Coraline

Book: Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Pages: 162
Finished: January 2009
Challenges:
**Unshelved Books
**Winter Reading Challenge
** Dewey's Books
** Read and Review Challenge
** Support Your Local Library
** To Be Read

First Sentence: " Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house."

Last Sentence: "...telling the world that summer was almost done."

I enjoyed this creepy little book. I would say that this story about a little girl who finds an alternate world to her real one with button eyed "other parents" is spooky but not scary! I am not about scary books which is why I can boast that I have never read a Stephen King novel. But a little creepy, I can handle. Coraline is a wonderfully brave and clever little girl and makes for a great hero in the story. She longs for adventure and attention and gets both when she opens the hidden door! She finds herself in the position of finding and rescuing 3 lost little souls and her own real parents with twists and surprises around every corner on her mission. Will she succeed? Only those who read the book will know!

Reading Event

EDITED: January 31, 2009
I finished 3 books that qualified as novels--(actually 2 of them are probably only novellas but I am counting them!)
Click on my titles below to see my reviews.


A month of novels! Here is a little event for the month of January, hosted by Foma. Hop on over to look at the rules and sign up.

In short: The rules are really, really simple. All you have to do is read a novel in the month of January.

1. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (a little novella)
2. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
3. Coraline

passion

This week's Weekly Geek is inspired by Dewey's Knit-a-Long, a mini challenge of Dewey's Reading Challenge. Dewey had other passions besides reading and blogging. Knitting was one of them. This made me think, what are the Weekly Geek's other passions?

#1. What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea.'

Tell us why you're passionate about it. Post photos of what you've made or of yourself doing whatever it is you love doing.

#2. Get us involved. Link to tutorials, recipes, Youtube videos, websites, fan sites, etc, anything that will help us learn more about your interest or how to do your hobby. Maybe you'd like to link to another hobbyist whose work you admire or tell us about a book or magazine related to your interest.

#3. Visit other Weekly Geeks. Link in your post to other Geeks who've peaked your interest in their passion. Or maybe you might find a fellow afincionado among us, link to them.

This is an interesting question! Obviously I am passionate about books and reading, but I also take great pleasure in needle crafts.

The first stitching art I learned was cross-stitching. Actually I taught myself with a kit, right after I got married. I have cross-stitched many things over the past 26 years--baby samplers, towels, ornaments, treat bags and wall hangings. My all time favorite designers are Shepherd's Bush and I when visiting their site I find myself drooling! Here are some of the patterns from them I have finished:

(pictures are from their website)

The other craft I love, but don't have enough time for, is quilting! Several friends from church are avid quilters but I think that quilting will have to sit on the back burner for me until I have a sewing room.

Last year, my daughter gave me a gift certificate to take a knitting class for beginners for Mother's Day. I did it and think knitting could be well on its way to being a passion for me. I still get a bit frustrated when I make mistakes and then can't fix them on my own, but in time I will get better at it--this my daughter assures me. I posted about my latest project here and spotlighted some fun knitting books I found on my library's shelves here.

There you have it. What are you passionate about? Have you joined in the weekly fun with Weekly Geeks? If you are interested, check out the homepage.

more treasures

I am late to post, but wanted to share a couple of books I found while browsing around the web. I promptly went to paperbackswap.com and placed orders for them!
You can find more great spotlighted books by visiting MizB over at Should Be Reading. She is the hostess of this event each Friday.

1. The Strangeness of Beauty: a novel by Lydia Minatoya

2. The Frog Prince by Jane Porter
( a fun looking little chick-lit book)



















3. Talking to the Sun by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell















4. My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson

Queen of the Road

Book: Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion
Finished: January 2009
Pages: 304
Challenges:
** A-Z Challenge
** 20 in 2009 Challenge
** Winter Reading Challenge
** Read and Review
** To Be Read

First Sentence: "When my long-dreaded thirtieth birthday arrived, I really wasn't as upset as I imagined I'd be, for I had achieved a much more important milestone: my sartorial centennial."



Last Sentence: "Now I am truly Queen--of the Road--and proud of it."


A fun, marriage affirming story. I love how the author's view of life and what is important changed and became more genuine and simple. This was a great memoir and one that would be a great vacation read.

"Two psychiatrists driving a motor home around America, and you're still wondering whether to buy this book? Step on the gas and go straight to the register." –Jeff Arch, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, Sleepless In Seattle

“His dream — he’s always wanted to see America in a converted bus — and her nightmare —she has a bus phobia — and their mid-life crisis on wheels, make for a hilarious reading adventure.” –Mary-Lou Weisman, author of Traveling While Married

"Beneath its fun and frothy exterior, you'll find in this wild ride across America's highways and byways a lovely portrait of a marriage that treats its ups and downs with humor and grace." - Elle Magazine

Discoveries in my mailbox

This has been a little bit of a slower week for book deliveries to my house but here are 3 that I was happy to receive. All of them arrived via paperbackswap.com.





1. Lantern Slides: stories by Edna O'Brien














2. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson ( I discovered this book over at Margaret of BooksPlease)











3. Rory & Ita by Roddy Doyle

friends

Well, I certainly do not appear worthy of this award as Molly awarded it to me clear back on January 7th and I am just now blogging about. Molly is a fairly new book blogger but she already has quite a following and I am one of those followers. I really enjoy reading what she has to say and boy I wish I could review a book like her!


I am tagging a blog which is kind of new to me, but I would love to have Robin as a buddy.

Robin at A Fondness For Reading
Robin's blog is very visually pleasing and a joy to read. I also love the comments she leaves on my blog AND she is a knitter too. :)


Another blog I am giving it to is Nymeth at things mean a lot.
This is another beautiful blog with an ethereal feel and Nymeth is a real sweet gal. We don't read very many of the same books but I love reading what she has to say each time I visit.

Okay ladies--the rules are simple.

Rules to participate:

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. Award up to ten other blogs.

4. Add links to those blogs on yours.

Everyone else...visit these great blogs and have fun while you do!

teaser time

It is Tuesday and time to give you a tempting peek into the book I am reading. The rules for this weekly event are found over at Should Be Reading. The most important thing to remember when doing this is to not give any spoilers!!!


My teaser this week is from Coraline by Neil Gaiman.
From page 24

"Coraline? Oh there you are. Where on earth were you?"

"I was kidnapped by aliens," said Coraline. "They came down from outer space with ray guns, but I fooled them by wearing a wig and laughing in a foreign accent, and I escaped."

up next

What's On Your Nightstand is a monthly event hosted by 5 Minutes for Books. This is a great event to look at book picks from all over the web. So if you are looking for recommendations for your next read, click on over and start visiting the link. Better yet, show us what is on your nightstand too!








Up next for me are several books I have really been looking forward to reading.
1. Olive Kitteridge
2. A Wizard of Earthsea
3. Coraline
4. The Zookeeper's Wife
5.Big Fish
6. Agnes Grey

book lending

A few weeks back we had a question about borrowing books, this week I was wondering what your policy was on lending books. Do you lend books to anyone? Just friends? Only big readers? How long are they allowed to have them?


This is a pretty straight forward question for me. Yes! I will lend books to people. I have never had to worry about what to do with a friend of a friend request as for the most part it is just my daughter, son-in-law, grandmother and best friend Jodi who want to borrow books from me. Jodi will call me up and ask is she can come down to the "Kim library" and look for a book to read. I have on numerous times caught my daughter and her husband perusing the shelves of my husband and mine and I think they have even snuck a few books out of my house without my knowing! ;) I have no time limits and no organized system for keeping track of who has what--I just figure they will return to me someday.

Happy reading everyone. Join in the fun of Musing Mondays by visiting Rebecca at Just One More Page.

knitting fun

To continue in the knitting spirit I displayed in my previous post, I thought I would share with you the books I have found at the library which I mostly drool over because in most of them the projects are WAY above my skill level.




Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding

This book has sumptuous sweaters, hats, booties, stuffed animals, and an adorable little jumper. The yarns used are organic and are gorgeous muted colors. If you have someone tiny to knit for, you must go to your library and check this book out! I hope to get my knitting skills up to this level before I am a grandmother because I will want to knit some of these projects.

















Chic Knits for Stylish Babies by Patricia Wagner













Quirky and brightly patterned baby clothes abound in this book--almost the opposite from the style in the book above and oh-so adorable! The cover outfit is not one of the best ones although I love the funky little cat hat. This book did not get quite as many rave reviews on Amazon as the one above regarding the clarity of the directions and it sounded like you really need to be a seasoned knitter to tackle these projects.




Kids Knitting: projects for kid of all ages by Melanie Falick













This book has some fun projects for kids and would have been a fun to learn to knit along with my daughter when she was younger with this book. I especially love the garter stitch dolls (bunny, bear, gingerbread man, girl doll) and the owl and pussycat bath puppets!


The Knitter's Companion by Vicki Square











This small little book is chock full of information, explanations, diagrams and definitions. Sure to help any beginner knitter.

knit one, purl two...

As part of the Dewey's Books Challenge I am participating in the Dewey's Knit-a-Long mini-challenge. As I mentioned previously, I am a fairly new knitter. Everyone at work it seems was knitting, including my talented daughter, who ended up giving me a knitting class for Mother's Day last year. This found me knitting a very warm and thick scarf during the very HOT month of June! I then became a bit more confident and discovered I could make those adorable little dishcloths I have always admired. So I spent the summer knitting those with the ever growing desire to knit something bigger and even more useful...a bag! I love purses and bags and would be embarrassed to show you my bag shelf in my bedroom closet. Suffice it to say that my theory is that you can never have too many bags. My daughter finished an adorable little bag that I greatly admired and she copied the pattern for me. I ventured out to purchase the very expensive silk yarn and then became too chicken to try it--just couldn't bring myself to start casting on.

Well! That all changed Thursday night as I participated in craft night after work. We had a potluck dinner and then everyone brought out their knitting. Including me! So, I have begun my bag, in honor of Dewey.

First of all, here is an adorable little folding craft bag my daughter made and gave me for Christmas!

Here is a picture of the bag I am making....

The yarn.....

How far I have gotten since Thursday night.....

A dishcloth book I found at JoAnn Fabrics, front and back...

Cotton yarn for some of those dish cloths....

How about you? Do you knit? If so, what do you like to knit? Inquiring minds want to know!

poetry

The Chickadee

Piped a tiny voice hard by,
Gay and polite, a cheerful cry,
"Chic-chickadee-dee!" Saucy note
Out of a sound heart and a merry throat,
As if it said, "Good day, good sir.
Fine afternoon, old passenger!
Happy to meet you in these places
When January brings new faces!"

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Poetry Friday is hosted by Laura today.

Since “Inspiration” is (or should) the theme this week … what is your reading inspired by?

My reading is inspired by authors who have the ability through the written word to transport me to another place or time or both! I love creativity with prose and story line structure also. But most of all I want to be able to enjoy myself while lost in another's words. Sometimes though that means tears and other times it means laughter out loud!

these books were made for walking

I visited Marge tonight and saw that she had found a fun new monthly meme to play along with. I thought I would give it a whirl and play too. It is called These Books Were Made For Walking and is hosted by Strumpet.

She says:
So, I thought I'd try something new.

We review books, and stuff in WoW all the time, and I KNOW you all travel at least a LITTLE bit sometimes. So, every third Wednesday of the month (a random day I didn't find associations with another meme) I thought we could blog about a book and travel in some way. This first week's theme is:

what book do you most associate with the beach and why?


Well, I don't have any specific books I re-read at the beach. I usually take a book along which I have been waiting to read--one that feels like a real treat. It needs to be a lighter read--no heavy classics for me on vacation, especially one that involves water fun. I have spent 25 years keeping a watchful eye on my kids while they played in water-although now that the youngest two are age 16 and 13 I don't need to keep quite the intense watchful eye-old habits do die hard though!

This past summer we took the boys to a little town in Eastern Washington which has a great outdoor water park with no long lines of kids--(unlike the parks in our Seattle metro area)for a little 2 day mini-vacation . I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society then and it was the perfect read for a vacation in the sun. (I of course need to sit under an umbrella as I can't take the heat of the sun blasting down on me anymore.)

One summer about 9 years ago, my parents took me along with them on their vacation to Florence Oregon on the coast for a week. I quickly was immersed in the last novel that Rosamunde Pilcher wrote, Winter Solstice. It was a perfect beach read.

Let me know if you decide to play along. I would love to read your answer.

discoveries in my mailbox

Because I once again could not get my act together for mailbox Monday I am doing my "discoveries in my mailbox" on Wednesday!







First up, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams



Second, The Secret Years by Judith Lennon













Third, The Big House by George Howe Colt














Fourth, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle













Fifth, A Summer in the Country by Marcia Willett

a peek between the covers

I am thoroughly enjoying the book I an reading--a memoir called Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion. From page 116:

" It was just as well that Tim helped my mom shop for furniture: To say our house where I grew up in Great Neck, Long Island was the laughing stock of the neighborhood would be like saying Kiss's costumes are only slightly over the top."


If my teaser doesn't induce you to check out this book, maybe these quick reviews highlighted on Amazon will! :

"Two psychiatrists driving a motor home around America, and you're still wondering whether to buy this book? Step on the gas and go straight to the register."
–Jeff Arch, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, Sleepless In Seattle

"A Charles Kuralt-Albert Brooks-style romp where they meet up with nudists, robbers and more. Required Reading." -The New York Post

"Beneath its fun and frothy exterior, you'll find in this wild ride across America's highways and byways a lovely portrait of a marriage that treats its ups and downs with humor and grace." - Elle Magazine


For more teasers and future books for your tbr pile, visit MizB at Should Be Reading.

"sick" reading

How does your being sick (or injured) affect your reading? Do you read more? Less? Do you pick out a different book than you had already planned? Do you have a "comfort book" that makes you feel better?





Any excuse I can find to lay around and read is a good one! Actually, it depends on why I am needing to lay around. If I am queasy with a stomach flu, then no, there is no reading. I must then lay perfectly still with my eyes closed and no one should talk to me or jiggle the bed. Once the worst of it is over and I am just in the recuperating--getting my strength back stage I can read again.

If I just have a cold and cough type virus then you bet I read--and quite a bit as evidenced by last March when I was sick in bed for almost 2 weeks with something cruddy. My reading tally for that month was at least double that of normal months. (I also intersperse my lazing around with movies and t.v. too!)

When I had major surgery 7 years ago I had a lengthy recuperation time and once again I read alot--in between watching television. I couldn't do a lot that required mental thought for the first week or so as I was on some pretty strong pain killers.

There are no set comfort books--I just read whatever I have that sounds entertaining--most likely I will put down a heavier type book in exchange for something lighter or chick-lit.

How about you? What do you do when you are sick? Rebecca from Just One More Page is our hostess--hop over there, grab the button and play along each Monday with us!