Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

This and That on a Mid-March Day

Wednesday was a spectacular day with glorious sunshine and fluffy white clouds. The sun came out after several rainy days but the temperature was still quite chilly.

On my walk I captured some beautiful flowers outside one of the local grocery stores. I just love the flowers in the foreground and the large store window capturing a reflection of the clouds and blue sky. You can see the leaves haven't come out on the deciduous trees yet.





By mid afternoon it turned mostly cloudy again though we expect sunshine and much warmer temperatures for the next week or so.

I've been keep very busy this month with a lot of small things including sewing alterations,  reading, decluttering, cooking, appointments and so on.  

A small containers of buttons broke open and the buttons scattered all over the larger container they were in.  It spurred me on to do a little bit of a tidy up of some of the most often used sewing supplies.  This will help me as I work on other projects.

3 small containers of sewing supplies sorted and organized

I've been decluttering a bit here and there. Nothing major but it all adds up. I'm also still trying to use up old toiletries. Some of them seem to have a bottomless supply. I'm adding everything to some large recycling bags and will do a count later.

In my reading, I finished reading the 5 fictional books in the photos below and one book on style. I enjoyed all of the books. My favourite pick was Ken Follet's Armour of Light followed by The Nightingale, The Venice Sketchbook, The Cafe by the Sea and the House of Fortune in that order. The Style for Everybody Guide was a very straightforward and well written, simplified guide to clothing and style. I've read a lot of them and I liked this one a lot because it is not so overwhelming in the information it presented.


Also completed in the last few weeks.




I've started reading a few books with a spiritual theme.  Usually this kind of book requires more time for reading, reflection and retention.  I'll probably pick up another novel to read in between study.




That's all in my world for now. 
Thank you for your visit.

Sunday, January 14, 2024

What I'm Doing During the Cold

 Hi friends,

As I mentioned in my last post, it's been very cold where I live. Actually it seems to be very cold everywhere but we aren't used to these low temperatures in my city and I can't get it warm enough inside. 

So during the cold days of winter, I usually don't do a lot besides sit under warm blankets with a hot drink and read.




I hope to reduce my reading this year soI can work on projects.  But having a good book handy when you need one is a wonderful thing.

I just completed Barbra Streisand's very long autobiography, My Name is Barbra. It's a very detailed account of her life in theatres, movies and in song. She tells us everything we might want to know. She intersperses these details with snippets about her family and personal life, her activism and her love relationships and marriages.


Having finished the autobiography, I am now reading this debut novel A Grandmother Begins the Story by Métis author, Michelle Porter. I haven't gotten too far but don't you just love the cover design? It's beautiful Métis beadwork.


The next book I'll read is called The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.  I read his novel, Cutting for Stone a few years ago and absolutely fell in love with his story telling. I'm very much looking forward to starting it in a few days once the hold arrives at the local library.


In an earlier post I mentioned that my theme word for 2024 is "Create". I hope to make or bring new things into existence more frequently this year. It can mean new dishes in cooking but more likely in my case, it will mean new things I've sewed or crafted. I've been giving some thought to a few projects I'd like to make and have collected a few supplies. Some of what I hope to create is new to me so I'm just learning what I'll need. It seems I'm not quite ready to get started on one of my projects because I need more materials. It's okay because it's too cold for me to sit and make things right at this moment.  I have time to collect what I need.  Here are some of the materials I've been collecting.



I've already sewn these strips of fabric together.

I bought the fabric strips (bubble bees, daisies and solid yellow fabric) at the dollar store just before Christmas and sewed them together before the new year.  There isn't a lot of fabric but I have an idea for what I'll make with it.  The Star Wars fabric will likely be for a cushion or two for my niece.  I'm always looking for items for here with a theme I know she will enjoy. The items in the top photo are for surprise projects which I'll unveil along the way. I've got lots more I want to make but these are some of the projects I have in the top of my mind.

Speaking of cooking, I did in fact make one new to me dish during these cold days. It's my version of a a rice noodle and prawn soup with broccoli. It was quite good and warming but the noodles took forever to cook and soften. Next time I'll probably use a different brand of rice noodles.


These are just some of the activities I'm trying to keep myself busy during the cold days. I've been reading on line about how cold it is elsewhere and I  hope you are keeping warm enough wherever you live. 

My "baby" brother has been away in Thailand and Japan. I'm looking forward to him returning tomorrow. When my loved ones travel, it's hard for me to relax until they are safely home even though I do pray for them. On this journey there was the large earthquake off the west coast of northern Japan just before my brother was expected to arrive there. Of course I was praying a lot and all has gone well with his journey this far. He seems to really be enjoying his time in Tokyo despite the fact it is winter there too.




Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Notes ~ Reading Stats

  • 24185 words read to date 
  • 67 books read to date 

Last book completed December 19, 2023 Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier 

Currently reading: Beyond the Door of No Return by Senegalese author, David Diop, winner of the International Booker Prize.

Currently reading:  You Could Make This Place Beautiful, a memoir by Maggie Smith (not the British actress). 

Currently reading:  Coming Home to Eat, The Pleasures and Politics of Eating Local by Gary Paul Nabhan.

Currently reading:  Accessing the Blessing of Heaven's Currency by Kerry Kirkwood.

Book on Hold:  Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

I have several other books on hold but I doubt any of them will be ready before the new year.

It will be interesting to see how many words and books I am able to finish by end of 2023.

Cheers and I hope you are enjoying whatever you may be reading.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Update on Reading Challenge 2023

Hi friends, Every year I set a reading challenge. It helps me keep moving forward in my reading. I remember when I started the challenge I was just coming out of a lengthy period of very poor concentration and could barely read a page before great fatigue would set in. I've come a long way since then.

This year my goal was to read 50 books or 20,000 pages.  Fifty is a much smaller number than I've set in previous years. I was flexible and didn't mind reading more if time permitted; especially since 50 books wouldn't likely reach 20,000 words.  I wanted to read more than a few books but not be so pressured that I didn't have time for anything else. 

I've read 63 books to date for a total of 23,169 pages, thereby exceeding my goal. In fact this is the most words I've read in any given year since I started keeping track over a decade ago.  The good news is I didn't feel any pressure whatsoever to read.  I'm currently reading 3 more books (Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge (224 pages), Coming Home to Eat:  The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods (336 pages) and Accessing the Blessings of Heaven's Currency:  Withdrawing Power from Your Heavenly Account for Answered Prayers (196 pages).  Once I finish there will be another 756 pages to add making a grand total of 23,925 pages for 2023 if I've done the math correctly.  If I have time I will read another book or two between Christmas and New Year's Day.

I enjoyed a number of books in 2023 and others not so much.  But as each year goes by I'm challenging   myself to read new genres or expand the scope of my reading within a particular genre.  For example,

  • Confederacy of Dunces (hard to classify but seems to fit into comedic satire)
  • The Removes (historical fiction based on expansion of the American west and the mistreatment of Native Americans)  
  • The Sorbonne Affair, (murder mystery),
  • There, There, Valley of the Birdtail, Bad Cree (all written by indigenous authors)
  • Remarkably Bright Creatures (fiction centred around friendship between humans and an octopus). 
  • One Drop (biography written by the daughter of a man who passed all her life and the impact of finding out her real roots).
I enjoyed Valley of the Birdtail a lot, followed by Remarkably Bright Creatures and The Sorbonne Affair, but I would recommend all of the above books for various reasons.

Having reached a reading milestone in 2023, I'd like to say I'll continue reaching new heights.  The truth is, I'm not quite sure what reading goal I'll set for 2024.  I suspect it will be a more modest goal because there are a lot of other projects I would like to get to but we will see.

I hope you too have had a successful year of reading. Happy reading in 2024!

 
YOUR 2023 BOOKS
  • One Drop by Bliss Broyard
  • The Sorbonne Affair by Mark Pryor
  • I'll See You in Paris by Michelle Gable
  • Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor
  • Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah
  • When in Rome by Liam Callanan
  • The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
  • The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult
  • The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
  • Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar
  • The House in the Pines by Ana  Reyes
  • Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin
  • The Woman on the Bridge by Sheila O'Flanagan
  • Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See
  • Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx
  • Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
  • Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict
  • Spare by Prince Harry
  • Chita by Chita Rivera
  • You Can Buy Happiness (and It's Cheap) by Tammy Strobel
  • The Removes by Tatjana Soli
  • Stoneface by Stephen Kakfwi
  • The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
  • Verity by Colleen Hoover
  • Lizzie & Dante by Mary Bly
  • Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly
  • There There by Tommy Orange
  • Small World by Laura Zigman
  • The Song of the Jade Lily by Kirsty Manning
  • Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes
  • If a Poem Could Live and Breathe by Mary Calvi
  • The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn
  • Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
  • The Comforts of Home by Caroline Clifton-Mogg
  • The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
  • Kaffe Fassett in the Studio by Kaffe Fassett
  • His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
  • The Little Wartime Library by Kate          Thompson
  • Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
  • The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable
  • The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
  • In Royal Service to the Queen by Tessa Arlen
  • Valley of the Birdtail by Andrew Stobo Sniderman
  • I Love You, Send Money by Jordan M. Alexander
  • The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
  • Little Family by Ishmael Beah
  • Cottage by the Sea by Debbie Macomber
  • Riding the Bus with My Sister by Rachel Simon
  • The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking by Peter Reinhart
  • A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
  • Naturally Sweet Baking by Carolin Strothe
  • If Not for You by Debbie Macomber
  • PlantYou by Carleigh Bodrug
  • Little Wishes by Michelle    Adams
  • A Russian Sister by Caroline Adderson
  • The Girl Next Door by Phoebe Morgan
  • Happy Homemade by Yoshiko Tsukiori
  • Lotta Jansdotter Everyday Style by Lotta Jansdotter
  • The Last Debutantes by Georgie Blalock
  • Dear Emma by Katie Heaney
  • Simple Healthy by Jean-François Mallet
  • Revenge by Tom Bower
  • Bakerita by Rachel Conners


It Was a Spectacular Day! ~ Skywatch

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, It was a spectacular, sunny day where I live. It's still rather chilly from my point of view but the ...