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.

February

Photo from Death to the Stock Photo

I haven't been stitching. I can't settle on a project. I'm distracted by so many things... The most enjoyable of which is trying to keep up with my three book groups. One meets only three times a year (after winter break, spring break, and fall break) and the other meets only four times this semester. But in January, I had three meetings in two weeks. There was a lot of reading to get done! I'm still reading. I'm six books ahead of schedule for my  Goodreads Challenge.

At the end of this month, I am leaving for safari in Tanzania. I'm going with my mother and aunt. I'm very excited for this trip but there is so much to do! (Which seems odd since you can only bring 66 pounds of gear. Total. Including your camera. For 12 days.)

Because I will be gone the first week of March, I've decided not to do Craft Month this year. I had themes planned for each week and projects chosen for almost every day. I just can't see how to make it work. Best just to go away and enjoy being away.

My lack of stitching induced me to designate Ladybug, Ladybug as my project for February. So far, I've managed about 40 minutes on it. But I'll be back. I'm not giving up this easily.

The Reading Report

Last September, I set out to read ten books before the end of the year. I didn't manage to complete the task, but I did pretty well. The original list:

1. Richard Russo, That Old Cape Magic
2. Richard Russo, Empire Falls
   
3. Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs
4. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
5. Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
6. Janet Evanovich, Finger Lickin' Fifteen
7. Shaffer and Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
8. Reginald Hill, Death's Jest Book
9. Reginald Hill, Good Morning, Midnight
10. Reginald Hill, Death Comes for the Fat Man

In addition to reading the bolded items, I also read Evanovich's Fearless Fourteen and Hill's The Price of Butcher's Meat. (It turns out that I already read Death's Jest Book and Good Morning, Midnight.) The final tally was seven; I'm not willing to beat myself up over that.

Getting a Kindle for Christmas really helped. I was able to bring four books (Guernsey, the two Hills, and Inside of a Dog of which I have read 20%) with me to England and carry them in my purse! So far, there is nothing I don't love about this device. I have a feeling I'll be reading more in 2010!

Reading Update

Part of the reason I've had so much trouble finishing the gifts is that I couldn't put down Empire Falls. Reading that book was on my 1001 list (No. 18: Read the Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction that I have not read). You can see what I thought here.

Reading Update

I know I am supposed to be working my butt off on Christmas presents. Yesterday, I read T is for Trespass. Creepy. I like how Sue Grafton ties social issues into her mysteries without making them Mysteries Tackling Social Issues. Not self-important. Just a really good story. And I love how it's still the 80s in this series.

I've also been meaning to tell you that I read a couple of books just before Thanksgiving. On Tuesday, I read Fearless 14 and on Wednesday, I read Finger-Licking 15. Janet Evanovich's books crack me up. They're a delight.

I think I'm up to four books now. And only three more weeks to read the other six. And finish all my Christmas gifts. But, I will be taking a long plane journey, I may make it yet!

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.

Stitchers Read

Recently someone sent a meme on facebook asking me to answer some questions using the titles of books I had read this year. I have read woefully few. I say I'm still trying to catch my breath after all the reading I did in graduate school, but lets face it, I've had the PhD for seven years now. I think I've recovered.

Vickie over at Reading and Stitching is encouraging us to read more--ten books before the end of the year. Sign up by September 15th and read your books and you could win a gift card to B&N.


The Books:

1. Richard Russo, That Old Cape Magic
2. Richard Russo, Empire Falls
3. Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs
4. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
5. Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
6. Janet Evanovich, Finger Lickin' Fifteen
7. Shaffer and Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
8. Reginald Hill, Death's Jest Book
9. Reginald Hill, Good Morning, Midnight
10. Reginald Hill, Death Comes for the Fat Man

Fortunately, you're not locked in to the books. You know how I am with to-do lists.

Hearts and Bones

I have been stitching a bit lately (since I got the finger turban) but mostly I've been reading. The action's been going on over here. I recently finished a historical mystery novel. Not my usual thing. I'm not going to consult the OED over this, but I am pretty sure calling someone a dumb-ass in the late eighteenth century may be historically inaccurate. And that sort of thing is why I don't normally read historical fiction of any subgenre. However, I read this one and I enjoyed it in the way one enjoys gummi candy.

If you've ever read Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers," this novel will seem familiar. (There's even the obligatory dead caged bird.)

In Hearts and Bones, the midwife-detective, Hannah Trevor, has access to evidence that the men don't. But the best part is the needlework is the most important evidence in solving the crime! Take that Monica Ferris! Margaret Lawrence has thought about embroidery in ways I can respect. At one point someone asks the midwife Hannah if she finds embroidery useless. Hannah defends it by saying when men do useless things it's called art. And the interlocutor responds, "I perceive you do some needlework yourself, Mrs. Trevor. You defend it very well." She does; she's a quilter and the title of the book refers to the quilt pattern she is currently working.

Later, Hannah writes in her diary, "Here I draw out in part the pattern of briar roses from [spoiler prevention: a person's] crewelwork, which I saw on the pocket in Mrs. Emory's room. It is a woman's kind of proof, but proof it is, and no man would think to record it." Okay, okay, it takes Glaspell's short story and beats the dead horse. Still the pattern is kind of cool, and if I didn't have WIPs out the ying I'd stitch it up as a little rememberance of a mystery that really uses needlework as the solution.

Nancy Pearl recommended this book because it is set in Maine. Maybe I just don't know Maine all that well, or 18th century Maine, but I thought this could have been set anywhere where it snows a lot.

Buried

Sorry I haven't updated lately; I am just snowed under at work. And stitching has been overtaken by reading--I started a book at the beach and have been reading instead of stitching on my commute. I managed Janet Evanovich's Twelve Sharp, Sarah Paretsky's Fire Sale, and Sue Grafton's S is for Silence since Saturday.

When I went back to the project I was working on, pictured, I realized I had screwed up and I spent my morning taking out some of the wing.