Saturday, January 30, 2010

Oh!-Dessa

My days of knitting and crocheting non-stop are coming to an end but at least it's for a great reason: my parents are coming to visit for the last two weeks of March and there are so many things we'd like to do around here before then.  For now, though, I knit.  A lot.

This week I knitted up another incredibly popular pattern, Odessa

Flat

I used a fantastic yarn by Colinette called Cadenza that I picked up several skeins of in both this shade, Summer Berries, and an beautiful blue called Adonis Blue at Burford Needlecraft on Monday.  It's incredibly soft and knits up wonderfully - plus it has a sweet price tag of only £4.50 (with 15% off while we were there - hooray for surprise sales).

Crown

I loved the pattern, too.  Without using beads, it's delightfully monotonous although I have to say I fell asleep a bit during the decrease rows and had to back up quite a few rows to fix my mistake. 

Side

As much as I love the yarn and the pattern, I'm not really sure how much I like the hat on my head.  It doesn't flatter my chipmunk cheeks at all.  I blame all the butter, cheese and bread I've consumed over the last four months.  Regardless, I've already worn it quite a bit - it's really comfy.  

I'm going to add a new segment to Viking Tea Party in the next couple of days that I hope will be amusing to those on both sides of the pond.  :)



Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Oxford & Owls

I've been here since the end of September and, until Monday, we'd hadn't been to Oxford to see Matt's dad and stepmom.  I also finally got to meet one of my sisters-in-law on that side of the family - the other is in Spain for a year.  After breakfast and a little catching up, Matt's dad dropped us off in town where we wandered around for a little while.  The Ashmolean was closed and Matt wasn't feeling well so we just did a little shopping - we'll save the museum and touristy things for another day.

Ashmolean 

Shopping

We also stopped at The Jericho Cafe where Matt's dad recently ran into Mark Haddon who wrote The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Thom Yorke from Radiohead [not on the same day, of course]). 

CIMG3669

I am so topping my next batch of flapjacks with chocolate ganache.

One of my favorite places was the Blackwell bookshop - three floors full of books.  There's a knit group that meets up there for lunch on Wednesdays, too, so I might tag along with Matt to work one Wednesday soon and check it out. 

Blackwell

I had crocheted this little guy the night before but until we got home he was nameless. 

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I think Blackwell is perfect for a bird with a bookish reputation. 

CIMG3700 

Percy the Owl pattern crocheted with an E hook and random yarn.



Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Colorful Crochet Cure

I have lots of things on my restless needles at the moment but not one finished project in sight.  This need to finish something, I think, makes the restlessness that much worse so I spent some time the other night looking around for something I could work up quickly.  Little did I know the inspiration I was looking for was hanging put in my blogroll in the form of Kate's hooky fingerless mitts.  I dug out the Noro Striped Scarf I knew I was never going to finish (I didn't realize you needed two skeins of each color when I purchased the yarn), frogged it and started a pair of crocheted mitts of my own.  

I didn't photograph it but the flip side of a fabric crocheted through the back loops is really pretty so I had a little trouble deciding which side to use.  In the end I did use the front side, though.

CIMG3723
Noro Silk Garden 255 crocheted with a G hook

I dug through my button box and pulled out three random-yet-vaguely-matching buttons for each mitt, thinking I would decorate the wrists a bit but once I sewed the first and started on the second I decided I liked them colorfully plain. 

CIMG3675

So that was a slight cure for the restlessness - tomorrow I've got a bit more cure to post!



Monday, January 25, 2010

Not For Those With a Weak Disposition

I have a lot of things to post but haven't been able to take photos yet so instead you get this...

STRANGE THINGS MY DAD ATE

WHILE IN CHINA LAST WEEK

Calamari

Let's start simple.  Calamari may not be strange with a capital S but the presentation is kinda gross and I have no idea what that white stuff is it's, um, swimming in.

Calamari & Sea Worms in Gelatin

More calamari.  This time in gelatin with sea worms.  Yuck.

Conch

Conch.  I think this is actually very visually appealing.

Snails

Snails.  No, thanks.

Fried Baby Sea Snakes

This is my favorite - fried baby sea snakes! 

Now I know someone is going to tell me that they either love baby sea snakes or that calamari in gelatin is deeeee-licious....



Thursday, January 21, 2010

Restlessly Seeking Inspiration

I've been feeling creatively restless recently which means I'm not sure when I'll ever finish a project.  Until I can, here are a couple that are unfinished....

Fetching 

Fetching because I thought, after 14,172 projects, is was time for me to hop on the bandwagon.  I've had a skein of Malabrigo Silky Merino in my stash for awhile now and I wanted a pair of short arm warmers.  I've knitted the thumb once but it looked horrible.  Like lots of other people, I have trouble with thumbs.  I haven't quite felt like giving it a second try but I'd better do it soon and cast on the second one or it'll might be a long time before I ever get to wear them.

Orange & Pink 

And a little pink and orange project that I'll reveal when it's finished.  Lots of color, though, right?

I picked up some Rowan Cocoon the other day...

Cocoon 

...and have cast on two different hats but my allergies were so bad that night that I was messing up left and right so I frogged both of them and haven't given them much thought since. 

Nothing really makes me want to knit.  I need inspiration before I watch so many reruns of Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, House, Gilmore Girls, and NCIS that my eyeballs just fall out of my head.

What are you working on these days?



Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Have It Your Way

BK Lunch

Can I have a number one, large, with cheese and everything but onion and tomato with a diet Coke, please?

I was kind of picky when it came to fast food restaurants even when I lived in the states - Wendy's, Burger King and the occasional Taco Bell - but hadn't had any since I moved to Salisbury.  Out of the corner of my eye, I would peer into the windows of Burger King as we walked by, wondering if it would be as different as, say, the Doritos I keep harping on about (odd but edible).  I was afraid to try it - searching for something familiar, only to be disappointed.  Recently, though, I'd started thinking a little more seriously about giving it a try and when we woke up late on Monday and had a huge list of things to do in town, I suggested that we have a BK burger and fries for lunch.

It's pretty much the same except that mayonnaise is a little different here and there was a lot of it so I'll hold the mayo next time.  Ketchup is sweeter, too, but I'm used to that.  It felt really good to eat something that was almost familiar and, strangely, I loved the feel of that universal wax cup in my hand.  I love fountain diet Cokes and missed them since also hadn't had one of those since I got here.  All in all I think it was the best trip to BK ever.  Also, though, the most expensive as the cost converts to about eleven dollars for my meal alone.  Hard to think of BK as a treat but it's not eleven-dollar-once-a- week good, that's for sure.  

After lunch Matt and I walked over to Waterstone's because I wanted to see if they had a copy of Virginia Woolfe's Selected Diaries in stock (they didn't).  As we were browsing I heard an older gentleman at the counter asking about Patrick O'Brian - author of the Master and Commander series and Matt's favorite - which I thought was really funny since we had just had a long conversation about his books over lunch.  I wondered if Matt had heard and, sure enough, when I wandered over that way, there was the gentleman, a bookseller and Matt.  It turns out the man had recently lost his wife and a friend and recommended the series to him as a way to way to occupy his mind and deal with the grief.  I stayed out of the way but as the man walked to the cash register with the first book I heard him exclaim, "How amazing!  That chap knew all about them!"  It was really touching and I hope he's enjoying the book.



Sunday, January 17, 2010

Short, Simple & Generous

I've been wondering whether or not to mention the earthquake in Haiti here.  After a lot of thought, I decided not to for very personal reasons that I won't go into now because this isn't that kind of blog.  I just discovered something simple, though, that has made me change my mind.  While browsing the pattern page on Ravelry, I found a link to a list of patterns created by designers who are contributing some or all of their proceeds to a range of charities involved in earthquake relief.  Forty-one pages of patterns which I'm pointing out not in a "look at all the choices!" kind of way but in a "look at all the generous people" kind of way.  You can even sort them by items in your queue or that you have in your favorites. 

Can I Come Out of Hibernation Now?

I'm hoping I'm a couple weeks too late to make this project really worthwhile.  After all of the recent snow, the 45°F/8°C temperatures we had today and the trip to the beach (more on that later) we took this afternoon left me longing for spring.  I'm ready to be done with winter and things like ear warmers - even if they do have cute little bear ears stitched on them.

Front 1  

Bear Headband - G hook and some mystery yarn that's probably Lion Brand.

This a sweet little one night project.  The most difficult part is getting the ears in the right place - three tries and a helpful husband later, I was finally satisfied.  My only adjustments: I added a few stitches to the headband to make it an ear warmer and I made the ears a wee bit bigger. 

Sadly, I see only one thing when I look at this photo and that's the unruly gray hair there in the middle.  It doesn't even want to hang out with the others and sweep to the left.  Nope, it hangs straight down and waves its little arms, "Look at me! I'm different!"  Not that I'm complaining - I am 35, after all - I just wanted kids to give me gray hair - not life in general.  

Just an ear 2

I think my niece and nephew could use a pair of these, too - they'd be perfect for kids.  



Thursday, January 14, 2010

Ce n'est pas un macaron.

I made macaroons for the first time today. Or rather, I attempted to make macaroons for the first time today.  First, though, check this out - even grocery store eggs are chicken feather fresh around here. 

Fresh egg

Anyway, back to the macaroons.  These do not look like your average macaroons, that's for sure.  After piping them onto the baking parchment you're supposed to smooth them with a little water and your fingertips and I think I didn't use quite enough water.  I can see spots that are smooth and macaroon-like on a few of them and I'll bet that was due to freshly wet fingers so, next time, more water.   My chocolate macaroons look more like Hobnobs (which I tried for the first time yesterday and love).

Macaroon

(The above tea cup is my favorite of all the thrifted cups and saucers we used for my wedding reception)

Honestly, I've never had a macaroon so I really can't say whether or
not these taste right - are macaroons supposed to taste like a chewy almond?  I used a recipe from the most recent issue of Good Food but also found an identical recipe (sans cocoa) online so I'm assuming they do.  I like the idea of more sugar, less almond left by the first commenter on that article and might give that a go next time.  My ground almonds were also a bit coarse so I'll take the suggestion of "whizzing" them down as well. 

I also think lots of filling is the key to a good chocolate macaroon because everything is better with more chocolate.  This recipe is from a section on low fat chocolate treats (ahem, isn't that an oxymoron?) so they skimped on the amount of chocolate filling - 50 grams of chocolate makes about enough to fill five cookies (especially if if you're going to make them look like the macaroons in their photo), not a dozen.  I liked the strange chewy texture of them, though, so I'm looking forward to making another batch maybe with strawberry jam and some red food coloring this time...mmmmm....  



Friday, January 8, 2010

2010: Color

January 1, 2009: I'm not going to say what my future is going to be like or make any
resolutions this year - instead I'm going to take the advice of a few
blogs I read and focus on a word.  My word is simple, "Forward". 
Everything in 2009 is about moving forward.  Moving forward to things
that I've been waiting years, maybe all my life, to do.  Big things,
teeny tiny things, but all very meaningful - and this is the year I'll,
hopefully, get to accomplish some of them.



The above is from my first blog entry of 2009 and I have to say that, even though I may not have consciously focused on the word "forward" as much as I could have, I certainly moved forward.  I'm not sure what teeny tiny things I was thinking of but I know I accomplished the big things.  Getting married and moving to England were really beyond big and we have our fingers crossed that this year will bring even more big things forward. For now, though, it's time to pick out a new word for this new year.



My word is a few days late this year because I've really been feeling a bit indecisive. The word I finally settled on, though, is the one that came to mind when I first started thinking about it. 

Banner
I've been working on this post for two days now because it's incredibly hard to think about color in the dead of winter when everything is some shade of white, gray, brown or black.  That said, there are two blogs - do you mind if i knit and Attic24 - that I've been following for a few months now that are a daily dose of colorful inspiration and also part of the reason I chose the word 'color' this year.  When I scroll through Google Reader I almost always look first to see if they have new posts.  Not only do they post beautiful (and well lit, I have to add) photos but their writing is so positive that it's hard not to feel good once you've finished reading.  These two women also make me want to cover my couches in colorful granny squares.

For Matt's sake, though, I think maybe I'll just start with a cushion cover or two.  

Adding color to my knitting will be a little hard since one of my new year's resolutions is to save money by using yarn from my stash as much as possible and, as Chris said, learning to "work from the yarn end, and not the pattern end of knitting."  I already have a lot of green yarn because I Love Green so when I do buy yarn I'm going to go for colors I don't normally use - blues, pinks, reds, yellows and oranges...pretty much any color of the rainbow that isn't green.  I'm going to do the same thing with my wardrobe - no more black and brown and maybe a little less green there, too.  I was trying a bunch of things on a month or so ago and even the woman who showed me to my dressing room commented on the fact that everything I had was green.  

I also want to make color a state of mind, too, and channel some of the positivity that color inspires.  That's the kind of color I could really use right now while there's snow on the ground and the temperatures are in single digits.  That and a handful of crocheted flowers....

In closing, a colorful palette of talented inspiration! 

Color Mosaic





1. finished hexagon baby blanket, 2. Stack of happy crochet, 3. Crochet flowers, 4. ♥ colors, 5. Untitled, 6. petals, 7. Flower Power, 8. Flower Brooches (Bloemenbroches), 9. Granny squares, 10. Untitled, 11. Crochet Flowers, 12. That potholder., 13. prize winning rosettes, 14. rainbow acorn color wheel, 15. grannylicious, 16. Colourful cotton bag.., 17. granny garland, 18. All 5 Potholders Together, 19. Pastora, 20. Scrapghan - Progress Photo #2, 21. Granny squares, 22. Winter Project, 23. Mum's cushions, 24. Festa do Divino, 25. Babette Progress

Would the Real Emily Please Step Forward?

Three things I would not have said in any seriousness a year ago but can say honestly now:

It's five-thirty on a Friday night and I just put a whole chicken in the oven to roast. 

I had a serious conversation with Matt a few minutes ago about a class on beekeeping that I read about in a cooking magazine and would like to maybe take when we buy a house. 

We stopped in WHSmith while in town this afternoon and I was thrilled to find a new issue of Country Living

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(Pardon the terrible photo - I can't wait for the days to get longer)

New Country Living Issue Day makes me ridiculously happy.  A quick flip through and - look - there's even a little article on knitting!

CIMG3625 

Now if I could curl up with a cat, a cup of tea and this magazine.  The cat and, obviously, the magazine are doable but, unfortunately, the weather has made milk a scarce commodity.  We could only find skim the night before we got the snow and not only does skim not make a very good cup of tea but we're almost out of that, too.  M&S is still milk-less so we have our fingers crossed that we'll be able to find some tomorrow.



Wednesday, January 6, 2010

It's Snowing in Salisbury!

Even though we had watched the weather several times yesterday and even had a look at the BBC weather web page, neither of us really believed we were going to get any of the predicted snow.  Just before we went to bed, Matt took one last look outside and there is was...SNOW!  We almost threw on some warm clothes to head out for a walk right then but it was really late (the holiday break has really gotten our days and nights mixed up) and the doors to the cathedral close would be locked so instead we set the alarm and got up early this morning to walk over to the cathedral to take a few photos.

Catherdral in Snow Front

Snow is not as common here as it is in Ohio so there were lots of photographers out and about.  And kids rolling giant snowballs.  When we walked by the cathedral into town a few hours later there were half built snowmen everywhere.

Spire

Inside

I'm sure I'm not alone in the thought that this lamp post reminds me of Narnia and with the snow on the ground today I really wouldn't have been surprised to see the Faun wander by.

Narnia

Eventually the snow started really coming down and we decided it was time to head home but I had a chance to squeeze in a few more pictures including this comparison shot.

Spire with Lots of Snow

Unfortunately, I've never seen the cathedral without this scaffolding and it's not coming down until 2015.

Lots of Snow

And if ever a dog needed a sweater...

Doggy Sweater

So now I've had my first English snow.  On the walk home I, unfortunately, couldn't help but think that I was really looking forward to my first English summer.  Snow is pretty but I think I prefer picnics on the cathedral lawn rather than snowmen.

And now on to some knitterly things.  After knitting this little bear for my mom (and another one for Matt that I still need to snap a photos of), I've fallen in love with knitting toys.  Knowing this, Matt spotted me flipping through Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen at Waterstones and decided it would be a good Christmas present (the man is really good at picking out knitting and crochet books without my help, too - lucky me!),  Even though it was the hippo pattern that hooked me, I cast on the alligator first and got all the way from the tip of his tail to the beginning of his body and realized the odd skein of green I was knitting with wasn't really going to be enough and would perhaps leave me with a legless gator so I set him aside, unable to frog him quite yet but also unable to start him over in another green because I was a bit tired of the moss stitch used to make him scaly.  Instead I started the tiger since the Year of the Tiger begins on February 14th and I was born under the same symbol in 1974.  I've only finished two of the thirteen pieces you need to knit to make him but he already reminds me of Hobbes and that can only be a good thing. 

Speaking of snow and Calvin and Hobbes, I used to love it when Calvin made snowmen!



Monday, January 4, 2010

Beauty at Salisbury Cathedral

This year, for the first time ever, I went to church on Christmas day.   Or perhaps I should just say I went in a church on Christmas day.  We still hadn't been in to see the decorations in the cathedral so after we exchanged presents but before we had a Skype chat with my parents (in which we drank so many mimosas that our Christmas day dinner was postponed until Boxing Day), we walked over to take a look.

I did take several photos of the amazing nativity including one rather evil looking angel but it was the new baptismal font that absolutely amazed me.  

This is not an upside down photo....

Reflection

...it's a reflection.

Running water 

Front reflection 

Another reflection 

Side 

I could have gazed at it/into it for hours but, unfortunately, a tourist decided to touch it causing a ripple that just wouldn't quit.  Argh. 





Sunday, January 3, 2010

Some Ridiculous Whining or How I Got Connected

I promise to reply to emails in a timely manner, to post a bit more often and to start commenting on blogs where I often just lurk.

No, this isn't a resolution to be a better internet friend - it's an announcement that our little house is finally wireless!  Before today I had to use the desktop computer on the third floor which was okay but it's incredibly cold up there these days. Plus I had to download photos to my laptop and then transfer them to the desktop using a USB drive which was getting a bit monotonous. I also hadn't updated any iTouch apps or downloaded any beloved podcasts since September and I really missed Ira Glass.  I found myself longing to catch up on blogs and click around Ravelry
from the comfort of our bed or even tucked up under a blanket on the
couch. 

Cry me a river, I know.

Anyway, we checked out the new year sales today and - woo hoo! - I'm watching Nevermind the Buzzcocks (Josh Groban is really funny - who knew? and who knew that I would so quickly get to the point where an American accent would sound strange?) reruns and blogging in bed.  

My real resolutions?  Keep the fish tank cleaner (have I mentioned that Mina and Lucy have their own pets?  They do and their names are, cleverly, Lucyfish and Minafish) and not leave my clothes lying about. 



Books 2010 - The List

I often wish you could go to the library and get a list of every single book you've ever checked out.  I would love to revisit some of the books I read as a kid that I've now forgotten.  With that in mind I thought I would start a list of books I read this year, month by month.

January

The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory: I love trashy novels that take place in the Tudor era yet I can't get through one episode of the Showtime series.

Grave Sight- Charlaine Harris: I'm caught up with Sookie Stackhouse so when I saw this one as I was leaving the library I thought I would give Harris's other series a try.  An okay read - not great but I did want to find out what happened next.

Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby: I love Nick Hornby and was a little disconcerted when I read several not-so-good reviews for this book.  Sure, Long Way Down and Slam, his last two books, were good but might not have been up to High Fidelity (in my top five list of favorite books) or About a Boy standards but Juliet, Naked is much, much closer.  I enjoyed it quite a bit and even told Matt it was a little like High Fidelity from a female point of view.  A very good bath book.

Pillars of the Earth (Audio) - Ken Follett: I finished listening to this yesterday and felt a little lost when I started to bake cookies today and found that I could no longer spend time with Prior Phillip, Jack and Elena.  I spent forty hours of housework, cooking and washing up with these characters and now my kitchen time seems very empty.  Excellent book - highly recommended.

The Virgin Blue - Tracy Chevalier:  I've read a couple of her books and enjoyed them.  This one - her first - wasn't quite as good and lagged towards the middle but the ending paid off. 

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield: I read the first two chapters last year and set it aside.  Thank goodness for the Ravelry Book Club - a thread there made me pick it up again and once I did I couldn't put it back down.  Three words sum this up very neatly: read this book.

February

Under the Dome - Stephen King: I'm not one to list how many pages I read but I'm going to make an exception here since it's February 11th and this the first book on the list for this month. 880 pages so that's kind of like reading three books.  It was slow to start but once it picked up it was a great ride - lots of characters, lots of action and loads of weirdness.  For awhile now, though, I've approached King's books with a "hoping for the best, planning for the worst" attitude - especially when it comes to his hurried endings.   The ending to this saga was one of his better ones and the last couple of hundred pages flew by.  I have always been a King fan - through the best and the worst - and I will always remain one of his Constant Readers. 

84 Charring Cross Road - Helene Haff: I actually finished this just after midnight on the last day of January.  :)  I have one thing to say about this book...read it. 

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks: strange, wicked and un-put-downable.  

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson: it took me about a hundred pages to really get into the first book in the Millennium Trilogy but once it got going it was really hard to stop.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with these characters again but need a little break. 

They're in the process of making this into a movie and I'm curious to see what they do with it but don't expect it to be very good.  I just don't think you could put all of the detail in that would really be needed to make the movie as good as the book which is the problem with pretty much any book made into a movie, I know.

March  

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson: This book was fantastic from the moment it started until the very last page.  Thankfully, the second one comes out in paperback on April 1st so I won't have to wait too long to find out what happens because this ends with a huge cliffhanger. 

Since I only read one book this month I'm going to add a couple of books that I'll be perusing for several months...What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi E. Murkoff and Your Pregnancy: The Netmums Guide to Having a Baby by Hilary Pereira.  :)

April

The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans: I'd never seen the movie or read the book but my mom recommended it when we were at a charity shop while they were visiting so I bought.  Thankfully, I didn't remember until I actually got to the ending that I remembered that it had been spoiled for me when the movie was out (perhaps, I think, by my mom if I remember correctly).  A quick bathtub read.  :)

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman - the only thing that could have made this better was if it was an audio book read by Gaiman himself because I love to hear that man's voice.  Now I'd like to track down the BBC series this book was based on.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest - Stieg Larsson: I'm heartbroken that there won't be another Millennium book.  This is a strange and fantastic series that I think anyone should read. 

The Host - Stephanie Meyer: Not bad it dragged quite a bit and could have easily been half as long.  I don't really recommend this book.  I actually read the next book in the middle of reading this one. 

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova: It's books like this that make me wish I were better at talking about books and why I like them.  This was an interesting and all together different take on the Dracula tale.  It was a bit slow at first and I'll admit that, up until a certain point, I would read a couple of chapters and have to put it down for a bit, feeling full, I guess.  That's not a bad thing, though, and eventually it was impossible to put down.  This book I definitely recommend.

The Help - Kathryn Stockett: I almost forgot to add this one which would be a tragedy.  I actually listened to it and was impressed with the readers especially since a Southern accent is pretty easy to screw up.  If you haven't already read this, believe all the good reviews and pick up a copy.

May

World Without End - Ken Follett: I read this in a record amount of time and was so sad to finish it this afternoon.  I'm really going to miss these characters just like I did the characters from the first book, Pillars of the Earth.  It was just as good as Pillars and I've already checked to see if Follett is going to write a third (they're that good) - no news so far but they are making a miniseries of Pillars and I'm crossing my fingers that it will do the book justice.  Don't be intimidated by the size of either of these books - read them.  Follett does an incredible job of creating a world in which you can easily immerse yourself. 

A Patchwork Planet - Anne Tyler: One of her better recent books but it ended too quickly.  I would have liked it to be twice as long and that's a compliment.  :)

The Summons - John Grisham: A charity shop purchase because I wanted something easy to read.  I haven't read one of his books in years and he hasn't changed which is also a compliment.  

Club Dead - Charlaine Harris: This was actually a reread.  I had just finished watching True Blood season two and couldn't remember much about what the next season will be about so I picked up the third book.  A fun series.

Earthly Joys - Phillippa Gregory: Not quite as good as the Boleyn series but still interesting enough that I bought the second book, Virgin Earth.  And, hey, at least I'm learning a little bit of English history!

A Painted House - John Grisham: Out of his genre but really good.  It takes place in the south and in the early fifties - two things that, in my opinion, make a good book.  It really makes me want to check out his book of southern short stories, Ford County.

June

Dead In The Family - Charlaine Harris: The latest in the Sookie Stackhouse series which I read while on vacation in Ohio.  Good Not Great.  It's still fun but I think I could have stopped reading several books ago.  If I do read the next one I'll definitely wait until the paperback comes out.  We bought it in the states which makes it cheaper and it was 20% off so it wasn't too painful but I wouldn't buy it at hardcover prices in the UK.  The UK and US covers are really different.  The UK covers now feature characters from the tv series (they used to be kind of artsy headshots of a female you assume is Sookie which were much nicer, I think) and the UK covers are illustrated...well, here's a link that shows some of the US covers (and some crazy Sewdish covers!).

Virgin Earth - Phillippa Gregory: This is the sequel to Earthly Joys which I read last month.  I liked the beginning when John was in America living with a Powhatan tribe but the rest had a little more war in it than I normally like.  I'm glad I waited until I had finished both books before I Googles some of the characters because it would have really ruined the ending for me.  I had no idea that the Tradescants - the family which both books are about - were actually historical figures.  Due to this book I'm now really looking forward to exploring certain things in Oxford.

July

Tales of the City

More Tales of the City

Further Tales of the City

Babycakes

Significant Others

Sure of You

All by Armistead Maupin - I read this series back in junior high or high school and loved it so I was happy to find all of them at a book fair for £2.  Easy reads and lots of fun. 

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger: I was really worried about this follow up to Time Traveler's Wife but I loved it so much that I actually slowed down to make it last longer. 



Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!


Ring out the old, ring in the new.

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

This year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson