a bookworm’s progress

As of today, I finished reading 11 books, 5 of which qualify as ROOT reads. I experienced a reader’s worst nightmare with my NYPL card on Monday, it expired! Thankfully I had my WLS card to help fill my desire to check out new reading materials while snow and ice swirled around. I finally got a chance to update my account yesterday. Whew!

Below are four recent reads I really enjoyed; I apologize that two haven’t been published yet. They both impressed me and I couldn’t wait to start talking about them.

Increase, Decrease: 99 Step-by-Step Methods; Find the Perfect Technique for Shaping Every Knitting ProjectIncrease, Decrease: 99 Step-by-Step Methods; Find the Perfect Technique for Shaping Every Knitting Project
by Judith Durant
Expected publication: May 5th 2015 by Storey
Review copy provided by NetGalley

A detailed review of this book is forthcoming. Quick thoughts? Preorder this book. Everything about this resource on increasing and decreasing in knitting is well thought out: from content organization, to superb explanatory photographs, to when best to use a particular technique. Everything about it has impressed me and I will give it a space on my reference shelf for use when I’m designing and editing.

All Points Patchwork: A Complete Guide to English Paper Piecing Quilting Techniques for Making Perfect Hexagons, Diamonds, Octagons, and Other ShapesAll Points Patchwork: A Complete Guide to English Paper Piecing Quilting Techniques for Making Perfect Hexagons, Diamonds, Octagons, and Other Shapes
by Diane Gilleland
Expected publication: June 2nd 2015 by Storey
Review copy provided by NetGalley

A detailed review of this book is forthcoming. Quick thoughts? Preorder this book. It clearly answered every single one of my new to EPP questions I was stressing about. I hope to show you more about what I learned from this book soon. The timing of this review copy was perfect, I had two items on my task list the day I requested it:
· search Diane’s site for EPP tips
· see what’s new at Netgalley
I loved it so much that I almost burnt dinner in my rush to email Diane to thank her for writing it!

Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get DiscoveredShow Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
by Austin Kleon
Published 2014 by Workman Publishing Company

How is it that I had not yet read this book? If you haven’t read it yet read it, go find a copy read it now. Your library may even have an ecopy available to borrow; that’s how I read my copy. It’s a quick read, I read it while making dinner the other day. Right? There are many things I do that unless you have worked with me you have no idea I can do. It’s not easy for me to share my work, and I’m trying to do more.

Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ckThug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck
Published 2014 by Rodale Books

When Stephanie posted this title on instagram, I was feeling uninspired in my meal planning, so I placed a hold for it. Last week the title came in and I made my weekly menu planning almost entirely from the book. A full write up of my thoughts is coming soon, the quick version: read this book if you are looking to learn how to cook to eat better, if you need inspiration when the only things growing green near you are photographs, if you just want to learn how to quickly substitute. Note that I found I was rolling my eyes at some of the basic instructions that aren’t really needed if you are comfortable in the kitchen, and it’s skim through them and do it your way. That’s the point.

ourlibrary

We finally finished the lengthy process of reviewing our bookshelves and reorganizing. We purged more titles than I expected to (without guilt! they went to the thrift store) and still have over 1,400 titles in our library.

How are you doing with your reading goals this year?