Tuesday, March 28, 2006

I Laughed! I Cried! I'm Not Making This Up!

12:20 a.m. / 00:20

I don't usually hop on blogger and report on books the minute I finish them, but I couldn't wait this time. I just read Frindle by Andrew Clements, cover-to-cover, tonight, and I'm too wound up to go to sleep without getting this out of my system first.

If you love language and hilariously clever kids, then you absolutely must read Frindle. This is a children's book, barely over 100 pages, but it will tickle language arts geeks of any age. I think I have to call this one a must read!


When the initial thrill has worn off, I'll probably regret this confession, but I tell you honestly that I hugged the book when I finished it-- even though it's a library copy and it's got some kind of gunk stuck to the back. Booklover that I am, it is not every day that I actually hug a book.

Okay, go read Frindle.

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Wednesday, March 22, 2006

My Rules (And Breaking Them)

12:10 a.m. / 00:10

Rule #1: I may not purchase a book by an author that is new to me. I must read a book by that author from the library first.

Rule #2: I may not purchase a book by an author if I already own at least one book by that same author that I have not read yet.

I made these rules for myself sometime around the holidays, and have been attempting to stick to them ever since. I have succeded on many occasions, and for that I consider them a near success.

However, I have also broken them more than once. For example, with my Christmas gift cards, I decided to purchase a Terry Pratchett book. There were so many to choose from! I couldn't get just one of them. Thus, Rule #2 was broken when I bought three of them. Just last night I broke Rule #1. I had had a somewhat unpleasant day, and found myself in a bookstore attempting to console myself by buying books. I bought a book by Marian Keyes, and another by Jane Austen.

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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

In Her Shoes-- The Movie

11:59 p.m. / 23:59

Not bad, Not bad at all. They did a pretty good job of making the movie In Her Shoes. If I had not read the book first, I probably would have really loved it. As it is, the book is better than the movie, but the movie is good too.

Crochet

11:55 p.m. / 23:55

I have been saying that I would learn to crochet ever since some of my friends started knitting. Well, I've finally begun. Progress has been somewhat slow, but then I'm really not in a hurry. I've been using Teach Yourself Visually Crochet by Kim P. Werker and Cecily Keim, and now I have also picked up Single Crochet For Beginners by Cindy Crandall-Frazier and Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. The photographs in the first book are great. I picked up the single crochet book, because the whole book concentrates on one stitch (the single crochet stitch, just in case that wasn't clear). If by chance you are a knitter, you may have heard of Debbie Stoller's other books, Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook and Stitch 'N Bitch Nation.

When it comes to craft books like these, your first stop should be the public library. If I stick with crocheting, I might buy one or two of these books to keep around as references, but otherwise I plan on making use of the library's crochet books. I'm figuring that any patterns I want to keep I can make copies of and collect them in a binder.

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Taking A Break

10:57 p.m. / 22:57

I have taken a sort of accidental break from reading lately. I just haven't been reading a lot of "page-turners", plus I've been watching a lot of movies. So, the only book I have to report on is City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (non-fiction). It was... okay. He attempted to do in Venice, Italy what he did in Savannah with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but it just didn't work so well this time. I'm not saying you shouldn't read City of Falling Angels; if you want to read it, then you should.

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