2011 Combo Challenge

[Gardener]

Oooh...Josephine Tey. I've only read a couple of her books, but she is good. My kids read her "Daughter of Time" in 7th grade, when they are studying the Richard III era of history.

 

Is this one a mystery? I'm not familiar with it.

 

Yes, it's a mystery. I finished that one and started another called "The Singing Sands" which has the same main character, Inspector Alan grant. I found these in my piles of books that I purchased from yard sales last year.

 

I read a review of "Daughter of Time" and it sounds unusual.

[Gardener]

Tina, I taught myself to knit last year, but I am still very slow at it. I haven't yet mastered knitting in the round though. I am pretty clumsy, so I suspect that more than two needles will be a challenge for me.

 

I read "The Shop on Blossom Street" a few weeks ago, and enjoyed it, but I find Debbie Macombers books to be a little too predictable to read one after the other, so it will be a while before I check book two out of the library.

 

What baby sweater pattern did you end up trying?

 

So far the most complicated thing that I've knit were a pair of baby booties.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Two more books to report on: Captured by the Highlander by Julianne MacLean. This book follows up on one of the main characters in Claimed by the Highlander and developes more of the theme of the times following the Scottish uprising that sought to put the Stuarts back on the throne in Scotland. A well written book with lots of unexpected twists and turns. 5 stars. And Death of a Glutton by M.C. Beaton. The cover says "Her table manners were a crime. But she didn't deserve to die...." Her table manners are atrocious and her personality isn't much better. This is a short, fast-paced book and a fun read. I didn't have a clue as to who did the dirty deed. Nor why. I found the book along with 4 others by the same author in a book I unpacked a couple of weeks ago. Doesn't look like I ever read them up until now and I bought them 9 years and 2 moves ago. I've started another one, Death of a Hussy. We'll see if it lives up to the first one. 4.5 stars.

[ImmaFreek]

I'm going to start reading "hey good looking" by fern michaels. I have no clue what it's about so I'll have to post if it's good or not

[judianne]

I've started Friendship Bread by Darien Gee. I like it so far, which is good since it was my book club pick for June:lol

[JulieKay]

Hi ladies

Sorry I have been MIA for so long. Havent done any reading for quite awhile either -some of you have known me a long time,so are used to my MIA spells ... to those of you who havent known me as long , I tend to let life bog me down sometimes and I hibernate until i can pull myself together again . Got lots of issues but aint in the mood to even think about them right now, so we will leave sleeping dogs lie .

 

I have actually started a new book this week, which is also a good sign.When things get to me, I can't even read because my brain goes on overload and I allow the troubles to affect everything in my life .

 

BUT, thankfully I may be starting to get a grip again,and found a new book that I got on my kindle -Called DOC --I think the author's name is Mary Doria Russell ??

Anyhow it is a story about Doc Holliday. I LOVE reading about the Old West and cowboy days,so it is right up my alley .

 

Sorry I dont have time to do a backup and read all the posts I missed -- will try to get to that this weekend. My grandson is here now,so he gets all the attention .

 

Hope you all are doing well and you have a good weekend. We actually have SUNSHINE today,so it looks great outside !

 

Will stop in later -

[judianne]

Hi, Jules:hug:manyheart

[JulieKay]

HiYa Jude

 

Bet Heidi has been keeping you busy lately !

[judianne]

HiYa Jude

 

Bet Heidi has been keeping you busy lately !

that is so right on:lol

[busy-bee-lmt]

Okay. Finished Death of a Hussy by M.C. Beaton. Another quick read. And again I didn't have a CLUE as to WHO the murderer was or WHY the two that got murdered got murdered. Didn't even come CLOSE. And the only person I had ruled out as the murderer ended up dead, which really threw me for a loop. I could NOT come up with any kind of an explanation at all for that death. The first one I had a guess as to why, even if it wasn't the right why. And the attempt on the third person also made no sense to me. I have to give it 5 stars.

[JulieKay]

Linda

Good for you for completing another book. You are doing great ! I can never firgure out mysteries til they tell me at the end who it was who was the bad guy .

 

I like some of the catchy titles they use for the mysteries .. I saw one at the library one day that was called :

I still Miss My Man,But My Aim is Getting Better .

[Gardener]

Linda

Good for you for completing another book. You are doing great ! I can never firgure out mysteries til they tell me at the end who it was who was the bad guy .

 

I like some of the catchy titles they use for the mysteries .. I saw one at the library one day that was called :

I still Miss My Man,But My Aim is Getting Better .

 

Julie, I read that book a while back, because of the title. I don't remember it at all though.

 

Linda, I have read a number of M C Beaton's books, and I've been clueless each time.

[crochet321]

Tina, I taught myself to knit last year, but I am still very slow at it. I haven't yet mastered knitting in the round though. I am pretty clumsy, so I suspect that more than two needles will be a challenge for me.

 

I read "The Shop on Blossom Street" a few weeks ago, and enjoyed it, but I find Debbie Macombers books to be a little too predictable to read one after the other, so it will be a while before I check book two out of the library.

 

What baby sweater pattern did you end up trying?

 

So far the most complicated thing that I've knit were a pair of baby booties.

Hey Cindy,

I'm still pretty slow at it too. Patterns will say you can knit this up in a weekend and I'm thinking it will take me at least a week. Knitting in the round is tricky. The firsst baby hat was knit straight and then seamed so it was fairly easy. The cupcake hat was done in the round. I decided to use double points just to teach myself how to use them. I found the hardest part was not letting my work slip off the end put I put point protectors on the ends I wasn't using and that solved that.

 

The baby sweaater I decided on came out of a pattern book I checked out of the library Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss. The pattern is called jaacket with seed stitch bands. I loved the look of the seed stitch. It may end up being more challenging than I can handle but I've got my fingers crossed. Seaming the sleeves to the jacket and picking up stitches for the neck edging have me worried .

 

You are right about the Debbie Macomber books being predictable. I had to put her aside for a while. I've started reading The Diary of Anne Frank. It was on a banned book list that I found on the internet I just can't remember where it was banned. I picked this book because I've had it on my to read list for a long time. I'm not far in yet maybe 40 pgs. She seems so insightful. She is struggling with her relationship with her mother and I can relate to her in that respect. My dd and I seem to butt heads every time we speak, but it's only because she knows everything and I know nothing (haha). I try to tell her I was once her age but she seems to think I was born an adult, and a boring one at that. Well, I seem to have gotten off subject. Sorry about the venting, I guess it helps to get it out sometimes.

[Gardener]

Tina, my kids are grown up now, but they also went through a period where they were convinced I was clueless. Luckily it passes. And you're right, it helps to vent sometimes.

 

Good luck with the baby sweater. If you have trouble picking up stitches, I think you could find a you-tube video to help you. Seems like there are videos for everything on there.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Linda

Good for you for completing another book. You are doing great ! I can never firgure out mysteries til they tell me at the end who it was who was the bad guy .

 

I like some of the catchy titles they use for the mysteries .. I saw one at the library one day that was called :

I still Miss My Man,But My Aim is Getting Better .

I usually do fairly well at figuring out who done it or at least come close. But not with these books.

Julie, I read that book a while back, because of the title. I don't remember it at all though.

 

Linda, I have read a number of M C Beaton's books, and I've been clueless each time.

Thank you. It's good to know that I'm not the only one to be clueless with these books.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Finished another book yesterday: The Broken Crown, The Sun sword: Book One by Michelle West. Definately 5 stars. Very hard to put down. Can't wait to pick up the next one and see where this goes. The characters are beautifully crafted and the there are plots within plots within plots.

[judianne]

forgot to post that I finished Friendship Bread by Darien Gee the other day.

I'm not usually into relationship books, but I thought this was pretty good and the friendship bread was a different angle, which was nice.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Finished The Farseer: Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb. 5 stars. It's one I've read before, but it's been so long ago that I didn't remember any of it. A wonderful read. Now I have to find the next one.

[Krakovianka]

I've been crocheting for the doily swap until I was sidelined this week because Clarissa (age 7) came down with chicken pox. It hasn't been a fun week, and now she is at the i'm-really-bored-and-i'm-going-to-shout-and-bounce-because-i'm-too-full-of-energy stage, but she's still got loads of blistered spots and is quite contagious, and therefore confined to the house.

 

For escapism, I bought and read something a little outside of my norm this week--Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. It's a sort of post-apocalyptic/dystopian story, in which society is a "colorotocracy," based on the spectrum of color, because people can only see one natural shade. It's really a weird place, and all is not well. I enjoy some of Fforde's humor (and there is humor in this book), but after reading one of his Thursday Next books, I decided I could only handle him on a limited basis--this is only the 2nd of his books I've read. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars--pretty good, but not great.

 

I'm listening to a Mary Roberts Rinehart story that's not exactly a mystery at librivox. It's called The Breaking Point, and deals with some weird concepts of psychology that they were playing around with after WWI. (Memory loss, suppressed memory, etc...)

 

I'm thinking of reading EM Forster's Passage to India soon...anyone read that one?

[ddc]

Karen, I read Passage to India for one of my novels classes way back in college. I more or less enjoyed it then, but I have it now on audio waiting in the wings to listen to. I think, with many more years of life experience and a lot more knowledge on India and it's culture, I'll enjoy it more now - at least be able to pick up things I missed back then.

 

I've downloaded some public domain novels recently by writers who were involved in the all the Church of England controversies back in the Victorian era. I read a fair number of them along the way of my degree, and thought I would revisit the genre a bit. Most of them are absolutely dreadful as novels, but I just read Charlotte Yonge's The Heir of Redclyffe which was much better than I expected, with more interesting characters.

 

I guess I'm kind of in a spiritual themes groove in fiction lately - I also just finished listening Colleen McCulloch's The Thorn Birds. It was interesting too, but I have to admit, I think I enjoyed Charlotte Yonge more. I'm a sucker for Victorian fiction.

 

I finally got a pic of my last hospice lapghan, finished maybe a month ago - it kept my hands busy through a lot of audio books. It's my first granny stripe.

[judianne]

Hi, Donna...did you post a pic of your GS ghan anywhere?

[ddc]

oh - I thought I had the picture attached to the last post. Apparently not. I'll try again. I haven't had any completed projects to brag about for a long time.

[judianne]

I love it!! :clapI'm especially fond of bright colors....

[Gardener]

oh - I thought I had the picture attached to the last post. Apparently not. I'll try again. I haven't had any completed projects to brag about for a long time.

 

It looks great!

[busy-bee-lmt]

oh - I thought I had the picture attached to the last post. Apparently not. I'll try again. I haven't had any completed projects to brag about for a long time.

Gorgeous afghan!