Great Books I Missed in 2010

(Source)

When I started this blog I hoped that in addition to the million other topics covered I'd also discuss books. Yet that seems to have not happened even once. This is partially because I'm never confident enough in my opinions to give a proper review and definitively tell you that you will or will not like a particular book and partially because this blog has sucked away a lot of the free time I used to spend reading. Books are my first and most enduring passion in life so rest assured that any time I'm not spending cooking, cleaning, crafting, or on the computer is spent with a book in hand. If there were a book-related profession that didn't involve dealing with the public and following in my mother's footsteps (she's a librarian) I might have been more tempted to go to college and pursue an actual career. Instead, while my peers were slaving away at university I was lounging around at home educating myself through whatever books struck my fancy.

I'm not sure that I want to muddle up this blog any further since with each new hobby I throw in the mix I worry that I run the risk of alienating even more readers. I won't promise/threaten that this will become a regular feature but while perusing the Guardian's list of the best books of 2010 I was suddenly compelled to quit my job, move to a remote island with a great public library system, and devote the rest of my days to reading the books on the list. No idea how I would fund this life of leisure but I got little butterflies of excitement in my tummy as I added almost every book to my to-read list. I was so excited I just had to share the list with someone.

Shockingly, I haven't read a single book from the list, which is unusual for me since I get most of my book news from their site and the ever entertaining Bookslut. Since getting into crafting and baking and starting my own blog I realize I've spent less time keeping up with that news so I haven't kept an eye on what's been published and acclaimed in the past year.


I hope to do better next year but will need to play catch up with the books from 2010's list first. I'm especially looking forward to reading:

• Surface Detail: "Iain M. Banks returns to the world of the Culture after 10 years, with an examination of the idea of hell. The real and the virtual intertwine as an indentured slave, Lededje Y'breq, escapes from her master and sets off in search of revenge."



• Visitation: "Jenny Erpenbeck examines the calamities of 20th-century Europe with this story of a grand house by a lake in Brandenburg, a short novel which paints nuanced portraits of the people who pass through as the calamitous 20th century rolls by."



• In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut: "Shortlisted for the Booker prize, despite question marks over whether A Strange Room is really a work of fiction, this is the story of a young man's travels through Greece, India, and Africa, telling of the people he meets as each trip ends in disaster."



• Lights Out in Wonderland: A Novel: "The 2003 Booker winner, DBC Pierre, keeps up his bad-boy image with this drug-fueled satire of contemporary decadence. Gabriel Brockwell's double pledge - to take his own life, but not until after a final bacchanalian blowout - sets him on course for an odyssey of consumption which takes him from London to Tokyo and beyond." I remember getting caught up in his previous novel, Vernon God Little, so I'm especially looking forward to this read.



• Hitch-22: A Memoir: "Christopher Hithchens charts his intellectual development in a memoir which reveals the contradictions at the heart of the UK's greatest contemporary controversialist. The staging posts - boarding school, Oxbord, London, and New York - are all well known, but the sharp wit and vigor of this memoir makes his recent diagnosis with cancer of the throat all the more distressing."



• Skippy Dies: "Paul Murray's 672-page second novel, which was longlisted for the Booke rprize, began as a short story. This tragic comedy set in a Dublin boarding school is set in motion by the death of Daniel 'Skippy' Juster, who dies in the opening chapter during a doughnut-eating race with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren." Sounds very strange, which only makes it all the more intriguing to me.



• Room: "Emma Donoghue, an Irish writer who lives in Canada, tells the story of a five-year-old boy, Jack, who has been imprisoned with his mother in a tiny room - 11 ft by 11 ft - for his whole life. Told in his voice as he learns of a world outside his small prison, the book was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize."



• The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss: "In this memoir, the potter Edmund de Waal goes in search of the story behind the 264 miniature Japanese carvings, or netsuke, which he has inherited from his great-uncle Iggie. He uncovers a story of loss which opens in 1870s Paris and charts the convulsions of the 20th century." I've seen this listed on a few "best of" lists so I'm sure it's a winner.

Be sure to check out the list for yourself since there are many more that look just as good as the ones I highlighted. Apparently it was a great year for books, not that I noticed since I was still catching up on good books from previous years.

A Photo A Day [113]

Day 113

This week's theme is "holiday spirit," which I was ready to participate in until I saw how stunning the sky and moon looked on my drive home yesterday. Of course, by the time I made it home, went inside and retrieved my camera, and got back outside the moon was in the process of being covered up by clouds. I only got three pictures, one extremely blurry, before it was completely obscured. Oh well. It's not exactly the shot I wanted but it captures a little of the beauty I got to enjoy all the way home. You know, while I should have been focusing on the road.

A Photo A Day [Days 109-112]

I'm most proud of this one because not only did it turn out beautifully with a perfect little lens flare from the sun, but I also suffered dutifully for my art. It was freezing cold that day and getting out of my warm car that close to the water meant adding a blustering and frigid wind to the mix. I could hardly hold the camera still as gusts of wind came up and it was almost painful to keep my eyes open but it was all worth it.

Day 109

Not sure this counts as lens flare but it's a neat shot I captured while cruising around checking out Christmas light displays.

Day 110

While trying to get a photo of some lens flare Punky had to insert herself into the shot. I liked this one the best despite the lack of lens flare.

Day 111

Managed to capture that lens flare for the last day of the theme. Can't wait to try something new next week as this week's been a bear.

Day 112

This week's theme: lens flare

Perfect-Fit Sleep Shorts From One Yard Wonders

I'm breaking my vow to not post anyone's Christmas presents on my blog until after the holidays for two reasons: 1) so I can qualify for Finny Knits' sew along where this month's challenge is to make anything from One Yard Wonders, and 2) because I'm impatient and eager to bask in the praise that is sure to come as soon as I reveal what I made. Plus I'm not convinced that any of my real life friends read my blog so I think I'm safe.

I'd bought some cutesy unicorn fabric at Jo-Ann the first time I spotted it on the shelf because unicorn fabric is extremely difficult to come by. I have a friend who, despite the ravages of age and the obvious decline in the state of our nation, has managed to maintain her childlike innocence and adores things like unicorns, dragons, and fairies. Start singing any Disney song around her and she'll immediately chime in with the rest of the song. Heck, if you don't stop her she might continue to sing every song from the movie. I'd had my eye out for unicorn fabric for ages and was starting to wonder how difficult it would be to draw horns on some horse fabric when I spotted Jo-Ann's offering. Yes, the colors are bright, bordering on neon and yes, it's clearly designed for a child but it had unicorns on it and that was good enough for me. Hopefully good enough for her too. After that it was just a matter of figuring out what I'd make for my friend using the silly fabric. I settled on the sleep shorts from One Yard Wonders so she wouldn't necessarily have to wear/use the ridiculous fabric in public.

The good: The shorts sewed up pretty quickly; in less than one afternoon I had the completed item and that includes the dreaded process of cutting out the fabric. Aside from fabric the only other supply required was some 1/2 elastic. You do have to draft your own pattern but the directions walk you through it with a helpful diagram. Only two simple pattern pieces are needed.

The bad: The pattern is customizable based on your measurements, which is nice in theory but makes it difficult to sew as a gift. Fortunately my friend is about my size so I know that if it fits me it'll be OK on her but I would have appreciated a little guidance and perhaps some sample measurements for small, medium, and large shorts. I also had a hard time coming up with the measurements for the rise. I loosely based them off of some other lounge shorts I own but because those are a little on the short side I tried to add a few inches to those measurements to cut back on the hoochy factor. Not sure I got it perfectly right as there's some poofed out fabric below the waistline after I took it in with the elastic. I don't know if that's because the pattern doesn't take curves into account or if I did something wrong with my measurements, but I was afraid that if I made the hips any smaller they might not fit. I guess a little loose is always better than too tight. I also might try using wider elastic and adding a drawstring next time as a wide waistline seems to flatter me the best, but those are just personal preferences. Honestly, I'll probably forgo this pattern altogether the next time I want to make sleep shorts since I own a Simplicity pattern for the same thing. I was just too lazy to dig it out and cut out the pattern pieces but it might be worth going with a standard pattern next time to ensure proper fit.


Since it's being given as a gift I decided to go all out and pair it with a top to create a pajama set. I found a blue t-shirt at Target that perfectly matches the blue unicorn's mane and tail and appliqued a green unicorn onto it to complete the set. Despite my qualms about the fit I do think it makes a nice gift and if it's the only pattern you have on hand you can make it work. Plus it's probably easier to make for yourself so you can model them and adjust the seams and measurements accordingly.

A Photo A Day and a Terrifying Encounter With Another Human Being

Day 108

Today's story exemplifies why I prefer to take most of my pictures in the privacy of my own home even though I'm rapidly running out of interesting things to shoot. I finally got up the nerve to leave the house and take a photograph in a public place and what happened? I was approached by the store's manager to ask what I was doing. Turns out the place was recently robbed so she thought I was either with the insurance company or scouting it out for another robbery. I did a piss poor job of explaining myself, mumbling something about a photography project and stopped just short of launching into a lengthy explanation of lens flare. To top it off I even referred to the Santa I was photographing as a snowman. Twice. That's how flustered I was. I'm so glad that at least one of the photos I took before she scared me off turned out to be usable. At least now, assuming I ever get the nerve up to photograph in public again, I've had some practice at how *not* to act when someone dares speak to me. Silly me.

I'm not sure if the editing I did on the photo has actually improved it but as it looked rather plain initially I added a little focal zoom thanks to Picnik, focusing in on Santa and his reindeer. Or are they snowmen?

Theme: lens flare

A Photo A Day [Days 106 & 107]

This week's theme is lens flare, a tricky one for those of us in the midst of a dreary winter where the sun rarely peeks out and when it does we're usually stuck at work. Good thing I discovered that lens flare can also be created at night and I just so happened to get two prime examples while out and out in the evening. The first is of a completely uncompelling subject: the parking lot at a gas station. The second is from my late-night trip to Target in the freezing cold. It's very considerate of them to stay open until midnight during the holidays as I didn't get out of there until well after 10:00 PM. Let's just say I'm a bit behind on my shopping this year and appreciated a chance to shop without a crowd. Any day I don't encounter five to ten shopping carts blocking the aisles of a store with oblivious shoppers unwilling to move is a good day in NJ.

Day 106

Day 107

A Very Grinchy Christmas

I never thought I'd admit this on a public forum but you'd figure it out from the rest of this post anyway. So here goes. I watch Glee. Not only that but I like it. Anyone who knows me in real life would have to wonder why a show like that would appeal to me. Except for the always wonderful snarkiness of Sue there's nothing about the show that has any bearing on my real life. In fact, I typically hate musicals with the exception of Rocky Horror Picture Show and that's likely due solely to the pleasure of seeing Tim Curry in fishnets. You can't get more unrealistic than having characters burst into song in the middle of a crowded street with no reaction from passersby or, even worse, the crowd joining in some perfectly choreographed dance routine they couldn't possibly have put together in the ten seconds since they met. And don't even get me started on popular music. I usually can't stand to listen to the radio because most of the songs that become hits irritate the heck out of me. The lyrics are simplistic and meaningless and the songs uninspired. Yet somehow Glee makes those songs work. Dare I say they even make them entertaining? Glee manages to take everything I hate and turns it into an unmissable show I eagerly tune in to every week.

Last week's Christmas episode was no exception with a selection of Christmas pop songs I'd ordinarily skip past on the radio including the creepy "Baby, It's Cold Outside," which seemed to me like a prelude to a rape charge the first time I heard it. But it was almost sweet and not at all pervy when performed on the show. Their take on How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Sue as the Grinch was alone worth the price of admission, but what really stuck out to me was a little speech Will Schuester gave to the kids. Straight out of a melodramatic Lifetime special but it perfectly summed up how I've been feeling lately about the holidays:

"The first Christmas you remember having is the greatest day of your life. Your family’s all together, there are loads of presents, cookies. The magic is alive and well. But before you know it, you grow up. Work and school and girlfriends take over and Christmas becomes more of an obligation, a reminder of what’s lost instead of what’s possible. And all of the trees and the presents and even the mistletoe can’t change that. And then when you get to my age… you’re so desperate to get that magic back, you’d do anything to be able to feel how you did that first Christmas."

I've been struggling with feeling all of the obligations and stress of Christmas without any of the magic. It's the one time of year I most want to reject the trappings of adulthood and have no responsibilities other than to eat, drink, and be merry. That is, of course, impossible because unless I plan a menu, go grocery shopping, and take the time to cook something, making sure to clean up and do the dishes after, there will be nothing to eat or drink.


This year I'm trying to scale things way back in an effort to ease the stress. I've got the tree up but that's about it. I'm opting to not put up my miniature British-themed tree. Instead I plonked a bauble-covered tree-shaped tower in its usual place to bring a little festive cheer to our bedroom. I'm not even bothering to unpack half of the Santas and Christmasy knick-knacks since every available surface in our house is already covered with stuff. I stuck a wreath on the front door and that's the extent of my outside decorating. I'm not sending Christmas cards this year because I lost my address book a month ago and it still hasn't miraculously turned up. I'm feeling better about the looming holiday because of those cut backs but don't think my apparent sang-froid indicates that I'm living in a stress free zone. I still feel incredibly guilty about skimping on the usual traditions this year but I think it's the only way I can cope and enjoy the holiday. Hopefully my friends and family will understand.

That said, I'm not a total Grinch. I've still got my radio tuned to the 24/7 Christmas song station and feel ridiculously cheery when I drive past people's Christmas light displays or visit the holiday section in a store. Never fear; there's hope for me and the holidays yet!