Books

 Well, shoot.  Another few weeks have gone by and uh, I'm afraid to say the reading train is still a chuggin'.

There was some crafting though.

I brought out my e-spinner, Ariel, for some continuation of this spin:

 

 

 

This is Merino bamboo, slippery as all get out, but not unenjoyable.

I've been spinning on this while watching short things on youtube (things like catching up on a few knitting podcasts, watching Dansg08 play FFX using only 'attack')  Not actually very much progress, really, but if you work on something for 30-60 minutes every day-ish, you're likely to see progress.

Last I talked, I was working on the redo socks from earlier this year.  I officially re-finished the first one, but I officially did not take a picture.  oop.

The kids were on Spring break last week!  They mostly slept.  I had to pry them out of bed in the late afternoons to eat something before they crawled back to their dark hiding holes, only their faces aglow.  And I spent the majority of my time in books.

Since last we spoke I had just finished The House in the Cerulean Sea.  Since then I've read, oh, 5? books.

I read the next three books in the Invisible Library series:

The Masked City (2)-  This one took a small swerve from the first one.  Kai, Irene's protege, has been kidnapped by fae!  He's been taken to another alternate world consumed by chaos.  It was OK.  Not as good as the first one.

The Burning Page (3)- This one felt like it was a similar vein to the last one, which was mildly disappointing.  I was really hoping for a series of books in different alternate worlds, sort of a Conan the Barbarian-esque monster-of-the-week sort of deal.  This one was plot heavy, and like the last one, Irene only spends a few chapters in an alternate world.  But, overall, it was enjoyable.  We learned some interesting things about the Library, about her foe, and about where Irene came from.

The Lost Plot (4)-  Now this one was monster of the week!  This one took place entirely in an alternate New York City, in a sort of '20s gangster's paradise. This one had a lot of action, a lot of fun sequences, and almost entirely took place in this world.  It also had some interesting overall plot developments, but mostly it was Irene getting caught up in the adventure.

I did start the next one, which is the penultimate one (so far) but I.. uh, lost the plot as it were.

In between 2 and 3 I read Nettle and Bone, by T. Kingfisher.  This is a fantasy novel with a fairy tale vibe.  It was magnificent.  It is top 5 books I've read, and definitely one of my favorites from this year's reading escapades.  It made me want to order more of her books, which  I did, but they haven't arrived yet.

When I was at bookstore picking out Nettle and Bone, I also picked out a book by NK Jemisin called The Killing Moon, and I read it after I finished the 4th Invisible Library book.

This one is probably the most unique fantasy book I've read.  It was written very well, but I don't think it was my favorite sort of story.  It was very foreign, for one. She based this world on ancient Egypt, which unlike a lot of my peers, never really appealed to me as a kid.  I didn't have an Ancient Egypt period. XD  But the story itself was fleshed out and like I said, very well written.  If you did have an Ancient Egypt period as a young person, you would probably really enjoy this one.

In an effort to keep up the reading without keeping up the budget for said reading (yeah, I don't know if you're keeping track, but I've bought like 15 books this year and it's only April), I asked Zac what I should read next.  I thoroughly enjoyed his Mistborn suggestion and it was only when I went off on my own (the Priory of the Orange Tree) that I was disappointed in what I was reading.  He suggested I get into the DnD books he's got by RA Salvatore, starting with Homeland, the first of the The Dark Elf Trilogy.  It's in an omnibus, so it's convenient.  also big. XD

It's a bona fide adventure book, and very well written indeed!  You don't have to know anything about DnD to enjoy it.  In fact, I've played a round or two with Hazel when she was first getting into the game, but besides the mechanics in final fantasy games, the whole concept of role playing games never really appealed to me.  This is more like final fantasy, in that the story is all laid out and I don't have to do any creative input.  Good.  Take me away, book. XD

I really didn't mean for this to turn into a book blog.  There's still crafting to share, I promise.  I'm going through something right now, have been for the last few years.  It boils down to 'how many sweaters does one person need?'  and socks, well, socks are different cause they get worn and need replacing, but I doubt anyone would be interested in a blog that is one sock after another after another.

I did pick up my cross stitch for a few hours there, I still have that old green lady going, Persephone by Mirabilia designs.  It's sort of sloggy though, I got used to stitching cartoons for awhile there and it feels weird to just have a big ol' dress to do, varying shades of green and light teal, not to mention skin tones in the arms.  But sometimes you just want to stab something a thousand times.

Anywho.  Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far!  And if you have any fantasy book suggestions, I am all ears!