Tod got home around 7:30, and helped himself to the buffet. He says I can host the knitting group anytime, as long as all he has to do is stay out of the way while he helps deal with the surfeit of food.
31 August 2007
The knitting group visits my house!!
Wednesday night, I hosted the knitting group. There were about 17 of us, and lots and lots of food and lots and lots of wine. It was so hot that we sat outside on the patio.
Tod got home around 7:30, and helped himself to the buffet. He says I can host the knitting group anytime, as long as all he has to do is stay out of the way while he helps deal with the surfeit of food.
Tod got home around 7:30, and helped himself to the buffet. He says I can host the knitting group anytime, as long as all he has to do is stay out of the way while he helps deal with the surfeit of food.
Just finished reading...
Austenland by Shannon Hale.
I literally just finished reading this book about Jane Hayes, a 30-something Manhattanite who is a closet Jane Austen fan. Well, actually, a closet Fitzwilliam Darcy fan. Well, actually, a Fitzwilliam Darcy as played by Colin Firth fan.
In the hopes that Jane might be written into the will, Janes mother brings elderly Aunt Carolyn for a visit. But Carolyn spots the DVD that Jane has hidden behind a potted plant, and calls Jane on it. When she dies a few months later, she does remember Jane in her will. But what Jane gets is 3 weeks at Austenland, an English resort for the Austen-crazed. (I'm deliberately not using the term "Jane-ite" here, because I think that is an entirely different animal.)
Jane isn't quite sure she wants it, but the vacation is non-refundable, so she decides she might as well try it, so off she goes, into a world of the idle Regency-era gentlewoman.
I hadn't realized when I started it that Shannon Hale is the author of a number of YA novels that I really enjoyed, particularly The Goose Girl.
Again, thanks to Katie P. for the birthday present.
I literally just finished reading this book about Jane Hayes, a 30-something Manhattanite who is a closet Jane Austen fan. Well, actually, a closet Fitzwilliam Darcy fan. Well, actually, a Fitzwilliam Darcy as played by Colin Firth fan.
In the hopes that Jane might be written into the will, Janes mother brings elderly Aunt Carolyn for a visit. But Carolyn spots the DVD that Jane has hidden behind a potted plant, and calls Jane on it. When she dies a few months later, she does remember Jane in her will. But what Jane gets is 3 weeks at Austenland, an English resort for the Austen-crazed. (I'm deliberately not using the term "Jane-ite" here, because I think that is an entirely different animal.)
Jane isn't quite sure she wants it, but the vacation is non-refundable, so she decides she might as well try it, so off she goes, into a world of the idle Regency-era gentlewoman.
I hadn't realized when I started it that Shannon Hale is the author of a number of YA novels that I really enjoyed, particularly The Goose Girl.
Again, thanks to Katie P. for the birthday present.
28 August 2007
Just finished reading....
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler.
Courtney Stone wakes up one morning and finds that she's transported through time to the early 1800s, and become an English gentlewoman. As Jane Mansfield (20th century allusion intended), she's a 30ish single woman who lives with her parents. Courtney has no idea how this happened, and is desperate to return to her life as a young woman in present-day Los Angeles, with all the advantages of freedom (and hygiene) that the 21st century affords.
However, she appears to be stuck in Jane's body, and must behave as if she is Jane, even though she has no idea who Jane is.
I loved time-travel novels when I was younger, and read some wonderful ones: Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer, Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, and later, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. And I've always loved the novels of Jane Austen.
I found myself racing through this book (whose title really has nothing to do with the story), as it is easy to read and compelling. But somehow, at the end, I felt dissatisfied. It didn't seem to me that a great truth had been revealed, as it is with Austen's works.
But it's a fun read, and I thank Katie P. and the Gibsons for the birthday gift.
Courtney Stone wakes up one morning and finds that she's transported through time to the early 1800s, and become an English gentlewoman. As Jane Mansfield (20th century allusion intended), she's a 30ish single woman who lives with her parents. Courtney has no idea how this happened, and is desperate to return to her life as a young woman in present-day Los Angeles, with all the advantages of freedom (and hygiene) that the 21st century affords.
However, she appears to be stuck in Jane's body, and must behave as if she is Jane, even though she has no idea who Jane is.
I loved time-travel novels when I was younger, and read some wonderful ones: Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer, Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, and later, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. And I've always loved the novels of Jane Austen.
I found myself racing through this book (whose title really has nothing to do with the story), as it is easy to read and compelling. But somehow, at the end, I felt dissatisfied. It didn't seem to me that a great truth had been revealed, as it is with Austen's works.
But it's a fun read, and I thank Katie P. and the Gibsons for the birthday gift.
23 August 2007
Just finished reading....
Death by Pantyhose, by Laura Levine.
This is the sixth in Levine's Jaine Austen series. Nothing much has changed. Jaine is still a victim of fate. Practicing in the elevator for a job interview with a major advertising firm, Jaine is conned by a guy who claims to be her interviewer. He takes her to lunch, orders the most expensive item on the menu, and then, claiming to have forgotten his briefcase in her car, steals it. Of course, the real interviewer doesn't buy her story, and she is once again, unemployed.
As a result, she accepts an offer from a down-an-out comic, and ends up investigating a murder.
Jaine is very much a clone of Lucy Ricardo. Everything she does is a caper or a scam, and hardly any ever succeed.
Still, like Lucy, she's a likeable klutz, and "watching" her stumble onto the solution to the mystery is amusing.
Next up: The Careful Use of Compliments, the latest Isabel Dalhousie novel by Alexander McCall Smith.
This is the sixth in Levine's Jaine Austen series. Nothing much has changed. Jaine is still a victim of fate. Practicing in the elevator for a job interview with a major advertising firm, Jaine is conned by a guy who claims to be her interviewer. He takes her to lunch, orders the most expensive item on the menu, and then, claiming to have forgotten his briefcase in her car, steals it. Of course, the real interviewer doesn't buy her story, and she is once again, unemployed.
As a result, she accepts an offer from a down-an-out comic, and ends up investigating a murder.
Jaine is very much a clone of Lucy Ricardo. Everything she does is a caper or a scam, and hardly any ever succeed.
Still, like Lucy, she's a likeable klutz, and "watching" her stumble onto the solution to the mystery is amusing.
Next up: The Careful Use of Compliments, the latest Isabel Dalhousie novel by Alexander McCall Smith.
10 August 2007
Just finished reading...
All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris.
The seventh book in the Southern Vampire series starring Sookie Stackhouse has our heroine expanding her horizons. Usually content to stay fairly close to home, Sookie agrees to assist Louisana's vampire queen at a vampire summit near Lake Michigan, mainly because of the large paycheque she'll receive. She also hopes to spend some time with her new beau, weretiger Quinn, whose company is planning the event.
Of course, things do not go as planned, as a radical anti-vamp group attempts to disrupt the proceedings.
This series is getting better and better, and I can hardly wait for the tv series on HBO, even though I'm not quite sure Anna Paquin is a suitable Sookie.
Other recent reads: Knitting Sweaters from the Top Down by Cathy Carron and The Elegant Knitter by Gina Makris.
The seventh book in the Southern Vampire series starring Sookie Stackhouse has our heroine expanding her horizons. Usually content to stay fairly close to home, Sookie agrees to assist Louisana's vampire queen at a vampire summit near Lake Michigan, mainly because of the large paycheque she'll receive. She also hopes to spend some time with her new beau, weretiger Quinn, whose company is planning the event.
Of course, things do not go as planned, as a radical anti-vamp group attempts to disrupt the proceedings.
This series is getting better and better, and I can hardly wait for the tv series on HBO, even though I'm not quite sure Anna Paquin is a suitable Sookie.
Other recent reads: Knitting Sweaters from the Top Down by Cathy Carron and The Elegant Knitter by Gina Makris.
09 August 2007
The Guinness face
In my post of 19 June 2006, I mentioned the face I made when I tasted the fresh Guinness at their brewery in Dublin.
Flash forward to our first night in Lahaina, 15 July 2007.
Tod and Katy were bemoaning the fact that there was no photographic evidence of the face that I made then. And Meg expressed some disappointment at not having seen it. So, being the idiot that I am, I told them I would take a taste of the Guinness that Katy ordered, although I wouldn't guarantee a "Guinness face". Of course, they were not disappointed. I did get Katy to promise she wouldn't use the photos for public humiliation, but when I saw them, I thought they were pretty funny, too.
So, here they are. Photo creds go to my niece, Meg.
The sip:
Trying not to react:
Reacting anyway:
Flash forward to our first night in Lahaina, 15 July 2007.
Tod and Katy were bemoaning the fact that there was no photographic evidence of the face that I made then. And Meg expressed some disappointment at not having seen it. So, being the idiot that I am, I told them I would take a taste of the Guinness that Katy ordered, although I wouldn't guarantee a "Guinness face". Of course, they were not disappointed. I did get Katy to promise she wouldn't use the photos for public humiliation, but when I saw them, I thought they were pretty funny, too.
So, here they are. Photo creds go to my niece, Meg.
The sip:
Trying not to react:
Reacting anyway:
07 August 2007
Just finished reading...
Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger.
I bought, Knit Fast, Die Young, a while ago not realizing it was the second of Kruger's Knitting Mysteries. Oddly enough, Died in the Wool was only released last week. I'm usually a stickler for reading series in order, but it didn't make a huge difference in this case.
Both books are about Ariadne Evans, owner of a yarn shop ironically called Ariadne's Web. (Arachne was the weaver who angered Athena and was changed into a spider; Ariadne gave Thesus the ball of thread so that he could find his way out of the Minotaur's maze.)
One morning, Ariadne goes into her shop early to do paperwork, and finds the body of Edith Perry.
At first, Ariadne is suspected of the crime because it's assumed that very few people would be able to get into the locked store. But Edith was so universally disliked in the town that almost anyone could have killed her, especially when it's discovered that Ariadne's aunt has been giving keys to all sorts of people.
Concerned that she is the real target of the murderer, Ariadne joins forces with the town's new police detective to investigate.
A quick, enjoyable read, with some well-rounded main characters.
I bought, Knit Fast, Die Young, a while ago not realizing it was the second of Kruger's Knitting Mysteries. Oddly enough, Died in the Wool was only released last week. I'm usually a stickler for reading series in order, but it didn't make a huge difference in this case.
Both books are about Ariadne Evans, owner of a yarn shop ironically called Ariadne's Web. (Arachne was the weaver who angered Athena and was changed into a spider; Ariadne gave Thesus the ball of thread so that he could find his way out of the Minotaur's maze.)
One morning, Ariadne goes into her shop early to do paperwork, and finds the body of Edith Perry.
At first, Ariadne is suspected of the crime because it's assumed that very few people would be able to get into the locked store. But Edith was so universally disliked in the town that almost anyone could have killed her, especially when it's discovered that Ariadne's aunt has been giving keys to all sorts of people.
Concerned that she is the real target of the murderer, Ariadne joins forces with the town's new police detective to investigate.
A quick, enjoyable read, with some well-rounded main characters.
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