My Middle Name is Patience

Books, Socks and Cat

Books read in June May:

Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn. (fiction) I really enjoyed the outings of Lady Julia Gray.It's hard not to love a book that begins with "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." Alas, the next book in the series won't be out until next year.

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. (non fiction) It follows the Count of Courcy throughout his lifetime. Perfect timing to read about the 14th Century from the point of view of a French nobleman.

A Fool and His Money: Life in a Partitioned Town in 14th Century France by Ann Wroe. (non fiction) More of a close look at a town and townfolk of Rodez than the trial case she was ostensibly following but a fascinating look into the times and people. They felt like neighbors. Rodez is in southern France. (very roughly)

Labyrinth (fiction) by Kate Mosse. This takes place roughly in the same area as A Fool and His Money but here the characters were both stereotypical and capable of the most supreme acts of idiocy to keep the plot going. A plot that was better covered by The Da Vinci Code and I didn't think much of that book either.

Departures (speculative fiction/aka science fiction)by Harry Turtledove, a collection of short stories. I think my favorite one was the origin of the common cold.

Socks: Jaywalker(s)!  Why I decided to take a picture of just one foot....I have no idea. The shoes are why I was so hot to finish the socks, they needed handknit socks to wear correctly. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

• Stats: Shepherd Sock in Irving Park, not quite two skeins. (from Amanda Cathleen in the August Birthday Swap)
• Started: June 2007
• Finished: June 2008. Probably not a reflection on the pattern. Who else hasn't knit a pair yet? There must be more of us. Well, you. Now. ;)
• Fit: They fit really well but they are a bit loose in the ankle. There was limited pooling and the yarn striped quite nicely but better on one foot than the other. Between the camera and Typepad, they're frustrating my attempts to get another picture to show you so you'll have to take my word for it for now. The pattern is a lot of fun. Just enough to do to keep it entertaining but not so difficult it couldn't be a tote around project.

Cat: Hez hates me. First I stuff her into a box and leave her all day at the vet for torment and tribulations, then to add insult to injury, she has to take 2ml of antibiotics twice a day for ten days. We are on Day Two. Pray for me.

Hez sez "I will not pose nicely for you, you horrible excuse for caring companion."

Hmm. The book didn't either. Possibly it's the shakey cam I'm using. (Yes, my unsteady hands. Whatever happened to the days of point and shoot when you didn't have to freeze for 15 seconds?)

Two and A Half Memes

Not exactly two and a half, but I liked the writers swap of Two and A Half Men and CSI (The Original) last week. It's not as if either were groundbreaking or fabulous, I just enjoyed the writers having fun. Hopefully they had fun. I loved the CSI quote Grissom had "Death is easy. Comedy is hard."

Marji tagged me.  The meme?

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you.

Oh, the nearest book? And not the one I'm reading? Okey doke.

In 1962 he purchased a large home in California. Thereafter he spent a considerable amount of time and developed substantial connections in California. Although he maintained important connections in Nevada throughout the years involved, the SBE held that he was a California resident in 1962 and in subsequent years. 2008 Guidebook to California Taxes.

Bookfool tagged me with the Six Random Things About Me. Random is my middle name. You think I make no sense blogging? You ought to talk to me. All over the map.

1. I hate endnotes in books. Footnotes, people! Footnotes.
2. Cable reruns. I live for them. Currently: CSI.
3. There are books and knitting projects in my Earthquake Preparedness kit
4. I overuse exclamation points, ellipses and the word/letter I. You should read this before I edit it.
5. I can't wait for all the pretty flowers to die this year. Yes, yes, all very beautiful but they're trying to kill me.
6. It generally takes me three or four or five tries to get those verify your comment codes right.

Tagging (by blog names): Knitting & Television, Bron's Blog, Jenny's Corner, CJ Knits On, Educating Petunia

I finally finished Queen Isabella! She really did lead a fascinating life, although she and her husband both let their lovers ransack their kingdom and their good sense. I was wildly amused to discover that Roger Mortimer, Isabella's lover, was also the first Earl of March - the Marches being the family of Lady Julia Gray in the Silent in the... series by Deanna Raybourn that I read during Queen Isabella.

Well, not read, was read to. I had Silent in the Grave on my iPhone and while I was flat on my back with that stupid vertiginous migraine, I listened to Ellen Archer reading it.  I have to admit, I was deeply prejudiced by Harlequin being attached to the book and almost didn't listen to it at all but I couldn't understand a word Christopher HItchens was saying. There were a few confusing passages in the book where I'm convinced she contradicted herself in a matter of paragraphs, but I'm not sure if it's because being read to is so vastly different than reading a book.

I enjoyed the book enough to run out and pick up the second in the series, Silent in the Sanctuary. England in the 1880's isn't my area of historical expertise (not that I have a historical area of expertise but there are some periods I know better than others) so I couldn't tell you how historically accurate the books are, but they certainly were a fun romp. I just hope the romance doesn't get dragged out ad nauseum.

Books read in March:

The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez. Deft but not groundbreaking.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. Twisty. Dennis Lehane knows how to write a thriller.

Flashforward by Robert Sawyer. Interesting take on time travel.

End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenary Grimwood. Reminded me a bit of the best of William Gibson.

The Coma by Alex Garland. A little hallucinatory, is he in the coma imagining it all?

In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman. Not the first Tess Monaghan mystery but my first introduction to her. Now to read the rest of the series.

Next by Michael Crichton.

Science Friction by Michael Shermer. Science vs all sorts of things. Michael Shermer has a knack for explaining complex theories.

Babel 17 by Samuel R Delaney. The power of language was never better expressed in a novel.

Killing Time by Caleb Carr. I wasn't too impressed. The female character was so one dimensional that it took me completely out of the story which was a bit ludicrous anyway. The dangers of the internet, gene splicing and time travel.

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman. I really enjoyed her essays on reading.

April:

• The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry. Kind of a combination James Bond/dystopian future book.
• Temptation by Jude Deveraux. One of the few romance writers I unabashedly enjoy.
• The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker. 1970 dystopian novel. I could see the '60's influences on the book, the turn the future (2000) took wasn't one that I'd run across in other dystopian books.
• Black Order by James Rollins. A Sigma Force novel. I was forced to go out and buy more in the series. A thriller along the lines of Robert Ludlum without the exclamation points.
• The Know It All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the Room by A J Jacobs. Not so humble but engaging.
• Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe by Nancy Gladstone
• Queen Isabella: Treachery Adultery and Murder in Medieval England by Alison Weir

Currently (re)reading: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W Tuchman. I'm reading these in chronological order! Completely by accident, I assure you. A Distant Mirror follows Enguerrand de Coucy VII, a French noble married to the daughter of Edward III (Isabella's son) also named Isabella. She was quite the pet of her father too, so it's hard to believe the historical tales that Isabella of France was the She-Wolf of legend. It's a nice change of pace to be in France this outing.

Television - is continuing to annoy me. WARNING! PROBABLY SPOILERS!! Booth's life is hanging in the balance on Bones, done in by a mere stalker? They'd better not kill him off. I hate that kind of cliffhanger. Cheap tricks. I still love Dr Sweets though.

Brothers and Sisters is back on Sunday nights but I was too annoyed at having whatshername turn out not to be the bastard child of the patriarch to watch.

House spends an entire episode entertained by strippers only to realize at the end that it's Amber whose life he's trying to save? What's with all the strippers anyway?

On NCIS, Ziva thrown by killing a serial killer that very nearly killed her. Really? She made some statement about how the Mossad were not all assassins but considering how pragmatic her character has always been about death and dying, it didn't track.

Ed Green gone on Law & Order. [sob]. I love Linus Roache and Jeremy Sisto though. I'm getting used to the new guy.

Lost. Geez, Lost leaves me lost most of the time. As long as Locke, Sayid and Sawyer are on it, I'll probably watch but I have no idea what the heck is going on anymore and really? I don't care. The plan all along was to kill off Rousseau? Huh. The real question is why won't they kill off Jack? Why? That would be pushing the envelope.

Starbuck is the Angel of Death? Tyrol's haircut. Hate it. WHO IS THE LAST CYLON? I want to know.

Knitting? What knitting?

Mostly Books But Also The Possibility of Me Walking In Front of a Bus

If it's April 1st then that means that April 15th is actually going to arrive, doesn't it?

Doesn't it? Because seriously, if it doesn't, that bus looks mighty inviting. Maybe I'll just board the bus, as opposed to stepping in front of it. Terrible thing to do to a bus driver. Way too much paperwork.

Look at all the lovely Tess Monaghan's that the lovely Knitted & Purled sent me eons ago. The end of February in fact. I'd never read Laura Lippman's mysteries before, I really enjoyed meeting Tess.

For a change of pace, no quiz. A book meme! via Teabird:

1. What book are you reading right now? Science Friction by Michael Shermer.

Wow, I drafted this awhile ago. I'm actually reading The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry as my carry-'round and Fraction of the Whole by Stephen Tolz.

2. What was the last book you read on a plane? Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. Finally, a period of time where I just sat down and dove into it. So much better than indulging in my normal "we're all going to die" airplane chatter.

3. What was the last book you read on a roadtrip? Most of the road trips I do the driving. But I've listened to audiobooks occasionally. The most memorable one was a trip up Hwy 1 with my ex best friend listening to a Jude Deveraux romance and the book ended at EXACTLY the moment we pulled into the motel parking lot. Hwy 1 gets really creepy at night when it cuts back inland and I swear, we saw a cemetary on the coast that evening (twilight, naturally) that has never been there since.

4. What was the most unusual place you found yourself reading? Unusual? I read anywhere, any place, any time. Once, trapped in an elevator, but IMO, that's a pretty normal way to occupy your time when you can't get out of a tiny stifling place suspended nine floors above ground.

5. What books would you take to keep you occupied on a two-week vacation to the beach? Whatever books I'd take to keep me occupied on a two week vacation in the mountains, or in Europe or on the way to work or......whatever I was reading at the time. The real question is, what knitting projects would I bring?

More books to indulge in my favorite knitting stitch obsession - Annie Maloney's books at Needlearts Book Shop. And the packaging was so darling too, brown paper package tied up in ribbon. I torn it off for the books inside in a hot second though. The cables are just amazing.

.

The progress on V - notice how there's only one buttonband?  (Well, maybe you can't notice, considering the quality of that picture, but there is only one. Now.)

Before? Cleverly, I'd knit one on each side.

In fact, not just knit it, I actually said "OMG, I don't have the buttonband on this!"

And dropped stitches to knit it in.

About fifteen rows later I noticed that I was knitting a buttonband on both sides. GAH. It took me most of the month to get that far too.

Hez sez: "Why are you knitting and reading when you're home when you've been neglecting me so horribly? by never being home? I refuse to even look at you, you neglectful thing."  She utterly refused to pose in the tulips outside too, even with cat treats as an incentive.

2007 Statistics

moar funny pictures

Statistics! Oh, I can hear the excitement. [Hmm. Sounds like crickets. Odd] Out of 81 books I started to read in 2007:

• 53 were library books
• I actually read 61 of them
• 15 DNF
• 5  'still' reading - 1968 by Mark Kurlansky, The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker, Madwoman in the Attic by Susan Grubar and Sandra Gilbert, The New Time Travelers by David Toomey and Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries Throughout History by Lucien X Polastron
• 17 bought this year
• 7 from my TBR shelves
• 28 non fiction
• 52 fiction
• 8 collections of short stories by various authors
• 2 audiobooks
• 50 written by men
• 20 written by women

Best Book? Oh, that's a tough one. My favorite two were short stories. The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Von Booy and The Devil's Mode by Anthony Burgess. 

Worst book - How to Read a Poem by Edward Hirsch. It was my only D rating of the year. My review back then: .... written far too strongly in his voice for my tastes. I really didn't feel like reading all about how Edward Hirsch felt/thought/dreamed/whatever about a poem. The glossary in the back makes the entire book worthwhile though and I'll probably pick up the book and enjoy it some day.

• 7 published in 2007
• 30 between 2000-2006
• 1 in 1847 (Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte)
• 1 in 1855 (The Warden by Anthony Trollope
• 1 in 1862 (Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon)
• 1 1887 (She by H Ryder Haggard.)
• 1 in 1909 (The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett)
• 1 1940's (Earth Abides by George R Stewart
• 3  1950's, two of which were apocalyptic stories. (A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr and Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - I preferred Canticle)
• So....7 in the Reading Through the Decades Challenge. And 2 that were on my list.

KNITTING: Projects frogged this year: The Oldest UFO; the Wool Ease Norwegian Socks. The Retro Cardi. The oversized cable sweater. Kat with a K's UFO Resurrection had me rethinking more than a few projects, but like every other challenge, I didn't quite make it.

Actually, I'm not really sure about my knitting projects. In 2008, I think I'll keep an Excel sheet on those the way I have on my books. I know I finished the Mountain Stream Scarf (it's drying on the blocking board as we speak), the Annemor #13 mittens,  the Hugs For Snickers scarf and probably a bunch of dishcloths but other than that? No clue. (Possibly because that's all I've knit this year.....) Ravelry is a great help, but I like having the day and not just the month. If I'm tracking it at all. 

This year is already getting away from me. Uh oh.

Books, Mostly

moar funny pictures

I think he won't even be able to tell.

In case you find yourself watching P.S. I Love You, (Hillary Swank, Gerard Butler) yes, it's just as horrible as you feared, you will undoubtedly sob off and on throughout the movie (for various reasons) but at least the cast is both pretty and talented. But honestly, that's what they came up with? When the writers strike is over, is there any chance they'll let the writers write and not the directors/producers/backers?

Some highlights of the books read in Nov and Dec:

The Jennifer Morgues by Charles Stross. Thoroughly enjoyed this spy sci fi genre flipping book. I even have quotes:

• **What's with all the zombies? Is Billington killing his optioned employees as a tax dodge or something?"
• IPO = Interplanetary Overlord.
• "Well, I can't say it was a bad idea -" Nobody ever accuses HR of having a bad idea; they're subtle and quick to anger, and their revenge is terrible to behold.

Reading Matters by Catherine Sheldrick-Ross, Lynne McKechnie and Paulette M Rothbauer: This is a great look at the state of libraries and readers today and recent-historically.

She by H Ryder Haggard - oh, I really liked this one! Dated and basically about an immortal with a crush and too much time on her hands but just the peek into the mores of the day was entertaining. The constant hunting was a bit off putting.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters - DON'T SKIP AHEAD in the book! I couldn't take the musings or allusions but if I'd only waited for the roughly 200 pages it took her to set up it would have been well worth it. Not that it ruined the book in the slightest. Pretty twisty Victorian female version of Oliver Twist.

Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall For Fads by Joel Best.

The ReadUpon. Blurry, I know. It's the only way I can photograph. Click to enbiggen, if that helps.

A nice short book theme meme stolen from Tara at Books & Cooks called Whatcha Reading?

1. Whatcha reading? Books on Fire
2. How much of it have you read so far? Almost two-thirds of it.
3. What’s it about? The destruction of libraries throughout the ages.
4. What does the title refer to? Oddly enough, books on fire.
5. Would you recommend it? Weeeelll, maybe. It's a fascinating subject and sadly well represented by every culture and time, but at one point he very offhandedly mentions the Celtic islands being populated by pagans, druids and Atlantis refugees.

Welcome Dewey to the Dark Side. I mean the knitting/reading fold. Darn, that's what happens when you draft posts. I thought this went up ages ago.

Hez sez: "I am not looking. Not looking. And when I do....."

Lots of knitting, not much progress. Lots of not much in this post either. But you have reading statistics to look forward to next!

Is there anything on TV? ANYTHING?

One Long Winded Post. Again.

Bellamoden's hand dyed yarn (Eunny's Endpaper Mitts pattern). That's not really a ladder up the middle, it's actually the purled side seam. Weird angle.

Here is weird lighting to offset the other picture. Gah.

Meme stolen from Book Chase, originated w/Kimbooktu.

• 1. Hardcover or paperback, and why? Both. Hardback to keep, paperback to lug around.
• 2. If I were to own a book shop, I would call it... Go Away, I'm Trying to Read. Own a bookshop? Then I'd have to do bookkeeping and ordering and keeping customers happy......although I have always wanted to own a combo bookstore, bar and yarn shop.
• 3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is...tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day. To the last syllable of recorded time.... (looking up and lifting the full quote)
  And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
  The way to dusty death.  Out, out, brief candle!
  Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
  That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
  And then is heard no more; it is a tale
  Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
  Signifying nothing. MacBeth. I love MacBeth. Eminently quotable.
• 4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be...Alice Starmore. No wait. Wrong author. Alison Weir.
• 5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except for the SAS survival guide, it would be...the biggest anthology I could find.
• 6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that...would hold my book open, turn the page, keep the right amount of light on it - basically I need a robot slave.
• 7. The smell of an old book reminds me of...Heaven. I mean used bookstores. Same thing.
• 8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be...One book? So limiting. I'm the lead character in ALL of them. I think that's why reading is so addicting.
• 9. The most overestimated book of all times is...The Da Vinci Code? Jonathan Livingston Seagull? Anything overhyped.
• 10. I hate it when a book...is about serial killers targeting woman (a current favorite plotline it seems like) or gets really sappy or preachy.

I'm supposed to tag five other bloggers for this meme but it has really made the rounds, hasn't it? I tag Elspeth anyway, Alum Creek, hand eye crafts, Knitting in the North and On the Needles.

Shockingly, I managed to read 5 books in September, even if it did take me something like 3 weeks to finish Coyote Dreams. I do like CE Murphy's Joanne Walker series but that migraine made it hard to read and I mostly just wanted to shake her most of the book. Also read:

• Little Ice Age by Brian Fagan. Interesting and informative. Oddly enough, data they didn't expect to be able to confirm for decades in 2000 (when the book was written) seems to be cold irrefutable fact nowadays. Not that I doubt the possibility of global warming or another ice age but the certainty it's being presented in.
• Secondhand Smoke by Karin Olson - I liked Annie so much better the second time out. She's prickly but smart, that one. Not to mention a guy who looks like Frank Sinatra? Swoon. (reviewed by Musings of a Bookish Kitty)
• Winter Moon, anthology by Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee and CE Murphy (great backstory on Joanne's mother. Book 1.5 of the series)
• The Possiblity of an Island by Michel Houllebecq, a book that had a fascinating premise but I just couldn't take the female bashing under my current pathetic circumstances and the library wanted it back for the next hold, so it's a DNF for now, but one of these days. (reviewed on Dewey's site) Edited: Whoops, Dewey is right. Kookiejar reviewed it. Sorry Kookiejar!)
• Thunderbird Falls and Coyote Dreams by CE Murphy. Books Two & Three of Joanne Walker aka Siobhan Walkingstick. (reviewed by Stumbling Over Chaos).

Equally shockingly, the Non Fiction Five Challenge that Joy hosted ended yesterday and I actually read more than the five the challenge......uh, challenged.

1. A New World: An Epic of Colonial America From the Founding of Jamestown to the Fall of Quebec by Arthur Quinn. - fascinating look at often forgotten historical moments. The Acadians for one.
2. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell - quirky obsession with dead presidents. Great travel guide.
3. The Unicorn's Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius by Steven Levy - the 60's had its share of charismatic wingnuts. The story of Ira Einhorn.
4. Richard the Third by Paul Murral Kendall - the version of what I prefer the life of Richard III to have been.
5. The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir - more likely.
6. How to Read a Novel by John Sutherland - the man loves his novels. He made me appreciate them again, I'd been reading non fiction fairly steadily for some time.
7. Little Ice Age by Brian Fagan - (see above review)

• What was the best book you read in this challenge? The best? I enjoyed all of them, although Alison Weir's more up to date scholarship on Richard III dashed my Richard III high from PMK's book.
• What book could you have done without? Which one do I regret reading? None of them. Which one did I need to go on? None of them.
• Did you try out a new author? Yes. If so, which one, and will you be reading that author again? All but Alison Weir were new to me and sure, I'd read them again. Steven Levy has an interesting looking book out about hackers on my TBR shelves now.
• If there were books you didn't finish, tell us why. Oh, I didn't even list these. Did you run out of time? Realize those books weren't worth it? Put them in the Some Day stack, most likely.
• Did you come across a book or two on other participants' lists that you're planning to add to your own to-be-read pile? Which ones? Always. And no idea.
• What did you learn -- about anything -- through this challenge?  I can finish! If only that applied to my knitting too.
• What was the best part of the this challenge?

But, most importantly, what you should watch on TV.

Hopefully you caught Brothers & Sisters last night. (ABC Sunday at 10pm)

Monday:

• Chuck at 8pm but mostly for Adam Baldwin, of the late lamented Firefly.
• Heroes and/or Two And a Half Men/Rules of Engagement at 9pm
• Journeyman at 10pm but it might be the last week.

Oh jeez, what's on the rest of the week? I'm still not up on the schedule.

In knitterly pursuits, I'm not quite done with the Endpaper Mitts, I'm ripping along on the Curve of Pursuit blanket - I love this pattern, I'm not sure why I waited a year to cast it on, the Mountain Stream scarf is coming along (although I did have a snafu at the border naturally) and possibly I cast on a pair of Latvian mittens.

Did I finish anything? Don't be absurd.

Oh! Oh! My bad. Susoolu's largesse:

Very cool, no? I've been wanting to read Philip Pullman for awhile now, I keep hearing such good things about his books. And voila! In my library at my fingertips. And apparently it's some kind of reverse birthday gift - Happy Birthday, Susoolu!

Okay, now I know that there is suffering and anguish (too much) and there is no world peace and there are far, far more important things in this world, but everyone just wish "FINISH A FRAKKING KNIT PROJECT" thoughts at me anyway, willya? It's my only hope.

Knitting Hates Me

It's sad when your obsessive hobby hates you. The knit on sleeves are leaving gappy holes in the pick up stitches and I did take a picture to see if you all think I should frog the whole sleeve and knit 'em flat & sew 'em on or frog back & see if I can fix the gappy holes somehow (although I tried at the time...) but evidently when your hobby hates you, your camera hates you too. Hmph.

Oh dang. That means I can't post the pictures of the aprons that were my grandmothers and great grandmothers and, I a few of my mom's. Until I get batteries for the camera anyway. Okay, text heavy today, picture heavy later.

Then I pick up an ongoing scarf and actually figure out where I am in the pattern (row 4!) and knit just enough rows to get the whole pattern and stitch count completely screwed up. I frogged it. (Okay, it's true, it was a little too wide and was probably going to run out of yarn & get frogged anyway, but that's completely beside the point.)

At least I still have reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Lost Constitution by William Martin. It follows the exploits of Peter Fallon, a rare book expert and his girlfriend Evangeline, a travel writer. *This time out they're chasing one of the first annotated rough drafts of the Constitution. The story follow them in real time and flashes back alternating chapters from August 1786 forward, following the document up in line. It was wonderfully convoluted through the heirs and twists and turns of life, all the way up to who knew who and what and when to the present. Ostensibly they're working for Harriet Holden, a congressperson who's making waves to repeal the Second Amendment, much to the disgust of survivalists, a religious empire and a network magnate. But it's so much more than that.

A few quotes from the book: "But this is America. In America, we get up in the morning, we go to work and we solve our problems."

"Hate the sin, but love the sinner. Especially when she has six million listeners every afternoon. But back to you. If you were in crisis, have you considered what would happen if you were not to survive it?" Peter didn't like the sound of that. "Are you threatening me?"Jarvis laughed. "Why would I threaten you? If not for a chance meeting at the Mount Washington Hotel, I would never have laid eyes on you before."  And finally,

He understood her. She never wondered if what he really understood was how to find her buttons and push them. J

*This time! There are two previous books featuring Peter Fallon, Back Bay (written in 1979?!) and Harvard Yarn Yard (2003). (Sorry. Knitter here. Anything that starts with y-a-r should end with an "n"). I'm looking forward to reading their previous exploits but my. That's a 24 year gap between the first & the 2nd. Good thing the 3rd is only a mere four years.

Dolce Bellezza had this meme (that I am stealing): The game is SCATTERGORIES ... and it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules:
* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
* They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!
* If you can't think of anything, skip it.
* You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
* If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!

My name: Carrie

1. Famous Singer/Band: Counting Crows
2. Four letter word: Cash
3. Street: Castro St
4. Color: Crimson
5. Gifts/Presents: Chocolate
6. Vehicle: Civic
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Coffee cups
8. Boy Name: Charles
9. Girl Name: Catherine
10. Movie Title:  Clear & Present Danger (or, y'know, Carrie)
11. Drink: Coffee
12. Occupation: CEO
13. Celebrity: Carmine Giovinazzo
14. Magazine: Cosmopolitan
15. U.S. City: Cinncinnati
16. Pro Sports Teams: Cardinals
17. Fruit: Cantaloupe
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Car trouble
19. Something You Throw Away: cartons
20. Things You Shout: Come here!
21. Cartoon Character: Argh. Wiley Coyote. Cinderella?

And uncharacteristically, I'm tagging. Bev, KSD, Elspeth, Pixie Girl and Jennyellen. (Psst! Elspeth LOVES to be tagged. Seriously!)

Poetry For No Reason

Marina Ivanova Tsvetaeva / December 12, 1923

You who loved me with the falseness
Of truth - and the truth of lies.
You who loved me-beyond
Anything!-Over the edge!
You who loved me beyond
Time-Right hand, wave!
You love me no more:
The truth in five words.

I love that poem.

Found surfing around:Programmable Robots - WHAT year? exerpt: Yet the trail doesn't stop there. It led me even further back past the automata of the Byzantine court and ancient Rome to ancient Alexandria. It was here that Hero, one of the greatest Greek engineers, constructed a programmable robot that pre-dates da Vinci's by 1500 years. Its control system turns out to be unique; more like knitting than a computer circuit. Nevertheless, there is clear evidence linking Hero's design to the programming languages used in, say, Honda's latest humanoid robot Asimo.

Ha. Knitting is everywhere, which, considering its mathematical properties, isn't all that surprising.

Joan at The FairyGodknitter is having a comment contest, the deadline being August 13th, her birthday. Go comment!

I'd show knitting pictures and progress but there isn't any. Well any discernable progress. Queueing my projects I've noticed that my WIP's are.....old. Old-old. They've had birthdays old. I've got to stop starting new projects and frogging them with wild abandon. 

I hopscotched around on the book reviews of the books read last month and missed my absolute favorite:

The Secret Lives of People In Love by Simon Van Booy. Short stories written with evocative charm. I love his turn of phrase and his imagery. Stories with sentences like [and here I just opened the book to a random page because every page has something as beautiful as this is] "I cannot walk farther because something sweeps through me - something so sad it renders the world broken and perfect all in the same feeling." I was always aware that I was reading, his choice of words conjures up visions outside the story, but at the same time, I was also being told a story. No matter how small the story, a grief struck young man and his father, they just.....reverberate. I can't think of a better word.

I read the library's copy of the book, then bought my own copy. (I found this book through Bookfool's review. Thanks, Bookfool!)

.......[skipping books I've already talked about].....  Sacred Cows by Karen Olson. I enjoyed the angle of Annie being a journalist investigating and her relationships. Her cop boyfriend and the Boy From High School was a little awkward, but I suppose it would be. I take it either journalists are still the hard drinkers they were in The Old Days or Annie needs rehab. I picked up Secondhand Smoke (the second in the series) at the library last night. (Reviewed & Recommended by Musings of a Bookish Kitty)

Urban Shaman by C E Murphy, (Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos read & reviewed) Another hardboiled dame. Joanne Walker (or is she?) has a near death experience and her world will never be the same. (Which is cheating a bit because things were going a little haywire before that - spotting a damsel in distress from an airplane? Yup. She did.) Kind of a tough girl version of Charles de Lint. She's a police mechanic but circumstances force her into wearing the badge for real and battling Herne the Hunter and the Wild Hunt of Celtic lore. Another book where I liked both the heroine and the people around her (you know, along with the storyline and the plot).

Time's Children by Rebecca Ore. I'd probably like this book a lot better if it didn't forcibly remind me of Kage Baker's Mendoza series. Clearly there are differences, but that those controlling the time travel inherited the time travel mechanism from the veiled future is the same premise. Although I'll see. I'm only about a quarter of the way through it.

Submissions are due August 10th for the Book Carnival - The theme this month is Surviving the Dog Days of Summer: Books That Take Your Mind Off the Heat.

Never Wordless. Even If I Ought To Be.

I'm trying to power through the Richard the Third biography before I see the play tomorrow night....it'll be close but definitely not enough time to reread the Shakespeare play too. Alas, I'll just have to go into it with only a slightly confused jumble of who's who. Historical royal figures need to be identified by, I don't know, bar codes? It can't be more confusing. I'm much better at the Tudor period than the War of Roses.

In the meantime, I've discovered David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter's mysteries, through Bookfool. Broke my reading slump. What's not to love about a man who saved both a dog and a man from Death Row? And just happens to be wildly wealthy. I read Open & Shut Saturday night (because my life is wild), went to the library on Sunday to pick up First Degree, the 2nd in the series (yes, my library is open for four hours on Sunday! Love my library!) finished it, but then halted the rapid progression to read the bio. I did however.....

...stop at the library yesterday. Never mind that I have library books at home, a book I'm not even halfway through and overflowing TBR shelves......

Hezekiah is appalled. Okay, possibly Hezekiah isn't the slightest bit interested. 

In knitting news, I can see why the Jaywalkers have been so dang popular! They're such a fun easy knit, for the other two people who have never knit the pattern.

I love the way the Irving Park colorway is knitting up. The beaded socks are a little behind:

It turns out I should have probably had more of a plan. Do I knit the beads every other row? Every few rows? I was pretty much planning on making them slightly taller than ankle socks. I think I'll just wing it and see how it looks. There's always frogging. I am ridiculously in love with the Lantern Moon dpns.

Here's the Horcrux:

Both them. Done! All the other WIP's? Marinating. I am soclose to finishing GG but I just can't bring myself to pick her up. The cellphone cover continues to be a complete PITA. I don't want to give up either design detail but it's not working out. And w/o the one design, it's not even worth knitting.

Oh, and good TV news! It looks like Jericho just might get revived as a mid season replacement. Cast & crew need to sign on, but cross your fingers for me! I'd hate to give up TV right when The Closer, The Dead Zone, Eureka, Psych and Monk are all starting their new seasons.

Tuesday Tidings

Thank you all for the nice comments on my penguin! Except of course, for the neo nazi troll who didn't even notice. Typical.

I just spent the last four days with the weirdest migraine. All of the pain, none of the light sensitivity, but I couldn't wear my glasses for five minutes. Mind you, sans corrective lenses, I see mostly colors and amorphous shapes. Oddly, that didn't translate into being able to knit, but I could read. Finished Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, Emerald Isle edited by Andrew Greeley, The Unicorn's Secret by Steven Levy, started What If? edited by.....someone and picked up 1968 by Mark Kurlansky again. (Still on Chapter Four! Think good thoughts for me, maybe I can get to Chapter Five this time!)

Assassination Vacation was a *fun romp through history. Jinxy McDeath? That would be Robert Todd Lincoln who was present for three, count 'em, three presidential assassinations, including his father's.

*Yes, fun. Not normally the way I'd think of assassinations. I blame Sarah Vowell.

Emerald Isle is a compilation of stories about.....well, Ireland. It covers the fae and the folk, so ka-ching! Scored both on Carl's Once Upon A Time challenge. My favorite story wasn't the Newford one by Charles de Lint or the Saberhagen tale (which is why I picked it up ) but Judith Tarr's The Hermit and the Sidhe. Well, I was fond of The Merrow stories too. Myth and magic. My favorite things. Ray Bradbury has a story in it, along with Tanith Lee and a host of others. There's something for everyone, I only found a couple of the stories dull but that's mostly because I am FRIED on Dracula/vampire stories. Evidently.

The Unicorn's Secret is the story of Ira Einhorn a "guru" of the 60's and 70's who sounds like a really smart intelligent well read guy who is such a chauvinist psychopath that he managed to kill his girlfriend and live with her stuffed in a trunk less than 20 feet away on his second story balcony for 18 months before the private dectectives her parents hired traced her probable whereabouts. He fled the country and is believed to be living in Paris.

I also picked up The Gentle Art of Making Enemies by James Abbot McNeill Whistler for 3m's 15 Decade challenge and the book turns out to not be a gentle treatise on enemies and the like but that Whistler's fight with a member of the press for his art and his reputation. Fascinating stuff. He also has this weird thing for butterflies, but maybe that's just me. 

Edited to add: Anyone catch this in Arts & Letter's? I didn't even know there was a fight.