In December I attended a book club at my local library. It was really disappointing, and I decided not to go back. However, I started reading the January book, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, just in case I changed my mind. The date for the library book club to discuss it came and went. I did not attend; I had not read the book yet. I did get started; the writing is fun, with interesting and varied vocabulary that makes me happy. The story is interesting, too.. yet I can't get myself to read the book. It isn't moving very fast, or something. I really don't know why I'm not loving this book. It seems like I should.
Then there is a book on my Kindle, which I started reading, because it had been there forever, and I felt like I should give it a try. That one... I can't remember the title or the story line! I interrupted both of those books to read one for the book club at church: A Good Place to Hide: How One French Village Saved Thousands of Lives in World War II by Peter Grose. This one I had about half completed when the discussion date arrived. We had a good discussion. It is a true story and very intriguing. One person in our group had been to that area in France and had pictures of the towns and of a man who was a 12-year-old boy during the war, now in his 80s, giving tours and telling about what happened there. So cool! Now that the discussion is done, I no longer feel very motivated to finish the book. I have tried, but ... for some reason I'm not flying back to that one, either.
I'm sad that I'm not enthralled with any book right now. I think I shall give myself permission to abandon all three of the above books, and try something else in hopes of finding a real page-turner. Wish me luck!
Meanwhile, I have been doing some sewing, as always.
This next one is a project I just started. It is a Weather Quilt.. I make a little piece for each day of the year, indicating the high temperature (in Fahrenheit) for each day. This is what I had made so far, through January 20, at the time of the photograph. I have added to it since then. If you're interested in sewing or knitting/crocheting a weather quilt with several friends, join our little group at Facebook. It's called Weather or Not.
This picture shows the fabrics I will use for my weather quilt.. the colors indicate a certain range of temperatures. With each day's high, I make the piece from the appropriately appointed fabric. Stay tuned, and you can watch how this quilt progresses as the year goes along. Do you think I will need to use that very last red fabric that indicates temperatures above 100 F?? (This is Minnesota - it rarely gets over 100 here.) If that high temperature happens, I hope I'm in the mountains cooling off at that time.
3 comments:
You'll enjoy Major P when you get into it. And stay tuned -- Helen Simonson's second novel, The Summer Before the War, will be published March 22. I heard her speak at ALA Midwinter and the new novel sounds delightful. I got the ARC after her presentation, but I haven't opened it yet.
Like you, my reading is stuck. I am not quite 3/4 finished with Mark Kurlanksy's Paper, another ALAMW ARC (pub date May). Meanwhile I've gotten the downloads for the final round of the Audie awards--just six this time, but each is 12+ hours. Since I listen as I sew, I'm in for a lot of quiltmaking in February.
I follow the blog Lesa's Book Critiques. She posts reviews of a couple of books each week. I don't know how she does it--I presume she reads most, if not all, of each book, and then gathers her thoughts in order to write the reviews.
I really like your blue and white quilt. May I ask if it is from a book, a pattern, your own idea?
I hope the reading funk passes soon.
Geri, I got the pattern from a magazine. It is called "Oh, Sew Blue" and is designed by Judy Laquidara. I can't remember the name of the magazine, but if you google her name, you'll probably find her patterns and other info.
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