A Different Kind of Post -- 2009 Books

For several years now, when I finish a book, I note it on that day on my calendar. Then at the end of the year I go through my calendar and make a list of all the books I've read that year. This year I'm posting the list here. Since I never post anything personal, this might be my most personal blog post ever.

All the links lead to Amazon. If you click on the Stephen King link, you'll likely be profiled as Stephen King fan and the next time you're on Amazon, they'll recommend his books to you. I know this because one time a friend emailed me about a book she was reading for work, didn't mention the title, just included the link. I clicked. It was an SAP book. Next time I got on Amazon, they had chosen a bunch of other SAP books for my reading pleasure.

The List

1. Just After Sunset -- Stephen King

2. 2008 Best American Short Stories

3. Knit Two -- Kate Jacobs

4. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- Stieg Larsson

5. One Fifth Avenue -- Candace Bushnell

6. The Camel Bookmobile -- Masha Hamilton

7. Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers -- Xiaolu Guo

8. The Associate -- John Grisham

9. The Women -- T.C. Boyle

10. Dewey -- Vicki Myron

11. Tell Me Where it Hurts -- Nick Trout

12. Beach Book (short stories)

13. The Little Stranger -- Sarah Waters

14. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane -- Katherine Howe

15. Shanghai Girls -- Lisa See

16. The Strain -- Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

17. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet -- Reif Larsen

18. The Lost Symbol -- Dan Brown

19. Where Men Win Glory -- Jon Krakauer

20. The Frozen Thames -- Helen Humphreys


21. The Piano Teacher -- Janice Y. K. Lee


22. The Girl Who Played with Fire -- Stieg Larsson


The Analysis

I usually manage to read about 26-28 books per year, about one every two weeks. I read fewer this year. Did I read thicker books? Or did I spend more time knitting and less time reading?

This year I read predominantly fiction. The italicized books are nonfiction and they were few and far between this year. Usually there are quite a few more! Oh, I should mention that there are no knitting books or cookbooks on this list. Even though I often read them like novels, for the purposes of my list I don't count them.

I also read no "food" books. In years past I've read a bunch of biographies of chefs (like My Life in France by Julia Child) or books with food as the main subject (Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen or Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee).


Next Year

I predict the list for 2010 will start out much like the list for 2009. I am currently reading the latest Stephen King book, Under the Dome. (Yeah, I'm a long time fan, been reading him since I was 14, nearly 30 years. Did I also mention I'm getting old?) That book must weigh 5 pounds so it stayed here during my Christmas vacation. I read 2009 Best American Short Stories instead. It was much more portable.

We'll see what interesting things I find to read in 2010.

Purple Scarf

Now that Christmas is over, I can show this scarf. It was a gift for Ariel. It's the Montego Bay scarf knit in Handmaiden Sea Silk. I really like this purple color.

DOT -- Dog Cookies

Over Thanksgiving I saw a recipe in the paper for Gingerbread Mailmen. I thought Lucy would enjoy these dog cookies. (What dog wouldn't?) I didn't have a mailman cookie cutter (does anyone?) but I knew I could find a good substitute. Last week I was browsing around in Tuesday Morning for something completely unrelated and I found a set of three bone cookie cutters in a tin for $5.

Sunday I made cookies for Lucy! The ingredients were all very wholesome, people-quality things.

They were super easy to make. (I truly love this mixer.)

I hadn't made cut-out cookies in years. But like riding a bike, you never forget how. It all comes back really quickly.

Done! Lucy was really interested in the good smells coming from the cooling cookies.

When I let her eat one, she snorffled it down! Of course I had to give her a few more.

I highly recommend making Gingerbread Mailmen (or Gingerbread Dog Bones) for your pups!

Finished Gift

I finished the smoke ring. It's made of Knit Picks sock yarn. (Did I say that already?) It's wrapped, packed, and on its way to the recipient for Christmas.

Once again, I love the way blocking makes a knitted piece look finished.

Muffler

Look, I made a muffler! Isn’t that a great word? Last summer I read The Women by T.C. Boyle, a book about Frank Lloyd Wright and the women in his life. One scene described them getting ready to go out into the Wisconsin winter. It included wrapping mufflers around their necks. When did we stop using this word?

This muffler is a Christmas gift for a friend.

Yes, I’ve made this several times before. I know this pattern (my so-called scarf) and yarn (Malabrigo) makes a very nice scarf. I’m sometimes reluctant to try something completely new for a gift. It’s kind of like trying out a recipe before you serve it at a party. If you've made it before, you know it's going to be good. (I think I've already said that on this blog.)

DOT -- Snow Dog

Last Friday it snowed in Houston. That's a really rare occurrence. In all the years I've lived here I've only seen that happen once before. About noon on Friday the whole city shut down. Everyone left work, stocked up on groceries, and holed up at home. As a native Coloradoan, I just had to laugh. But I didn't mind the half day vacation. I went home and took Lucy for a snowy walk. She really enjoyed the snow.

But it wasn't her first time to see snow. She did plenty of hiking in the snow on our Colorado vacation in September. Please excuse her muddy belly.

Quilty Crafting

Back in October I attended the international quilt festival here in Houston. I bought two sets of coordinating Moda fabrics. The first is a set of forty different 5" squares called a charm pack. The second is a set of 80 triangles, two of each fabric, called Turnovers. Together all these pieces can be sewn into a quilt top. My mom is a quilter so I thought I'd take my fabric (plus a few yards of coordinating fabric) home with me at Thanksgiving. I figured I could use Mom's expertise and her big sewing room.

I sewed the triangles together to make squares, then trimmed them to be the same size as the rest of the squares. Then I laid them all out on the floor, stood back, and rearranged until they looked just right to me.


Making a quilt top involves lots of sewing and ironing. Then cutting fabric for the borders, pinning, more sewing, more ironing.

I had help from my mom.

And from her kitty.

After about 5 hours of work I had a quilt top! (It sure goes quickly when the pieces are already cut for you.) This is about 58 x 50", a perfect size for cuddling under on the couch.

My mom is going to finish it and I should be able to pick it up at Christmas!