This is a pretty long post, so I’m putting it behind a cut.

1. Favorite childhood book?
The Sleepover Friends series by Susan Saunders. It wasn’t as popular as The Baby-Sitters Club, but I love, love, loved the series and was slightly obsessed with it.

2. What are you reading right now?
Summer by Edith Wharton. I love Wharton, but this is moving along at a pretty slow pace so far.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
Currently, none. I had The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson on hold for the ebook version, but the wait list was pretty long, so I went ahead and bought the paperback yesterday.

4. Bad book habit?
This is a habit I *think* I’ve broken, but I used to be really bad about buying books on a whim and never reading them. I’ve got a book stash that rivals my yarn stash–a whole bookcase of unread books. I’m telling myself that I’m not allowed to buy any new books unless they’re by authors I know and love, or unless they’re books that have gotten very good reviews overall. No more impulse book buying (except for knitting pattern books).

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Nothing currently, but I’m alternating between working through the book stash and borrowing from the library. The last title I checked out was the ebook version of Columbine by Dave Cullen.

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Yes, a Barnes & Noble Nook that I call Edgar.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I limit myself to reading one book at a time. My attention span is kind of iffy at times, so I have to focus on one book, or else I’d probably never finish anything.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I read more now than I did a few years ago, maybe because part of the fun is posting a review (and reading other opinions) once I finish a book. Last year I attempted 52 Books in 52 Weeks and blogged my progress throughout the challenge. I didn’t finish, but I had fun trying.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub (my review post)

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
I have two: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
I’m branching out more this year than in previous years. I’m trying to work on reading more classics and literary fiction.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Young adult fiction and adult fiction with heavy relationship themes (Anita Shreve, Edith Wharton, etc.)

13. Can you read on the bus?
I don’t ride the bus, but I am able to read in the car (just not for long periods of time).

14. Favorite place to read?
In bed or on the couch.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I don’t really have a policy, but I’m happy to lend!

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
I try not to because I don’t like the way it looks. I always have a bookmark on hand.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
I tried this early in my college years, but it didn’t work for me. I prefer taking notes separately in a notebook.

18. Not even with text books?
Especially not with text books, since I always had to sell them back at the end of the semester!

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
Considering I’m not multi-lingual…English!

20. What makes you love a book?
Characters that stay with me long after I’ve finished the book.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
A story or characters that moved me in some way. Bonus points if they made me cry.

22. Favorite genre?
Literary fiction, young adult fiction.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Historical fiction. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is rich with historical references, but my eyes kind of gloss over the historical bits. I can never remember who did what to whom and how everyone’s connected…

24. Favorite biography?
Nothing comes to mind, although I do have a few on my to-read list.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
hahaha. Yes, I have. But it’s been a while. I used to go to counseling, so…yeah, I’ve definitely tried the self-help route as well.

26. Favorite cookbook?
I only have one, a Betty Crocker something or other that my dad used in the Navy (he was a cook) and passed on to me when I moved out of my parents’ house.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Nothing I’d label as inspirational…but the year isn’t over yet.

28. Favorite reading snack?
I don’t normally read books while eating, but I do read Twitter and blogs on my iPhone while eating (which I probably shouldn’t do). It’s usually chips or crackers or whatever.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
oh geez, The Catcher in the Rye for sure. Maybe it would’ve been revolutionary if I’d read it in high school, but as a 20-something, I just wasn’t feeling it.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I’m more interested in regular readers’ opinions, rather than critics’ opinions. For example, I hated Lost Boy Lost Girl, but Stephen King and Neil Gaiman thought it was fantastic. Granted, they’re authors and not solely critics, but I looked up reader reviews on Goodreads, and others had similar reactions to mine. I guess critics’ reviews are hit or miss with me, quite often.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
If I really dislike a book, I have no problem writing a negative review. I try to be specific about the things I disliked.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Maybe French or Spanish.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Pretty much anything from my English authors courses in college, haha! Like Chaucer…or Henry Fielding *shudder* I didn’t really get them.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. Yes, it’s the latest in the Outlander series and I consider myself a diehard Outlander fan. But it’s been years since I read the preceding book in the series, so I can’t remember all the plot points and I’m all discombobulated in the actual plot, and there are so many characters to keep track of, and good grief, have you seen the size of the novel? It’s HUGE. And heavy. I might borrow the e-version from the library, actually. The print version can stay on my shelf.

35. Favorite Poet?
Edgar Allan Poe Samuel Taylor Coleridge is another favorite, for the awesomeness that is “Kubla Khan.”

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
1 or 2.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
I did this a lot when I was younger, mainly because I would check out more than I could possibly read in the allotted time period. I limit myself these days to a more realistic number.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Jo March from Little Women, Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series, Melinda Sordino from Speak

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series (he counts as a villain, right?) (I think he’s my favorite because of Alan Rickman, need I say more?)

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
I don’t really go on vacation…but if I did…probably something fluffy, like young adult lit.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Months or even years, I’d say. I had a rough patch in the early 2000s…

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
I try to stick with a book unless it’s just too boring or there are too many errors (grammar, syntax, typos). I remember skimming Things Fall Apart because I just couldn’t connect with it.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
I always turn off the TV when I read and I can’t really have music on, either. I like my surroundings to be quiet.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
The Age of Innocence. The film is such a good adaptation as far as the themes of the book and general characterization. Also, it’s such a visual feast–the costumes and sets are so lush and just gorgeous.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Pretty much anything Hollywood has attempted to adapt in recent history? ha. As much of a Twilight fan as I am, the first film could have been so much better. I love the campiness of it, but at the same time, I wonder what it would’ve been like under different circumstances…

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
hmm, maybe $40 or $50? I’ve broken that habit, though!

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Usually, I just read the back cover or inside flap.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
A really stupid or boring plot, or awful writing, or sucky editing. Or any combination of these, with nothing else to keep me sucked in to the story.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
oh yes! In fact, I just rearranged my bookshelves. All of my to-read books are on one shelf, and my read books are on the other (along with craft books). I like to keep series in order, with my favorites at the top of the shelf and everything under that in alphabetical order. I also started separating paperbacks from hardcovers because it looks nicer visually.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
If I think I’ll read it again, I’ll keep it. Otherwise, I put it aside for swap.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
I’m kind of burned out on supernatural fiction right now. So even though I’ve read the first two Sookie Stackhouse books, I haven’t continued reading the series yet.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
I haven’t read anything lately that made me angry, though in retrospect, there are a ton of titles that I read in that past that, if I read them now, would get me steamed, guaranteed. (Most of those are religious, self-helpy types of titles, which I now realize are incredibly condescending and awful and just NO.)

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Harry Potter, Twilight, Water for Elephants…books that get a lot of attention/hype in general.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. I loved The Time Traveler’s Wife, but I had trouble connecting with this one.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Again, young adult fiction…they’re my fluffy, pretty much mindless reads.

So, how did we get there? Well, when we moved into our house in 2008, it had really awful brown walls that made our couches fade into the background:

In addition, the paint job was just BAD. They clearly only used one coat of paint, but it wasn’t enough because there were streaks where the white undercoat was still visible. Just a sloppy, lazy paint job. I really think that if you’re going to do something, you need to do it right. So, we figured it was time for a new paint job.

But first, I had to spackle the bajillion holes in the walls:

Who the frig makes this many holes and then paints OVER them? How lazy can you get? Argh! Spackle, spackle.

Next up: primer, woohoo! (Sorry the pic is so gray; I took it with my iPhone before the sun really came out.) We used Valspar High Hiding Primer, which is really good, but since the brown was so dark we had to use two coats.

Two walls primed, but at this point, we ran out of primer and had to go back to Lowe’s for more.

I can’t say enough about how important it is to tape off the edges! (Yet something else the previous owners didn’t do.) We used Frogtape, which is apparently treated with something special to ensure sharp lines. We were kind of skeptical at first because it felt like regular masking tape, but were very impressed once we removed it. Out of four walls, including the base boards, ceiling, and two doors, we only had to touch up two small spots after removing the tape.

And we have blue walls! woohoo! We used Valspar Signature Colors with high-def something or other, eggshell finish, in the color Surf’s Up.

This is pretty much what our living room looked like all weekend. We had pushed the furniture to the center of the room and covered everything with plastic. The floor was covered with plastic, too. We were very careful and managed not to get paint on the furniture or carpet. When I took this pic, we had one wall left (the wall with the windows)–but we had to pause because we ran out of paint. Arrrrrgh. Time for another trip to Lowe’s. We didn’t need that much, so we only bought a quart to finish the job.

And here’s the finished product! I’m so happy with the result. Our furniture doesn’t blend into the walls anymore, and the room overall is just so much lighter. I really hated how gloomy the brown was, but now, it’s light in the room, even at night time.

This was my first time painting and I thought it would be easy…haha. I mean, it was easy, but it was a lot of work–we dusted the walls, spackled/sanded spots, primed (two coats), taped off, and then painted the top coat. My feet were KILLING me by the time the work was done. I didn’t wear very good shoes for this, so as a result, my feet and back really suffered. We were constantly on our feet or bending/crouching to reach every spot. Again, it was a lot of work, but so worth it. Now I don’t hate sitting in this room. Plus, it’s easier to see my knitting or reading.

I was 18 when the Columbine massacre happened in April 1999. I remember seeing the images on the news: high school kids running out of the school, falling out of windows, milling around outside in grief. And of course, the photos of the two boys who were identified as the killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Then came the media onslaught: theories, rumors, erroneous reports, and speculation. Everyone wanted someone to blame. It wouldn’t do to blame only the killers, who had committed suicide at the end of their gun-fueled rampage. For months after, and even now–years later–it’s still not quite clear what turned the two boys into killers.

There are plenty of theories, to be sure, and Cullen’s book attempts to narrow them down. It almost seems like a pointless exercise, after the fact–to examine the boys’ childhoods and journal entries and attempt to read between the lines, to try to understand more, beyond their violent tirades and (at times) nonsensical words. But in an age of media oversaturation, and the fact that Columbine had been probably the most widely televised school shooting to date, it seems reasonable for us to seek answers, to try to placate the most nagging of questions–”Why?”

I don’t think this book glorifies the killers in any way. Rather, it seeks to set the record straight, to dispel myths surrounding the tragedy, to clarify who the victims were (and who they were not), and also, to try to understand how two teenage boys could lash out at their classmates and teachers in such a violent, irreversible way.

It’s been 11 years since the Columbine tragedy. Although it permeated the media when it happened, over time, news stories faded and eventually diminished. There are exceptions, such as the anniversary of the shootings (April 20), when perhaps a news blurb flashes across the TV screen, reminding us what happened years ago. But I think of the families and friends of those who died that day–all of them, the victims and even the killers–and I can’t imagine what they have to live with every day. For them, more than for any of us, the unanswered questions will always be there. Unlike us, they cannot simply close the book, ponder it for a while, and then move on. The memories and impact of that day will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

The thing is, it doesn’t start out confusing; in fact, the first chapter drew me in. However, I began the book with the awareness that it’s about three pairs of people whose storylines ultimately converge in some way. So, I read every subsequent chapter trying to figure out how everything and everyone could be linked.

Maybe that was an exercise in futility, because the final third or so of the book is when the plotlines become very crossed and very confusing. In fact, the resolution of the story is ambiguous in many ways and that was frustrating.

As for the quality of the writing, I don’t have any complaints. I think Chaon is a good writer, but the twists and turns of the narrative distracted me from being able to appreciate the writing itself. I would read this author again, but I won’t be re-reading this particular title.

I decided to build one in order to get better quality shots of my yarn and knitted objects. I found this really awesome tutorial from jyoseph.com and pretty much followed it step by step.

Here are the materials I used and where I found them:
- 5 sheets of Elmer’s foam board (20″ x 30″) from Michaels craft store. They were $2.99 each, but I got them on sale–buy 1, get 1 free!
- 4 clamp lights (5 1/2″) from Lowe’s, $6.48 each
- 60-watt GE Reveal Full-Spectrum light bulbs from Lowe’s, $3.48 for a 2-pk
- 2″ white masking tape from Lowe’s, $2.48
- power strip from Lowe’s (didn’t have an extra one at home–4 lamps = 4 separate plugs)
- box cutter (already had this at home)
- straight edge & cutting mat (already had these as part of my sewing tools)

I wound up spending around $50. Not too bad, considering the results look pretty good! Voila:

Originally, I only bought two lamps but I could tell from this shot that I needed an additional two. The colors look great, but there are some grayish shadows around the edges. (The yarn is Crystal Palace Mini Mochi, btw.)

I bought an additional two lamps (for a total of four) and the result is much better. Still a wee bit of shadow, but I think that’s more because the skein is so puffy and not because of lack of light. (The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Handpainted.)

Here’s another test with all four lamps turned on. (Knit Picks Imagination)

Lastly, I took a pic of a WIP. I think this shot turned out so well since the sock-in-progress is flat (no shadows). (Just a basic toe-up sock; yarn is Universal Yarn Ditto.)

I’m really happy with the results of my lightbox. Now I don’t have to try to find daylight or perfect indoor lighting before taking pics of yarn, WIPs, and FOs. It was easy to assemble and (best yet), affordable! Can’t beat that.

I first heard about it on the Books on the Nightstand podcast. The novel starts with an interesting premise: Paul’s wife, Lexy, has died unexpectedly. The only witness to her death was their dog, Lorelei. In a desperate effort to understand what happened to Lexy, Paul (a linguist) decides that he’s going to try to teach Lorelei how to talk.

That’s a general overview of the plot, but the book is so much more than this. It’s exquisitely written–I found myself pausing to re-read a sentence or paragraph not for clarity, but in order to relish the beauty of the words. To illustrate (this is from one of the early chapters, so there are no spoilers here):

The day was warm, and we drove with the windows open. Breeze on my arms as I drove. Savor it now, the day, the breeze. Run the memory of it over your tongue. Speak it aloud; there’s no one listening. Say “sun” and “hot” and “day.” Close your eyes and remember the moment, the warm pink life of it. Lexy’s body in the seat next to mine. Her voice filling the car. Let it wash over you. It ends soon enough.

I’ll stop here, only to say that I highly recommend this book. I loved everything about it, to the point where it moved me to tears. Of course, the fact that one of the main characters is a dog probably had something to do with that since I have quite a weakness for dogs. But beyond this, it’s a haunting tale of love, loss, and memory; one that I think will stay with me for a long time.

This is a timely BTT question because I’ve just recently started listening to Books on the Nightstand, a really fantastic podcast about books and reading. I found it a couple weeks ago when searching iTunes for new podcasts. BOTN was one of the top results when I searched for “books” and “reading.” I downloaded a couple of episodes and was hooked. It’s hosted by Ann and Michael, who are sales reps for Random House. I like their opinions about books because they clearly know what they’re talking about and they’ve recommended dozens and dozens of books I’m not familiar with, but would love to read. Most of the recent additions to my To Read list on Goodreads have come from BOTN and I highly recommend the podcast if you’re a bookworm like me.

It’s certainly not the most original idea (search: Rainbow Jaywalker on Ravelry), but I finally made myself a pair of rainbow Jaywalker socks. I’ve knit the pattern before, so I thought about making these toe-up to be different. However, there seem to be some fiddly issues with the sizing on the toe-up Jaywalker pattern, so I knit these cuff-down to make things easier.

The yarn I used is Knit Picks Felici. It’s very soft and I loved watching the colors change. However, I noticed a few negative things about the yarn. First, there are bits where the dye is kind of muddy–like there is green on the yellow parts, or orange on the yellow parts. It’s really not noticeable in the pics, but I could point out the spots if I looked for them. It doesn’t affect the general appearance of the socks, so it’s not a huge deal, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Second, I found knots in each ball of yarn. Not cool–especially with self-striping yarn, where abrupt color changes will be obvious. Luckily, both of my knots were toward the end of the toe, so I was able to work around them, for the most part. But I was disappointed because knotty yarn is just a pain.

When I bought the yarn, I noticed that Knit Picks had it listed as a Last Chance colorway. It’s now no longer available on their site. Maybe the aforementioned quality issues are to blame? I have another two balls of Felici in my stash (the Marine Life colorway, I think), so I’m hoping they won’t have the same issues as the Rainbow colorway.

Having said all that–I really do like the finished product! They’re happy and cheerful and I have dubbed them my Rainbow Brite/Care Bear Stare socks. They’re by far the most colorful socks I’ve ever made, and small gripes about the yarn aside, I love the way they turned out.

Footnote: not only is the Knit Picks rainbow self-striping sock yarn discontinued, but so is another rainbow colorway I have in my stash, Regia Nation Color in colorway 5399. I’m puzzled as to why both manufacturers have discontinued such an awesome colorway. Looking at stashes and projects on Ravelry, both yarns seem pretty popular; so why discontinue them? It’s a mystery to me.

Well…hate is a strong word, but appropriate in this case. I just didn’t enjoy reading this. As I did, my reaction to the story would ebb and flow: at times the story was interesting (therefore, I kept reading) and other times it would get really, really boring (and I would question why I didn’t just give up on this). I guess I could have stopped reading it, but by the time I thought about it, I figured I was past the point of no return–I was about halfway done at that point–so I stuck with it, hoping the end would be satisfying. Nope. No cigar.

To be specific, the main things I disliked (other than the plot) were the timeline and the characters themselves. The story takes place in a short amount of time, but it jumps around quite a bit; I had to re-orient myself because it wasn’t always clear that we were in a flashback. As for the characters, the teenage boys didn’t have very realistic voices. They said “yo” a lot and talked about girls and sex, but at times their dialogue sounded nothing like real teenagers. That was distracting. Lastly, I didn’t sympathize with the characters. I thought the protagonist/sometimes narrator Tim was interesting, but he didn’t redeem the novel for me. That’s another thing I didn’t like–the narrative shifted between first person point of view in the form of journal entries, to third person omniscient, then back to first person. Again, just distracting for me.

I was going to summarize the plot, but you know…suffice it to say that the plot was disjointed and wrapped up in a very contrived way. I was ready for a creepy, possibly supernatural story, but this one really disappointed me, so I can’t recommend it. The funny thing is, both Stephen King and Neil Gaiman loved the book, which is what had peaked my interest in it to begin with. Different strokes…

The blurb on the back cover is pretty vague. It describes Kate Malone, a high school senior and overachieving minister’s daughter who has her heart set on attending MIT. She believes she knows the course her life is headed on, but soon finds out that she doesn’t.

There’s a series of events that then take place, but which seem to have been created in an attempt mainly to move the plot forward, rather than develop the characters in a better way. I expected the story to be more Kate-centric; while she is the main character, I didn’t really like the way that the story veered away from her at various points.

I suppose I expected the story to be about something different, which left me disappointed when I figured out what it was actually about. Also, I was hoping that this would live up to the greatness of Speak, which it didn’t do. Nevertheless, I do enjoy Anderson’s style of writing and will continue to read her books.