Litterary Takeaway

I came across this article recently and had to share: A Brief History of Book Vending Machines.

Sidenote: I want to visit Japan for many reasons, but a huge part of that is the vending machines. The Japanese put crazy stuff in their vending machines. (And those aren't even some of the weirder ones I've heard of, which include steak, porn, and used panties. Yes, you read that right. I have no idea if it's true or just a gross rumor.)

A List of Things

1. Due to some nonsense with Yahoo, I've deleted my account. If you need to contact me, you can do so through my gmail address: knotmagickknitter (at) gmail

2. Read Recently: Haunted London by Richard Jones
While hardly the end-all-be-all of travel haunting books, this was really fun to read and includes stories of over a hundred haunted places in London. A few I've been to, a few I'd never heard of, and a few I knew more about than was mentioned in the book. If you're into that sort of thing, then it might be nice to pick up before your next trip. Each entry includes a brief overview of both the haunting and the history of the location, as well as it's location on a map and the nearest tube stations.

3. Read Recently: Sailor V manga, vol. 2
If Pacific Rim didn't restart my anime kick, then this definately did. I'm a huge Naoko Takeuchi fan, have been for years. I love her art style and I can't tell you how excited I was when I found out that not only are Sailor V and Sailor Moon getting reprints with all new (better!) translations, but there's going to be a reboot of the Sailor Moon anime starting later this year. So far details are very hush-hush, but I'm stalking a couple of the SM boards and fansites looking for details.

4. Watched Recently: Ripper Street
I love Matthew Macfadyen. He stars in this excellent Victorian-set crime drama (available on Netflix), and if you haven't seen it yet, go find it. It's wonderful. That is all.

5. Currently Watching: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
I watched the first FMA series (most of it) when it was first coming out in the US. My college roommate was completely obsessed with the series, so really it was unavoidable. It was good.

Brotherhood is so much better.

I find myself incapable of watching less than half a dozen episodes in a sitting, and I don't remember the last time I did that with an anime. 

This one is also on Netflix.

6. Caffrey continues to get a workout. Can I just say again how much I love, love, love using a typewriter for outlines? My current outline in progress is top secret, however. I might give a few details next week, if I decide to pursue it. If not, it will go into the file I've started for outlines.

7. Since he's been getting so much use, I'm starting to think that Caffrey needs a bit of a makeover. The grey 70s look just isn't me, and I've got a tube of royal blue acrylic paint that has been sitting unused for some time, not to mention several cans of spraypaint. But that is likely a project for another time, since I STILL haven't pulled out the steampunk typewriter. I've started to three or four times this week, and then gotten distracted by other things. Perhaps over the weekend. We'll see.

8. Lists happen when I am both in a funk and when I'm feeling super creative. For once, it's the later. My brain is going in about a hundred directions at once, and it wants to DO ALL THE THINGS. I'm trying to rein it in with some knitting. It may need to be tied down with something stronger than yarn.

So Many Books!

It feels good to bring books and reading back into this blog. Last year, I was so stressed that reading was difficult. I had trouble finding the head space to sit down; I'd get bored, or distracted, or anxious, feeling like I was wasting my time by not working on something productive. I might read a chapter, but when I closed the book I couldn't have told you what happened in it. I tried audio books, but I'm not an aural learner by nature and found those even harder to concentrate on.

So I did a lot of knitting and watched a lot of movies, and tried to write when I could.

I still haven't done a lot of reading this year; not even a quarter of what I would like. but it's coming back. I'm hoping that once I get Censored off of my desk, I'll be ready to start working on fiction full time again, since I have way too many of those projects waiting to be completed.

One step at a time.
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It's started to warm up a little around here. We've opened the windows once or twice to let things air out. I've even seen the sun a few times, which lends a sense of optimism to any situation. It feels like things are finally starting to look up. I don't know how far up they're going to go, but right now I'll settle for baby steps.

Just a little at a time.

When Being Wrong is a Turn Off

So I might have mentioned that I got a huge stack of library books. I've been working my way through them, returning some and checking out some others. Yesterday I started a new book at work. It's from a series that I was really looking forward to when it came out. I read the first book last year, and I remembered that I had trouble getting into it, but I couldn't remember why. Either way, I picked up the second book and have started it.

Suddenly, I remember the problem.

I am not an authority on history. I know a lot about history, but even of the eras that I might be considered something of an expert on, the Victorian period is not on that list.

So when I find glaring historical inaccuracies in the first five chapters, it is a huge turn off. Things like someone tipping a bell boy what he probably would have made in two days. I remember a similar inaccuracy in the previous book. Gail Carriger explains it far better than I could.

The story is an alternative history; there are some changes that have been made to settings, technology, and the like for the sake of the story. That's fine. But there are a few things that are just. Plain. Wrong.

Just to be sure, I looked up a few things. The story was set in 1897. The average yearly pay in 1900 was $436. Since this is a really fancy hotel in New York we're talking about, I'll give them a benefit of a doubt and even though this is a kid between the ages of 12 and 15 that we're talking about, I'll assume that he's getting the average national pay, even though that average is based on adult, American men, who made the most at that time, and not a kid, likely an immigrant or the child of immigrants.

$436--that's a little over $8 a week (working 40-60 hours; adults worked 60 hour weeks, I'm not sure about kids and teens. Like I said, I'm no expert, I'm just running off of a quick google search and some prior knowledge), or about $1.20 a day.

Now, even if our character only tipped a dollar, that's still most of what he made in a day, and likely a lot more, considering all of the allowances I just made. This character hands out the cash without a second thought. Even if you took it as an act of generosity, it's still extremely unlikely.

Add to the fact that this character is British, and it becomes even more unlikely that he would be handing out paper money to faceless help. The book doesn't indicate that he has been outside of Britain before; the British used primarily coins until the 1920s. A penny would have been considered a good tip, on either side of the pond.

And that was just the first error I found.
 
I haven't decided yet if I'm going to finish this book. Right now I'm giving it three strikes. One more blatant mistake, and back to the library it goes.

If someone knows more about 1897 New York and would like to correct me, feel free to do so. I'd like to give the author the benefit of a doubt, but this is just driving me up a wall.

Buried in Books (and That's the Way I Like It)

I know I said I was scaling back on the writing, but clearly cutting out books is not my intention. This is my upcoming reading list. And that's not even including The Lord of the Rings that's currently sitting by my bed:

Clearly I have enough there to give you at least a book review a week for the next couple of months. Not all of them are books for review; Virals is a Kathy Reichs book that I bought when she was in Beavercreek last year for a signing, and never got around to reading. The books on the 1920s are research for novels that I most certainly am not writing at the moment (I never made any rules about outlining, did I? Or doing character studies, right?), and Pawn of Prophecy is the latest book that Missouri has foisted on me and insisted that I read.

Not shown--a book one of my cousins gave me last summer at our family reunion. I like what I've read by that author previously, but am having trouble getting into Laddie. It's on hold until I finish other things.

At the time of this writing, Missouri is borrowing Mountain Echos by C.E. Murphy; it arrived this morning and since I hijacked her new Karen Chance novel when it arrived, it only seems fair that she get first crack at one of my new books (I can hardly be blamed, really. Fury's Kiss sat unattended in the living room for three whole days and she made no move to read it. A book that good shouldn't be left to gather dust, and once again, Karen Chance did not disappoint).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.

Competition

For about the last month, I've been contemplating taking part in the 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge. I've done if for the past three years, but I haven't successfully completed it since 2009 (though I did come close last year. I was only 2 books shy of the goal). I keep going back and forth, thinking about taking time off to just read with "no pressure" and then changing my mind. I actually kind of like having that list of everything I've read, and it's kind of cool to go back and see what I was reading this time last year. You can kind of track my obsessions that way--such as when I discovered C.E. Murphy and read just about everything she'd written over the course of three weeks (still need to track down the Inheritor's Cycle). I did read several short stories this year, but since I'm only counting actual standalone books for the list, I didn't add them.

Now I find myself three weeks into the new year, and still debating the matter. I'll probably still keep the list, but I probably won't number it and I probably won't track it on the Ravelry group as I have in the past, just keeping the one here on the blog (the link is in the sidebar, if you're curious). The tipping point? I overdid it on the knitting, causing a tendonitis flare up. No knitting. No writing (this is the most significant amount of typing or writing of any sort I've done in about three days, if not longer). What's a girl to do?

Knock a few books off her reading list, of course.

My progress isn't as impressive as I would like, or even what I would have been in college, but I finished two novels in the last two days and I'm most of the way done with a third. I'm trying to get through everything on the bookshelf that I haven't read yet. Next up: Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan.

I probably won't "compete" as such. But I do want to read more this year, and if I can, take more time to write book reviews. I think I might also put together a "to be read" list of books that I want to get through this year. Right now I'm itching for a really good piece of nonfiction. Something that will spark my imagination. I love history, culture, and textiles, especially books that combine all three, and lately I've been wanting to read up on the 1920s and the Victorian era. Maybe I'll look for historical novel the next time I'm at the library.

But first I have to get through my list.

Back Again

Currently Reading: Ghost Moon
On the Netflix: Love and Other Disasters

Between a week of vacation and a week and a half of being sick, I've let a lot of good habits slide in the last month, among them blogging. However, since I've spent the majority of the last two weeks in bed or camped out in front of the TV so there hasn't been lot to blog about to begin with. Trust me, you haven't missed much.

Once I was feeling better and my eyes stopped watering long enough to read more than two or three sentences, I finished Karen Chance's Midnight's Daughter, which is the first book in her Dorina Basarab series. It runs alongside her Cassie Palmer books (reviews found here). At this point I'm not planning on reviewing the series, but I will say Dorina certainly lives up to her forerunner and I can't wait to start reading book 2. (Are you keeping up with the summer releases? I've got a list of my top picks at the end of this post)

In addition to the reading, I managed to finally finish the second sock of the pair I've had on the needles since March. That was an Event, since it started with a massive kitchner fail on the toe and ended with me realizing there was a rather massive error in the pattern that resulted in a-symmetrical socks. They fit fine, they just don't match. So once my fragile knitting ego has recovered, I'll have to rework them. At the moment, however, I can't fathom the idea of knitting those socks again. It's not that I dislike the pattern, it just took so long to work out the cables around the cuff and there was a lot of ripping back. Either way, it will have to wait about two weeks since I've got some deadline knitting on the needles right now. I need to finish a baby sweater for a coworker before A) she goes on leave; B) she goes into labor; or C) I leave for my new job.

That's right, I'll be starting a new job later this month. Same company, different location, different position. And since I like to keep my work life as separate from my online presence as possible, that's all I'm going to say on the matter.

If I fall off the blogosphere again, someone poke me. Why is it that good habits are so hard to start and bad habits are so hard to break?
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(Recent and) Summer Book Releases (For the United States)
Spirit Dances by C.E. Murphy (Okay, so this one is already out, but it was just released so it counts)
Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance (Also newly released)
Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs (So May/June was an exciting time for some of my favorite authors. So sue me)
Fallen by Karin Slaughter (June 21)
Heartless by Gail Carriger (June 28, but already released in some areas)
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher (July 26)
The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (October 4)

If you're part of C.E. Murphy's latest crowdfunding project, she's also released three of the promised short stories thus far as well as a novella called Right Angles to Fairyland. Thus far, these are only available to her crowdfunding sponsors, but cross your fingers that they're released mass market soon!

Reading List

The last week or so I've been pushing to finish some books before I go on vacation. I had a stack of library books to get through (managed just in time! Returned them the day they were due), and some unfinished books I didn't want to take with me. I reached my goal and knocked three books off of my list: The Golden Fleece and the Heroes that Lived Before Achilles by Padraic Colum, The Water Mirror by Kai Meyer, and Dracula by, of course, Bram Stoker.

I've read a lot of mythology books, and The Golden Fleece is by far my favorite. The problem with a lot of mythology books, I've found, is that most of the time no matter how exciting the stories are, the writing simply isn't. This book however was engaging, and I can certainly see how it was the book that got Rick Riordan (of The Lightening Thief fame) into mythology. This book isn't just the Golden Fleece, but includes other stories as well--stories that the heroes told on their long journey, and the last third of the book are short tales about the individual characters that take place after they return home, so you really get a feel for them even if their names aren't familiar when you begin reading.

The Water Mirror is a YA novel I picked up on a whim. I actually saw the third book in this trilogy first, which had the mask from an Egyptian sarcophagus on the cover, but I was sold on this book when I read that the main characters are training to make magic mirrors and magic cloth, respectively. I was a little disappointed by the lack of textile content, but the action and creative story line more than made up for it.

This book takes place in an alternate history, in which an Egyptian pharaoh has risen and is attempting to take over the world. One of the last hold outs is the city of Venice, which is protected by the Flowing Queen. No one knows who or what the queen is, only that she possesses powerful magic and seems to exist in the waters themselves. This alternate Venice is full of magic--stone lions that fly, frighteningly beautiful mermaids, charmed dresses that actually make you slimmer, and of course, magic mirrors, including a blind girl with mirrors for eyes. The pacing was wonderful, the writing imaginative, and I can't wait to get the next book.

The last book I finished was Dracula. If you have any interest in literature, go read it now. Seriously. The beginning is rather slow; I was almost to the halfway point before it really grabbed my interest, but it is well worth the wait. Aside from the fabulous story that earned this novel a place in history, the thing that really intrigued me was the character of Mina Harker. I kept having to remind myself that Dracula was written by a man--the idea of having such a strong woman in a Victorian-era novel is practically unheard of, but she is clearly the heroine of the entire book. Bonus: it involves a typewriter. A couple of them, in fact.

If you want to see the complete list of what I've been reading and links to the reviews, you can find the list here.

Out of the Aether

You might think that I've been out driving cross country since I fell off Planet Internet after that last post, but really I've been at home--haven't been doing much, hence no post.

What I have been doing this week is a lot of reading and writing. I'm planning a mini review of Heather Graham's Bone Island series, but I've still got 2 more books to read, so that will have to wait. Right now I'm working my way through Dracula and a book of mythology. The myth book actually has a forward by Rick Riordan, which I didn't even realize until yesterday because I never read forwards. I read this one, though, because I adore his Percy Jackson books beyond words and I'm dying for the next book in the Kane saga.

I've been doing so much reading and writing lately that I've hardly knit a single stitch (gasp!) but I sketched out three more designs and typed up two vanilla sock recipes so that I can teach Missouri and another friend how to knit socks.

Part of the massive revision I'm doing on my current story involves adding about a dozen knitting patterns, so as soon as I finish revising the pattern I'm writing for Missouri I'll be diving into the list I'm making for my own book. Stay tuned--I've got socks, hats, sweaters, and more laid out. Very exciting stuff!

Coming up Short

Hopefully, I'll do a little bit better with the 2011 reading challenge than I did with the 2010 one. I read 49 books this year, which means I was 3 short of the regular goal and 18 short of my personal goal (mostly because the only reading I had time to do during fall quarter was school related. Hoping to change that, since I'm only taking one class in the spring.

I don't think I have a favorite book of 2010, but I will say that I really, really enjoyed the Carrie Vaugn Kitty books, and I want to get caught up on those this year. Another series I want to catch up on is The Dresden Files (currently reading book four). I also want to read the next books in the Sookie Stackhous series, and I have about a dozen books waiting on my shelf at home, about a third of which are research for a new story.

The biggest surprise was The Girl of the Limberlost, which sat on my shelf for about three months. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The biggest disappointment was probably the Hearse You Came In On, though I thought that Invictus started very strongly and then fell apart about halfway through.

Speaking of reading, last night after a late movie showing, I checked my email and found Year of Miracles waiting in my inbox. YoM is an old races novella that C.E. Murphy wrote for--well, I guess it amounts to subscribers. It's something new she's started doing. She'll make a post on her blog about a story she wants to write, with an estimated word count. Then her fans can donate whatever amount they see fit (I donated $5, I think; I wanted to do more but the post came at a rough time financially). She write the story in a specified amount of time, and then emails it to the subscribers. They are the only ones who get to read it, unless she finds a traditional publisher willing to print it (which could take years). I think this is the second or third novella she's written this way, so it seems to be working for her. I can't wait to read it--You can bet it'll rank early in the 2011 list (right after I find Summer Knight and get some of this research done).

So here is the complete list for 2010:

52 Books in 52 Weeks 2010 Challenge

01. Urban Shaman--C.E. Murphy
02. Soulless--Gail Carriger
03. Fire Study--Maria V. Snyder
04. Grave Watchers--A.K. Alexander
05. Thunderbird Falls--C.E. Murphy
06. Coraline--Neil Gaiman
07. Skinwalker--Faith Hunter
08. Kitty and the Midnight Hour--Carrie Vaughn
09. The Lark and the Wren--Mercedes Lackey
10. The Conservation and Restoration of Textiles
11. The Robin and the Kestral--Mercedes Lackey
12. The Eagle and the Nightingales--Mercedes Lackey
13. Lazy ways to make a living--Abigail Bosanko
14. Luck in the Shadows--Lynn Flewelling
15. Why Do Cats Do That?--Kim Campbell Thornton
16. The Hearse You Came in On--Tim Cocky
17. Frankenstein--Mary Shelly
18. Deja Dead--Kathy Reichs
19. Crewel World--Monica Ferris
20. Kitty Goes to Washington--Carrie Vaughn
21. Death du Jour--Kathy Reichs
22. A Witch in Time--Madelyn Alt
23. Gwenhwyfar--Mercedes Lackey
24. Haunted--Heather Graham
25. Dark Mysteries of the Vatican--H. Paul Jeffers
26. Magic's Pawn--Mercedes Lackey
27. Demon Hunts--C.E. Murphy
28. Kitty Takes a Holiday--Carrie Vaughn
29. A touch of Dead--Charlaine Harris
30. The Undertaker's Gift--Torchwood
31. Grave Secrets--Kathy Reichs
32. Changeless--Gail Carriger
33. A Witch's Guide to Ghosts and the Supernatural--Gerina Dunwich
34. Bare Bones--Kathy Reichs
35. Enchantment Emporium--Tanya Huff
36. A girl of the Limberlost--Gene Straton Porter
37. Kitty and the Silver Bullet--Carrie Vaughn
38. No Greater Love--Danielle Steel
39. Shades of Grey--Jasper Fforde
40. Wizard^2--K.E. Mills
41. The Human Species--John Relethford
42. The Red Pyramid--Rick Riodan
43. Blameless--Gail Carriger
44. The Roaring Twenties--David Pietrusza
45. Desire Sensibility--Souto Narazaki
46. Hetalia--Hidekaz Himaruya
47. Ghost Hunt vol. 10--Shiho Inada
48. Ghost Hunt vol. 11--Shiho Inada
49. Matilda Raleigh: Invictus--Chris Kelly

Honored

Lately I've become obsessed with my stats on blogger. I check at least once a day not to see how many hits I've gotten, but to see where they're from. It boggles my mind that the current standing for this week is as follows:
United States--20
Netherlands--15
United Kingdom--8
Russia--7
Germany--4
Ukraine--4
Latvia--3
Canada--2
Denmark--1
France--1
I might not get a lot of hits on this blog, but it amazes me that there are regular readers of this blog in the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, and the Ukraine (who regularly rank in the top five, flopping back and forth with the UK). I kind of figured that the UK and Canada would be on the list, since they are also English speaking nations, but I thought they'd rank higher. Go Netherlands! You guys are my all time #2 readers.

This came partially because I discovered the stats feature when I was consumed with the travel bug, so since I can't go anywhere I'd stare at the little green bits on the blogger map and try to figure out what I was doing that would attract attention from other parts of the world (obviously, not much, but hey! I'm international now!).

The downside is that it got me kind of nervous. I know nothing about most of the countries on that list. So what do you guys find interesting? What keeps you coming back? I'm kind of blogging in a vacuum here, so if I'm not doing something you'll have to tell me.

No matter what, though, I just wanted to take a minute and say thanks for reading. It amazes me that my life (or my knitting) could be interesting enough for anyone to want to hear about it regularly, but I'm glad that you guys do. Thanks for being out there and for sticking with me.

Halfway Gone

Wow. I knew I was doing poorly on my book goal for this year (both of them, actually, both writing and reading) but I didn't realize HOW poor. November is almost gone and I haven't even broken 40/75 books read yet. And my NaNo editing goal...is stalled after only two chapters. This is mostly because chapter three needs to be almost entirely re-written and I haven't had the time/energy to sit down and rewrite an entire chapter on top of all of the reading I have to do for school (on the bright side, by next week I'll have a text book read which I can ad to my list). At least it will be Christmas break soon, and I'll be able to get some serious reading/writing done then. I'm going to have a brief respite between finals and when I pick up full time hours at work, and I want to spend all of it reading. ALL. Of. It.

For today, though, I'm going to try to finish up the novella I'm supposed to be reviewing for the CFM. I've got about thirty pages left so if I really hunker down I should be able to knock that out before I leave for work. I am enjoying it, I'm just not every good at reading things on the computer (or anywhere else, apparently).

One page at a time

I managed to get through a chapter and a half, and then I dumped Heat Wave. It really just wasn't doing anything for me, so now I'm trying to finish up A Touch of Dead before we start the drive up to Montreal on Friday. I only have one or two more stories left in it, so if I can manage to sit down long enough to read it, it should go quickly.

I keep meaning to have these great, well thought out blog posts with lots to say, but lately, there just hasn't been much to say. I go to work, I write, and in between I watch movies, knit and spin. Right now nothing I'm knitting or spinning is terribly interesting, and I don't have any photos (Note to Self: take pictures of knitting. And while you're at it, update Ravelry).

I did start a new story the other day. It's based off of a dream. I cranked out about seventeen pages in a day (which for me is a lot), then all of my ideas for it skittered out of my head while I was asleep. Go figure. Just means I'll have to do a little more work for this one than I first thought.

Mom and I are off to go garage saling (is that a word?). And here is another little comic for your reading enjoyment--this one is my favorite.


On my ipod: Minority--Greenday
In the DVD player: Charmed, season 5
On the night stand: A Touch of Dead

Stuff and Things

Public service announcement:

Last night while I was at work (in a fairly decent part of town), a woman was waiting to pull into a parking space. This, apparently, pissed off a man who also wanted the space. When she started to get out of her car to come into the store, he tried to climb in and attack her. She called the police, and came inside after he was gone to wait for them, but as far as I know, they never showed up even though she waited at least an hour.

This happened in broad daylight, in a crowded lot, in what is generally considered a "good" part of town.

I would like to take this moment to remind everyone--especially ladies who work evenings, like me--to be safe and watch your backs out there.

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In other news:

The trip to Montreal has me wanting to bring something I wrote the last time I was there out of The Cooler in a style that would make Col. Hogan proud--simple editing isn't enough, oh no. My writing style has matured a shocking amount in three years, so a full re-write is in order. I'm keeping the basic structure, but almost everything needs to be reworded.

As much as I wanted to finish Ghost Hunters, I just couldn't. It follows roughly thirty different scientists and doesn't have a coherent timeline, hopping back and forth between different decades. It just got to be too much, so I returned it to the library.

I finished Kitty Takes a Holiday yesterday. As wonderful as expected, but I feel back for Cormac. And Ben.

Demon Hunts, of course, was fantastic. Very squee worthy. And if I say any more on the subject, I'm going to be spouting spoilers.

I started reading Heat Wave; it's future is iffy. I'm halfway through chapter one. I may not start chapter two. Melodrama, anyone? It doesn't feel like a mystery thriller. It feels like a trashy romance. I'm sort of surprised Nikki Heat is still clothed, not that it matters considering how transparent she is. The comedy and tension that works so well for the tv show does not translate well into literature, at least not the way it's written.

For relief from not-so-great reading material, I also started the book of Sookie Stackhouse short stories, but I'm about as far into that as I am into Heat Wave. Still, it promises much more enjoyment.

On my ipod: Teenagers--My Chemical Romance
In the DVD player: Titanic
On the night stand: A Touch of Dead and Heat Wave

Happiness is a Full Bookshelf

This is my current reading list. I am in the middle of Ghost Hunters, which is a non-fiction account of early paranormal investigators in the Victorian era; I got the itch last night to re-read my favorite Mercedes Lackey book (which also happens to be the first fantasy book I ever read that wasn't Harry Potter), Magic's Pawn. While I was reading it, I totally forgot I'd hoarded some cash in it and $50 fell into my lap. I went to the bookstore today to pick up a joke book (more on that in a minute) and Changeless, which I've only been looking forward to from the instant I finished Soulless. While I was in Borders, I happened by accident on Demon Hunts. I'd forgotten it came out on the 6th. So I snapped that up, too.

On the way in to Borders, we made a stop at the library, because I had a reserve in--Heat Wave. I want to be Richard Castle when I grow up, so I figured I'd give the book a shot. I figure that since it's based off of my favorite tv shows, it'll either be really good or really bad. We'll see.

Waiting in the wings I also have the next Kitty Norville book (Kitty Takes a Holiday), which I'm also eager to start. You just have to love a werewolf named kitty.

And then, my mom handed me a book of Sookie Stackhouse short stories. I love the books so much, I've decided to give the series another try, so the first season is on reserve for me at the library. Should be in just before or just after we get back from Montreal.

Which brings me back to the joke book: We're going up to see my uncle in Montreal the first week of July. I can't wait. If you've been here long, then you might remember my love affair with the city. This will be my first return visit since 2007. My uncle and I are, I guess, the funny ones in the family (that used to include his dad, my grandpa, but he passed away several years ago). He's always nagging me that I don't have jokes for him anymore, when I had tons as a kid. The problem is that grown up jokes are either really...tasteless, in my opinion, or they are more like funny stories, the "you had to be there" type. So, I picked up some new material.

Speaking of funny, here's another comic strip for your entertainment:



Yes, my cat really did pat me on the head while I was cleaning his litter box. I didn't think it was that bad at the time, but I guess I'm not the one who has to use it. :)

On my ipod: 4 Minutes (Glee Cast version)
In the DVD player: Batman: The Dark Knight
On the night stand: Ghost Hunters and Magic's Pawn

Off Topic

Well, I'm just blazing through my 52 books list, aren't I? I'm two weeks behind on the regular challenge, and six books behind on my personal goal. This is partially because the last few days I've been sick, and reading was making my eyes water. I did a lot of knitting, working on two new hats (no pictures yet).

I'm feeling much better now. What I should be reading are books and articles in preparation for my thesis, but it's kind of sad how quickly I've gotten bored with the subject. I got a bit more energized yesterday. We went to the Anthropology lab, and I got to clean part of an iron age skeleton! It was so cool. I also learned some of the male/female markers that can be found on a skull. It was by far the most interesting morning I've had all semester. I really enjoy the hands on classes, especially for archaeology, but the lectures have been putting me right to sleep, especially diagnostics and chemistry. It's either very, very basic chemistry that even I know and have heard five million times, or it's completely over my head and may as well be in Mandarin.

I thought that since I'm doing so poorly on my reading list, that maybe I'd highlight a few of the author blogs that I follow. I'll start on that...tomorrow. Next week. When I make it back here.

The Walker Papers

The long awaited review! If you've been reading the blog for a while, then you probably know that I've been obsessed with this series by C.E. Murphy since I found it last July.

The book opens with sleep deprived Jo, flying home to Seattle from her mother's funeral in Ireland. Looking out the window, she spots a woman about to be stabbed by a man with a butterfly knife, and has no idea that her quest to save this woman's life will change hers forever.

So far the series consists of four books: Urban Shaman, Thunderbird Falls, Coyote Dreams, and Walking Dead, and features our heroine facing everything from Celtic gods to zombies as she struggles to understand the new world of magic that suddenly surrounds her.

These dark forces don't just tear up her every day life, but dredge up her past as well, forcing her grapple with her history and her problems, too.

Book two, which I've just started to re-read, takes place three months after the end of Urban Shaman, and Jo is doing her best to ignore her abilities and the responsibility that comes with them. When she's invited to join a coven, however, she discovers that ignorance isn't always bliss, and the consequences of her actions could be lethal.

I don't want to go into the later books too much, since I'm afraid to give spoilers, but this is one of my all-time favorite series. Every time I read it, I'm inspired to pick up my laptop and write more on whatever story I'm working on. Jo is down to earth, believable, and completely bad-ass. If you like urban fantasy, then you'll love The Walker Papers.

Cowled

Lo and behold, I've been knitting. I whipped up two neck warmers in the past week or so because the archaeological superintendent's building is frickin' freezing. I like v-necks, but my neck and throat are always cold, and my scarf is too bulky for leaning over 2000+ year old ceramics. I have no idea what yarn I used, but the base yarn for each one is a wool blend (the black is wool bamboo, and it's so soft!). By "Wool blend", I mean that it has less than 60% wool, because otherwise I'd be breaking out like crazy. The blue one is still a little scratchy; I don't know if I'll be able to keep wearing it.

I held the wool yarn together with a strand of turquoise and purple linen/cotton ribbon yarn (no idea what it is, either; it didn't have a label when I bought it. It's Italian, though). The neck portion is just k1 p1, and then I shortrowed the portion to cover my chest until it hit my collar. So far, they're working wonders, and cleaning ceramics is much more enjoyable when I'm not shivering.

***

The first thing I did this morning was finish reading Jekyll and Hyde, which I don' recommend. It was a very depressing way to start the day. I really like Stevenson's style, but I think I'm going to have to mix something slightly more cheery in with this collection of short stories.

***

The writing is still stalled. None of my current projects hold much appeal. I need a break from Cassie for a while. In Alice's words, I don't just need to let her get cold, I need to put her on ice. All of my other writing UFO's require severe editing with a plot ax before I can continue with them, and it's a job I don't want to get into at the moment.

***

And thus concludes what is quite possibly my first ever entry to include all three of the subjects this blog is supposed to be about: writing, knitting, and reading.

Funny Stuff

So. I just got out of my exam for On Site conservation, which is all about frescos. The first question on the exam was to name the layers of a fresco and what they are made of: Rinsaffo, Aricho, and Intonico.

Only when I was sitting there at my desk, I had a brain fart. I couldn't remember the name of the base layer (that would be the rinsaffo). Now, usually, the teachers here are kind of lenient when it comes to the spelling of Italian terms, since they realize that not only are most of us mono-linguistic anglophones, but we learning a new technical vocabulary as well. I'm hoping that this holds true for this exam, because even though it was on the tip of my tongue, the only word that would actually come out was "riffuti", which is the Italian word for garbage.

It's probably a good thing that my On Site instructor has a good sense of humor. At the very least she'll get a laugh out of it. Of course, I remembered the proper term as soon as I'd walked out of the classroom.

On the bright side, this means I am officially done with all of my exams. That means the only thing I have to worry about for the next three days is packing and cleaning. The bathroom and kitchen both need cleaned, and the garbage needs to be taken out before it takes over. We did find out that we can leave the things we aren't taking with us over Christmas in the apartment, which is nice since the alternative was leaving them in the damp basement at the school--not an appealing idea since I've got a suitcase of just books.

Hm. Might need to change that before I go home.

Speaking of books, I finished listening to Jason Pomerantz's reading of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I really enjoyed it; I've been putting off reading this book for years, and I'm so glad I finally got to listen to it. He has a lovely voice for narration, though some of his character voices did bug me a little, especially when he was reading the Cowardly Lion, and the King of the Flying Monkeys. It was pretty minor, however, and for the most part it really added something to the listening.

I did download another audio book at the same time, which was Shadowmagic by John Lenahan, who also is the reader. I've only gotten through the first chapter, I but was laughing out loud through most of it. The story is based losly on Celtic mythology, and incorporates both bits of mythology and contemporary characters. I'm trying to save a few chapters to listen to in the airport and on my long, long flight on Monday, but I might break down and listen to a couple more tonight. Each chapter is only 10-20 minutes, so it's completely manageable. If you would rather read a hard copy, you can find it here.

Well, enjoy your weekend, wherever you are. I will be back on Monday or Tuesday, most likely.

Sucked In

There are two things that most people who know me in person probably realize right off the bat. One, I'm an internet addict. I check my email at least five times a day, and spend hours reading blogs and trolling ravelry.

Nothing breaks that habit faster than not having internet access.

Okay, yeah, we have it at school, but that doesn't do me much good on rainy days, when I don't want to take my laptop with me, or when it's after 9 pm, or a weekend, when the school is closed, or when I'm just so darn sick of being in the classroom that I can't stand being in the school one second longer. In those cases, I'll pull up my email on my ipod as I'm walking out the door and call it done.

Second, I'm not a joiner. I didn't start reading Harry Potter until the third book was already in paperback, and when something becomes incredibly popular (like Abercrombi and Fitch, when I was in high school, or Myspace, or even Facebook) I will avoid it as long as possible. I don't want to be a sheep, and I really dislike people who act like sheep. I'm not going to wear certain clothes or listen to certain music or read certain books just because everyone else does (and honestly, the clothes are usually over priced and poor quality, the music sucks, and the author often can't tell the difference between compelling dialog and inane chatter).

It seems, however, that the masses may have gotten one thing right, at least:

Charlaine Harris.

The show seemed marginally interesting, but it couldn't hold my attention. I find that there's something fundamentally wrong with a blond Anna Paquin affecting a southern accent. The only character I really liked at all was Lafayette, and he wasn't enough of a pull to keep me watching.

The books, on the other hand, have pulled me in and kept me there. Alice started buying them from the used anglo book store here in Florence, and has been letting me read them. I've read the first five books in the past week or so, and I don't normally read very quickly. I've been eating these up like I haven't devoured books since high school, with the exception of C.E. Murphy (remind me that I need to wax poetic about her at some point. She's absolutely phenomenal).

And for anyone who's wondering, at this point (having just finished Dead as a Doornail) I would say that I am firmly planted on the side of Team Sam, though I really, really like Eric when he had amnesia (for the record, do NOT get me started on those other vampire novels. You know the ones. Just don't go there. Ever). Oh, and I don't care much for Bill. He kind of makes me want to hurt him.

So far my only real complaint about the series is that it can be a little heavy on the sex scenes, but I was kind of expecting that considering the reputation Sookie and Bill have garnered both on and off screen (also, I really hate the name Sookie, or at least the spelling Ms. Harris chose. But that's just me and I'm dealing with it). Still, the mysteries are compelling, and all of her characters are well developed with some kind of back story. They really come off the page, and Bon Temps feels like a place that you could look up on a map and drive down to on a holiday.

So, if you have any interest in vampire fiction, even if you didn't care for/haven't seen the television series, put down that trash I know you were thinking of reading, and go get Dead Until Dark instead. You'll be glad you did.