Some Yarn & a Good Book
Whit
,
This yarn is fabulous. It is Homespun by Lion brand (they have tons of free patterns) and, although I was warned by the girl at the checkout counter that it was "really hard to work with" - I haven't really had any trouble with it. Of course, I'm not trying to knit with it and I'm using an "N" hook.
The pattern I'm using is HERE if you want to see what the end result is supposed to look like.
The book is "Miss Julia Throws a Wedding" (did you know that most used books sell cheaper in hardcover than paperback?) the third in the Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross. It is pretty good so far. These are cozy mysteries with no murder so they're VERY light reading. Thanks, Candi, for the recommendation! I am always looking for new authors - so post some of your favorites. I love mysteries (I think it goes with being a yarn and cat lover, but correct me if I'm wrong about that), historical fiction, classic literature (I lean heavily towards Jane Austen), light sci-fi, fantasy and the back of cereal boxes.
Check out anything by Elswyth Thane. She wrote most of her stuff back in the 40's and 50's and alot of it is historical fiction. Her Williamsburg series is incredible...follows the same family from just before the revolutionary war to after WWII. There's always copies on ebay, even of the out of print ones.
Still feeling pretty bad. I guess I can console myself with my crochet and reading (unfortunately, it's not audio so I can't do both)....
Thanks for the recomm. Sharon!
I HATE Historical Fiction, it's boring. I like Fantasy and the back of cereal boxes (except some of them are really boring...).
I love some fantasy too, have any of you ever read any of Stephen Donaldson's book? He did the Thomas Covenant, White Gold Whelder series, and the through the mirror trilogy, can't remember the titles.
Yes, I read the Thomas Covenant books. Kind of heavy, but very good. I haven't read those in years. Hmm... maybe I'll have to check them out when I get to the bottom of my list - which has gotten quite long over the past few weeks.
Wow, talking about Donaldson reminded me that quite awhile ago Johnny mentioned that he'd heard Donaldson was starting some new Covenant books. I just did a search online and the first one has already been published, it is supposed to be the first of a quartet of books about Thomas Covenant's son, now grown up. It's called "The Runes of the Earth". I'm so excited! I probably should read all the old books first but they say the prologue in the new one is good enough to not need the old books as reference. His fantasy books are a two-book set, "The Mirror of Her Dreams" and "A Man Rides Through" - excellent. I love sci-fi but I never could get into his space series.
Wow!!! I will definitely look up the old ones first - and the ones of his I never read. Thanks, Sharon!!
Another good mystery series is by the Italian author Andrea Camilleri. It's heavy reading (I wouldn't let the kids read it because some of the language is harsh), but Inspector Montalbano is a great (but highly flawed) character.
Hooray, more to add to my list - growing by the day. Thanks!
Another series that is very light reading is the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. There are, I believe, 11 books currently in the series. I didn't think I'd like them, but a friend convinced me to try them and they are quite amusing.
I just asked Doug if he had any suggestions and in between bathing Alex and trying to stay dry, he suggested Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series (which is not bad) and Anne Perry's William Monk and Thomas Pitt series' (also not bad) (Anyone see the movie Heavenly Creatures? It was about Anne Perry.)
He also suggested The Historian, which is on the bestseller list as a stand alone mystery. I haven't read it yet. I've got it on hold at the library. I'll let you know how it turns out once I get it.
I've read all of Janet Evanovich's books and enjoyed them. Her mysteries are somewhere between a cozy mystery and Sue Grafton (who I enjoy, but she is more hard-boiled than Evanovich).
Thank Doug for his recommendations.
The Inspector Montalbano series sounds interesting I'll have to check that out. "The Rule of Four" is good, I can't remember the authors' names, but it's been on the bestseller list lately. Also, I loved "The Time Traveler's Wife", although the end was a bit harsh. I wanted to make sure I had something to read on the plane out to California next week, so now I've got all sorts of options after all these suggestions!
The Time Traveler's Wife was too much for me. I have it on audio. Too graphic. The ending was sad.
I should say about TTW - VERY well written.
I loved the beginning or actually the first half or so of TTW, but the last half kind of undid all the good feelings for me. But I loved the way it was written.