Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Scarves Across the Borders...and What I'm Reading

Yippee! I am so excited. I was accepted into the International Scarf Exchange for this year. This’ll be my first swap ever and I am already thinking about what sort of goodies to slip into the box when the scarf gets sent off. And those who know me know that if there’s one thing I can churn off the needles, it’s a scarf. Can't wait to get the questionnaire from my matchee and begin to figure out what sort of scarf I'll be knitting.

It’s the Scarf Exchange, in fact, that actually gave me the final push to set up this blog. (So go blame them!)

Tonight, time permitting, I will try to get up a couple more pictures of some other current projects.



I’ve been thinking that this blog could also serve as a sort of reading journal, too. At present, when I finish a book, I simply jot the title, author, and date finished in a notebook. Hardly memorable. I’m not terribly good at writing book reviews, but perhaps this will help me get better. So....

Current Reading

The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney
(2006 Costa Book of the Year Winner)

Set in the Northwest Territories in the winter of 1867, in the isolated settlement of Dove River, the book opens with the murder of Laurent Jammet, a former trapper for the Hudson River Company. His body is discovered by Lucy Ross, and that same night her son, Francis, disappears into the north - thus becoming a suspect in Jammet's murder. Lucy, accompanied by a trapper named Parker and, later, by Donald Moody, an employee of the Hudson River Company, sets out after Francis, determined to clear him of the suspicion of murder.

This is a great book to read in hot, humid summer...you can feel the chill of the wind and the sting of the snow against your cheeks. I think reading it in winter might result in chilblains! The characters are all vividly drawn and interesting, especially Lucy Ross, though some might complain that she has too much of a modern sensibility.

I am really enjoying this one. The one drawback - the chapters are very short, 3 or 4 pages each. This means that, reading this at bedtime, I keep thinking, "Oh, I can read this chapter, it's only two pages. Oh, I'll read this next one...it's only four. Oh, look, three pages...this'll only take a minute." And suddenly it's 12:30 a.m.

Yawn. Wake me up in a bit.

5 comments:

My Five Sons said...

HI Im reading that book too!!!Glad you decided to blogits fun and agreat way to record this as you are going to do with books!!!!
PS Im also signed up with ISE first time for me!!!!

Leah said...

Hi! I like your idea of a reading journal. Just thought I'd add what I happen to be reading at the moment: "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" for the first time. For some reason I'd never read it before. It's delightfully spooky.

See you on the ISE5 blog!

gemma said...

to answer your question, yes of course the world needs more knitting blogs, especially with cats!!!!

Roll on ISE5,
cheers from Australia

Anonymous said...

I am up for chilly books anytime, but particularly in fall, when I just want to revel in the chill after suffering all summer. And while the fact that it's keeping you up at night is a bummer in the harsh light of morning, it's a pretty good recommendation for the book, you know...

Rooie said...

Erica, the book was really good. I'd send it on to you, if you wanted. A friend in CA sent it to me and it would be fun to have it bouncing around the country.