The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a story about a family and senses and food and loneliness. The title says it all. Sad cake --- sad reading experience. Not so much in the emotions as in the plot and style. I much prefer the extra-sensory and food approach by Sarah Addison Allen and Erica Bauermeister. The connections in this story failed to flow among the characters with the exception of Rose and Madame. The characters are well defined and interesting. The plotting just didn't grab this reader.

This book has obviously found its audience. Maybe you are one of them.



View all my reviews

Victoria's Daughters --- A Tease

I have been wanting to read Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard for a couple of years, so tonight I finally loaded it on to my Nook! Yaaay!! Here's the opening paragraph:

"Prologue:  Windsor Castle: Friday, November 3, 1944

Death had come as gently as sleep to Victoria and Albert's last child, Princess Beatrice, ninth born and fifth daughter, had always been 'the baby' to her august mother but now her name recalled only the haziest of memories for most. The world she symbolized was buried beyond recall, first in Flanders mud, more lately in a Europe being laid waste a second time. Yet at her passing, a distinguished company of Beatrice's countrymen broke off from their urgent wartime duties to gather and to remember what this woman had once been to their kingdom."

 

 And now, a little tease for you---

"Both parents were determined to give their kingdom a male heir, such production representing the most fundamental duty of a sovereign mother and consort father."

What are you reading?

Country Fresh

Help! I can't stop myself!! I've been starting new projects at the blink of an eye!! I am possessed by new projects!

I've never had much of a yarn stash and have considered myself a "pattern stasher". I have printed and alphabetized patterns in assorted notebooks setting on my book shelves. I have a file drawer stuffed with patterns divided into knit and crochet, then subdivided into types of projects which are then alphabetized. Of course, there are my patterns neatly saved on Ravelry, whimsically separated into "Queue" and "Favorites" and in the pattern library. No rhyme or reason for me with my Ravelry assortment. Just click and save. I have personal pattern libraries at Lion Brand, Red Heart, and Patons web sites.
I have patterns saved to my hard drive, discs, flash drives, and on our netbook. That pretty much covers it, I think.
Now I have taken the next, crazy step. Instead of merely saving patterns, I am saving, printing, and starting to make the beguiling patterns, thus stacking up the WIPs. I am powerless to resist.

 

This is the latest WIP that's making me happy, "Country Fresh Blanket" with yarn I have on hand. The free download for this throw is at http://www.yarnspirations.com/pattern/crochet/country-fresh-blanket  My colors are tan, burgundy, moss green, black, and oatmeal. It is now in rotation with my Christmas crochet and whatever else I'm inclined to do.





Are you a pattern stasher too?

 

 My current read is How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny, another in the Inspector Gamache series.

 



The Photograph

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it at http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/

 

 From The Photograph by Penelope Lively:

"Glyn is holding something out to her. She takes the photograph. She takes the scribbled note. She looks first at the photograph. She look at it for quite a while. Then she reads the note."

Book Beginnings @ Rose City Reader:

"The landing cupboard is stacked high with what Glyn calls low-use material: conference papers and student references and offprints, including he hopes an offprint that he needs right now for the article on which he is working."

The Photograph by Penelope Lively
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While this story is ingeniously crafted, the author does tend to be repetitive and wander a bit.

I liked this description: "She is astute, she is generous,she is warm; she is also gifted with the power of detachment."

View all my reviews

The Photograph Teaser

http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/

  "He sits holding the photo and the sheet of paper, looking from one to the other. Kath is everywhere now, the landing is full of her, and the staircase, and the big brimming treacherous cupboard; there are dozens of her, from different times and different places, all talking at once, it seems."

http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/

"Kath.

Kath steps from the landing cupboard, where she should not  be." 

The teaser and intro are from The Photograph by Penelope Lively, a good story that I am continuing  to read with the hope that it will soon become a page turner!

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

A Mitt and A Square

Hello to Ginny, Tami, and all the "Yarn Along" yarnies. This week I am knitting the Number Nine block designed by Lily Chin in the pattern book "Great American Afghan". I've been doing so much crochet that I have yearned for more knitting recently.

The yarn is Plymouth Encore (as usual!) in beige with gray undertones and size 8 needles. Love this yarn and have used it for many years.

http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/



Also in the WIP department is the second fingerless mitt. Apparently, second sock syndrome applies to second mitt! Maybe the calendar will keep me on track to finish this quick knit side-to-side mitt?!

I'm cruising along with size 7 needles and could complete it in a couple of hours if I quit putting it
down and typing!
Still reading The Photograph by Penelope Lively. I just haven't been reading as much lately--too much happening so that I'm too tired to concentrate on a book. Sad.

So what is happening with your needles, hooks, and books?

Sports Blanket WIP

 

 

Youngest grandchild (age 8) loves sports, so his blanket must reflect that interest, don't you think? We're on our way with this cream and navy striped WIP. The grand plan is to crochet sports appliques---baseball, soccer ball, football and such---to scatter on this background. Some touches of red will be involved. I am doing double crochet in the back loop to add texture.

If all goes according to plan, this sports blanket will be B's Christmas present. Fingers crossed!

My current read is The Photograph by Penelope Lively. It's an interesting story, but hasn't grabbed me. A man finds a surprising photograph and is spurred to rethink his life and investigate the circumstances surrounding the photograph. While well-crafted, the story is not a page-turner at this point so I'll continue reading at my leisurely pace.



http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/

Visit Tami to see many Works In Progress and add your own!

Teaser Tuesday

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

"Nor did I tell Tony about his former student. Everyone knew as much as they needed to know in order to be happy."

That strikes me as very good advice! 

I'm having trouble get into this story. Has anyone read this or had the same problem?

Fingerless Mitts

 

A cool Fall day is perfect for knitting by the fire place. How fitting that I was knitting fingerless mitts to give to my Dear Husband for Christmas.

 This simple rib pattern is perfect for men and women and is  free here. You can see more details and pictures of  mitts on Ravelry.

 

I used the ever wonderful Plymouth Encore Tweed in color T789 gray and two size 8 circular needles to knit in the round. Watching Cat Bordhi on You Tube certainly helped since I hadn't knit with two circs in quite a few years. It was so much fun to do this project---something a little different for me.

 

While this pattern is quite masculine, it would be great for a woman too. The stretchy fabric makes this an easy-to-fit pattern. It is my first FO for Christmas! The only other Christmas WIP at the moment is a crocheted throw for our eight-year-old DGS.

 

What's on your needles/hook?

 

Have a good weekend!



Temair Flowers

Ginny has a beautiful blog where she invites yarnies to share their WIPs on Wednesdays along with the book they are currently reading. Do pop over to see the many lovely projects.

My back burner WIP is the Temair Throw by Nicky Epstein. These sweet pink flowers are the B motif which encircle the large center motif.

 This is my first experience with Ella Rae yarn. I am very pleased with the hand and the colors of this Ella Rae "Classic" which is 100% wool worsted weight. This gentle pink is simply gorgeous and sweet and soothing. Great yarn and a size G hook are making me very happy!

 

 

While I may occasionally stare at a blank screen, the one above is displaying my current read that I downloaded from the Denver Public Library, Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan. Since I am on page 14, I really don't have much of a sense of the story yet. I need some extended reading time to really get into it!

 

 

 



 

What is your WIP?

 

What are you reading?

 

May your day be blessed.



Mesh Triangle Shawl

This prayer shawl is made with stash yarn: Bucilla Melody from my neighbor who received it from her sister who received it from someone in Illinois who got it at a yard sale who.... You get the idea. It has been around for a long, long time. I paired it with Louise Harding Jasmine from my stash to crochet the triangle shawl. The brown is pretty drab, so I dug a little deeper to find the Filati FF Darling in green, tan, and gold to use for the border. Not my favorite yarns, but I did find a way to use them to bless someone in need of prayer.

 





The pattern is easy and fast, "Triangular Shawl to Crochet "by Lion Brand Yarn.



Yarn Along ~ A Beginning

  

I've only just begun. This bit of ribbing was preceded by hours of searching for a pattern for men's fingerless mitts. I ended up with this sweet and simple ribbed pattern from http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/cosy_knitted_handwrist_warmers_2.php  After Cat Bordhi refreshed my skills of knitting with two circs via You Tube, I was ready to begin with size seven needles and beautiful, plush, gray Plymouth Encore Tweed. This is Christmas knitting for DH. Hope I can knit two that match!

 

I was reading blogs at the time I snapped the picture. What a beautiful Fall day to read and knit on the deck while DH chopped firewood. My actual read is The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro . The compelling story is populated with fascinating characters who develop from the 1920s - 1950s.

 

What are you reading and knitting?

 



The Perfume Collector

My current read is proving to be a good one! I'm really enjoying The Perfume Collector  by Kathleen Tessaro. I have posted a few short paragraphs from the first chapter.



 Paris, Winter 1954

"Eva d’Orsey sat at the kitchen table, listening to the ticking clock, a copy of Le Figaro in front of her. This was the sound of time, moving away from her.
Taking another drag from a cigarette, she looked out of the window, into the cold misty morning. Paris was waking now, the grey dawn, streaked with orange, seeping slowly into a navy sky. She’d been up for hours, since four. Sleep had inched away from her these past years as the pain increased, shooting up along the left side of her body.
The doctor had given up on her months ago. His diagnosis: she was not a good patient; arrogant, refused to follow directions. The cirrhosis was spreading rapidly now, pitting her liver like a sponge. For him it was simple: she had to stop drinking."

 

 



What do you think? Would you continue reading?



A Sunday Post

Here's ’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on your blog.This is your news post, so personalize it! Include as much as you want or as little.

 

The books I read in September are

Elizabeth the Queen:The Life of a Modern Monarch  by Sally Smith Bedell, biography, 4/5

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott,historical fiction, 4/5

 

What a very short list! I did have several misfires in September. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for a few of the titles I tried. A couple simply didn't interest me. I just didn't read as I normally do during part of that time.

 

I have just begun The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tressaro and am completely absorbed in it. Love books like that!

 

Up-coming reads will probably include The House in Amalfi  by Elizabeth Adler.

 

What are you reading?

 



Hemingway's Suitcase

 Visit Rose City Reader to see the opening lines of books and post yours! Mine is from Hemingway's Suitcase by MacDonald Harris.

"1: The Trouble With People

There was a crowd at the Rotonde but they found a table inside looking out through the windows at the terasse and the boulevard. It was five o'clock and already dark."

This book combines fact and fiction to weave a tale about  a lost suitcase containing all of Hemingway's writing at the age of 22. The opening pages appear to be the author's imagining of one of the stories from the suitcase.

From there? I must read on!

: : : : : : :

Turning to page 56 to share at Freda's Voice, we find:

"As you got older, you were no doubt stricken with all sorts of thoughts that you were never again going to do this or that or the other thing again."

: : : : : : :

Would you read on?

Transatlantic

So I started a new book yesterday and only got to page 12. Not an auspicious beginning! The book is Transatlantic by Colum McCann with my teaser from page 12.

"They didn't want to remember the bombs that had dudded out, or the crash and burn, or the cellblocks they had been locked into, or what species of abyss they had seen in the dark."

I'm thinking the author is describing the depths before we see the heights. Hope so!

The opening paragraph is more appealing to me with the elemental power and beauty of nature:

"The cottage sat at the end of the lough. She could hear the wind and rain whipping across the expanse of open water: it hit the trees and muscled its way to the grass."

I had to consult the dictionary for the exact meaning of "lough" beyond what I surmised from the context.

lough:
1 chiefly Irish : lake

2

chiefly Irish : a bay or inlet of the sea

And there we have our vocabulary development for the day. Wonder if I'll be learning many "chiefly Irish" words in this book.

The question is: Would you continue reading?

Flora

 I plan to begin reading Flora by Gail Godwin this evening. Here is the opening paragraph:

"There are things we can't undo, but perhaps there is a kind of constructive remorse that could transform regrettable acts into something of service to life."

 Well. That sounds a bit grim to me. I hope things become bright and shiny at some point!! Would you continue reading?

:::::::

So, this is going to be a teaser for me as well as you, gentle reader, since I have not yet begun the book.

"Which would have been worse? Never to have been a favorite or to become an ex-favorite, cut in half and passed on to someone left behind?"

I think it sounds promising. Sounds like it could be an interesting read.

 What do you think?

Cuckoo's Calling ~ What are you reading?

I'm currently reading and enjoying Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J K Rowling).

Admittedly, I have not previously read Rowling so I cannot compare this title to her published works. However, while I find her writing appealing, it is quite simple and straight-forward. Her strength seems to be in plotting which carries this mystery through an interesting and twisting story line. Did the popular model commit suicide or was it something more sinister? A private investigator, whose estranged father happens to be a quite thin, world-famous rocker, has been hired to determine the cause of her death. Trite as this sounds, it is a good story for those who enjoy a mystery without detailed violence.

So...what are you reading?

The Queen Mother: The Official Biography

http://www.rosecityreader.com/

 "Wednesday 19 July 2000 was the day chosen for the pageant celebrating the hundredth birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. In London, the day did not begin well."

Thus begins the biography of the long and eventful life of the mother of the current Queen Elizabeth. Though familiar with some events in her life, I am enjoying the book immensely as I read about this woman of character, strength, and great warmth.

Do you read biographies?

Lap Blanket and Baby Blanket

 

This lap blanket went to the Prayer Shawl Ministry at church. I started it as a stash buster but, of course, had to purchase more yarn to finish it. I used 'Loops and Threads" yarn and a size H hook to make block 97 from Jan Eaton's book, 200 Crochet Blocks, with the diagonal pattern as the basic block. I then made a few different patterns to break it up a bit.

: : : : : : :

Here's my grannified baby blanket for great nephew Benjamin with a peek-a-boo owl in one corner--just for fun! Another stash buster that required a purchase or two is a collection of basic granny squares in white and shades of blue and green with some variegated here and there. Most of it is Bernat DK weight worked with a size G hook.

I'm now using more stash to crochet a shawl for our Prayer Shawl Ministry. How did I acquire so much blue yarn?