Succinctly Yours ~ Week 45

I am a silhouette.
As good as I can get.
And yet,
I'm just a silhouette.

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This microfiction meme is hosted at http://grandmas-goulash.info where you can read the variety of ideas inspired by this picture.

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Granny Baby Blanket

What are you reading? What are you knitting?

 Join in at Yarn Along and let us all know!

I'm enjoying Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate which reads like a memoir and a biography of her Chinese mother. (Hmmm, and I read Diane Keaton in recent months. Do I have a theme developing?) The stories are her musings written separately yet connected overall. Her humor and lovely writing add to the pleasure that is this book.

 I've been crocheting another baby blanket for a girl. Well, the last one was knit, but--still--it's a baby blanket. I started with square Number 51. Sadly, it has no descriptive name, just a number, another cog in Big Brother's machine. Uh, so...Number 51 is located in Leisure Arts book, 99 Granny Squares To Crochet and begins with a sweet little flower surrounded by lace. I am repeating the outer rows and randomly making two lace rows in winter white as I continue. This yarn is Plymouth Encore WW in a very cheery pink and yellow.

Of course, it isn't always pretty, is it? There was a bit of ripping and restarting, but it's smooth sailing now. The pile of speckled blues yarn in the other basket is an in-progress shawl for the Prayer Shawl Ministry at my church. I bought the yarn last year at Stitches West to use for a prayer shawl. It was a bag of 10 balls of Linie 97 Iceland, discontinued and sold at a bargain price. I thought it would be fun to make a shawl with some funky yarn. However, the focus is on the baby blanket for now.

How about you?

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Succinctly Yours ~ Week 44

I'm ready to run with no place to go. Living in Kentucky isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've been stalled since I arrived. (whah-whah)

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Saturday Snapshot ~ White Tail Deer

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Three lovely ladies came to visit, gentle and alert.

Taken with my DH's wildlife camera on our property along the South Platte River.

He has two cams mounted about a mile apart and captures the most amazing images of the white tail deer, wild turkeys, and other creatures that pass by the cam.

Sweet, natural images of God's creatures.

Book Beginnings & Fiber Finishing

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be at A Few More Pages every Friday and will be open for the entire week.

This lovely book has been resting in my book shelves for several years. After a recent diet of mysteries and thrillers, I yearned for a change in genre and reached for Amy Tan, marvelous writer that she is. She wrote this book as a tribute to her mother and their sometimes tumultuous relationship.

Page 7: "Soon after my first book was published, I found myself often confronted with the subject of my mortality. I remember being asked by a young woman what I did for a living. "I'm an author," I said with proud new authority.
"A contemporary author?" she wanted to know."

 I enjoy her magical story telling, intelligence and wit, which are quite evident in these opening sentences. Her fascinating bio is here.

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::knit::knit::knit::knit::knit::

 http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Pooch/rainbows-for-ashley-baby-blanket

 http://yarnknitreadlit.blogspot.com/2011/11/baby-blanket-yarn-along.html

The baby blanket for niece's little one is finished! Voila!

How long will I procrastinate getting it wrapped and mailed? I don't know!

http://plumslife.blogspot.com

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/

Teaser Tuesday ~ A Fatal Grace

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

* * * * *

From A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny:

"It was almost impossible to be both warm and attractive in a Quebec winter."

"How does someone get electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake?...It was almost impossible to electrocute someone these days unless you were the governor of Texas."

What are you reading?

Succinctly Yours ~ Week 43

This microfiction meme is hosted at http://grandmas-goulash.info where you can read the variety of ideas inspired by this picture. Join in and post your microfiction too!



Fashion is not a concern when I can quietly enjoy nature, thought Olga,

as plastic wrap slowly destroyed the environment.

Mrs. Nixon

Mrs. Nixon by Ann Beattie

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This book is marketed as a novel, yet the author uses a pedantic approach-- as though teaching creative writing -- via the imagined life of Pat Nixon, wife of our disgraced President. The author's writing style is quite disconcerting because it reads like a text book. Must she explain the most obvious analogies, i.e., crystal bowl and crystal ball?The many comparisons of the Nixons and/or events in their lives to literary works, such as Chekhov, seems to be a purely academic effort with little merit.

If you want to learn about Mrs. Nixon, you would be far more gratified with PAT NIXON: AN UNTOLD STORY written by her daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower, biased as it may be. Julie's book is an often quoted resource for this novel. Having read a biography of Mrs. Nixon and her daughter's book about her, I find this novel to be a disappointing exercise. However, if you are looking for a book that might provide some lessons in the writing process, this could be the book for you.

View all my reviews

Booking Through Thursday ~

Copy the questions, paste them into your blog and answer them. When you're done, go to http://btt2.wordpress.com/ and post a quick letting everyone know so we can read your responses.

But enough about interviewing other people. It’s time I interviewed YOU.

1. What’s your favorite time of day to read?  Any time, don't have a particularly favorite time.
2. Do you read during breakfast? (Assuming you eat breakfast.)  Yes.
3. What’s your favorite breakfast food? (Noting that breakfast foods can be eaten any time of day.) An omelet

4. How many hours a day would you say you read? 4
5. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago? More!
6. Do you consider yourself a speed reader?  Not at all. I read casually, reread section, make notes, soak up the power of the words.

7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?  Invisibility.
8. Do you carry a book with you everywhere you go?  Absolutely! It's so easy now with my iPod, Nook, and--of course--an actual physical book.
9. What KIND of book?  Usually iPod and Nook.

10. How old were you when you got your first library card? 6 or 7
11. What’s the oldest book you have in your collection? (Oldest physical copy? Longest in the collection? Oldest copyright?)  Oh my, I have no idea!
12. Do you read in bed?  Infrequently.

13. Do you write in your books?  Yes.
14. If you had one piece of advice to a new reader, what would it be?  Read what you want to read. If you're not connecting with a book, put it aside and read something you truly want to read. There's no rule that you MUST read an entire book once you begin. You can get crazy and skip around in a given book, reading what you want!



Teaser Tuesdays ~ The Inside Ring

http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/teaser-tuesday-jan-10/

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From The Inside Ring: A Novel by Mike Lawson

P. 85: "DeMarco's eyelids felt coated on the inside with a layer of sand and he suspected only the odd-numbered cells in his brain were firing."

An exciting and gripping story, The Inside Ring refers to the Secret Service agents who are physically closest to the President in his security detail As I read this book, I see Johnny Depp as DeMarco and not because he played "Don Juan deMarco"....hmmmm. I don't "cast" characters when I read, yet there are times when someone springs to mind. It might be an actor, however quite often it is someone I know. Oh, and I don't watch movies made from books I've read. Do you?

Succinctly Yours ~ Week 42



Dancing bakers welcome 2012! A worker wishes he could bake and dance too, but knows that he can't afford the magical black shoes. Zappos?

. . . . . . .

This microfiction meme is hosted at http://grandmas-goulash.info where you can read the variety of ideas inspired by this picture. Join in and post your microfiction too!



Saturday Snapshot ~ At Home

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Colorado Saturday at Home

Friday Fibers and a Book

  

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be at A Few More Pages every Friday and will be open for the entire week.

 

From The Inside Ring by Mike Lawson: page 12, first sentences--

"The video begins with the President walking toward a marine helicopter. The rapids of the Chattooga River are visible behind the helicopter, and beyond the river is a dense pine forest, the ground rising sharply to a bluff overlooking a river."

Thus, the scene is set and I am ready for the action to begin. The plot and characters are very engaging, though the author's use of analogies need to be polished. My understanding is that this title was his first published work and the beginning of a series. I am approximately 50 pages into the book and think I will continue reading this series.

I was curious about the name of the river, Chattooga, and found that it indeed exist in NC, SC, and Georgia.

http://plumslife.blogspot.com

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/

 

Now the holidays have passed and I am finishing the last section on this baby blanket. I'll add some girlie-girl trim and send it off for baby. Hope she has lots of cuddles and happies in this stripey blankie made with I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. More details on the pattern and project are here http://yarnknitreadlit.blogspot.com/2011/11/baby-blanket-yarn-along.html

 

What are you reading and knitting?

It's Thursday! Book it!

Questions for this week:
If you could sit down and interview anyone, who would it be?
And, what would you ask them?

These simple questions are quite challenging! My first thought went to my great-grandmother, Sylvia, whom I knew as a child. I would ask her about her life in Tuscany, her childhood, what is was like to come to the US as an adult with her husband and children. I would love to hear her stories and see her bright smiling eyes again. 

A public figure and writer who immediately stepped forth in my thoughts is Eleanor Roosevelt. Though she was very active on assorted fronts, I would like to know how she spent her private moments when she was alone, without companions, and had that special sort of freedom in time and space.

"Ten Important Facts About Eleanor Roosevelt"

( from http://pegasus.lasalle-academy.org/roosevelte.html)

1. Eleanor had six children and one died. She had 23 grandchildren and great grandchildren.
2. Eleanor owned a furniture factory with friends.
3. Eleanor wrote a daily newspaper column.
4. Eleanor wrote a book called "Ladies of Courage" in 1954.
5. Eleanor was on a daily radio commentary.
6. Eleanor hosted a weekly television show.
7. Eleanor delivered more than 100 lectures a year.
8. Eleanor was elected chair of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in 1946.
9. Eleanor was asked to chair a women's sub committee at the Democratic National Convention in 1924.
10. Eleanor's husband, Franklin, was her fifth cousin once removed. "  

:: Who would you like to chat with and ask a few questions? ::

You can read more at BTT.

Tuesday Teaser ~ Fave Books of 2011

From Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman:	p. 119 "That masked man is Earl Jenkins. He's a policeman and he's married. Just look at him. I've always said he's only one step above a bait-shop dealer."



For more interesting book teasers and to add yours, click here.

 

I continue to read a few pages of this book, get caught up in another book which I finish, then return to read a bit more of CeeCee Honeycutt. A prepubescent girl who relocates from Ohio to live with her aunt in Savannah, Georgia, learns about life and Southern ways via the assorted the women whose divergent characteristics reveal these lessons in engaging scenarios. The harshest lessons come from her parents who are unable to rear their child. CeeCee Honeycutt saves herself.

 

+ + + + +

 

My Fave Books of 2011

(in random order)

 

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough

Then Again by Dianne Keaton

11-22-63 by Stephen King

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer

 

Least Liked

Rich Boy by Sharon Pomerantz

The Sea House by Esther Freud

The Death of the Party by Carolyn Hart

After All These Years by Susan Issacs

It All Began in Monte Carlo by Elizabeth Adler

 

First Book Read in 2011 -- First Lady by Susan Elizabeth Phillips  5/5

Last Book Read in 2011 -- Still Life by Louise Penney  5/5

 

So I am happy that 2011 began and ended with very engaging books that I couldn't put down. I've become a Louise Penney fan after reading this one book by her and will continue reading the Inspector Gamache series (with relish).

 

What are you reading?

What book do you recommend? 

 

 

Succinctly Yours ~ Happy New Year!

Was a dragon at the party?
There was a dinosaur he said.
So there wasn't a dragon?
No.
She replaced the cucumber slices on her eyes.

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This microfiction meme is hosted at http://grandmas-goulash.info where you can read the variety of ideas inspired by this picture. Join in and post your microfiction too!