100 Books

While visiting some blogs, I came across a list of 100 books that started as a BBC Meme on Library Thing.  According to the meme, the BBC "believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here."  Now, I did some research, and cannot actually find anything about this on the BBC website, but since I love books, this is one meme I can get behind.  Some of these I think I've read, but am not 100% certain, so I'm not counting them.   Here is the list, with the ones I have read in BOLD:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -- I have read some of these, but not the complete works.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy.
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

34 out of 100.  Not bad, I suppose.  I'd like to know how the books were decided upon, and why some of them are, technically, on here twice (i.e. Chronicles of Narnia and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis).  I'm also curious as to how a series of books came to be listed as one book, but now I'm nit-picking.

So, which books have you read?

Happy New Year - 2011

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope this year finds you happy, healthy, surrounded by those you love, and is filled with peace, joy, and love.

So, 2010 went by in a complete blur.  I met some goals, missed the mark on others.  I finished quite a few projects, but started many more.  I read some books, listened to others, and wish I'd read a few more.  Some health issues showed up, others were resolved, and I'm starting this New Year feeling better than the one before.  We welcomed a new fur baby to our family, and discovered he's well named (if you go by the British use of the word bogey) as he's one giant, furry bundle of slime.  That's okay -- we still love him.  Jay started attending public school, after being homeschooled his entire life, and is thriving in every way; I miss him.

We went to see Tron: Legacy at Jay's request.  It was okay.  I thought it had some serious pacing issues, making it boring at times, and the dialog left a lot to be desired, but the special effects were cool.  I need one of those light planes!  For me though, the most memorable part was trying to remember what other movie we'd recently seen one of the actors in.  It turns out we'd seen Michael Sheen in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, which has become one of the most replayed movies on t.v., and which we were watching because my dh didn't remember watching earlier, because he'd fallen asleep shortly after it started.  Yeah, it's that good.

Last night, for the first time ever, we set off fireworks.  Before this year's election cycle, they had been illegal here.  They seemed a lot more spectacular when I was younger, but Jay really enjoyed them, so that's all good.  Gypsy kept trying to enjoy them, too; she was completely fearless and we had to shut her in the house so she wouldn't burn herself.  Bogey, on the other had, reacted as most dogs do, by running away and into the house as fast as his legs would carry him.  Fun times!  We didn't stay up to greet the New Year, though as we had an early tee time.

So this morning found us headed to the golf course in 30ºF weather, bundled up against the cold and expecting frost delays.  There were delays, but not too bad, because the sun decided to put in an appearance today instead of hiding behind the clouds.  It even made 40ºF feel warm, until the wind started blowing.  Still, at least we've finally had a taste of winter.

My golf game today started out good, fell to merely okay, and disintegrated into terrible by the end.  One of these days I'll actually manage to keep it together enough to break 100.  I'm the only one in my family that has yet to do it, and I have to admit, I'm getting a bit frustrated with myself.  Ah, well.  There's always tomorrow.

So other than golfing, I've been doing a fair bit of knitting.  I did managed to get the Christmas present done and shipped off in time, and they LOVE it!  It's so much fun to make stuff for people who appreciate and will use it.  I wrapped up another KP project, I've just got some finishing details on another gift (felted bag), and am 1/2 through my Lady Magdalene shawl.  Too bad I still have at least a half dozen projects in the works that have been, and are being, sadly neglected.  Maybe they'll be finished in time for next year's New Year's Day post.

And I've been playing with the Nook (it's the 3G + Wi-Fi) I got for Christmas.  I don't think it will ever completely replace the paper versions for me, but I really do like it, and am very glad I got it.  Oh, and e ink is Incredible!

I also headed out to see my sister today to deliver her Christmas present.  It's a learning "laptop", and she was Very Pleased Indeed to get it.  I have a feeling there will be lots of learning going on for her.  As I was leaving her place, I noticed her neighbor's house, and had to stop and take a photo.  Every square inch of their yard was completely covered with Christmas lights and decorations.

 It was amazing.  I'm sure their electric bill is too. 

As usual, I'm not making any resolutions for the coming year.  No goal or plans either.  I do hope this year won't pass by quite as quickly, though. 

Happy New Year!

In Like A Lion

March has roared in, spring has sprung, and life is very full.

After a very wet winter - the wettest I've experienced in the 15 yrs. I've lived in Arizona - the sun has been shining again, calling me outside to play.  Or just be.  Or golf, which I've been doing at least once per week (as usual), along with extra practicing at the driving range with Jordan.  I've also been enjoying some early morning and evening walks with Gypsy.  The birdsong is wonderful, and the desert is in bloom; very beautiful.  Of course, today it's raining again, but no matter.

I have several craft projects going right now, not all of them fiber related.  There's a wooden tray I'm decorating, a pillow (sewing and knitting) waiting to be stuffed, two purses in need of lining, and a needle case to be sewn.  I'm also still spinning the linen/silk blend, designing both a colorwork pullover and an aran toddler cardigan, and working on another secret project.  I haven't yet found the motivation to do more on the embroidery project I've had going for a couple of years now, but am thinking that perhaps I should make it a goal to finish it by December 31.  I also haven't yet gotten to the sweaters I'd been given, but think a goal of finishing two of them by the end of April might get things moving.

I have signed up for my first ever fiber swap.  Coggie of the High Fiber Diet Podcast has organized a "Swap the Seasons" swap on the High Fiber Diet Podcast Ravelry board.  I'm very excited!  It's a secret partner swap, and I'm really looking forward to spoiling my swap partner. :D  After all, surprising someone else with a fabulous fiber mystery package is as exciting as receiving one.

Jordan and I began the Arizona Hunter Safety Education classes last night.  He's been wanting to do this for YEARS, but we kept missing the registration deadlines.  We finally got it, though, and are learning quite a bit already.  And maybe when it's over we'll actually put it to use and do some hunting.

I'm also very much enjoying the audiobooks I've been downloading from Librivox.  It really is an excellent way to combine my love of fiber and of books, but I must admit that I miss the act of holding and reading the books.  I guess I'll just have to make some time for that occasionally, too.

Angel Time

As a teenager, I was introduced to the vampire novels by Anne Rice.  Her storytelling was excellent, and I found myself drawn into them, readily identifying with the characters.  I got away from reading Gothic, dark, and horror (I used to be a Stephen King fan, too) stories, and so never read any of her other works, but always remembered the Vampire Chronicles with fondness, and connected to memories of my life at the time.

Several years ago, in 1998, Anne returned to the Catholic Church she grew up in, and in 2002, consecrated her writing entirely to Christ.  This made me intensely curious about her new books and what it meant in relation to her older books.  However, because I didn't immediately run out and get any of the new books, I ended up forgetting about them.  Until last Christmas, that is.

One of the Christmas gifts I received was a copy of the novel Angel Time.  Curious as I was to dive into this, I also found myself a little reluctant.  I think on some level I feared that it would somehow tarnish the memories I had both of the books and my life.  Yes, I do realize that's a bit silly, but there you have it.  I finally got over this when I picked up the book on Tuesday and began to read.  I was finished the next day.

Mrs. Rice is still an excellent story teller, and I greatly enjoyed this story of hit-man-turned-agent-for-God.  I found there to be a sense of joy in this book, which I hadn't noticed in any others, and even found that her dealing with faith wasn't the in-your-face preachy-ness that can sometimes be found in "Christian" novels.  There is still plenty of the supernatural to be found, but from a lighter perspective; forgiveness, redemption, and the deep love of God for His people being the main theme, as opposed to the search for meaning in earlier books.  I also found myself wondering how much of it was autobiographical, as there are some similarities between the author and the hit man.  I liked that she doesn't shy away from the ugliness or beauty of the Church's past.

Bottom line?  I recommend it.

Girls Day Out

One of the things I've missed since I moved is being able to spend time with my friends in the city.  To help remedy the situation, a friend and I got together over New Year's weekend for some sushi and a movie.

We went to lunch at Takamatsu, and it was so much fun because my friend had never had sushi before.

 California Rolls and Nigiri sushi with wasabi and pickled ginger

We didn't just stick to the California rolls either (although we did have some) - we also had nigiri and sashimi.

Sashimi with wasabi and pickled ginger

The entire time she kept saying "I can't believe I'm eating sushi." which I could relate to because I had the same reaction my first time too.  Once you get past the mental stumbling block of eating raw meat, you realize that the flavor is excellent.  Funny thing was that the only things that had cooked fish in them (the California rolls) were her least favorite things.

Then we went to see New Moon.  I've read all the books, and I'll admit I've got some issues with the plot, even setting aside my disbelief.  However, if I completely check my brain at the door, they can make for some okay mindless entertainment.  And so can the movies, although I really thought the first adaptation was not good at all.  The second adaptation was better, the cinematography was too, and I think the performances of the actors were a little better as well.  I'm not saying I'll add it to my list of favorites, but it was okay.

Our final stop was the nursery to shop for some roses for my friend's garden.  I love the way that nurseries smell.  I also tend to get very grandiose ideas about a garden of my own, but reality always kicks in and the plants, unless they're houseplants, never make it home with me.  Maybe it's all that oxygen being generated by the plants.   Anyway, we were able to find some that were on her list, and then I headed back to tiny town.

10 of My Favorite Things (In No Particular Order)

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Gypsy
4. Knitting - especially with Knit Picks needles
5. Spinning on my wheel
6. Golfing - even if I now fully appreciate Mark Twain's golf quote
7. Book, books, and more books
8. Technology - which would also make my list of ten things that I don't like
9. Weekends
10. Autumn and winter


What are some of your favorite things?

Cooking As Art

Therefore cooking as an art - 'Hidden Art', if you want to call it so - should be recognized and then developed in everyone who has to cook, wants to cook, or could cook! Cooking should not be thought of as a drudgery but as an art. Talent in this art form differs, of course, and would not be identical in each individual even if developed, but that is not the same thing as not recognizing it as an art form and not attempting to develop it.

The danger today, for both men and women cooks, is to take the short cut of using prepared and frozen foods all the time, using things from packages, bottles, tins and cans, rather than starting with fresh food, or food from one's own garden. I am not advocating that we never use anything pre-prepared, to save time for other things, and I realize that many - perhaps most - people do not have a garden; but one can at least try to get away from the 'plastic trend' in the area of cooking and it is healthy, in several meanings of that word, to try to do so.

~Edith Schaffer, from The Hidden Art of Homemaking

Finishing (or Why It Has Taken Me So Long To Post)

I've been busily working away on some projects, getting some done, getting others started. I kept promising myself that I would update just as soon as I'd finished (fill in project here). Problem is, I would finish one and see how close I was to finishing another, or start "just a quick project" that I would decide I needed to finish and photograph before posting.

Well, no more. I'm not finished with everything. Not even things that are Really Very Close to Being Done got completed. But, here's what I have finished.

Having decided to read 52 books this year (I'm currently at 27 read), here are 3 of my most recent reads:
Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodrigez. A very engaging story of the aid work one American beautician did in Afghanistan.

American Gods and Anansi Boys both by Neil Gaiman. Having heard a lot of praise for Neil Gaiman and "anything he writes", I decided to check things out for myself. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the books were as good as the hype.


As for my knitting, I've finished a few UFO's that have been OTN for too long:

This stole is "Serendipity" from the Mystery Stole 4 KAL.
It took me so long to finish for 2 reasons. 1)I ran out of yarn, and had to spin some more to finish it. Of course, I flubbed on the guage a bit, hence the darker area near the center. 2)The Drama. There was a big hullaballoo when the final clue was released, and I have to admit that spoiled the project for me for a while. Not the clue, not the pattern, just the way that the "discussion" went down. That said, I do like this stole a lot, and am looking forward to wearing it. And yes, I do have a place to wear it.


Next up we have La Luz.
I'd finished the knitting portion of this nearly a year ago. I had the lining all cut out and the materials I used to fill it. And yet, it just sat there, lonely and abandoned on a shelf, waiting for me to complete it.

It is done now, though, and I LOVE using it. I stuffed it with flax seed and lavendar and it feels and smells so lovely when warmed in the microwave for a few seconds. I can't believe I waited so long to finish it.

Finally we have the Lines 'N' Vines Cardigan. I REALLY dislike the way this turned out. I'm not quite sure what I did wrong on the knitting, but it doesn't seem to be quite even on both sides. Which is wierd because it was the same needles, same yarn, same guage, and same number of rows. And of course, the lumpiness of the wearer doesn't help. I believe I will simply harvest the buttons (which are wonderful) and toss the rest.

Not pictured, but also completed, is some bamboo roving that I was spinning into laceweight singles for a friend. I am relieved to have it done, but am having a hard time decideding what to spin next.

My works-in-progress include:

•A bamboo clutch purse that is knitted, but waiting for me to sew in the lining.
•A felted purse that is also waiting for a lining, and a bit of sewing detail.
•The Galveston Shawl which got put into time out when I realized I had flubbed about 15 stitches of the pattern, 2 rounds down. I can't decided whether to just drop and repair those stitches or tink back a couple of rounds. The dropping is the most appealing option, as each round is currently several hundred stitches (I've not got the actual count, but I believe it is in the neighborhood of 800).
•A new pair of felted clogs for Jordan, since his last pair are completely destroyed. I swear that boy is harder on shoes than anyone I know - including me!
•And another secret project that I can tell nothing about except that I'm doing a secret project. I can't wait 'til I'm able to finally start sharing about my secret projects; I'm so excited and happy about them.

The weigh down challenge is not going well, I'm afraid. I reinjured my knee by trying to do too much too soon, and have been somewhat out of commission for a while now. I am, however, finally mended enough to get rolling again on the exercise and am looking forward to finally seeing some progress. Some neat tools I've found to help me along my way:
The Daily Plate (this is the one I find to be the most helpful)
Calorie Counter Database
Nutrition Data

Onward and upward!

Miscellany

Among my New Year's resolutions this year was getting fit. I haven't usually been a fan of exercise, at least if it feels like exercise, but I'd started walking and found myself enjoying it a lot. So when we got back from Utah, I stepped up my walk to 8 mi./day. I LOVED it. My family, not so much -- they disliked the amount of time it took me away from home. I'd planned on starting interval training (i.e. Couch to 5K), and, having found a podcast that went with it, decided to start.

Day 1: Super Easy (seriously, after 8 mi. walks how could 2 mi. intervals not be easy?!)

Because of this, I didn't take the next day off and so,

Day 2: Super Easy ---- Until I injured my knee.

Thinking this was not a good thing and that perhaps taking a day or two off would be wise, I did just that -- I took 2 days off. Since my knee was feeling better, though not totally healed, I decided I would do Day 3, but power walking instead of jogging. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. Two weeks later I'm in the doctor's office having him tell me my knee is deranged (yes, he really did say that!), that I need to see a specialist because he suspects an injury that may require surgery to fix, and on crutches for the foreseeable future. Did I mention that Day 3 was a bad idea? Of course, I'm sure 2 weeks of pretending that it wasn't really injured didn't help either, but we're just going to ignore that. *Sigh* You may feel free to join with me in hoping that staying off of it and taking anti-inflammatory drugs will make it magically go away on its own. :)

In other news, we decided to upgrade the operating system for our computer. Turns out we also had to upgrade the memory. ($cha-ching$) Thanks to that little adventure, I now know that there are 2 types of RAM on my computer, and how to replace them. This was not something I'd had a burning desire to learn, but I find myself pleased by it anyway. Then I installed the new OS. Unfortunately, my hard drive is full with stuff that I know nothing about, the new and old OSs have programs on them that are not compatible, I can't get the entire new OS to load, and now many programs are just not working. Isn't it simply fabulous how much easier technology has made our lives?? And so, there will be no new photos until I can figure out how to make everything work because, one of those programs that's not working is my photo program. (Note to self: Add "become computer guru in less than 1 week" to to-do list.)

I've been knitting and spinning like a fiend, but don't have much in the way of finished objects to show for it. Mostly because they are all big projects, and I have apparently contracted knitting ADD (having a total of I-don't-even-know-how-many projects currently in process). I'm sure that the fact that I've read a total of 16 books this month, with another 4 that I'm currently enjoying has nothing to do with it. Ah, well. Maybe I'll add "Give up sleeping" to my list of New Year's resolutions. Then again, maybe not.