Friday, August 28, 2015

Classics Club August Meme and overall progress

  The Classics Club is revisiting some of their previous meme's and for the month of August the question to answer is by BookerTalk, "Have you made changes to your list since you first created it? If you added any new titles or removed some, why did you make those changes?”

I have not added any to my list, but of course added books to my overall bookcases that I want to read in the future. So far I haven't removed any as of yet, although perhaps there is one that I might end up doing. I have tried to read this book a few times and just can't get into it, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I was previously reading the books in the order that it is on my list, but have given up on that. The last two years or less I haven't read as much as I would like, but recently did finish reading Persuasion, so far since August 2012 I have finished 11 books out of 67. I of course have quite a ways to go. Currently, I have started reading Little Dorrit for the spin that is due in October. What are you currently reading? Have you changed your list? If your not already a member you can join at anytime.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Persuasion Review

Product DetailsThe Jane Austen book Persuasion is the shortest out of all of her works, however it is also the most unique writing style as well. There is very little dialogue at all in this book, which may bother some people, but I found it to be interesting. The book is told in a background story and the views of the main character Anne Elliot. She happens to be in her late 20's and in previous years was in love with Frederick Wentworth, however at the time this occurred a relationship was out of the question. Anne's father is a Baron and known as Sir Walter Elliot and puts great stock in the nobility. However, he only has daughters and is currently in bad financial circumstances. On the other hand Frederick Wentworth has returned and is now a Navy Captain that has made his fortune. We meet several different characters in this book friends or in-laws of young people a few are shallow or vain, while others are quiet or overlooked.  Anne Elliot was a quiet character who seemed to keep most of her opinions to herself, perhaps this is why her family often takes her for granted or they seem not to notice her at all. I wasn't a fan of most of her relatives. I am sure though that in writing the characters of the sisters that status and money were mostly all that was thought of at the time, especially in real life, women in the nobility/aristocracy needed to uphold or further advance themselves or their family by both status and financially. This book takes place in several locations including Bath in England, which from the previous Jane Austen books I have read is unusual. I did like the writing style but did wish this book was a little more in-depth in some instances and that the ending of it wasn't so rushed (this maybe because Jane Austen died and this book was actually published after her death). I was a little surprised though that for quite a while Frederick was nowhere around physically.

This book will be part of my Austen in August and The Classics Club review.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Lucky Number 5!





For the classics club spin it is number 5, so I will be reading Little Dorrit. I have only read one book by Charles Dickens, which was Oliver Twist and I really enjoyed it. I have been wanting to watch the movie Little Dorrit but have held back until I read the book. So did everyone get a lucky number they wanted to get or no? Assuming I am able to finish reading Little Dorrit I will post my review of the book on the day this is supposed to be read by is October 23rd.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Another Classics Club Spin!

I love it when the Classics Club has spins and they are finally having another one starting on Monday. So what is a Spin you ask? Basically I take 20 books from my classics club list that I want to read and put them on a list 1 through 20. The books can be anyones I want, perhaps ones I am dreading or want to read, etc. Then on Monday August 24, the classics club will pick a random number 1 through 20, whichever book is on my list with that number I will read and then review by October 23rd.

Here is my list:

1. Jane Eyre
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. Wives and Daughters
4. Little Women
5. Little Dorritt
6. Kidnapped
7. The Idiot
8. The Pioneers
9. Five Little Peppers and How They Grow
10. The Rights of Man
11. The Secret Garden
12. My Antonia
13. Love Letters from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
14. The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln
15. The Outsiders
16. The Magicians Nephew
17. The Death of Ivan Ilyich
18.  The Mayor of Casterbridge
19. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
20. Larkrise to Candleford

This time on my list I have added books I want to read and those that I am not too excited to read at all, as last time all of the books on my spin were ones that I wanted read.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Flowers, flowers and flowers....

I think this is the most mini flowers I have completed in the past two weeks, normally I just baste a whole bunch but don't ever put them together. Since it appears that this project is going faster than I though, perhaps it won't take me as long as I had previously thought to complete. I am now wondering if perhaps I should make this into a twin size instead of a lapghan. I guess that I will eventually decide once I have at least made this into a lapghan size.




Monday, August 10, 2015

How many mini flowers?

I had thought after adding quite a few more mini flowers on the lapghan I am making, that I am really unsure of how many more that I will need. This is mostly due to the fact that I am not working from a pattern, and that at present I am undecided on how big I want the lapghan to be. Here is the progress in the past few days and then a close up as well.



Friday, August 7, 2015

Mini Flowers...

In the past few days I have accomplished quite a bit more of the mini flowers for the lapghan. I plan on adding more light colors next to the some of the mini flowers I recently added on. I hope to get more done by the weekend. Next time I will try to get closer picks, so that you can see the flowers on the fabric.


Thursday, August 6, 2015

Bout of Books Sign-Up

Bout of Books




I am signing up for this Bout of Books marathon, here are the books that I have chosen to read during this time:

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen
2. Gray Mountain by John Grisham
3. Longbourn by Jo Baker
4. Crossroads by Barbara Cameron
5. Sense and Sensibilty by Jane Austen

I am sure that I will not get done with all of these, but I would be happy to finish at least two or more. Below are the "official rules" below.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Two Rows and Organization...

Here is a picture of the progress I was able to get done in the past two days or so.



I have also decided to organize a little bit. I love baskets and decided to use this one to hold some of my books, it looks a lot better this way than if they were just piled on top of a table. 



In the octogon tin I have put the hexagons I have basted or need to baste for my current project, of course it doesn't hold all of the fabric but more than a handful, it is handy that I can just reach for the tin and everything is right there. The table runner was the last gift I had made for my paternal grandmother, and I thought it looked good here.