So Much to Read, So Little Time

Upon the discovery of an amazing discount bookstore (worth the drive to St Catherines!), I find myself with a stack of new books to read. Glancing across my bookshelves, I caught sight of several other titles I hadn't read yet. So, grabbing my trusty pen and pad, I made a list (I *heart* lists) of all the fiction books I've bought, but haven't read yet.

I'm pleased that the list isn't as long as I feared.

Here they are, in no order:

• "The Dragon and the Unicorn" by A.A. Attansio
• "Mistress of Rome" by Kate Quinn
• "The Rosetti Letter" by Christi Phillips
• "The Tsarina's Daughter" by Carolly Erickson
• "Rampant" by Diana Peterfreund

• "The Lady Elizabeth" by Alison Weir
• "Namaah's Kiss" by Jacqueline Carey (I have to read the rest of the series first!)
• "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" by Umberto Eco (I went through an Umberto Eco phase that died out before I read this one)
• "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson (I may never read this one)
• "Quiver" by Holly Luhning

• "The Replacements" by Brenna Yovanoff
• "Sidekicks" by Jack D Ferraiolo
• "Not Suitable for Family Viewing" by Vicki Grant (an autographed copy, from OLA - this also won the Red Maple award for 2011!)
• "Between Two Ends" by David Ward
• "Dawn" by Octavia E Butler

• "Shabanu" and "Haveli" by Suzanne Fisher Staples
• "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
• "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves
• "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells
• "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind

• "Eye of the Dragon" by Stephen King
• "Kushiel's Avatar" by Jacqueline Carey
• "The Good Fairies of New York" by Martin Millar

The conclusion of this list? I have to stop buying books :)
Also, what should I read next?

 

Well Travelled Cat

I am moving, yet again.
I hate packing.

So far, my front hall closet and the majority of my bookcases are packed up in boxes. I wish this was all of my stuff, but alas, I have plenty more. I've already kicked a box full of books so many times that I thought my toe was broken. It wasn't.

As I blog (instead of pack - I'm developing an aversion of cardboard), I'm thinking of all the places I've lived. Or, more specifically, all the places my poor cat Hermes has lived.

He was born in Hamilton.
Moved to live with me in London (in two apartments).
There was a summer or two in Brampton, I'm sure.
Moved with me to Gatineau for a few months.
Back to London.
Back to Ottawa.
Back to Brampton.
Two apartments in Toronto.
And now, Brantford.

This isn't counting the numerous trips to our family cottage for weekends and summer vacations. Or the trips to stay with Aunt Heather and Uncle Mike while I've been away.

It's nice that he's very stoic about the whole situation. True, it's a royal pain in the ass to get him into his carrier, but once he's in there, he's pretty much resigned to his fate. He'll not make a sound as I haul his fat self down to my car, shove him in the back seat, and proceed to drive with him for several hours. Once, on the way to Ottawa, I forgot he was even there until he meowed to remind me!

If only Hamlet were the same ...

201st post ... 6 months later

I am a bad, bad blogger.

So it seems like I haven't actually posted anything since July. Not that nothing has happened. In fact, loads of things have happened! I just forgot to blog about it ;)

I think the most important thing to happen since July 2010 (or in 2010 at all) was the birth of my niece. She's absolutely adorable, and I finally have someone to knit baby things for :) So far, she's been the recipient of 4 pairs of booties, 2 hats, and a sweater. I'm in the process of knitting a baby cape for her too!

The second awesomest thing that happened in 2010 was my trip to Egypt. That was November, and I can't believe that it was 3 months ago. Time certainly flies.

And my big big news for 2011 (so far) is my move to Brantford, where I will start a shiny new job! That's my current stress factor right now. I hate moving.

So, happy 2011 everyone who reads this, and I'll try not to wait 6 more months before I blog again!

200th Post!!!

Using the excuse that I'm a Youth Services Librarian, and that I have to read it for my job, I managed to snag a copy of the Twilight series novella "The Short Second Life of Breen Tanner".

Now, since I'm not a Twi-hard (I only read the books once, which was enough, and I've hated both the movies I've seen), I couldn't remember who Bree Tanner was. Thank goodness for Wikipedia.

So far, I like this book much better than the other four Twilight books. First of all, it's short. Second of all, it's not whiny. Third of all, no Bella or Edward or mopey teenage angsty love triangles. And in spite of what Stepehenie Meyer did to vampires, it's very interesting to read from the vampire's point of view - especially a "newborn" vampire, who doesn't necessarily know what it is to be a vampire.
I'm not bad mouthing the original Twilight books - I found them highly entertaining to read, but not exactly what I would consider great literature. Some of the leaps of plot taken made me wonder if the story would reach the other side, or plummet into the gaping chasm below. Still, it was exactly what I expected from fluff-reading.

Busy Month of May

Wow. I've been neglecting the ol' blog again. I tend to do this from time to time, when my life gets exceedingly busy.

So, let's review, starting with knitting projects. A few posts ago (whoa - way back in February!), I was talking about all the beautiful things I've been knitting. Here's a status update:

1. Simone - flare sleeved cowl sweater
Hmm ... haven't touched this one in months. But I did get a good chunk of it done before getting side tracked. Hopefully I'll finish it this summer!

2. Proposition - entrelac gloves
After various attempts at getting gauge, this project is temporarily frogged. I will work on it again though! I still love it!

3. Lady Eleanor - entrelac stole
Ooo ... I'm *this close* to finishing it. It's huge and unweildy now, so it's tough for me to work on it. But it will be done! And (hopefully) soon!

4. Clapotis - rite of passage
Yeah. Not happening. Not yet, anyway.

5. Patchwork Trio Afghan - for Mom
So I got all the yarn for this one, figured out how to do the squares, gave a bunch of balls to my Mom so she could do her part ... and then my sister gave us some terrific news.

So, what have I been knitting, if all these projects seem to be paused? Well, based on my sister's terrific news, I've been a little bit baby crazy. So 99% of my knitting projects have been baby booties and I have plans for other baby things. Once this is done (and the kid is born), I'll get back to my regularly scheduled knitting.


That's my knitting update. Other than that, I've been seeing a new awesome guy and we've been hanging around together a lot. There's Dee's rapidly approaching wedding, which resulted in a fantastic bachelorette party ... first trip of the year to Wonderland with Corinna ... and a bunch of other great stuff that's been keeping me busy. So yeah. That explains the lack of updates, but I'll try to do better!

Brooding

Alone she sat,
Alone she thought,
Of happier times
She used to know ...

Annual Classic - DONE!

I did it. And I did it early this year.

I've read my classic novel for 2010. This year's selection was "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through The Looking-Glass"

I really enjoyed these two short books, and I was impressed how much of it was actually included in the Disney "Alice In Wonderland". (I suppose that's because the Disney movie was made before everything had to be censored to avoid damaging the fragile minds of children).

Anyway...

I loved the weird Wonderland-logic and all the play on words. I loved the poetry and nonsensical songs, and I loved reading the notes in the back to see how Carroll incorporated snippets from Alice's life into his story. I can only imagine how delighted Alice must have been.

I also discovered a song in "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" that I learned in choir when I was in grade 1 or 2. I could only recall the first verse, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it in the book I was reading!

So, I give the movie ten stars, and the books ten stars (out of five, of course), and highly recommend them both.

And since I finished my classic so early this year (and since I kinda cheated and picked a really short one), maybe I'll read another ... but after I work through my current growing list of fiction!

Next on my list: a book inspired by Wonderland called "The Looking Glass Wars"