styron - this is one that I intend to finish by the end of the summer. I started it a while ago but it's heavy and slow so I put it aside in favor of a mystery that caught my eye. I do that a lot.
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - Another one I started and put aside but I'm even more likely to finish this one.
6. 1776 by David McCullough - A little non-fiction to even things out. I bought this a while ago and I still want to read it. I hope that this summer provides the time to do it.
7 & 8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson - I've heard a lot about these and they sound like something I'd like. I'll give them a try.
9. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - In truth I probably won't get to this until the fall but I'd like to think that I'll read it soon. It's one of those books that I feel like I ought to have read and I think that reading it will make me a bit more well-rounded.
10. Mysteries!!! In all truth this list could go off the rails at the drop of a hat because I am a huge mystery lover. I could easily go into the library to drop off a book and come out with something by Michael Connelly, Lisa Gardner or Linda Fairstein. Did I mention that Carl Hiaasen and Laura Lippman both have new books coming out! And if all that wasn't enough there's a new Stephanie Plum book - Sizzling Sixteen. Like I said, it wouldn't take much for my plans to go off the rails in a really good way.

So what are you reading and, maybe more importantly, where do you get your best suggestions for what to read next?

The 9th Annual National Book Festival

Thanks to one and all for the get well wishes and for indulging my fit of the poor me's. While my family went to services I went to the doctor and once I started my Z-pack I stayed home reading, sleeping and drinking tea through much of the holiday. By the end I was feeling a bit better and enjoyed a much quieter break the fast with my girls and DH. We ate bagels, and played Apples to Apples and chilled out. It wasn't what I planned but it was ok. Now I just need to work through the surplus food that was supposed to feed a crowd. Ugh.



My weekend wasn't a total washout in part due to my stubbornness. On Saturday, before I finally admitted that I was sick, I attended the 9th Annual National Book Festival. Despite the nasty weather it was very well attended. People couldn't resist the opportunity to hear their favorite authors speak and in most cases it was well worth the effort.

Tents filled to capacity and beyond for authors like Jodi Picoult and John Irving. I didn't even stay for the latter because it was raining and there was absoultely no room at all anywhere near the tent. It was ok thought because I wandered into another tent and heard someone else speak.

Although I always go to the book festival with certain authors in mind I try to be open to new authors. You never know who will grab you and my family and I have found a few new favorites that way. One of this year's surprises was Lisa Scottoline. What a fun speaker! I could've listened to her for hours and I will certainly try her books - especially sine they're mysteries which are totally my thing.

One of the funny things about the festival is that, for me, it often turns into a trip down memory lane where I get to revisit old favorites and finally connect with the writers who rocked my world as a kid. Lowis Lowry was one of those authors for me. She was there talking about a new picture book she's written (you can see it in the picture). What a rich life she's led. It was wonderful to hear her speak about her childhood and the things that led her to write.

Another blast from the past was Judy Blume who is an icon to any girl who grew up in the 70's, 80's, 90's etc. Looking around the crowd that gathered to hear her it was amazing to see the diversity. Young and old and all ethnicities. One young African American girl asked if the author knew how much her books meant to girls like her. How her books speak to that population. Ms Blume seemed a little taken aback and said maybe it's because her books just describe basic experiences that all girls have. I think that's right. DQ was disappointed that she didn't get her copy of Here's To You Rachel Robinson signed but the line was just too long. I was just happy to hear her speak.

In our original plan, Stinkerbelle was going to rush from her softball game to the city to see Jeff Kinney speak but the game was rained out and Stinkette felt that staying warm and dry was more important. DQ and I went to hear him speak for her. (OK, we just did it because we got really good seats and didn't want to give them up since JB was following him.)

Whatever our reason for being there, DQ and I really enjoyed hearing him speak. It was refreshing to hear an author speak to a standing room only crowd - some of whom were under umbrellas in the rain - and tell us how amazing this all was for him. He talked about book signings and events only 2 years ago where only one or two people showed up. He just seemed so humble and appreciative. His stories were great too and I'm sure that the kids in the audience got a huge kick out of getting a sneak peak at the artwork for the new Wimpy Kid book that's not even out yet.

Yes, I shouldn't have been out on a cold, wet, day when I was already starting to feel sniffly but it was so worth it. I can't wait 'till next year.

Be a Reader

I took a quiz yesterday and I totally take exception with the result. I am many things (and I'll admit to most of them) but not a book snob... I think. I certainly don't have any illusions about being one of the literati. I'd say that a better description of my reading habits is balanced, by which I mean that I lean heavily towards mysteries but that I try to balance with more enriching reading experiences.

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Book Snob You like to think you're one of the literati, but actually you're just a snob who can read. You read mostly for the social credit you can get out of it.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You?Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Here's a meme I saw on Cursing Mama's blog. It ties in with The Big Read (an event sponsored by the NEA), and a study that found that the average American has only read 6 of the books on the following list.

Here's the chanllenge -
Bold the books you have already read
Italicize the books you intend to read
Notes in parentheses next to note-worthy titles.

1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2) The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
3) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte ( I started it and I'll finish someday)
4) Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
5) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6) The Bible
7) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
8 ) Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
9) His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
10) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
11) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (but I've mostly forgotten it and ought to read it again)
12) Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
13) Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
14) Complete Works of Shakespeare
15) Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
16) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
17) Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
18 ) Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
19) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
20) Middlemarch by George Eliot
21) Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
22) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
23) Bleak House by Charles Dickens
24) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
25) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
26) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
27) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 ) Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
29) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
30) The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
31) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
32) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
33) Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
34) Emma by Jane Austen (I started it but got distracted)
35) Persuasion by Jane Austen
36) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis
37) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
38 ) Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
39) Memories of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
40) Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
41) Animal Farm by George Orwell
42) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
43) One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving
45) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
46) Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
47) Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
48 ) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
49) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
50) Atonement by Ian McEwan
51) Life of Pi by Yann Martel
52) Dune by Frank Herbert
53) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
54) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
55) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
56) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57) A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
58 ) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
59) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
60) Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (In High School)
62) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
63) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
64) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
65) Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
66) On The Road by Jack Kerouac
67) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
68 ) Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
69) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
70) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
71) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
72) Dracula by Bram Stoker
73) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
74) Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson
75) Ulysses by James Joyce
76) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
77) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
78 ) Germinal by Emile Zola
79) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
80) Possession by AS Byatt
81) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
82) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
83) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
84) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
85) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
86) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
87) Charlotte's Web by EB White
88 ) The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
89) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90) The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton
91) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
92) The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93) The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
94) Watership Down by Richard Adams
95) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
96) A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
97) The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 ) Hamlet by William Shakespeare
99) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
100) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

By their standards, I'm not an average reader but that's to be expected since I'm a librarian by trade. However, like many others, I'm wondering at the choices on this list. While most of the inclusions are obvious and valid, some of the omissions are glaring. Where's the Hemingway? What about some Edith Wharton? How can Toni Morrison's Beloved not make the list?

As an avid reader and the parent of 2 book lovers I have to say that lists of books like this are mostly besides the point. What I'm about to say is going to eliminate all credibility I have when I forbid DQ to read what I deem "bodice rippers" but... I think that the value in literature lies mostly with individual readers. I'll grant you that I find her trashy romances and vampire books mostly garbage but it's what she likes. When I was her age my teachers had a very negative view of the Stephen King books that I favored but I read them anyway. The point is that we read regularly.

I do think that reading the classics is valuable but, especially today when so much is electronic and all about instant gratification, reading is a skill that needs regular excercise. It builds vocabulary and connects us with the past and other cultures. Just read something, anything. See what a book snob I am!

By the way, if you're the type of person who takes recommendations from book snobs, here's one. Try Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, a book I read last fall. Set in Mississippi in the 1940's this novel tells a story of racism and rural isolation beautifully through the eyes of a narrator that shifts from one chapter to the next. Laura McAllan is an educated city girl who reluctantly follows her husband to a very rural farm where she tries to raise her daughters in an environment that is totally foreign to her and lacking all the comforts of home. Her husband's brother comes to stay with them while he makes adjustments of his own, having just returned from the war. They both develop relationships with members of the Jackson family, black sharecroppers on their farm that lead all of the characters to tragedy.

It is as absorbing and affecting as it is tragic. It was amazing to me that the author could be as convincing in the chapters told through the voice of Laura as she was in those told through the voice of her husband Henry, and members of the sharecropping family - Florence, Hap and Ronsel. This is the kind of book I love, one that stays with you long after it's over.

2008 National Book Festival

Saturday was rainy and the National Mall was a soggy mess but that didn't stop thousands of folks from turning out to hear their favorite authors at the National Book Festival. Nothing can stop the book lovers! Despite the weather we had a great time. We heard many authors that day and they were all wonderful speakers.

Marc Brown appeared with Judy Sierra. They were supposed to be talking about their new collaboration, Born to Read. They did read it aloud and it was a really cute book but it wasn't the focus of the discussion. You can't put the author of the Arthur books up there and not expect that the kids would want to ask lots of questions about their favorite aardvark.

Some of the speakers really surprised us. Lynda Bird Johnson Robb spoke as part of a panel of writers who contributed to the book Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. She was told about moving into the White House and expecting to find a room filled with antiques that instead contained her furniture from home. She described her quest to find out who'd slept in her room before here and regretting it (among other things, Lincoln's autopsy was done there). It was an unexpected perspective and we were all fascinated.

We were also surprised by Tiki Barber, a former NFL player who writes childrens books now. He stressed the importance of education and family and I'm sure that his presentation had a positive effect on all of us but none as much as a boy named Daniel. This boy asked Tiki to autograph his book before he spoke and got moer than he bargained for. Tiki asked him to read a chapter from the book on stage before he autographed it.

Jon Scieszka wrote The True Story of The Three Little Pigs and other books. He was made us all laugh with stories from Knuckleheads, his newest book. He grew up with 5 brothers and the tales he told made us all wonder how his mother survived them. After hearing him speak, swordfighting will never again have the same meaning for my girls. (6 brothers on a bathroom break)

One of the writers that we really wanted to hear was Warren Brown. He's a cake baker and the author of a new book called Cake Love. He was fascinating and told us all about how he went from being a government lawyer to the owner of 7 successful cake shops. His description of perfecting his cake baking method was fascinating. He attacked it using his legal research skills - identifying books that he liked and then seeing who they listed as references. As a legal reasearcher I just loved that.

The highlight of the day was this lady. This is Katherine Paterson, the author of my favorite book ever - Bridge to Terabithia. She was also part of the panel who contributed to Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. She seemed truly surprised at all of the girls - young and old - who greeted her like a rock star. I love that her books are as well received today as they were when I was young. DQ & I both got our books sighned and we got a picture with her. It was fabulous.

It's totally cliche (especially given the weather that day) but the National Book Festival prooves that even dark clouds have silver linings. This wonderful event was created by Laura Bush so it's future is in doubt now that W is finally going home. I really hope that the Library of Congress keeps it going. I read somewhere that in it's first year only 30,000 people attended but last year the number had swelled to over 120,000. Let's hope that the festival keeps going and the numbers keep growing. We need to celebrate reading more.

Monkey the First and Then Some

This is such an awful picture but you get the idea. I finished the first Monkey sock on Tuesday night and I think I'm hooked. I'll get better pictures when I finish the second sock. For now I'll just say that the colors are definitely me, the yarn feels great and the pattern makes me smile. I'm pretty sure that there will be many Monkey's in my future.

I also finished a book on Tuesday - Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir. This is the book that I read as part of a school assignment with DQ. We both loved it and it was great fun reading the same book and being able to compare notes along the way although someone really needs to tell my daughter that reading isn't a competitive sport. One evening I ran out to do an errand and she hunted high and low for my copy of the book while I was out so that she could see if I was ahead of her. For the record - she finished first.

This book tells the story of Lady Jane Grey from cradle to grave through a shifting first person narrator. I think that the first person perspective is what helps the time come alive . Until I read this book I had a vague idea about the British monarchy and where everyone fit in but this really crystalized it. The book paints a clear and vivid picture of the people involved and the times they lived in. Some of it was really unsavory and I should say that this book would not be appropriate for most 12 year olds. There are parts of it that are quite rough. The impression that we both came away with is that Lady Jane Grey was a really tragic figure - as much a victim of the times in which she lived as those who used her to further their own ambitions.

Can't finish a post on a down note so instead I leave you with a selection of street art that is currently on display in Crystal City, VA. There are a series of 50 airplanes that dot the city in an exhibit they call Crystal City Takes Flight. I was there for a conference for the first part of this week and thought I'd share a few appealing examples with you. Go see them if you get a chance.

Ramdomness on Thursday

Today is Take Your Children to Work Day so I'm writing this while monitoring my girls. Having your kids in the office can make anyone feel a little scattered so here's a somewhat random post.

Take Your Children to Work Day isn't the only thing being celebrated in my office this week. There was Employee Appreciation Day and Earth Day too. Law firm tend to celebrate all these things by feeding you really good food. It really sucks that it's all falling during Passover - when I can't eat any of it. Willpower don't fail me now!

I wouldn't say that I'm over Passover quite yet but I'm getting close. It's not that there is nothing to eat. I've actually had some good lunches like this one yesterday - strawberries and sour cream with a coffee cake cupcake. Yum! I just feel limited and the fact that everything has to come from home - no last minute pizza runs - makes eating more of a planned enterprise. No fun at all.

Making the coffee cake in the form of cupcakes rather than a single pan was Stinkerbelle's idea. She has announced that she wants to go to culinary school and become a pastry chef when she grows up. She apparently feels the need to start proving herself now so no baked goods can leave my kitchen without her touch any more.

I finished another book last night (just 2 days start to finish) and it was really good and sooooo satisfying. I read What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman which got high marks in a review I read. It's a mystery about a woman who turns up claiming to be one of a pair of sisters who disappeared from a Baltimore Shopping Mall 30 years earlier and had long been presumed dead. The story is told from multiple points of view and goes back and forth between the past and the present dropping little tidbits and bombshells along the way. It sound like it ought to be confusing but it flows beautifully and I was so engrossed and enjoying the way the story unfolded that I didn't even want to peek at the ending (as I often do).

Having finished 2 novels is a week amuses me endlessly since I spent a good part of Saturday night with friends discussing how our daughters read too much. Ahhhh irony.

The sock I finished on Monday is this one - one of the pair of Elfine's Socks that I started 2 years ago. I'm beyond pleased to have been able to diagnose the problems preventing me from making progress and solved them. There was more to it than just knitting them one at a time and I'll tell you all about it when I'm finished with them. I'm certain that this will be a pair before I hit the 2 year mark.

Another Sock and a Few Books

Well, I didn't get everything done last night but I did finish the painting and this sock. The picture is kind of lame because I took it in my office this morning. I'll get better shots when I show it as part of a pair. So far, the sock and the yarn are working just fine. The yarn is Elann Sock It To Me 4-ply and it's fine. I'm not in love but it's perfectly nice yarn and I expect that it will wear well. It's just not exciting - not like the Storm Moon yarn I'm using for the Zombie socks. That stuff's got attitude!

The pattern is nice too. It' the Wishbone socks by Nancy Bush. The lace is easy to remember but that doesn't mean that I haven't made an eror or 2. Most errors are just the result of losing track mentally of which row I'm on. Nobody will notice but me so it's all good.

I also finished a book yesterday. After reading a few positive reviews and hearing an interview with the author, I picked up Peony In Love by Lisa See. It's a wonderful book that is unlike anything else I've read. It's told in first person by Peony, a sheltered girl from an important family in ancient China who we meet on the eve of her sixteenth birthday. She is preparing to marry the man chosen for her by her parents when she accidentally meets a handsome stranger at a production of her favorite opera - The Peony Pavilion. She becomes obsessed with this man and with the Peony Pavilion and, like other women before her, dies of lovesickness. She spends the rest of the novel as a ghost - interacting with other spirits and observing those she left behind.

I'm usually a mystery girl so books about ghosts stories are totally outside my comfort zone but I really enjoyed this. The details about the customs and rituals in ancient China are really amazing. The author really makes it come alive. Sometimes, as with the depiction of foot-binding, the presentation may be uncomfortably vivid but it's through these customs that we understand the status of women in that society. Through Peony we see the life she was bred for and the possibilities she never knew existed.

I've also read City of Fire by Robert Ellis which caught my eye last summer when it appeared in People magazine as a "Beach Bag Pick" by Janet Evanovich. I figured that any book recommended by the author of the Stephanie Plum books was worth a try. The heroine of this book, Lena Gamble, is trying to solve a series of gruesome murders. Unlike Ms. Plum, she's got no time for shoe shopping and no parents to make her dinner. She's just a great detective with a little extra baggage - her rock star brother was the victim of an unsolved murder a few years earlier. She is still pretty new in her division when she draws the lead on a horrible murder that turns out to be the work of a serial killer. After one of the subsequent victims turns out to be the best friend of her brother she feels a connection but can't quite put her finger on it. The story takes a few twists and turns before arriving at a suprising and satisfying conclusion. It looks like this will be the first in a series and I'll be watching for it to continue.

What Do You See?

What does this pile look like to you? Yarn. Nah, look closer... I see slippers, lot's of nice warm slippers. This is the bulk of a package that arrived today from KP. The crazy thing is that this is the fastest that I've ever gotten a package from them. If there was a time of year that I would expect a delay it would be now, at the busiest time of year for mail.
I've been reading a lot lately and I was waiting for a spare moment to share some quick reviews. This would be the time since I don't have much else.
Did I ever tell you about my reading list? I have a very small notebook in my bag (one of the many things that causes it to weigh a ton) and every time i read a review of a book that sounds promising I make a note of the title, author, source of the review and type of book. I've also entered lists of the books in series that I enjoy - in proper order - so that I know what the next one to read is. The three books I've read most recently all came from the notebook.
Two of these books are best described as chick lit which is not usually my thing but occasionally, if it's got an interesting plot, I'll pick some up for a lite read. Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon and The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center both fit this description. The former is the perfect illustration of that old saying "be careful what you wish for." Helen has been having an affair with a married man for 4 years and wishing she had him all to herself. Then one day he leaves his wife and shows up on her doorstep. She misses her old life almost immediately and, as she tries to put things right again she winds up befriending Matthew's ex. Naturally things get complicated. This was a fun read even though I found it really implausible. It's hard to imagine this scenario realistically in this Google age.
The second example of chick lit dealt with kind of the opposite issue. Jenny is engaged to Dean but she got pregnant before the wedding. Ooops! It's all ok and she continues wedding and baby prep until Dean goes out one night to clear his head and doesn't come back. This is very lite reading but the characters are fun and the story has a happy ending.
The last book I finished was the strongest of the bunch and it left me thinking hard and wanting to share it. Right as Rain is another great book by George Pelecanos. As with his others, it's set in DC and it's fun to try to figure out the real places that he uses as settings even though he changes the names. Purple Cactus is the (now closed) restaurant Red Sage and Sea DC is really DC Coast. The settings are the only part of DC that's recognizable for me because Pelecanos writes about the ugly side of things.
The story follows PI and former cop Derek Strange as he tries to find out what really happened the night one cop was killed by another. Terry Quinn, the officer who pulled the trigger, was cleared but he left the force anyway and now he wants to help Strange with the investigation. What makes this story intense is the relationships and the constant issue of race. The dead officer was black, the one who shot him is white and Strange is black. The book is similar to the movie Crash and shows that race matters. It even affects those who think they are color blind.
If you do read these (or have read them in the past) I'd love to hear what you thought.

Good books

Have you ever read a book that you enjoy so much that you want to share it with everyone you know? I have read one book lately that I just couldn't put down. I had read reviews of Free Food For Millionaires and I heard an interview with the author, Min Jin Lee but I was still unsure if it would work for me. I needn't have worried. I loved this book!

The story follows Casey Han, a recent Princeton grad, as she tries to find direction in her life. She gets thrown out of her parents house after a physical altercation and flees to her boyfriend's home where she finds him "entertaining" two sorority sisters. This all happens withing the first 50 pages of the book. The next 500 pages follow Casey's efforts to figure out what she really wants in life and love. Casey is Korean as are many of the characters in this book and they all struggle with reconciling their Korean heritage and traditions with their American aspirations.

This book sucks you in with great characters and tight storytelling. Although it focuses on Casey, there are many other figures in this book and we get to know each of them to some extent. They are Americans and Koreans, rich and poor, and none is immune to the kinds of questions that plague Casey.

Free Food for Millionaires was really absorbing and such a nice change of pace from the mysteries that I usually read. I recently enjoyed Purgatory Ridge, by William Kent Krueger and Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. I'm sure that I'll snack on another mystery before diving into another novel.

Tomorrow I think I'll have another finished object to share.

Reading Relationships

This post ought to make my sister really happy because there’s very little knitting (or spinning) content in it. This one is all about the books – and the readers. It’s been a good time in my house for both.

I mentioned recently that DQ had become totally absorbed by the Harry Potter books. Well, she finished number 6 on Saturday night in the wee hours after everyone else had gone to sleep. She read all 6 in less than 3 weeks! Now she’s searching all 6 books for clues to how it all ends and lamenting the fact that number 7 will be released while she’s away at camp. She’s been begging us to promise to send it to her at camp. I am going to get such mileage out of this! I could probably extract all kinds of promises – a clean room, no fighting with her sister, straight A’s… the list is endless.

In the meanwhile, she’s already moved on to other books and finished a 200 page book and is looking for other meaty reads. She doesn’t want to read anything short – unless it’s one of the Fruits Basket graphic novels. I don’t get the attraction to these at all.

Oooops! A gratuitous display of yarn porn - egads! *

Anyway, the newest reader in our house has been busy too. I may have mentioned her learning disabilities on occasion. They deal mostly with reading and related issues so I was really afraid that she’d never be able to enjoy reading. I have no doubt that she'll be able to do it but I want her to love it. Over the holiday last week, something happened that still has me feeling happy.

At the Passover Seder, you are supposed to tell the story of how the Jews left Egypt. In most homes, this translates into reading around the table. Not everyone takes a turn but most do. Last week, Stink-o took a turn for the first time! Actually, she requested a turn and didn’t want to stop. She haltingly read 2 paragraphs aloud. She only stopped because we told her that it was someone else’s turn.

The part that makes it even more amazing is that, through it all, a friend of hers (same age and grade but a really good reader) kept prompting her with the words she had trouble with. I wanted to tell this friend to be quiet and let Stink read but Stink was calm and patient and just soldiered on. I was so proud I could burst.

Ok, enough mommy pride… I’ve been reading too. Last fall I saw Kathy Reichs speak at the National Book Festival. The show Bones is inspired by her books and, since we enjoy the show, we went to hear her speak. She was great, and listening to her inspired me to check out her books. I just finished reading her most recent one, Break No Bones, and I loved it. It’s a mystery set in Charleston, South Carolina that features forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. I was surprised because, aside from the name and occupation, the TV character and the one in the book have very little in common.

At the NBF, Ms. Reichs noted the difference between the 2 characters and explained it as a younger version on TV and an older, worldlier version, in the books. This is true but it’s more than that. They have different family histories and different relationships. On the show she's thirty something (I guess) and has no kids, never been married - in the book she's, um, older and has an estranged husband and a daughter in college. I'm not complaining though, because I really love both versions of the character. They both have their foibles and they are both interesting. I will definitely be returning to the library to find the earlier books in this series.

Um, oh yeah, I've picked up a little knitty reading too. Fitted Knits has some cute stuff in it and all of the dyeing I've been doing lately inspired me to get a copy of The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. I'll tell you how I like it after I have more time to really look at it and absorb it.

*Work has been getting me down lately so I brought this new skein as kind of a talisman to keep my spirits up. That's probably a little weird - isn't it?

Visual Learning

I am a reader and, in general, my first response to the unfamiliar is to go to the library and find a book. Buying an appliance – find a book. Taking a trip – find a book. Parenting issue – find a book. Medical difficulty – find a book. It’s my response to just about everything and, through the years, this has served me well. I learned how to cut my hair (ok, that’s a bad example but it was the 80's), to knit, to do household repairs, and to cook. All of these things were pretty successful.

Lately though, the books have been letting me down. I’ve come across some new-to-me cast-ons and, although I consulted numerous books, I just couldn’t wrap my head around them. Ditto for chained singles or Navajo plying. I just couldn’t figure out how to get it to work for me. I tried and failed miserably. Thankfully, I found some great little tutorials on the web. What would we do without the internet and, more importantly, knitting/spinning blogs?

For spinning techniques I seem to gravitate to The Joy of Handspinning (http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/spin-navajo-ply.shtml). The quick little videos are just what I need. I can read all about the why’s and wherefore’s but, in the end, what I need is for someone to just show it to me and these little video’s do the trick. Granted, I watch them over and over and over again – sometimes as many as 10 times before I try it myself. At some point though, it clicks.

Most recently, it helped me figure out how to Navajo ply. See this, it's the remainder of the Finn as a tiny skein of chained singles. Isn't it cute?

Speaking of reading. I've been reading quite a bit lately. A little over a month ago I mentioned some of the books I'd been reading. In response I got some great suggestions of books to add to my reading list. I wrote them down in a little notebook to carry in my bag so that it would be handy if I found myself at the library. I just finished the first one on my list, Cane River by Lalita Tademy, a suggestion from Carole. I loved this book! The story is a fictionalized version of the author's family history. This story about a family of strong women in Louisiana and their gradual move from slavery to freedom was totally engrossing. I love books that take me away to a different time or place and this one truly did.

I'm actually not the only one who's been reading a lot lately - the Drama Queen has been bitten hard by the Harry Potter bug. We've had these books in the house for years but they've sat, mostly undisturbed, for a long time. Suddenly, about 2 weeks ago, DQ picked one up and now she's on #5. She just won't put them down. Sadly a recent dip in her usually stellar grades reflect her total fixation on Harry Potter and, although hubbo and I have tried to realign her priorities, she is resisting strenuously. Thankfully there is only one more book on our shelves now and the last installment won't be out until the summer - after school ends.

ECF - Icy Mop Edition

Outside, the weather here in Northern Virginia has warmed up considerably and that makes it a lot easier to appreciate a picture like this.

I recently wrote about the stuff I was reading and I was really excited at the response. There were so many great suggestions so I went to the library recently with the list I compiled and picked a few things up. I opened up the first book, Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger, and I was really enjoying it when I started to come across a lot of pages that look just like this one. It makes me so mad to see a book treated like this. The words that they attacked aren't even the really bad ones - you know the ones I mean - the 4 letter ones that make my grandma blush. The words that this person found troublesome were things like "shit" and "damn" and yet they were so offensive as to require total obliteration.

I mentioned it to a colleague asking "What kind of a person would do something like that?" He just looked at me funny because we both know exactly the type of person who would do a thing like that. Let's remember that I live in Virginia and, while most of my friends are left leaning like me, there are an awful lot of conservatives in the Old Dominion where there is a church on every corner. I'm mostly ok with that even if I don't agree with them but I am decidedly not ok with them inflicting their values on me. If the book is so offensive then don't read it. You have the right to put it back on the shelf. Exercise it!

I am enjoying the book anyway. Good call Kristi! I really love books that give you a sense of the place as this one does. I remeber reading the JP Beaumont series of books long ago and feeling like I really knew Seattle. (although clearly I don't) At the time that I was immersed in them I mentioned a particular setting to a colleague who'd lived in Seattle and she said it was exactly as the book said.

Finally, here a little present for a friend. I saw this the other day and I just had to take a picture of it. Ya gotta love anyone with the audacity to drive around with that on their tail anywhere but especially in this reddish state. I just want to know who let this plate thru at the DMV. Not that I'm complaining or anything.