Wednesday, September 01, 2010

August Books Better Late Than Never

So it's September 1st.  Already.  And it rained off & on all day.  But it was still pretty warm and the humidity was horrific.  Can't-Breathe-Horrific.

Anyway.  Here's the book list:

1.  Vending Machines, Coined Consumerism by Christopher D. Salyers.  Fun!  In Japan, you can get just about anything from a vending machine.  I mean that in the most literal sense, everything.

2.  Jackets to Knit or Crochet - Same Style, You Choose, 14 Designs by Darla Sims.  Not much.

3.  The New Crochet, 40 Wonderful Wearables by Terry Taylor.  Ditto # 2.

4.  Sawdusted, notes from a Post-Boom Mill by Raymond Goodwin.  Barbara Bush rule in effect:  I tried to read 100 pages but gave up.

5.  Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen.  Supposed to be an autobiography, but it was just not very good and I didn't get very far.  She's not a very talented writer, it could have been a good book but it simply wasn't.

6.  Asleep, the Forgotton Epidemic that Remains One of Medicin's Greatest Mysteries by Molly Caldwell Crosby.  This was very interesting.  It wasn't the best-written book but it was very educational.  About the meningitis epidemic that followed the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.

7.  She Wanted it All, a True Story of Sex, Murder & a Texas Millionare by Cathryn Casey.  This book was recommended to me by Ann Rule and it was good.  It was well-researched and well-written.  But I'm biased, and I think that Ann could have done a better job.  But it was very good.

8.  Wrecked by Carol Higgins Clark.  Fluff, predictable, but a good one to kill time with.

9.  The ARt of Toy Story 3 by Charles Soloman.  Excellent!

10.  Depression Era Dimestore Glass by C. L. Miller.  Research, but I didn't learn anything.

11.  Quick Crochet Huge Hooks by Sally Harding.  Not impressed.

12.  Hip to Crochet by Judith L. Swartz.  I don't really remember this one, but I think it was ok.  It seems like I got a couple of patterns out of it.

13.  Knitters Lib, Learn to Knit, Crochet and Free Yourself from Pattern Dependency by Lena Maikos.  This one was fun.

14.  Easy to Crochet Pot Holders by Cornelis Dobiarsh.  OK, but not my type.  It's pattern based, but the patterns are basically a line picture with areas colored in.  Similar in appearance to a counted-cross pattern but not very well explained.  Patterns should be one of two ways:  Words, which I actually prefer or should use what are called International Symbols and are good because they are an international language.  This book just wasn't that good or easy to follow, at any stage of ability or experience.  I did get a couple of ideas from it and copied a few patterns.  Charts just don't work!

15.  Crocheted Socks!  16 Fun to Stitch Patterns by Janet Rohfeldt & Mary Jane Wood.  Lots of possibilities here.

16.  Wrapped in Crochet - Scarves, Wraps & Shawls by Kristin Omdahl.  She's a well-known crochet artist who makes patterns for some absolutely georgeous scarves and other wearables.  This one was filled with some really nice shawls, but probably not anything I'm going to make.

17.  Crochet so Fine, Exquisite Designs with Fine Yarns by Kristin Omdahl.  Her patterns are very well done, the detail is amazing, but I didn't see anything here that I wanted to make.  But she is an excellent designer.

18.  Dewey, The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron with Brett Witten.  A charming story of a library cat.  Otter would love to have one, if she becomes a librarian (which is most likely what she will do) but it's going to have to be another animal that she's not allergic to!

19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.  All Batman books.  We're still trying to read them all, every time we think we might be close we discover another one.

26.  The Art of Planet 51 by Denny Grayden.  Planet 51 is an animated movie from a year or so ago, it was ok but not spectacular.  But fun.

27.  It's Not Easy Being Me by Rodney Dangerfield.  Autobiography and I enjoyed it.

28.  Pop Goes Crochet, 50 Projects Inspired by Icons of Popular Culture by Vicie Howell.  A few ideas.

29.  Crochet Sweaters, Simple Stitches, Great Designs by Susan Husley.  Not much in this one.

30.  Geometrics, a New Way to Crochet by Ruthie Marks.  This one was actually surprising, even though I didn't find anything in it.  It's written for left-handers by a left-handed crochet artist.  99% of crochet is done with the right hand, I was really glad to see that someone has taken the time to make patterns for left handed people.  The patterns were done welll and easily explained.

31.  Prarie Tale by Melissa Gilbert. Autobiography and I knew most of it already.

32.  Notes from the Underwire by Quin Cummings.  She is a "former child actress" by her own admission and this is a complation of her columns.  It was interesting, but I skimmed past a lot of it.

It's always a good thing when I read more books than there are days in the month!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read Dewey. I liked the story but I did not enjoy the writing style. I enjoy the books by Carol Higgins Clark. They are an easy fast fun read. Froggy

Otter Mom said...

I agree, the writing style was not the best. There was a lot of the story that I skipped over, mostly the autobiographical parts about the author's ancestry. But the cat story was charming. I felt that she skipped over a lot of years of the cat's life that might have been good to read about.