Reading Not Stitching

As I've said I've been reading. This is good news for the sad, sad number of books I've been averaging per year but bad news for the stitching. I haven't taken a stitch since February! This is what I've read so far this year. I've given a star rating out of five. (You will see that sometimes a Pulitzer Prize winner gets the same number of stars as a memoir or mystery. I am judging the books against their type rather than each other.)

January 9 The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family, Josh Hanagarne (****) A memoir by a librarian with Tourette's, a love story to books and libraries. A conversational and funny exploration of how Hanagarne tries to control his Tourette's.

January 11 The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (****) A great many echoes of African American literature haunted my reading of this book. Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, for example, shows up in the movement from place to place signifying historical moments. While Ellison's work is about alienation, Cora seeks to find community because in doing so she will mark her own humanity. (Lots of reviewers compare Cora's stay in the attic to Anne Frank, but y'all Harriet Jacobs (Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl) stayed in an attic for seven years while escaping slavery.) I read this book for a book group, and I liked it much better after I had the chance to talk about it.

January 23 Normal, Warren Ellis (**) I really didn't enjoy this one. I didn't think it was well-written, and I wasn't that interested in it. Sci Fi is not my thing.

January 23 Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing, Barbara Natterson-Horowitz (****) The big thesis of this book, that physicians can learn about human medicine by reading the work of veterinarians could have been handled in a short academic paper. What I found so interesting about this book were the fascinating examples and ties between the human and other animals. If you have a medical or scientific background, you might not enjoy it as much as I did.

January 25 Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko (****) I read this for a book group, and it wasn't clear how it met the theme of the club, but it was a beautifully written exploration of the lives of Native American WWII vets.

February 1 Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (***) I was fascinated, but then again, I'm fascinated by the pictures I get biennially of my colon.

February 9 Touchstone, Laurie R. King (****) I was charmed by Harris Stuyvesant, the lunkish-appearing American detective gallivanting through the country houses of England. Deftly plotted.

February 10 A Long Way Home (***) What a remarkable story. Although there was a lot of repetition, it was utterly compelling.

February 14 Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me? Mindy Kaling (**) Light and fluffy. I haven't really seen Kaling in anything, so I wasn't particularly attached to her as a writer or actress.

February 20 Pretty Little World, Elizabeth LaBan and Melissa DePino (***) Great beach read. I loved the ending, where we find some nice, perhaps philosophical, conclusions. What we gain--and give up--living communally.

February 26 The Bones of Paris, Laurie R. King (***) The sequel to Touchstone, good read. This book was not as well-plotted nor the characters as well-drawn as the first in the series.

March 5 The Book of Speculation, Erika Swyler (****) Um, I meant to read The Department of Speculation but this speculation was really very good. A librarian, a book, a family mystery, and an old house crumbling into the sea. Enjoyable.

March 9 The Zookeeper's Wife, Diane Ackerman (***) This book needed a judicious editor, but the story of the family--which I am sure is the only part that ended up in the movie--was captivating though harrowing. But there was far too many asides...seriously at one point she's talking about one of the friends of the Zabinskis who was an entomologist who gave his bug collection to a museum and I think she names all 30,000 bugs. Individually, with nicknames and dates of birth. It got in the way.

March 18 The Moor's Account, Laila Lalami (****) This books was so imaginative--the historical representation of a slave on an ill-fated expedition in Florida in the 16th century. Marvelous.

April 19 Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates (*****) Beautifully written. How different the world is for people. You may think we are all living in one America, an equal America, some sort of meritocracy, but Coates demonstrates powerfully that we are not.

Started, will not finish
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, Thom Hartmann This was assigned for my work book club, with the theme of sustainability. I had so many objections to this book, as did my group. Anyway, I couldn't finish it in time for the group, and I refuse to finish thereafter.

Started, will finish
Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation, Andrea Wulf I started this on my trip (Kindle edition) but the book expired and I had too many other books to read on deadline (for three book clubs) that I just couldn't get to it. I'll re-borrow it this summer.

EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want by Frances Moore Lappe This was also for the sustainability book group. I felt so bad about hating Last Hours so much, I read a little less critically. Still, this book is much less all-or-nothing than some environmental books about how we should be living our lives. (I'm very close on this one.)

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee. I was listening to this one on audio and there was a horrible skip in it. So I am waiting for a new edition.

The Mothers, Brit Bennett. I couldn't get into this book at first, so I missed the book group meeting. But eventually I grew to be interested in the characters and the gossipy mothers who begin each chapter. Still, I might have to put it aside to read the last book for my sustainability book group.

I am planning a trip to the stitching store this weekend. I am going to buy what I need to stitch the anniversary sampler. I'm hoping that will get me back into stitching.

Yesterday Once More

As I told you, last night was my Books and Brew book club. The book was Darktown, a historical novel about Atlanta hiring its first African American policemen in the late forties. I thought it was really well written and plotted. Even the most racist of the white cops has some humanity. I thought it might be a good jumping off place for talking about systemic racism, but perhaps that's more the kind of conversation you have in grad school rather than a book club in a bar. Worth reading. I hear there's a sequel with the editors. And Jamie Foxx is producing a short series based on the book for TV.

On my rides to and from work, I've been listening to John Waters' Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America. The premise is that he will hitchhike across the country from his home in Baltimore to his condo in San Francisco. But first, he imagines what would be his best case scenario. Even the "good rides" have a twisted bent to them. In the second section, he imagines the worst case scenario, and it's gross and foul and sick and twisted. Obviously not as enjoyable, but it still makes you appreciate his active imagination. I'm in Colorado, so I think there are only one or two more "bad rides" before the third section of the book where he tells us what actually happened on his trip. I can't wait!

Okay, I'm picking my stitching back up now. Back to what passes for normal around here...

Bizzy Bizzy

Friday night was the opening night of the Friend's Book Sale. It's the members-only preview. Since I do membership, I get to play bouncer! (Of course, if you grease my palm--with membership money--I'll let you in.)

Then Saturday, after I ran my errands in the morning, I stopped back from 1-5 to take money and arrange the books. Traffic has been super light*, so the books won't be too picked over for today's $6 per bag book sale--which people apparently think we do for the whole weekend. Jeez, people it's a fundraiser not a cheap books for you celebration. While I was working, I found a few books (and DVDs) that I needed.

So not much stitching.

But one of my morning errands was to pick up Charland's threads at the LNS. And I found a few other things that I needed. What? I had a 20% off coupon!

* I vote that the Friends write to the Vatican and demand they make up our losses!

Books Inside Me

The November 20th NaBloPoMo prompt was "Do you have a book in you? Fact or fiction? Related to your blog, or totally different from it?" I'd have answered it then, but I had more important things to write about.

I was struck by how strange the wording was. The only other time I've heard someone use the phrase "book in you" was when I was graduating from college and my mother told me she believed I had a book in me. This may be one of the most supportive things she has ever said to me. It turns out I did. They called it a dissertation, and it went out in a limited run (two copies, although today you can access it online with the right databases).

But I have had other book ideas. I had a friend tell me that he loved my list for that "25 Random Things about Me" that was going around on Facebook several years ago, and that he would buy notes if I could get a contract to write them. How many Random Things About Me would it take to fill a book? I also thought you might, might, be able to write a novel entirely in lists. I started sketching that one out, but like so many of my great ideas it's still in my head.

For a while there, people were getting contracts to write blog-like essay-filled books. I could do that. And there's the idea for the "Stitcher's Life List" kicking around in me.

So the books might be inside me, but they have a hard time getting out.

Life List

The other day our librarian brought Gwen W. Steege's Knitter's Life List to Old Lady Stitching. You know I love a list, so I started flipping through the book. Just to start, I hate that there is not one big list, but rather several lists, spread out over the book which is divided into chapters like "Bags," "Socks," "Home Dec," and "Kid Knits." Couldn't they have put it in an appendix as one list? Eleven lists just seem so messy. But still, lists!

Each chapter starts with a list that is then illuminated in that chapter. So in "Bags," not only should you try to knit a bag from plastic bags and a dressy beaded bag, but you should teach someone else to knit, and pick a knitting travel adventure that takes you to a continent or country you've never visited. There are also designers to "meet" and techniques to learn "look for stitch patterns that don't stretch and use them for bags or bag straps" and "explore each of the five main types of beaded knitting techniques."

The general categories are designers to meet (and I'm not sure if you need to shake their hands or just have a passing knowledge of who they are and what their designs are like), different styles of knitting to try, different projects to try (there are 16 different types of hats, for instance), different techniques to learn, different places to go (including museums, shops, cities, farms, and mills), books to read (how-tos, novels that feature textiles, children's books, nonfiction), and things to discover (ranging from websites to color experiments to history).

It's a great book, and I've already discovered some books I want to read. There's a little section on Mill Girls, and like most people of French Canadian descent from New England, my ancestors worked in the mills. I've read Loom and Spindle (quite a while ago now) but I never heard of Lyddie (YA book) or some of the other books she lists. I've even decided to try cables. I know, I know, not that hard. But for me they've always seemed like the pinnacle of my knitting career (and remember, it's just a sideline for me).

The biggest thing this book inspires in me, though, is to come up with the stitcher's life list. I'm not sure I could come up with 1001 things to do, and I am sure we're not popular enough to get a publisher. Still, I love a list.

What should be on it?

Another Book Meme

The book that’s been on your shelves the longest. I thought it was Bleak House which I acquired freshman year in college but it's Ivanhoe which I acquired freshman year in high school. More years than I care to remember...
A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time). I'll have to say Gravity's Rainbow which reminds me of an old boyfriend. I think when you've been married as long as we have, it's polite to pretend not to remember very much about that kind of thing. 
A book you acquired in some interesting way: This isn't that interesting, but when I wrote book jackets at Columbia University Press, I went to the ABA (the American Booksellers Association) meeting. They give away free books and so I acquired The Kitchen God's Wife. The book has a special binding because it was an ABA freebie. I lent it to a friend who lived in San Francisco. She took it to an Amy Tan reading and had her sign it. Tan got all suspicious and asked her how she had gotten that copy. Anyway, the book "returns to me with good wishes from Lauren" and Amy Tan. So that's kind of cool. 
The book that’s been with you to the most places. A lot of my books flew cross country for grad school and then rode back to the east coast. One of them (that I can remember) also came on vacation with me: White Noise went on a cruise through the Panama Canal.
The most recent addition to your shelves.
Boring, the AP Style Guide.
Your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next.
Current: Inside of a Dog
Last: Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt. I racked up debt at the library because I was trying to get myself through this book. The parts about the heat wave were fascinating; politics not so much. Read it when it was blazing hot this summer.
Next: Wickett's Remedy by Myla Goldberg. I loved Bee Season. Wickett's Remedy has been sitting on the shelf since last year's library book sale.

Thirty Days of the Book

I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to do book memes on Sundays during NaBloPoMo because they make me seem so cranky.  I had thought I responded to book memes every November, but that turns out to have been my participation in the March NaBloPoMo—the one with the theme of lists. It’s funny to go back to my other Novembers and see pretty much the same frenzy (Christmas gifts, cards, holidays, oh my!) and the same occasional malaise for having to blog every day. So here we go, let’s suffer through the last book meme of November.


Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!) I always look for new Mary Russell novels from Laurie King.
Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. But I don’t know if people were talking about it or not.
Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months I haven’t read as many as I would have liked. I enjoyed Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I think I’m really going to have enjoyed March when I finish that one too.
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever Here’s why I don’t like this question: I think that books have to find us at the right time. Sometimes you read a book and it’s the right time and you like it; sometimes it’s the wrong time and you hate it.
Day 05 – A book or series you hate Invisible Man, but only because I was asked to read it so many times. I started out liking it but it got tedious.
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time How is this different than Day 04? Okay, let’s say my favorite series is the Mary Russell books by Laurie King, I’ll say Justice Hall, but I’m a bit behind on this series.
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise “Reader, I married him.” I hate when everyone ends up married. Oh so happy.
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once The dude is helping me with this and he’s being silly. He’d probably offend half of you with his sarcasm. Neither of us thinks there is a book that everybody has to read. That’s why they wouldn’t let us be English professors.
Day 09 – Best scene ever I don’t tend to think in pictures when I read, so this is hard. I would say that I love Elizabeth’s refusal of Mr. Darcy but only because I’ve seen it performed.
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving I’m not sure I can come up with a second one so I’m sticking with Ivanhoe. No, that’s no fun. How about Bleak House? It’s big and fat and “bleak” is in the title. But it’s a page turner…eventually.
Day 11 – A book that disappointed you Surfacing, Margaret Atwood but maybe I just didn't get it?
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times I don’t think I have ever read a book that many times—there are just too many books that need reading! Sula, I may have read that many times; it's short.
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!) I really like Amelia Bedelia. My current favorite children’s books are pretty much anything by Mo Willems. I discovered his books while looking for gifts for my nieces (unlike many adults, I always read the children’s book before buying it to make sure the story is tolerable and matches the illustrations). I bought Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, but I didn’t realize how Knuffle Bunny was the story of Lala’s life. A runner-up in the story matching the illustrations is The Adventures of Taxi Dog. Buy it for all your friends who rescue animals.

Day 14 – Favorite character in a book Elizabeth Bennett
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book Whatever I am reading now.
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning 
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.) Self Help by Lorrie Moore.
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book Honestly this is not how I remember books. I remember themes, quotes, ideas. 
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!) Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers because I wrote the book jacket. (Well, I wrote a lot of them but this was the most successful.)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss what kind of books do you think I read? Okay the Princess Bride (from the movie, anyway, “Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. The End.”) The dude argues for Romeo and Juliet, "My lips two blushing pilgrims, ready stand/To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." 
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships) I don’t understand people who say Wuthering Heights. I think I like my sexual relationships without all the passion that makes people hateful, violent, and crazy. According to the dude, when I finish Possession, I’ll say Roland and Maud, and I can certainly see his point.
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships) Kinsey Millhone and Henry Pitts from Sue Grafton's mysteries.
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever Angel Clare in Tess of the D’urbervilles, but you might know someone I’m forgetting
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
”Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack How about five books I am reading?

1. March, Geraldine Brooks
2. At Home, Bill Bryson
3. The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein
4. Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz
5. Possession, AS Byatt

Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending I’m a little annoyed because I just recently finished something and as I closed the book, I said to the dude, “what an awful ending.” Neither of us can remember what it was. I think it was something from the library, but I can’t access my account history.
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)! Filicide: Beloved, Sula, The Bacchae, Sophie’s Choice
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession I can’t remember my first favorite book—that’s over 40 years ago—but my first favorite series was Encyclopedia Brown (as an adult, I think it was Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone series).
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!) I cried when Dumbledore died. Look, I cry when pretty much anyone dies in a book.
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now? I am most actively reading At Home, by Bill Bryson, which is fascinating. I’m in the cellar.

Sunday Book Review

I'm visiting my FIL in Boston. Yes, I know he lives in England. Yes, I know he promised never to come to the United States again. Nevertheless...

I picked this meme up over at Brave Astronaut and CinDC, both of whom had sense enough to break it up.

  

Favorite childhood book? I re-read Understood Betsy several times, though I swear to you it was called Misunderstood Betsy when I was a girl. You can download it free on Amazon.

What are you reading right now? Inside of a Dog, March, Gilead.

What books do you have on request at the library? I recently requested one and promptly forgot about it and can’t tell you what it was. It’s okay—the library’s sent it back.

Bad book habit? I suppose I would have to define a habit as bad, but I don’t.

What do you currently have checked out at the library? Nothing.

Do you have an e-reader? A Kindle; I love it.

Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? I sometimes read several at once. It’s a leftover habit from grad school.

Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? I stitch more, read less.

Least favorite book you read this year (so far?) Knitting Bones.

Favorite book you’ve read this year? I've started quite a few books that I haven't finished. So, of the ones I've finished Lisa Lutz's The Spellmans Strike Again.

How often do you read out of your comfort zone? I do push myself every now and then to read non-fiction.

What is your reading comfort zone? Fiction, mystery

Can you read on the bus or train? Yes

Favorite place to read? On the couch.

What is your policy on book lending? I’m happy to share.

Do you ever dog-ear books? I try not to.

Do you ever write in the margins of your books? I spent a million years in graduate school. Of course I write in books.

Not even with text books? Yes, even with text books.

What is your favorite language to read in? English

If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose? The University of Southern California will tell you I can read in French.

What makes you love a book? I have to fall into it entirely, like I’ve woken up in a new world that I don’t want to leave. I also want to be blown away by the language and surprised by a sentence. (Although, honestly, when you are writing and think, "I love that sentence" you should probably cut it.)

What will inspire you to recommend a book? I almost always hate books other people recommend. I also hate it when people reject a book I’ve recommended, so I’m not a recommender. I used to recommend books to my mother, but she wouldn’t read them until Oprah recommended them. (Seriously. One Christmas I gave her a hardbound copy of Beloved. She didn’t read it until Oprah suggested it about ten years later; and then she went out and bought a new copy.)

Favorite genre? Mystery, I guess.

Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) If I wished to read it, I would. I never read fantasy.

Favorite biography? I don’t think I read biographies. I occasionally read memoirs, and I really enjoyed Give Me the World by Leila Hadley.

Have you ever read a self-help book? Do business books count? I've been reading Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, Harvey Mackay.

Favorite cookbook?  Moosewood Cooks at Home--it's falling apart.

Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? The Happiness Project.

Favorite reading snack? I don’t think I associate a particular snack with reading.

Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. I couldn't come up with an answer to this, so I googled overhyped books. I found a list from Goodreads. I had not realized some of these books were even "hyped" let alone "overhyped." And a lot of them are just popular,  and I'm usually not that interested in those. (How on earth does Ann Coulter make the list? Why wouldn't everyone just assume it was more of the same crap?)

How often do you agree with critics about a book? I don’t usually read the critics.

How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? I think negative reviews make the world go round.

Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? Why would I be intimidated by a book?

Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? Really?

Favorite Poet? Seamus Heaney. We had this poem read at our wedding. And someday I am going to read his translation of Beowulf.

How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? Not enough.

How often have you returned book to the library unread? Regularly.

Favorite fictional character? Elizabeth Bennett: she remained true to her values in the face of societal constraints. She's intelligent, impertinent, and she has the sense to refuse Mr. Collins.

Favorite fictional villain? Aren't we not supposed to like villains? Wickham, because he almost wins me over every time.

Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? The Kindle.

The longest I’ve gone without reading. After my dissertation was accepted, I went into freefall. I never read anything longer than a magazine article for two years.

Name a book that you could/would not finish. I would not finish Bonfire of the Vanities. Such self-indulgence, and really you could only use the word “raconteur” for storyteller? I mean once, okay; twice is annoying. I swore I’d put it down if he used it again, and he did. So I did.

What distracts you easily when you’re reading? Nothing. When my mother used to call me I couldn’t hear her. One day she started turning the hall light off and on (it could be controlled from three switches, so she could stand downstairs and make the light outside my door flicker). That apparently gets my attention.

Favorite film adaptation of a novel? Hands down Bourne Identity. When the movie came out, we picked up the book at my FIL’s house. It was AWFUL. AWFUL. The movie, however, fabulous.

Most disappointing film adaptation? Every adaptation is disappointing in some way. Books aren’t visual (well, the reader is forced into the role), movies are. Read Joyce Carol Oates’s New York Times article, "When Characters on the Page are Made Flesh on the Screen." 

The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time? Not more than $200.

How often do you skim a book before reading it? Never.

What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? Apparently poor word choice.

Do you like to keep your books organized? Our books have always been in alphabetical order. Now they are categorized as well (fiction, non-fiction, reference, poetry, plays, cookbooks, and craft books).

Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? We usually resell or donate books unless only one of us has read them. Also if someone has a strong feeling about rereading a book, we keep it. We err on the side of ownership.

Are there any books you’ve been avoiding? I avoid books that people recommend. This year it’s The Help.

Name a book that made you angry. Misogynies by Joan Smith.

A book you didn’t expect to like but did. Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott. I had to read it in high school. I didn't think I would, but I loved it.

A book that you expected to like but didn’t. Cold Heart by Lynda La Plante.

Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading. Mysteries.

Adrienne's Salon

For the past few days, I've been writing to you in my head, dear reader. I've been avoiding the computer--or pretending to--in order to clean the house--or pretend to--in preparation for the "salon." (I love that; it seems so French and modernist and sophisticated. I like to pretend that I am sophisticated.) I have three posts but I am going to give them to you backwards, most recent first.

Adrienne's visit was a treat. About 13 people gathered in my tiny living room. The range in ages was great as were the geographical locations. Two women drove up from coastal Maryland (three hours) and of course Lee came all the way from Pittsburgh even if she pretended only to come from Philadelphia where she was visiting her mother. Mostly knitters, as you would expect, three cross-stitchers, a seamstress (better than a sewer), and a crocheter. And spinners! One woman spins directly from her rabbit. (I'm easy to impress.) We had a free-ranging discussion.

Adrienne asked me to remind her to take photos. So I took one. The woman in the pink is newly-famous Anj, the steek cutter. (If you took photos, have pity on Adrienne and me: please send.)

Adrienne herself is delightful. If I closed my eyes and squinted my ears, she reminded me of bestpal. They use some of the same phrases and have some of the same stances on things. Maybe we're kind of like planets and our gravity attracts certain kind of um, other planets into our universes. Okay that was a weird simile. But I think you get the idea.

Speaking of the "wrong voice," it was kind of funny to hear Adrienne read because when I read the book, I had a different voice in my head reading it to me. (Neither hers nor mine.) When I went to see Lorrie Moore read A Gate at the Stairs, she talked about having the character's voices in her head but not being able to replicate them when she read so she was always reading in the wrong voice. Yeah, I just compared myself to one of America's great short story writers. Something's gone to my head.

I would like to say that my brownies (a Katharine Hepburn recipe) or lemon bars were a hit, but my cousin's cake (pictured) stole the show. I should do a post on her cakes because she is so talented. She's our family Ace of Cakes. Only much prettier. And you never worry whether she'll make it in time. She's a good scheduler.

Speaking of scheduling...I couldn't hide my crazy for the whole time Adrienne was here, and I'm sorry to say that I actually waved a knife in her face while I was ranting about the casual understanding most people have of RSVPs. People, it's a commitment. You can't cancel the day of for vague reasons. (I probably would be a nicer person if I cut people more slack. But here's a thought, "I'd love to come to your party, but work is hectic this time of year. I'm going to have to say no." And then your host can say, "well, why don't you let me know on Wednesday how things look," if she's willing to be flexible. She gets to decide because she is doing the hard work, not you. Still you should be prepared to miss many a dinner party. "Maybe" simply isn't an option.)

In my defense, the knife was plastic.

Adrienne is a lovely guest who goes with the flow but uses remarkably little water. You should invite her 'round.

Oddest Book Title

According to the press release, the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year is an award conceived as a way to avoid boredom at the annual Frankfurt Book Fair. {via Go Fug Yourself} Frankly, I would have thought strolling the aisles of the world's largest book fair would have its own rewards. Instead, they have to make fun of the stitchers:

“I think what won it for Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes is that, very simply, the title is completely bonkers. On the one hand you have the typically feminine, gentle and wooly world of needlework and on the other, the exciting but incredibly un-wooly world of hyperbolic geometry and negative curvature. In Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes the two worlds collide—in a captivating and quite breathtaking way.

“One hopes that Dr Taimina’s win prompts other enlightened crocheters, knitters and embroiderers to produce similar works, so I look forward to seeing books such as Cross-stitching String Theory and Felting Feats with Phenomenology adorning bookshop shelves in the near future.”

I'm gonna cross-stitch them some string theory, but it ain't gonna be pretty.

Sweater Quest: The Interview

Today's the day! At last, the blog hop stops here. Adrienne Martini answers a few questions about her new book, Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously. "Year in the life" books may be all the rage right now, but this one speaks to us as crafters. Adrienne decided to knit an Alice Starmore Fair Isle sweater. As you know, it took her seven years to knit that beautiful purple sweater. Before she sat down with her Starmore, she needed to learn a thing or two, like knitting with two hands. She took a big bite, and um...I don't think I can go anywhere good with that metaphor. I sat down and read it in a moment, and I loved it.

I loved it because it's about crafting and explores the tangential themes that run through this thing we do. You know how I like that. And it's funny. Take for instance that counting problem I've mentioned before:

Needles in hand, I cast on 357 stitches. I count again--359. No problem. I rip two stitches out. Count again--356. Cast on another--356. Again. Crap. Pull needle out of work and unravel all of it, because my counting mojo is not on my side. Steps must be taken.

Cast on 100 stitches and place marker. Cast on 100 more and place marker. Ditto 100 more. Count stitches--302. Roll eyes up to heavens. Pull needle out of work and unravel.

Cast on 50 stitches and place marker. Count those stitches again to make sure there are still just 50. Cast on 50 more and place marker. Count all of them to make sure the total's still 100. Do this until you reach 350. Count again and get 349.

Mutter impolite words under your breath. Think about taking up different hobby. Skeet shooting's fun, I hear.

The good news is that, like all of us, Adrienne perseveres, knits a gorgeous sweater, and we get to go along for the ride.

Anna van Schurman: As you know, most of my readers come here for the counted cross-stitch. What does your book offer them besides proving that someone who can knit Fair Isle with two hands can't count either?

Adrienne Martini: My hope with Sweater Quest was to talk about not only the compulsion of knitting but of the attraction of craft in general. I cross-stitch as well and know how you can find yourself fixated on a project that you just have to buy, stitch and frame--and that you can't really rest until its done. My cross stitch equivalent of my Mary Tudor sweater is Long Dog's Opus 2. It mocks me right now, since I only have the patterns and haven't found the perfect floss and fabric yet.

AvS: I've heard there are cross-stitch designers who, like Starmore, don't like mere stitchers making changes to their designs. Do you think that crafters have responsibilities to consider the intentions of the designer? This is a hard question for me to formulate because I was trained in English when "the author [was] dead." But as an author yourself, maybe you have some feelings about intention?

AM: I think that any sensible author learns to let the work go; otherwise, you'd spend all of your time explaining, "that's not what I meant!" Anne Rice has done this a few times and gotten herself into ass-deep boiling water. Design is a little different, I think - but I really can't speak from a designer's place since I'm not one. I have enough trouble figuring out what color to paint my walls, much less a canvas. I've gotten off track, haven't I? Crafters have a responsibility to respect what draws them to the design in the first place. For a Starmore sweater, the draw is the color. For Opus 2, the draw is the geometry.

AvS: How scary was it to cut the steeks?

AM: Horrifying. I kept trying to convince other people to cut them - but Anj held firm that I had to be the one to wield the scissors. After that first one, tho, I was a steek-cutting fool. I no longer shudder and whimper when I have to cut my knitting.

AvS: I know you were ill during the retreat, but I'm hoping you still enjoyed it. Tell us a little more about the retreat. I know you had a specific goal in mind (steek cutting assistance) but did you learn anything new or make some friends or meet some blog fans? Do you often get opportunities to be in groups of many women "and one man" and how did it feel?

AM: Other than finding some moral support with steek cutting, I don't know that I had a specific goal in mind. The Retreat offered three classes - I took one on making hand coverings (like mittens and gloves and those weird fingerless mitts) whose formulas I've dug out on more than one occasion. It was a little like summer camp without tents. I made some new friends and can't wait to go back again. Plus, as grown ups, you don't often get the chance to have all mundane responsibilities like cooking and cleaning completely taken care of by professionals for a weekend. It was awesome to focus all of that time on knitting and laughing.

AvS: When are you writing the book about cross-stitch? Okay, that's a selfish way to put it. What plans do you have for the next big projects, in terms of crafting or writing?

AM: Right now, there are two book proposals hopping around different editors' desk. We'll see which one gets reeling in first. And, yes, the publishing industry is a lot like fishing.

Thanks so much, Adrienne! Adrienne's book is available in the usual outlets; here's one.

Books

I've got books on the mind. I just finished Adrienne's (it's real good!) and I'm thinking up questions for her now. Check back for the interview March 31.

My library sends me e-newsletters recommending books; sometimes they're new and sometimes they're not. Some obscure, many I've heard about before. I get the fiction newsletter and the mystery one. This month, in honor of National Craft Month, craft mysteries. I thought you'd be interested. I have severely cut these descriptions because I am sure they are copyrighted by someone.

While My Pretty One Knits, Anne Canadeo

Publisher: Pocket Books
Pub Date: 05/12/2009

Cozy Mystery. Is one small Massachusetts town big enough for two knitting shops? After one shop owner is killed the rival knitting-shop owner Maggie Messina is a suspect. Her friends from her knitting group band together to prove her innocence. This 1st book in a new series is "a charmer" (Publishers Weekly); the 2nd, Knit, Purl, Die, was recently published. For other mysteries that combine knitting and murder: Maggie Sefton's Kelly Flynn series and Sally Goldenbaum's Seaside series.

Keepsake Crimes, Laura Childs

Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: 05/01/2003

Cozy Mystery. Owner of a New Orleans scrapbooking shop, Carmela Bertrand turns amateur sleuth when a murder occurs in the midst of a Mardi Gras parade. She unearths a clue stuck in a scrapbook. This lighthearted and humorous 1st mystery in Laura Child's scrapbooking series, which now numbers seven, is for readers who enjoy reading about New Orleans, food (recipes are included), and scrapbooking.

Thai Die: A Needlecraft Mystery, Monica Ferris

Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: 12/02/2008

Cozy Mystery. If you like cozies with an international flavor (or have ever wondered how to spin yarn directly from an Angora rabbit), pick up Thai Die, the 12th in a series. I've reviewed other books in this series here and here.

Seven Sisters: A Benni Harper Mystery, Earlene Fowler

Publisher: Berkeley Prime Crime
Pub Date: 04/01/2001

Cozy Mystery. California quilter, folk art museum curator, and amateur sleuth, Benni Harper finds herself in the middle of a dangerous family feud. This is the 7th book in this popular series; the 14th, State Fair, is scheduled to hit the shelves in May.

The Lover's Knot: A Someday Quilts Mystery, Clare O'Donohue

Publisher: Plume
Pub Date: 09/30/2008

Cozy Mystery. Nell Fitzgerald goes to see her grandmother, who owns a quilt shop. While there, Nell enjoys the attentions of local handyman, until he is found dead in her grandmother's shop. This is the 1st in a series; the 3rd, Double Cross, is due out later this year.

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Radegunde had expressed an interest in the Piecework magazines that I had, but I had no way of getting back to her. If you are still interested, please e-mail me at annavsxsATgmail. I've decided to sell them for $9 per year plus shipping--which is about $1 less than they are going for on ebay. All reasonable offers accepted.

Swirly Tree

I am glad that so many of you find counting as difficult as I do. There's a fantastic part in Adrienne's book where she is casting on 357 stitches* for the start of her sweater and, it turns out, she can't count either. Do you think it's a craft-related syndrome? Who can come up with a good name for that? Come on, I have over 100 charts to give away.

Speaking of Adrienne's book, we're just over halfway filled up for the book party. Not bad considering that the invitation has only been out there for three days.

Anyhoosey, here's a link to a lovely little chart with a swirly tree. {via Craft Gossip} You know how I love swirls.

Quilting class tonight. I have cut out all my applique pieces and ripped my 1/8" seams, so I am ready to get the background sewn up tonight. Photos soon...

*And what's wrong with me that I remembered it was 357 stitches? I did confirm the number by looking in the book, but I put that number in from memory. I can remember 357 stitches for someone else's project but can't remember to add two rows to a chart I am stitching? And who can come up with a name for that?

I'm Reading!

Back in September, I made a list of books to read and said I was going to finish ten by the end of the year. Well, I've done it! I read a book.

You read that right, one.

Well this is the level of patheticalness that I have reached. At least I've read one, I suppose.

It was Lorrie Moore's new long-awaited novel A Gate at the Stairs. I love Lorrie Moore's short stories; she is one of the most brilliant people writing short stories today. Novel, not so much. It was good. It was much more well written than some of the books on my list are going to be, but I wasn't grabbed by it. About 2/3 of the way through the book--which up until then is about a sort of bland Midwestern college girl--things happen. And they're surprising but they can't carry the hundreds of pages that came before. I am reserving full judgment, however. When I first read Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, I hated it. I think that coming-of-age novels have to grow on me. This one may yet.

Book 'Em

CinDC at Pencil Crossings answered these questions for Library Week, which I missed because I was away at stitching camp. But since I make love to a librarian (ok, library student) I thought I'd answer them too.

How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I take out all kinds of books from my library on a fairly regular basis. I try to always vet craft books instead of buying them and being disappointed. Of course, eleventy years of grad school gets you in the habit of using libraries, public and otherwise.

I remember once at a faculty meeting someone said that amazon had replaced the library as a place to research "the literature" (you know all the books ever written about whatever subject). Much easier, more thorough, and more books at hand, so to speak. But I don't think bookstores, even virtual ones--can replace libraries. First of all, there aren't a lot of bookstores that let you read and return books. There aren't even as many bookstores as there used to be. And fewer bookstores, no matter how behemoth they may be, mean fewer choices.

I don't remember going to the library a lot as a child, but I don't remember having a lot of books either. I did, however, read volumes. I think I relied on the school library, but I'm sure my mother will tell you that she took me to the library. I started going to the public library in high school because my high school's library had ancient out of date books that were guarded by a nun nearly as ancient. In college, I went to the public library on rare occasions. In those days there wasn't a bookstore in the town. Or in any nearby town. And we couldn't order off the internet either. I rarely studied in my school's "modern" library, choosing Haverford's dark and cozy library instead. (Pictured. I remember it as dark because when I wasn't in "the ship," I was in the smoker.)

I think the dude's studies have led me to have a better appreciation for the scope of the library's mission and the way it can/does serve as a community center.

List #23: Book Meme IV

These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users [AVS note: according to someone on the internet; and I can't seem to find this one's origin either. So I don't know if these are still the top 106 unread.] As usual, bold what you have read, italicize what you started but couldn’t finish, and strike through what you couldn’t stand. Add an asterisk* to those you’ve read more than once. Underline those on your to-read list.***********

I think it would be interesting to know which ones people also own but have not read since that is the point of this list. If I don't own it, I shouldn't be responsible for reading it, right? How can we mark that? There's nothing left! I'll use a + at the beginning of the title. But then, a lot of these books are one's we own but have been read by the dude; if he buys and reads them, am I responsible for reading them too?

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
+ Anna Karenina (I read a paragraph but they didn’t ask us to read any more of it, so I didn’t. So it’s not so much that I couldn’t finish as I just didn’t.)
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
+ Life of Pi
+ The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
+ Ulysses
+ Madame Bovary
+ The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice*
Jane Eyre
+ A Tale of Two Cities This was one of the books I took out of the library during my "summer of improvement reading" between high school and college. The only book I actually made it through was Old Man and the Sea. And a couple of chapters about American history.
The Brothers Karamazov
+ Guns, Germs, and Steel
+ War and Peace
+ Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
+ The Iliad
Emma*
The Blind Assassin* (dissertation material)
+ The Kite Runner (My MIL bought this for me. Maybe someday.)
Mrs. Dalloway
+ Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
+ Middlesex
Quicksilver
+ Wicked
+ The Canterbury Tales (Again, they only asked me to read parts.)
+ The Historian
+ A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
+ Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World*
The Fountainhead
+ Foucault’s Pendulum
+ Middlemarch
Frankenstein*
+ The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
+ A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
+ The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
+ The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
+ Oliver Twist (But I read the dude’s dissertation about it…)
+ Gulliver’s Travels
+ The Corrections
Les Misérables
+ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (The dude liked this so maybe I’ll read it.)
+ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (See above.)
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury If it wasn’t this one it was another Faulkner.
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces A boyfriend read this to me, but I always fell asleep. We broke up. I never finished.
+ A Short History of Nearly Everything (It’s not short enough. Still, I have that challenge of completing his oeuvre.)
+ Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (It was unbearable.)
Beloved* (dissertation)
Slaughterhouse-Five
Eats, Shoots and Leaves
The Scarlet Letter*
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
+ Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road* (undergraduate thesis)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
+ Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
+ Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow I want to finish this. I love Pynchon, but it’s so damn long. Though not as long as Against the Day which the dude is reading now. He has a theory about reading Pynchon—just push through and don’t worry that you can’t keep track of what is going on.
The Hobbit (I had this read to me in third or fourth grade and I didn’t really like it.)
+ In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

I can’t believe how many of these books I have never heard of. I’m just going to assume they are on the best seller list now and completely unworthy of my attention. Or, they are science fiction. Or maybe historical novels.

What's curious about this list, all these lists really, is the total randomness of it. I don't own all these books; they're not on my Library Thing. Should I be embarrassed about not reading them?