more books!

Didn’t I just write a book post? I was a bit ambitious as to all that I believed I could read over the last days of yontif. I spent a good deal of potential reading time napping. And it was good.

E told me a while ago that he was not authorizing the purchase of any additional bookshelves in our current abode. Almost every shelf is currently double stacked and I really am not sure where new ones will go. I think we’re going to purge old electronics to make some more space (want a Palm Vx?). I still want to swap out a large cabinet in the main room and put a tall bookshelf there. I don’t think it will make the room any smaller, in fact I think the additional linear shelf space will free up other spaces and create more open shelf space. Anyway, the point of this blabber is that most of my books come from many libraries these days as much for financial as space economics (and shalom bayis). Tonight we did not run to the store to buy Rice Chex nor to the pizza or bagel shop to enjoy wheat once again (with my diet, what’s the point? E will get his bagel in the morning). We went to a certain big chain book store and used the gift certificate I was recently given. Three books travelled home with us and we have no idea where they’ll be shelved.. this double shelving is driving my closet-librarian mind crazy. I have groups of books split up among several book cases and no idea what is anywhere anymore.

Pandora’s Star
by Peter Hamilton
768 pages, hardback
Ballantine Books
library book (NYPL)

This is most definitely a Space Opera of great magnitude and enjoyment. At first I thought this was a (massive) volume I could read in small bits and chunks. Unfortunately with my poor brain in several areas at once and attempting to weave disparate things together, this was not a good move. I’ve missed a few things in the first few chapters, which probably would have made what I learned in the later chapters make more sense. I think it’s me, not Hamilton. Where I devoted large chunks of time to reading, I retained key information and greatly enjoyed linking parts of the story together. I am frustrated at the slight cliff hanger ending to this first volume and will be looking for Judas Unchained shortly.

Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman among Books
by Ilana M. Blumberg
182 pages, hard back
University of Nebraska Press
library book (NYPL)

WOW. Taking words from a defunct organization, Ms Blumberg (a Barnard alumna) has the courage to be mordern and orthodox and balance and understand. This isn’t “I have it all! Look at me!” book, but a wonderful memoir of someone I can look to as a sister and know that it’s not easy, but perhaps in time I can find the balance I seek. It’s a beautifully written book and had been on my reading list for ages. I’m not sure why I didn’t purchased it and waited instead for the library hold to come in.

Time to Weave: Simply Elegant Projects to Make in Almost No Time
by Jane Patrick
128 pages, softcover
Interweave Press
library book (NYPL)

WOW. Wow. wow. This book is very inspirational and reminds me of Erika Knight’s Simple Crochet and Simple Knits and a few other of the “simple” type books out there today. I have the want to weave bug, and I think this will fulfill it. So much so that on Friday I went out and bought a $7 roll of cork. I love how it’s not just standard weaving with a loom, but new and innovative ways and materials to weave. Additionally the braided rope had me drooling. This is most definitely not a book to read through over shabbat or yontif when you most want to start DOING the amazing projects. I know at MDSWF next Sunday I will be looking for a mini 4" loom. This book confirmed it.

Donna Kooler’s encylopedia of crochet
By Donna Kooler
240 pages, softcover
A Leisure Arts Publication
library book (NYPL)

I’m in the market for a really good crochet stitch dictionary. I’ve been crocheting forever but have never owned a dictionary and really haven’t known about more than the basic stitches plus “popcorn” (mmm.. popcorn). While I can’t really speak to the projects, I am impressed by the clear diagrams and the 164 included stitch patterns. I think I want more but Kooler has done a very nice job of describing the basics of crochet and included a very beautifully illustrated history of the craft. I like that everything is both charted and written out. Perhaps it’s my ignorance of crochet patterns, but charts are new to me and I like them very much. I’m not sure if this is the volume which will earn a covetted space on my bookshelf, but I do knokw that I will highly recommend it to anyone looking to do something with crochet.

I’m reading quite a few other books and doing VERY SERIOUS deadline editing (as in stuff due on Tuesday and I want to review other potential changes with others on Wednesday).

• Category: books