Books to Look For:

Stuart Hill, Last Battle of the Icemark
Juliet Marillier, Cybele's Secret
Shannon Hale, Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack
Nancy Farmer, Islands of the Blessed
Christopher Paolini, Brisingr
Michael Buckley, The Sisters Grimm: The Everafter War
Alison Croggon, The Singing (Book Four of The Books of Pellinor series)

Favorite Modern Authors

A short list of several of my current favorite authors. I tend to read a lot of YA (young adult) lit and plenty of fantasy.

Shannon Hale, Princess Academy, Book of a Thousand Days, and Austenland
Juliet Marillier, Wildwood Dancing and others
Nancy Farmer, The Sea of Trolls
Tasha Alexander, And Only to Deceive and A Poisoned Season
Stephenie Meyer, Twilight series
Robin McKinley, Spindle's End and Beauty, many others
Jane Yolen, Briar Rose and Sword of the Rightful King, Wizard's Hall, many others
Susan Cooper, Dark is Rising series, others

New Projects: Baby Blanket and Cross-Stitch

I recently finished a fairly major project, cross-stitching a pattern I created of 1 Corinthians 13 (Love is patient, love is kind...) for my husband. So, feeling accomplished and slightly restless, I moved on to a counted cross-stitch I've had stashed away for a few years. It's mostly to keep my hands busy, to work on while watching TV or whatnot, but all the better - sometimes it's nice to not work under pressure.

Although I did also start a blanket for a baby shower gift, and that's coming up pretty quickly now, so I should get on that. Blue and yellow for a baby boy, plain crocheted stripes. I think it'll be cute. And, more importantly, warm and toasty.

My Reading List(s) Overfloweth

I recently finished organizing many of my reading wishlists into one massive list, some 800 titles long. (And that still doesn't include many classics that I'd like to read, but feel pretty intimidated trying to tackle on my own.) In the interests of not losing my mind about how many wonderful books I should be reading, I've decided to methodically chip away at the list. Every month, I'll choose 15 books to attempt to read, from 10 specific categories plus two "fun" "books of my choice." (The quotations are because these selections will probably end up being determined by books I've started and haven't gotten around to finishing, but feel I ought to. Not necessarily fun at all, you see.) The 10 categories are: Caldecott Medal/Honor Books, Newbery Medal Books, Classics, Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Folk/Fairy Tale/Mythology, Poetry/Drama, and Mystery/Historical Fiction.

I plan on choosing 4 Caldecott books each month, because I enjoy them a lot, can share them with my 2-year-old son, and they go really quickly, which gives me a huge sense of accomplishment! I've been plugging away at the Newbery Medal winners since I started library school 5 years ago (sheesh! that long?), and had gotten away from them, so I'm making a new effort. It's not that I don't like them (I can count on one hand the Newbery winners that I've disliked, and I've read several dozen), it's just that, as I may have mentioned, there are so many other tempting books to lose myself in...

The other categories are all either catch-alls (adult fic/non-fic, etc.) or genres that I especially prefer (fantasy, YA, historical fiction). Plus, I was an English major, and will feel until the day I die that I haven't read enough classics, or poetry or drama, for that matter. In fact, when I read too much genre fiction or modern stuff, I begin to feel that I'm letting someone down. I can't think who it might be, but it's a pretty powerful sensation, so I feel I ought to do something about that, too. Oh, dear...

I haven't really any expectation that I'll actually be able to get through 15 books a month, even if 4 of them are picture books. I do plan to limit myself to reading the books from my list before other books, however, and plan to move books to the next month that I haven't finished, or (gulp) even managed to start. I might should make myself tackle those first, even, but that might be too many rules even for me.

On the off-chance that I manage to get through all of my selections, anything is fair game, which I don't expect to happen often.

As I've managed to knock 50 titles off my reading list in the past few months, I'm already down to 750, and I hope I can knock that down another 50 by the end of the year. I'll post updates, but they're mostly for myself, since I can't imagine anyone else finding my Quest to Read Every Book that Looks Interesting (to me) will be compelling to anyone else.

April Reading List

1. Caldecott - various
2. Newbery - Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
3. Classic - The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. Adult Fiction - Atonement by Ian McEwan
5. Adult Non-Fiction - The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
6. Young Adult - Alcatraz versus the evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
7. Fantasy - The golden dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander
8. Folk/Fairy Tale/Mythology - The Old wives' fairy tale book by Angela Carter
9. Poetry/Drama - Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
10. Mystery/Historical Fiction - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
11. Choice - The book of air and shadows by Michael Gruber
12. Choice - Route 66 A.D. by Tony Perrottet

March Reading List

X1. Caldecott - various

X2. Newbery - A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
This was a quick read of a few hours for me, but I enjoyed it. There's something so wholesome about many of the Newbery Medal winners that I find quite appealing, and this book has that quality.

X3. Classic - Persuasion by Jane Austen
I couldn't believe I had never read this book before. I've been reading Austen since middle school, and believe I've re-read P&P somewhere in the 6-8 times range, as well as several read-throughs of S&S and Emma. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen Austen movies, either. It's something of an addiction, and no, I can't very well explain it to you. You either get Austen, or you don't. So a new (to me, anyway) Austen book to read was quite a pleasure. I can understand why this is not as popular as the three above-mentioned titles, though it is still perfectly enjoyable. I found the main characters appealing and everything charming, of course; though the Eliots (father and sister) I found flat and trivial beyond belief. Though, to be fair, they were portrayed as completely self-absorbed, so they couldn't be all that interesting, could they?

X4. Adult Fiction - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I have to admit that I was disappointed with this book. I'd read a review recently that compared this book positively with Austen's work, and though I should know by now never to get my hopes up so much, I couldn't help myself. I wanted quite badly to like this book, but in the end, it just didn't strike me right. The characters were very odd, and they seemed to fall in (and out) of love with all the wrong people at the drop of a hat. Aside from that, and some bizarre motivations, it was a decent read. Although I'm always left a bit flat by such a bittersweet ending.

X5. Adult Non-Fiction - My Life as a Furry Red Monster by Kevin Clash
Yes, Elmo. I'm sure some would enjoy this book, but I didn't. I wanted to know more about Muppeteering, and less about how Elmo is the coolest. (Besides, Cookie Monster is way better than Elmo.)

X6. Young Adult - Pearls Before Swine collections by Stephan Pastis
I love PBS. Often irreverent, but just plain funny.

7. Fantasy - The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
Started last night, but too sleepy to continue. I'll try again in a day or two.

8. Folk/Fairy Tale/Mythology - Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde
I've read some already. I enjoyed the couple I could find in comic form (illustrated by P. Craig Russell), though these were adapted. Very funny and slightly odd to read these stories. I've read several Wilde plays, and of course Dorian Gray, and these are (for the most part) remarkably dissimilar. Though with the same Wilde humor, naturally.

9. Poetry/Drama - The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Not started. Hopefully soon!

X10. Mystery/Historical Fiction - A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander
I can't help but like this book, a sequel to And Only to Deceive (which I loved). Romantic and sexy without being vulgar or crude, great mystery involving multiple characters and a variety of incidents, reference to great literature and a fascination with Greek antiquity, and above all, a heroine so outrageously rebellious against Victorian society as to be almost laughably implausible. I'm looking forward to the next book, which I believe is due out later this year.

X11. Choice - The Professor's Daughter by Guibert & Sfar
This was a recommendation from a library comic I read called Unshelved (check it out: library humor is totally funny to non-librarians! I swear!) They do a "Sunday Book Club" feature where they talk up a book (conveniently called a "book talk"). This one sounded really fascinating, but the interest was all in the possibility, I'm afraid. Short read - 20-30 minutes - but even so, not really worth it. Never lived up to the promising set-up (several-thousand-year-old Egyptian Pharaoh mummy comes to life in Victorian England and falls in love with an antiquarian's daughter).

X12. Choice - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More Roald Dahl
I'm attempting to read through all of Dahl's books, and this is a collection of short stories. Well-written and (at times) funny, but nothing like as compelling as Charlie or Mr. Fox, et al. Not a bad read, overall. This was one of my "must finish" choices.

Scarf-a-Rama

I'm starting a new scarf. Whenever I finish a knitting project, I feel kind of bereft. So I wanted something new - and hopefully relaxing. Unfortunately, this isn't shaping up that way. It's crochet, which I thought would be a breeze, but it's full of color changing mayhem. Also, there's a right side and a wrong side. I should have realized that was a bad sign. I'm doing pretty well, aside from the yarn twisting like mad. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but it looks pretty. Hopefully I won't lose my marbles and tear it all apart before it starts looking like something wearable.

Next time, maybe I should be less ambitious. But I've always wanted to make one of those hood/scarves. One of those could be mighty handy in the coming months...

Storytime

T and I went to storytime at the library today. This fall, he has only made it through the entirety of storytime once. He always wants to leave about 5 minutes after we get there. Of course, I usually get to the library pretty late, and he doesn't get time to wander and check things out. So today, we got to the library at 9:40 and wandered around. He was so good during storytime. The librarian always displays books on a table, and he went right up and pointed at A You're Adorable, which he knows from Grandma's house. The librarian read it especially for him, and then she did another one I'd never seen before, based on a song from Guys & Dolls - I Love You A Bushel and a Peck. It was adorable. And then T sang along and did the motions to "Ram Sam Sam!" First time I've heard him do that.

Of course, this just fits right in with what I've been noticing for a long time about T-Man. He responds to music like nothing else. He's always loved Here Come the ABCs by They Might Be Giants, and Dog Train by Sandra Boynton. We're pretty excited about giving him Here Come the 123s, Philadelphia Chickens, and Rhinoceros Tap in the coming months.

But I've found a bunch of board books based on songs at the library, too. They're some of our favorites to read before bed: "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Down By the Bay" from Raffi are both big hits; he also loves "Hush Little Baby" by Marla Frazee.

He loves books and being read to, A LOT, but the music just wins him over. I think he gets it from me. =P

Gift-giving fun

I have always loved Christmas and birthday celebrations. My family never made a huge deal out of them as a kid, so I really get excited now that I can make a big deal out of them for T-Man. I get so into it, actually, that I tend to be more excited to watch him open his gifts than to open my own. (Not that he has actually managed to open a gift on his own. He might be there in time for his birthday.) With Christmas and his birthday coming up, I am getting very excited about T-Man's gifts.

For his main birthday gift, we bought him a whole set of play food. We also got him a bunch of cooking things: pots & pans, a colander, measuring stuff, utensils. Today I found a little chef's hat, too. Naturally, I'm pretty stoked about the whole thing - I love to cook myself, and my only sadness about the whole thing is that he's much to young to cook with me. We tried it with the cookies the other day, and it wasn't a disaster or anything, he just doesn't get it yet.

For Christmas, I just picked up the Play-Doh creativity center. It's a neat little desk with cool molds and cutting tools, extractors, and the like. Also, it came with a free 24-pack of Play-Doh. Just picking up the boxes at the store brought back memories of playing with Play-Doh when I was little. I don't think we had Play-Doh very often, but I do remember having a lot of fun with it. One cool part of the creativity center is that the top try has a bunch of built-in molds, and the bottom part is a massive storage container for all that Play-Doh and those cool tools.

We're not the kind of parents to really spoil our kid and buy him anything he even glances at twice. We buy him cool toys second-hand sometimes, and we buy him things we think any kid should have (last year, we got him a wagon 'just because'). But we don't just go out all the time and buy him new toys to play with. After all, he's taking over our living room with his toys as it is. He's definitely not lacking in that department. I was a little concerned about adding more toys to that amount, actually. But I'm feeling better about it now. (And planning to play with that Play-Doh, just as soon as he gets it for Christmas.)

So, here's my dilemma. How do I wait a month and a half to watch him open it?

And yes, in case you're wondering, I have most of my Christmas shopping done. I think there are two more gifts I need to pick up (one being an exchange that we haven't yet picked names for), and my husband hasn't done anything much, but that's his concern. Also, I have some really cool handmade gifts that are either all done or mostly done. I do have a scrapbook gift I need to get started on...

You may be cringing to yourself, but I like to plan gifts ahead of time. It's so much fun when you think of or find the perfect thing, and I love thinking about the joy each gift will bring.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, Oh What a Beautiful Day!

It's been a good day, I'm happy to say, even in spite of the gray skies. T and I have had a quiet morning. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast; we watched Sesame Street (as much as I get tired of Elmo, I love that tricycle song!); I worked on my cross-stitch project while he was engrossed with Cookie and Elmo; he "helped" (mostly watched) as I mixed up the cutout cookie dough, and then helped me pound it flat with a rolling pin before chilling (this was by far his favorite part). We traced his hands a couple of times to make turkeys, which I finished off with legs and comb and beak and he mostly scribbled on. We made one for each set of grandparents. It was grand. And he may be learning his colors; he guessed red and yellow correctly. We had lunch, rolled out the cookie dough, and then cut out and baked cookies. Since he mostly wanted to eat the dough, and I'm hugely paranoid about him getting sick from raw eggs, he didn't get to help too much with that, unfortunately. But we did talk about leaves and pumpkins and sunflowers and turkeys, some of the many cutters we used. We read some stories, and then I cleaned up the kitchen.

Here's the only let-down of the morning: my first disappointment from the King Arthur Flour books. To be fair, it is my fault. I read through the recipe notes (for King Arthur's Special Roll-Out Sugar Cookies) and the ingredients, then scanned through the recipe before beginning. But somehow I failed to absorb that the recipe, if rolled thinly, would produce crisp cookies, and if slightly thicker, crunchy cookies. Now, here's the problem: I'm not a huge fan of crunchy cookies, and crispy cookies might as well be dog biscuits, as far as I'm concerned. Well, as I'm not very consistent in my rolling thickness, I ended up with a mixture of crispy and crunchy. Sigh. However, all is not lost. I think that I'll be mixing up a batch of buttercream frosting this afternoon. I have rarely met a non-burnt crunchy sugar cookie that could not be much improved and softened with the addition of icing. And, really, I'd eat anything with icing on it.

Goal for the afternoon: library and bubbles, and then delicious roast chicken with potatoes, biscuits, and green beans for dinner. We may skip the park, as it's chilly and gray, but we'll see what Dad wants to do about that.

Book Recommendation: The Knitting Circle

I just finished a book called The Knitting Circle, by Ann Hood. It's the (semi-autobiographical) story of a woman whose only child, a little girl named Stella, dies suddenly at the age of five. This book blew me away. I have never suffered the loss of a child, thank God, and I hope I never will. But I could feel this woman's grief; I could understand her paralyzing fears and inability to move on with her life.

On my better days, I hope that I'm as good a mom as the character in this book. I wish that I could say that every day was a good day; but this book makes me realize what I take for granted: all those little moments that are tiny gifts from God. The way my son smiles and giggles when you tickle him, the way he studies things when he's absorbed, the way he dances, the way he gets so excited to see someone come in, or to go outside and take a walk. His determination that every drink he's given should be juice. The way he clutches his Bear, and the way he sleeps, sprawled.

I have a to-do list on my fridge, and I never get to everything I want to do. For the past few weeks, it's been a struggle for me because I haven't felt well. I get tired easily. But tomorrow, here's my to-do list: Bake cookies (let T help, even if he needs a bath afterwards). Walk to the park and the library. Run around outside and blow bubbles. Trace our hands and make turkeys out of them. Make copies for the grandparents. Read to him whenever he asks.

The Knitting Circle is a good book. Hard to read, but truthful, and though there are some sad endings, there are also happy ones. Oh, and there's lots of knitting. (As if you hadn't guessed.)

Better be Gryffindor!

I'm so happy with how this scarf turned out. And it looks so cute on him! Whee!

Picture updates

New pictures posted on flickr, as promised. There are a couple cute Halloween snaps, and the rest are fairly random. T has such cute clothes. I wish I loved my clothing half as much as I love his.

My favorite color is NOT pink

The Gryffindor scarf is finished, fringe and all. I'll try to post some pics this weekend. Ugh...so many things to do this weekend! Things sure pile up on me when I'm not feeling well. Thankfully, I seem to be fully recovered, although I'm a bit concerned that I may have pinkeye. My left eye is rather violently pink.

Foo Foo

Tonight was Halloween, and T went out trick-or-treating for the first time. He was dressed as a bunny, and since bunnies don't really make any easily recognizable noise, when T sees bunnies he says "foo foo." As in Little Bunny Foo Foo.

So tonight, T donned a little bunny outfit and wandered down the street with Dad, clutching his teddy bear and a little cloth pumpkin bag. I wish I knew what he thought of it all; it's definitely not a normal kind of activity for him.

Little Bunny Foo Foo,
Hopping down the sidewalk
Scooping up the Snickers bars
And dropping them in his bag.

Under the Weather

It's hard to post when you don't feel like doing anything. I'm starting to feel better now, but my to-do list for tomorrow is atrocious. Days like that, I wish I had a personal shopper, or a maid. Both would be nice, actually. On the upside, I've got two projects that are about 95% complete, and if I get a chance in the next few days, that'll be a few more things off the list. The Gryffindor scarf is one of them; not surprisingly (since it's for an almost-two-year-old), it works up very quickly. I've decided to fringe it, despite my dislike for fringe in general, mostly because I think it will look nice.

Also on the docket: going outside. No rain forecast, so hopefully T and I will get a chance to run around for awhile.

Harry Potter Mania

I just found an awesome book at the library, Charmed Knits. It has a bunch of Harry Potter-inspired knitting projects, from descriptions in the books and from the movie costumes. I've already decided to use up some gold yarn I happen to have a mess of, and bought some scarlet yarn to brew up some Gryffindor apparel. I'm currently stitching up a scarf for T-Man, which I'm super excited about. I also want to make him a cape to grow into, and I'm thinking I'll try to make it like Dumbledore's midnight-blue cloak with silver-spangled stars. I've got the blue yarn, I just need to figure out how to knit or crochet little stars to sew on. I'd also like to make a wizard's hat, actually more like Gandalf's than anything I've seen in the HP books, but I don't have a good pattern for that yet. I may end up sewing one instead of knitting or crocheting.

I also think it would be cool to make T-Man a Weasley sweater. I've never attempted to knit a sweater before, though I made T a knitted winter blanket bag for when he was a tiny guy. I'm a little intimidated, but I might give it a go, just for kicks. Plus, who can't resist a little curly-headed kid wearing a handmade sweater? I think I'll make it a little big, though - no telling when I'll finish all these projects!

Family Photo Album

We're putting our photos up on flickr now. Check the link above to see what we've been up to lately.

Autumn puts me in a baking mood

Well, okay, I'm usually in a baking mood. It's just that I almost never want to turn my oven on during summer. Ugh.

But, with the return of cooler weather, falling leaves, and autumn winds, every year I re-discover how very much I love to bake. Cookies, bars, bread, rolls, muffins, cakes and pies - and much more. Of course, this addiction doesn't much help me lose weight, but what's fall without pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing? Or warm apple pie?

This summer, I bought three new cookbooks: King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion, and King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. I spent quite a bit of time looking through them (I love to read cookbooks, after all!) and picking out recipes to try.

My first attempt was from the Cookie Companion, two different kinds of oatmeal cookies, one chewy cookie with chocolate chips, raisins and dried cranberries, and one soft cookie with no additions. Both were exquisitely, mouthwateringly good, and there is at least one other kind of oatmeal cookies to try (crisp), not to mention about 10 variations. Since then, I've made the Raisin Bran Muffins from the Baker's Companion, and last night I made the Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread from the Whole Grain Baking book. Both were just delicious, and I'm so impressed with this.

I mean, it's not uncommon to come across some plain delicious recipes every now and then - but this set of books is 4/4, and I'm just getting started. But I don't mean to sound so surprised. Even while looking through these books, before ever measuring out flour and milk and eggs, I could sense the dedication and time put into each one. Sure, there's some overlap between the three books, since they're all from the same company. But surprisingly little - I believe I came across two or three duplicates out of the hundreds in these books, and I looked at every single recipe. There are tips and suggestions and explanations on many pages. And I'm not just talking little wimpy variations or substitutions, though there are those in abundance. I'm talking about why certain flours work better in breads or pastries, what kinds of yeasts there are, and how to use them, in-depth explanations about why baking works, and how to make it work for you. And that's why I bought these books.

My dream (once upon a time) was to be a pastry chef, but I'm sure that will never happen. I have, after all, a family now, and from what I understand, being a professional chef requires a lot of long days and odd hours. Not what I need with a two-year-old running about, growing and learning and hopefully benefiting from me staying at home with him. I bought a textbook on baking & pastry arts, and sure, it has a lot of good information about baking and good recipes to try. But here's what it doesn't have: heart. It gives you formulas, approaching everything scientifically, as if there's a foolproof way to do things right all the time. But the King Arthur Flour books tell you why some things work well and others don't, and encourage creativity in ways my textbook doesn't. And that's why I will learn more cooking at home from a layman's cookbook than I ever will from my professional textbook. It's interesting, creative, and fun, and a lot less like chemistry class.

Next project: making cutout sugar cookies with my son, from the Cookie Companion. Chewy, soft, or crisp? Hmmm... good thing I got out those autumn cookie cutters. We'll be eating leaves and pumpkins in no time. And I bet they're delicious.

Football season

T just picked up his football and ran to the front door with it. He then spent about 10 minutes calling out for Uncle J, who gave him the football. This same uncle often walks in the door, grabs the football from the basket of balls, and yells "football!" to T.

T, of course, loves this. He will often run around with balls on his own, of course, being almost 2. But when someone runs around with him, throwing the ball around and playing keep-away, kicking the ball and rolling around on the floor after a fake tackle, he's in heaven.

It's fun to watch, but it's even better to be a part of. Touchdown!