Should Have Listened to My Teachers

This is the 3rd attempt at writing this post.  First was on the Blogger iPad app.  2nd was on the laptop.  Now I'm on my phone.  Apparently I have to learn to save my work because my typing disappears after so long.  Odd.  I feel like I'm in Middle School all over again learning to write papers on a Word Processor.  And the teachers always emphasized "Save Your Work"!

I've been trying to say that I miss also linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along on Wednesdays (as well as Tami's Amis WIP Wednesday).  But in order to post about reading I need to actually be reading.  I haven't been able to stick to my goal of reading 20 minutes a day (really blogs don't count.  It needs to be an actual book) .  After the craziness of my life subsides for a little bit in just a few months it should be easier to get back at it.  Not only will reading help me stay busy, but I should actually have the time.

One thing I have discovered this year though was Audible.  Most people in the knitting world have now heard of it.  When I signed up I got one month free and only did it for the read-along book.  Then I went to cancel and it asked why in the survey so I clicked the option that said it was too expensive.  From that, they offered me 3 months at 1/2 price which I think was about $7.50 a month.  Not bad for an audio book so I stuck with it.  I realized how much I enjoyed listening to them.  I mostly listen during chores and when cooking.  So I stayed with it and I think it's definitely worth it.  I listened to about a chapter of one book, didn't touch it for two months because I wasn't really interested and was then able to return it for a new book credit!   Currently I'm listening to Starting Now: A Blossom Street Novel by Debbie Macomber and I'm quite enjoying it.  I almost feel like the Blossom Street novels get better with each book.   The ones I like best though are always when they revisit the characters from the original book.  That's one appeal of a series I suppose.

I've also cast on for a new project this week.  Working on Low Tide by Tin Can Knits.  I checked the measurements and compared them with my Annabelle and I'm actually making the 12 month size.  I was surprised to a.) see how small and lanky my daughter is and b.) see how big the measurements they call for in the pattern were.  I'm really glad I measured.  This is also the first time I'm making something knit in pieces - and blocked parts before I finished knitting.  It sure is interested construction.  I can't wait to pick it back up and finish the body.  It will be a perfect addition to Miss A's vacation ensemble.

Weekly Reads 3

3 Weeks ago I posted about reading Hannah's List. This book has taken me over a year to read. Granted, it was "hibernating" for about ten months of that. I found that a new book and a newborn didn't really go together. But I was determined to finish it because it was one of the Blossom Street Series written by Debbie Macomber.

It was still slow going though. The beginning of this book really is downright slow. That wasn't just me. I had to set reading goals for myself to get through it until I was about 60% through it. Then I couldn't put it down. It is a great story about love, loss and the possibility of finding a second great love of your life. It was good, even inspirational.

But I have one critique. This book did not fit in the series. Not at all. There were characters from the Blossom Street series that really made "cameos" a few times but were not really needed to tell the story. There were a few other obscure connections that I felt the author had to stretch to make. This book would have been quite the same story without being connected to the series and it makes me wonder if the ties are there just because the Blossom Street Series makes more money than her other books. To be fair though, I have thought the same things about another book in the series, Susannah's Garden. Then, later in the series you saw the characters again. My hope is that you see one character, Macy again, interacting with the girls in the Blossom Street yarn shop because I think she would be a great addition to the antics.



Now that I'm done with this book, I'm free to start my next one. And as I've promised my husband, I will read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've seen the first movie, but have never read the book. I don't know how it was never assigned in school. I really just don't. I tried listening to the BBC version of the book, but its not like a typical audio book and I couldn't do it. It was like listening to a movie. Different voices for each character and no narrator, just dialog. It just didn't work for me, so hopefully the book will!

Linking up with Weekly Reads on Good Life Books.

Weekly Reads 2

This will be the second week of Weekly Reads!  I've also decided to add what I'm watching or listening to the weekly post.

Reading:

Hannah's List by Debbie Macomber.  Another in the Blossom Street series, although I don't know if I would exactly call it that.  So far, and I'm half way through, the only relation so far to Blossom Street is that one of the women is the boss of the character Alex who is a main feature in the series.  I haven't seen any other relations to the series, minus the fact that is has the same setting.  I like it.  A simple romance as far as I'm concerned.  I'm hoping to be done with it and have a new book to write about next post.





Listening:

Lady Almina And The Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carvarnon.  I'm obsessed with Downton Abbey and really could add the show to watching, except for the fact that I cheated and watched Series 3 online as it was released in the UK.  I'm a big fan of The Subway Knits Podcast and am helping out with her Downton Abbey Swap.  We decided to also do a read-along Downton related, and after some voting, this was the book chosen.  So far to me, it's a bit slow.  I'm only 3 chapters in and it takes a while for me to get into non-fiction sometimes.  So far its more about the history and how marriage works amongst the social class of the era.  It is fun to compare parts of the book to the show!  And the narrator is great!  Venusfueri (on Ravelry), who records the podcast wrote that Wanda McCaddon (the narrator of the audio book for Lady Almina) "is the perfect balance between posh and stuffy.  This will be a slower read, since we are doing 3 chapters a week to discuss.


Watching:

Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  I joined a group my friend started on Facebook, and started doing the shred video yesterday. Jillian kicks your ass!  If you want to sweat and you want to hurt, check it out.  You are supposed to do this video for 20 minutes a day, for 30 days straight - no rest days!  That is going to be my hardest challenge.  There are 3 levels, and you work each level for 10 days.  Most videos don't give you a variety.  I think it's nice that once you might be starting to get bored with the same exact thing you move up to a more challenging, all over new routine!  It's great doing this with a group because we get support from 15 others to keep at it!

Another Addition

I've recently started reading the blog Good Life Books  (check out the whole blog.  Great recipes as well!) as a hopeful kick in the bum to add more reading in my life.  Yesterday she posted about a new weekly meme Weekly Reads hosted by her and Life Your Way (a blog I intend to peruse a bit now).  Basically we just blog about what we are reading, want to read and whatnot.  Not much different than our WIP Wednesday posts most of us are so familiar with, but with books.  She explains better than I, so go check out her post.

Alot of you may be thinking that this isn't much different than the Yarn Along Meme I've participated in.  Well, it is and it isn't.  The Yarn Along Meme is a combination of knitting and reading, not to mention it gets a bit outranked by WIP Wednesdays.  I still really enjoy GSheller's Small Things blog but in an effort to really concentrate on life as a whole instead of having life and having knitting, and really try to make reading more a reachable 2013 goal, I thought participating in the Weekly Bookclub would allow me to put more of a concentration on books.

Asked on the first post "Do you have a list of to-read books?" the answer is yes!  Yes, yes, a million times yes!  And the list will never end.  And I will never read everything on it.  So in the best interest of being realistic I'm not even going to post a list for 2013.  I'm going to post a very short list.  For the near future.  Mostly because I've already started (if you count 1 or 2 chapters as starting) a few of these.

Lets start with currently reading:

1.  Hannah's List by Debbie Macomber - seriously, I started this book in April according to my Goodreads account.  But I am actively reading it now, again.

2. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carvarnon - just started listening to this audiobook as part of a Subway Knits RAL.


To Finish:
1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - I picked this up as soon as I finished Hunger Games.  Then I picked it back up with the movie came out.  Next time I'm sure I'll finish!


To Read:
1.  The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - because no - I've never read it.  Now I've seen the movie though.  It has to count for something right?  I'm one of the very few children who didn't get the privilege of being forced to read this book as required classroom reading in school.

2. Continuation of the Blossom Street series.  Maybe the next book, maybe finish the series.  There are only two more.  We will see where the year takes me.

3.  Another Non-fiction book.  I don't read many non-fictions, but the few I do read always tend to resonate with me.  Sometimes they even become my favorite books.  So I'd like to actively attempt to at least read one this year, apart from Lady Almina.

That my list.  Short.  Sometimes a bit vague. But hopefully my year will consist of this reading plus some.