So, after a week with an earthquake and a hurricane, what do I have to blog about? My shawl! After hours of casting off...literally, hours...the shawl is finished and blocked and so pretty. Though I wish it was a little bigger. I will try to get Mr. Pointy Sticks to help me take some pictures this evening. Or will do that myself. So...pictures soon.
The hurricane was relatively uneventful though we did lose power last night about 10 p.m. and got it back around 4 p.m. today. A hearty thank you to all the crews out working today. I think the crews on our street were from Indiana...we certainly appreciate their hard work.
I did manage to read Laura Lippman's newest book, The Most Dangerous Thing, today. Very, very good it was, too. So there's a recommendation for you.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Uncertainty And Books
So, here we sit, wondering if we'll be going into work on Monday or not. Things sound a little more hopeful than when I left work this afternoon...at least that there'll be some sort of continuing resolution.
But you know what? I'm happy to be furloughed if, ultimately, Planned Parenthood is funded.
I've added the last twenty books I've read to my book list there on the right. What were the stand-outs in this latest bunch, you ask?
I loved Kate Atkinson's latest Jackson Brodie mystery, Started Early, Took My Dog. You need to have read the earlier Jackson Brodie books, starting with Case Histories, to get the most out of this but that's no problem. They're all good books. In this latest one, Brodie is trying to track down the birth mother of an Australian woman...the book also follows an elderly actress who's having trouble remembering exacly when and where she is, and an ex-police-woman/current mall security chief whose decision to liberate a seemingly neglected child from her mother has quite the series of repercussions. All these threads come together quite satisfyingly by the end of the book.
I also really liked The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier. This is a book made up of a series of interconnected stories of a people dealing with pain and loss at a time when, for an unexplained and unknown reason, wounds -- bruises, illness, sores, cancers -- begin glowing, casting a heavenly light on the wounded. I liked some sections more than others but none of them were dull.
A Red Herring Without Mustard is another fun romp with Flavia de Luce detecting her way through England. Or at least the small town where she lives. Fun!
The Informationist is a gripping thriller...I think I gobbled it up in a day. The main character, a young woman whose specialty is gathering information on developing countries for corporations, accepts a different kind of job...tracking down the missing daughter of a company head. A daughter who has apparently been murdered in Western Africa. The book certainly doesn't make me want to visit Africa, but it's pretty exciting.
Finally, I like Graham Joyce's The Silent Land but I can't say I loved it. One of my friends on Book Balloon said she thought the best thing about it was the cover, which is cool. (Part of the image is printed on the hard cover of the book, the rest of the image is printed on the thin, vellum-like, see-through dust jacket.) I figured out exactly what was going on fairly early on...certainly earlier than the characters, but I thought there was some wonderful imagery...scenes that will stick with me for a while.
And I had a good time reading the two Cynthia Harrod-Eagles mysteries -- Fell Purpose and Body Line -- as I always like a Bill Slider mystery. But I will admit they weren't wonderful. Just satisfying English police procedurals with a bunch of likeable and amusing coppers.
But you know what? I'm happy to be furloughed if, ultimately, Planned Parenthood is funded.
I've added the last twenty books I've read to my book list there on the right. What were the stand-outs in this latest bunch, you ask?
I loved Kate Atkinson's latest Jackson Brodie mystery, Started Early, Took My Dog. You need to have read the earlier Jackson Brodie books, starting with Case Histories, to get the most out of this but that's no problem. They're all good books. In this latest one, Brodie is trying to track down the birth mother of an Australian woman...the book also follows an elderly actress who's having trouble remembering exacly when and where she is, and an ex-police-woman/current mall security chief whose decision to liberate a seemingly neglected child from her mother has quite the series of repercussions. All these threads come together quite satisfyingly by the end of the book.
I also really liked The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier. This is a book made up of a series of interconnected stories of a people dealing with pain and loss at a time when, for an unexplained and unknown reason, wounds -- bruises, illness, sores, cancers -- begin glowing, casting a heavenly light on the wounded. I liked some sections more than others but none of them were dull.
A Red Herring Without Mustard is another fun romp with Flavia de Luce detecting her way through England. Or at least the small town where she lives. Fun!
The Informationist is a gripping thriller...I think I gobbled it up in a day. The main character, a young woman whose specialty is gathering information on developing countries for corporations, accepts a different kind of job...tracking down the missing daughter of a company head. A daughter who has apparently been murdered in Western Africa. The book certainly doesn't make me want to visit Africa, but it's pretty exciting.
Finally, I like Graham Joyce's The Silent Land but I can't say I loved it. One of my friends on Book Balloon said she thought the best thing about it was the cover, which is cool. (Part of the image is printed on the hard cover of the book, the rest of the image is printed on the thin, vellum-like, see-through dust jacket.) I figured out exactly what was going on fairly early on...certainly earlier than the characters, but I thought there was some wonderful imagery...scenes that will stick with me for a while.
And I had a good time reading the two Cynthia Harrod-Eagles mysteries -- Fell Purpose and Body Line -- as I always like a Bill Slider mystery. But I will admit they weren't wonderful. Just satisfying English police procedurals with a bunch of likeable and amusing coppers.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sometimes Boring Is Just The Thing
This has been a quiet weekend and that's just as well as last week was...well, a week from Hell...at work and this coming week will probably be more of the same.
More about that later, perhaps. Or tomorrow.
There were some bright spots in the week...none of them involving work. (And hurrah, my friend and coworker will be back from vacation on Monday! We missed her...and not just because of what was going on at work.)
On Tuesday evening my dad and step-mom had us over for dinner. I was good and didn't eat any of the cheese and crackers and had no dessert. But my, dinner was tasty! Ham loaf and green beans and yummy potatoes. My brother was there too and we had a good time.
And we had a nice time Friday, too. I had to leave work early for a visit with my friendly dermatologist about a spot on my back that I wanted her to look at. She said it was nothing to worry about. So that was good.
Then Mr. Pointy Sticks and I went to Barnes and Noble because we had coupons. I bought him the last of his birthday presents (the latest Donna Leon) and two books for me, one being the new Graham Joyce, The Silent Land. It's an eerie book and a quick read. I picked it up when I got home...just to take a quick look...got sucked into it and finished it up on Saturday. I did figure out what was going on before the characters did but still, it was well done and is the sort of book that I think will linger with me for some time.
Friday evening a friend of Mr. Pointy Sticks took us both out to dinner for Mr. Pointy Stick's birthday. We went to a Persian restaurant over on Joppa Road called the Orchard Market and Cafe. It's in a very unprepossessing strip mall, near a roller skating rink we used to have to take Rachel to for various birthday parties. Inside, though, it's very nice...and man, was the food good! I had a salad for starters...mixed greens with slices of ripe pear and mango, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, and feta cheese in a pomegranate vinaigrette. So good! The saltiness of the cheese and the acidity of the dressing against the sweetness of the fruit...yum! I continued the fruit theme with the Plum Lamb, a stew of lamb and plums and butternut squash, served with basmati rice. I could only eat about half of it and had the rest reheated for lunch on Saturday and you know what? I think it was even better the second day! The flavors had mellowed. The other two main dishes we ordered were beef tongue in stew (bleah) and the special of the evening...a Persian take on paella. And man, that looked wonderful! Huge servings and really good. The desserts were disappointing, though I actually was glad of that because I am trying not to eat too much.
Saturday morning Mr. Pointy Sticks and I left the house relatively early and went to the Smith College booksale. I came home with about four books, I think. There wasn't a lot of stuff of interest. There were lots of knitting patterns, for once, but they were mostly from the '80s...pretty awful. I did bring home two knitting magazines in German for a buck each and an old Oat Couture pattern for a still good-looking cardigan for 50 cents. Did some grocery shopping and headed home again.
Oh, we also did some preliminary stove shopping. That's something else that happened this week. I was broiling swordfish steaks one evening and I opened the oven door to turn them over and heard this odd popping/crackling sort of sound. Looked down and the inside pane of glass in the oven door had shattered. And you know what? Ovens are expensive! I'd like to get another smooth surface one...it needs to be a slide in...white...I guess I'd like the option to do convection. And all that brings the price up (at least for the ones recommended by Consumer Reports) to $1,000 or more! Yikes!
And today we haven't done much. Some cleaning, some reading. (I read Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree, which I thought was pretty good. Not great literature, but a well-done thriller/suspense sort of book.)
I am hoping that if today is boring enough, I'll actually look forward to going into work tomorrow. Fat chance.
More about that later, perhaps. Or tomorrow.
There were some bright spots in the week...none of them involving work. (And hurrah, my friend and coworker will be back from vacation on Monday! We missed her...and not just because of what was going on at work.)
On Tuesday evening my dad and step-mom had us over for dinner. I was good and didn't eat any of the cheese and crackers and had no dessert. But my, dinner was tasty! Ham loaf and green beans and yummy potatoes. My brother was there too and we had a good time.
And we had a nice time Friday, too. I had to leave work early for a visit with my friendly dermatologist about a spot on my back that I wanted her to look at. She said it was nothing to worry about. So that was good.
Then Mr. Pointy Sticks and I went to Barnes and Noble because we had coupons. I bought him the last of his birthday presents (the latest Donna Leon) and two books for me, one being the new Graham Joyce, The Silent Land. It's an eerie book and a quick read. I picked it up when I got home...just to take a quick look...got sucked into it and finished it up on Saturday. I did figure out what was going on before the characters did but still, it was well done and is the sort of book that I think will linger with me for some time.
Friday evening a friend of Mr. Pointy Sticks took us both out to dinner for Mr. Pointy Stick's birthday. We went to a Persian restaurant over on Joppa Road called the Orchard Market and Cafe. It's in a very unprepossessing strip mall, near a roller skating rink we used to have to take Rachel to for various birthday parties. Inside, though, it's very nice...and man, was the food good! I had a salad for starters...mixed greens with slices of ripe pear and mango, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, and feta cheese in a pomegranate vinaigrette. So good! The saltiness of the cheese and the acidity of the dressing against the sweetness of the fruit...yum! I continued the fruit theme with the Plum Lamb, a stew of lamb and plums and butternut squash, served with basmati rice. I could only eat about half of it and had the rest reheated for lunch on Saturday and you know what? I think it was even better the second day! The flavors had mellowed. The other two main dishes we ordered were beef tongue in stew (bleah) and the special of the evening...a Persian take on paella. And man, that looked wonderful! Huge servings and really good. The desserts were disappointing, though I actually was glad of that because I am trying not to eat too much.
Saturday morning Mr. Pointy Sticks and I left the house relatively early and went to the Smith College booksale. I came home with about four books, I think. There wasn't a lot of stuff of interest. There were lots of knitting patterns, for once, but they were mostly from the '80s...pretty awful. I did bring home two knitting magazines in German for a buck each and an old Oat Couture pattern for a still good-looking cardigan for 50 cents. Did some grocery shopping and headed home again.
Oh, we also did some preliminary stove shopping. That's something else that happened this week. I was broiling swordfish steaks one evening and I opened the oven door to turn them over and heard this odd popping/crackling sort of sound. Looked down and the inside pane of glass in the oven door had shattered. And you know what? Ovens are expensive! I'd like to get another smooth surface one...it needs to be a slide in...white...I guess I'd like the option to do convection. And all that brings the price up (at least for the ones recommended by Consumer Reports) to $1,000 or more! Yikes!
And today we haven't done much. Some cleaning, some reading. (I read Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree, which I thought was pretty good. Not great literature, but a well-done thriller/suspense sort of book.)
I am hoping that if today is boring enough, I'll actually look forward to going into work tomorrow. Fat chance.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Haven Kimmel isn't letting me down.
No cousinly scarf knitting at work today. I grabbed the scarf and the yarn this morning but somehow left one of the needles behind. I did discover that I had a pair of 7's and a pair of 9's and a pair of 4's in my bag...but no 6's. Guess that means that I might be able to finish my daughter's socks. (Update: All I have to do is Kitchener the second toe! I should be able to make myself to that tonight.)
There will be some pictures here later, I think. If I didn't have to work, I could picturate my blog all morning. But I do want to put up some pictures of some yummy yarn I got recently.
And perhaps the glowing orange yarn that Mr. Pointy Sticks unearthed yesterday, as promised.
Later - So, here it is, several hours later and the sun is over the yard arm. I think we can indulge in a little glass of yarn. Here....I poured three. This is lovely merino sock yarn from Handspun and Dyed Too on Etsy. Such yummy colors.
And you want to see the yarn that was found last night? (And didn't even know it was lost?) Here you go. I still have no idea what I was planning for this. I guess if I used all ten I could do a sweater for myself. (Heavens knows what the neighbors think when I'm out there on the front porch, shooting weird yarn pictures!)
What's that you say? You'd like one more glass....well, okay.
I must be in a thoroughly orange mood.
Currently Reading
I started The Used World last night and stayed up too late reading. It's a good antidote to the Ann Packer, which gets worse the more I think about it. I mean, I didn't much care for either of the main characters ("I'm Liz. I paint furniture! I'm a terrible mother. Feel my guilt!" "I'm Sarabeth. My mother killed herself. I have affairs with married men! I make lampshades. I'm quirky!") but, even more to the point, you didn't get any sense of why these two liked each other. Or even that they really did.
There will be some pictures here later, I think. If I didn't have to work, I could picturate my blog all morning. But I do want to put up some pictures of some yummy yarn I got recently.
And perhaps the glowing orange yarn that Mr. Pointy Sticks unearthed yesterday, as promised.
Later - So, here it is, several hours later and the sun is over the yard arm. I think we can indulge in a little glass of yarn. Here....I poured three. This is lovely merino sock yarn from Handspun and Dyed Too on Etsy. Such yummy colors.
And you want to see the yarn that was found last night? (And didn't even know it was lost?) Here you go. I still have no idea what I was planning for this. I guess if I used all ten I could do a sweater for myself. (Heavens knows what the neighbors think when I'm out there on the front porch, shooting weird yarn pictures!)
What's that you say? You'd like one more glass....well, okay.
I must be in a thoroughly orange mood.
Currently Reading
I started The Used World last night and stayed up too late reading. It's a good antidote to the Ann Packer, which gets worse the more I think about it. I mean, I didn't much care for either of the main characters ("I'm Liz. I paint furniture! I'm a terrible mother. Feel my guilt!" "I'm Sarabeth. My mother killed herself. I have affairs with married men! I make lampshades. I'm quirky!") but, even more to the point, you didn't get any sense of why these two liked each other. Or even that they really did.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Houston, Perhaps We Have A Problem...
This afternoon Mr. Pointy Sticks was tidying up in our computer-room-slash-office and found a carton of yarn. Oh, not a large carton...but still, a whole box. Six skeins of Handpainted.com yarn in a gorgeous rich orange and two in a pretty orange-ish red. I have no memory of buying them...no idea what I had in mind for them. But there they are. Huh. But they sure are nice. So...1300 yards of orange and about 430 of red. This will require some cogitation.
Maybe tomorrow I'll take a picture of this yarn on our Front Porch of Photography. Then everyone can bask in the orange-y splendor.
Currently Reading
Well, I just finished Ann Packer's Songs Without Words and I gotta say, "Eh." I remember liking The Dive From Claussen's Pier a lot. (I wonder if I still would if I read it today.) Okay, part of the problem might be that I've had a sort of niggley headache all day...but jeez, these characters just think too much. And analyze and fret and then think some more. So, color me disappointed. Of course, you notice I managed to read the entire thing in a day and a half. So I guess it wasn't too awful. But still, all that thinking.
Next off the stack will be, I think Haven Kimmel's The Used World. I've liked all of her books so far, so I have high hopes for this one.
Maybe tomorrow I'll take a picture of this yarn on our Front Porch of Photography. Then everyone can bask in the orange-y splendor.
Currently Reading
Well, I just finished Ann Packer's Songs Without Words and I gotta say, "Eh." I remember liking The Dive From Claussen's Pier a lot. (I wonder if I still would if I read it today.) Okay, part of the problem might be that I've had a sort of niggley headache all day...but jeez, these characters just think too much. And analyze and fret and then think some more. So, color me disappointed. Of course, you notice I managed to read the entire thing in a day and a half. So I guess it wasn't too awful. But still, all that thinking.
Next off the stack will be, I think Haven Kimmel's The Used World. I've liked all of her books so far, so I have high hopes for this one.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Happy Birthday, Black Sheep!
Today was the Black Sheep's (Cockeysville, MD) Grand Opening Sale! I took some pictures of pretty things inside but forgot (duh) to take a picture of the outside of the shop. The place was packed, which I was very happy to see. I want this place to be a roaring success. Not just because I love it and want to have a really nice, close-by yarn store, but because Tracy and Joyce, the owners, are simply delightful and I want them to succeed.
This is a little shot inside one of the two the front front windows. They have these lovely needles with pretty flower ends and each pair rests in its own little vase on the window sill.
Here are baskets of Malabrigo...all they need is a cat to snuggle in them. Well, perhaps not. But I'd like to snuggle in them.
And look, I took a shot of the Wall O'Amity. Look at all those yummy colors. Doesn't it make you want to knit blankets?
Did I come home with anything, you ask? Silly question.
From left to right in the front of the picture.....two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Tuscany. They just looked so nicely autumnal. And four skeins of Mirasol's Hacho in two different colorways to do that two-color feather and fan scarf that everyone in the world seems to be doing. Yummy colors. I fell in love with the more orange-y one and had to come up with some idea for it, because I just had to have it. (This Mirasol line is from Peru and a portion of the sales go to help fund a school in a poor district of Peru. So I can indulge my yarn itch and feel a little glow of helping someone, too.) These skeins are merino wool, with a delightful softness and squoosh. There is another yarn in the line that is 100 percent baby llama. Ai yi yi, is that stuff wonderful! One of the softest yarns I've ever had my mitts on. And the prices aren't bad...these skeins have 137 yards and were $7.95. And, back to the picture, in the back are two more skeins of Kureyon, which I am slowly collecting for a Lizard Ridge.
Many happy returns of the day, Black Sheep!
Currently Reading
I have just finished Borkmann's Point. Pretty good police procedural set in Sweden. I did realize who the murderer was before the reveal, which always makes me feel smart. Now, on to Ann Packer!
This is a little shot inside one of the two the front front windows. They have these lovely needles with pretty flower ends and each pair rests in its own little vase on the window sill.
Here are baskets of Malabrigo...all they need is a cat to snuggle in them. Well, perhaps not. But I'd like to snuggle in them.
And look, I took a shot of the Wall O'Amity. Look at all those yummy colors. Doesn't it make you want to knit blankets?
Did I come home with anything, you ask? Silly question.
From left to right in the front of the picture.....two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Tuscany. They just looked so nicely autumnal. And four skeins of Mirasol's Hacho in two different colorways to do that two-color feather and fan scarf that everyone in the world seems to be doing. Yummy colors. I fell in love with the more orange-y one and had to come up with some idea for it, because I just had to have it. (This Mirasol line is from Peru and a portion of the sales go to help fund a school in a poor district of Peru. So I can indulge my yarn itch and feel a little glow of helping someone, too.) These skeins are merino wool, with a delightful softness and squoosh. There is another yarn in the line that is 100 percent baby llama. Ai yi yi, is that stuff wonderful! One of the softest yarns I've ever had my mitts on. And the prices aren't bad...these skeins have 137 yards and were $7.95. And, back to the picture, in the back are two more skeins of Kureyon, which I am slowly collecting for a Lizard Ridge.
Many happy returns of the day, Black Sheep!
Currently Reading
I have just finished Borkmann's Point. Pretty good police procedural set in Sweden. I did realize who the murderer was before the reveal, which always makes me feel smart. Now, on to Ann Packer!
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