Knitting the Blues

Ten on TuesdayThe Best 2014 Reads Edition

I've wanted to pen (haha, tap out) a post on my adventures in reading for this year, but here we are and I'm on day 4 of some cruddy, icky thing that throws a new symptom at me daily (today's symptom is eardrums feeling as though they will explode at any second, maybe the worst symptom so far, although the ability to actually feel the walls of my throat squeeze against each other every time I swallow may being running in a neck and ear tie...), so this will be my list and maybe a little bit more.

Depending on where I've catalogued my reading this year I've read 73 (goodreads) or 76 (52 Books in 52 Weeks forum on ravelry) books this year. The discrepency is Sherlock Holmes. I finished up The Complete Sherlock Holmes this year and added that as one book in goodreads and the separate books in ravelry. (An aside: If you want to read them and think they are a little dry, try the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance. He rocks it.) Anyway, I read a lot for me, a lot for a lot of people, but some people read tons more than I do. Hard to imagine.

Here is where I may have put a screen shot of my books by ratings for the year, but I wouldn't say it is representative of what my favorite 10 are just by the 5 star rating. Some of my 3 star books definitely deserve a consideration, the stories might be great, but the writing a little bit lacking and some of my 5 star books (like any Bloody Jack book that gets 5 stars) might be rated solely on what I wanted that book to be for me and not on any literary merit. Some books are rated highly because they coincidentally popped into my life and spoke to something I was thinking or feeling at the time and some might be rated lower because the book read just previous to it was so good that the current book didn't stand a chance. Or maybe I was in a bad mood (everybody writes shit these days!). Or a great mood (SO MANY GOOD BOOKS! I LOVE LIFE! THE SUN IS OUT! I READ A BOOK! AT THE BEACH! SO MUCH BLUE! MY NEW GRAND-DAUGHTER WAS BORN! EVERTHING IS PINK AND BEAUTIFUL! I wish I could give this book 10 STARS!!). I do try to mention it in a brief review so that you know you are taking a chance with my ratings, but that's how I do it.

Changed my mind:

There are some books in the 3 star rating category that deserve a read. Take Orest Stelmach's Nadia Tesla Trilogy. These books are well researched, have a great story line and a female protagonist that is smart and strong. The books aren't overrun with sentimentality or too much inappropriate witty banter that so many mystery/action books are and I loved that. The writing style was a little abrupt for me, there were phrases with periods that could have been joined together for complete sentences, although I did read and listen to these books and I didn't notice the same issue in the audio. The narrator must've been adapting for flow. The author donates part of his proceeds to a charity that benefits the children of Chernobyl and I learned so much about that area from his books. Anyway, if you are looking for good reads, don't only stick to the 5 star books.

So, in no particular order, my favorites this year:

1. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Carson McCullers
2. Olive Kitteridge. Elizabeth Strout
3. The Golem and the Jinni. Helene Wecker (maybe my favorite)
4. The Goldfinch. Donna Tartt
5. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Laura Hillenbrand
6. The Earth Hums in B-flat. Mari Strachan (another favorite)
7. The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck
8. Frankenstein. Mary Shelley
9. The Things They Carried. Tim O’Brien
10. All The Light We Cannot See. Anthony Doerr (definitely in my top three)

 Thirty-nine. I think I'm headed to the Minute Clinic. Ugh.

Ten on TuesdayThe Serial Sucker Reader Edition

The topic of this week's ToT brought first this thought to mind: TEN! I don't know TEN book series. That was followed by this thought: UGH!!! Book series. I loathe them. I mean, aren't they just money makers for authors to get suckers like us invested in people that don't even exist to the point that our anticipation for the next book has us re-reading the previous books in the series and starting to believe these characters are our real friends? SUCKERS!!! I hear all the writers cackling away ("suckers, suckers, ahahaha! SUCKERS! Mama needs a new Louis Vuitton bag! Daddy needs a BMW!") as they start their fifty-third installment of their series. Lately it seems all books are part of a series. I'm tellin' ya. When I see 'book 1 in the blah-blah series' I move right along these days. I need time for all my stand alone novels and there is so much good non-fiction that I can read and not have to remember every detail in five years when the next book comes out. I'm over it.

I do like the way books in series look on book shelves, though. So orderly and so neat.

And maybe there is a series or two (or fifty, who's counting?) that I'm addicted to. Okay. I do love some book series, but it has to be really good to get me to start a new one, because I could be reading only serial novels and never finish if I live to be a million. I really like when someone I know is also reading the series. It feels more fun and a little bit more real, the way we talk about the characters and join reading groups and message boards to go on and on about FAKE PEOPLE, PEOPLE!!! But unlike stand alones, these people go on and on and sometimes never age, they are outliving us all and we talk about them like they are real because like mosquitoes in summer, they keep coming back.

Of my girls, Meg is a huge series reader. She will find a series that is new to her and read every book published to date, back to back. She blazes through them. She has introduced me to some good ones.(Gee, thanks Meg.) I asked the girls what their favorite series were, both as young readers and as adults. Meg and Erin both mentioned (although they admit the books aren't great literature or anything) Confessions of Geargia Nicolson, which apparently you cannot read in public unless you are wearing Depends. One of them made that mistake, I won't say which one and maybe at my age it would be a mistake to read them at all. (I'll let you know.) They have also both read Game of Thrones, I read the first one and would like to read them all, but here I go having to reread so I can figure out who is who and their relations in that endless list of characters. Meg likes the Ryria Revelations as well. Erin sped her way through Odd Thomas making me add those to the list of "want to read". (SEE!? Again with sucking me in!)

Anyway, knowing how I feel about series I didn't think I could come up with ten. Then I started thinking and BAM! They just kept coming! I mean, I am a writer's dream SUCKER! So many series. What is wrong with me? And I'm just like everybody else, I get excited when a new book is on the horizon and I 'like' the authors' facebook pages and read their blogs and curse them when they make me wait five years to find out what happened to Jemmy and......

Anyway, here is my list of series that I've been reading most recently or as a grown up. I have not read anyone else's list, so any overlap (of which there will be tons for sure) is coincidental.

1. Amelia Peabody. Elizabeth Peters created a family that I wanted to be a part of, added them in with actual historical people, dropped them in the desert and watched the dead bodies appear. There is so much humor and love in these books. I listened to them and Barbara Rosenblat will forever be Amelia in my head.
2. Flavia de Luce. I'm in love with this little girl (the books are written for adults). BUT! Here is another thing these writers do. They start a series in 2009 when they are like SEVENTY YEARS OLD! I never should have started it, I'll just be so sad when there sill be no more Flavia books. Just like I am about:
3. Bloody Jack. The final installment of this series comes out this month, L. A Meyer finished it before he passed away last summer. Some of these books are better than others, but I have laughed so hard at some of the situations young Jacky Faber gets herself into. Another girl I love. These are written as Young Adult, but the themes can be very grown up and the books are a wonderful, light-ish diversion from deep thinking. Meg flew through the audiobooks and I've whispersynced them. (whispersync, a new verb) Narrator Katherine Kellgren makes these books even more than they are in print, which is still hysterically funny.
4. Her Royal Spyness. Formulaic, funny, fluff. Comedic murder mysteries with a heroine and her love interest who haven't managed, yet,  to get together, but are in lerve so we root for them. The narrator of these books, Katherine Kellgren is again, genius.
5. The Molly Murhpy series. This, like HRS are written by Rhys Bowen. Not quite as humor filled, and not necessarily great fiction, I've fallen for the characters (DAMN, YOU RHYS BOWEN AND YOUR SNEAKY SERIAL ADDICITING WAYS!). (I will not read her Evan Evans series, I won't! I'm putting my foot DOWN!)
6. Three Pines Mystery series. Louise Penny has created a town that is nearly a character in her books and a Chief Inspector who is so calm and introspective that reading her books is like going home. These books aren't as light as some of the series I've mentioned, but they aren't action filled either. No gun fights or car chases (not really anyway) and the town is stuffed with quirky characters that love each other. So quaint I want to live there. The narrator of these novels, Ralph Coshum became Armand Gamache for me. Sadly he passed away recently and I think I'll read any future books. I won't replace his voice with another in my head.
7. Harry Potter. Nobody personifies 'suck 'em in with a series' better than J. K. Rowling. I mean! Not only did she write a series, but she brilliantly managed to cross age barriers selling not just to children and not just to adults but ALL THE PEOPLE! And now what. She's a gazillionaire. Seriously, when Deathly Hallows came out my family of five bought FIVE COPIES! of a hard cover because not one of us could wait three days for another to finish the flippin' book. And yes, we have multiple copies of each book in hard and soft cover (I found a bunch in many rooms in my house). The Campbells purchased a room in the Rowling castle. Rowling, you owe me. And now!? Am I reading your Cormorand Strike written by Robert Galbraith aka YOU!!!!!???? Well, yes I am, you money grubbing...... You should give me a copy of every book.
8. Outlander. If you don't know I can't describe them here and you either love them, hate them, or even in the craziness and stuff Gabaldon does that you want to throttle her for (at least she didn't kill Dobby off. Stupid Rowling), you keep coming back to see where Jamie goes next. I know, Claire. Blah, blah. It's Jamie we want.
9. The Dublin Murders Squad. This series is slightly unusual in that while there are cross over characters from each book to the next, it doesn't follow one main character through all the books. While each could be read as a stand alone I recommend reading them in order starting with In The Woods. That was my least favorite of the series, most people loved it. I'm glad I picked up her other books, because she is really great at getting into the minds of flawed and damaged people.
10. Mary Russell series. I started this series, loved it, but then put it on hold because I wanted to be 'in on it' when references were made to Sherlock Holmes' cases. I went and read the entire Sherlock Holmes series (even a long dead writer sucked me in) and now am ready to get back to Holmes and Russell together.

And as further proof that I AM NOT A VICTIM to serial authors and their devious ways, bonus series: Nina Borg, pretty good. Nadia Tesla. Nadia is a strong female character and not bogged down with a lot of overly emotional crap. She thinks, she gets the job done and she has history that is drawn out over the books. Next one comes out in December (sucker).  Dr. Siri Paiboun, read this, it explains it nicely. Lord of the Rings. Although I didn't become a major fan of the films, so no Comic Con for me. The Once and Future King novels. I loved these and want to read them again. Maisie Dobbs. The Gaslight Mysteries. Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Mysteries. The Millenium Trilogy. Harry Hole. Richard Castle's Nikki Heat. I could continue (it's true, there are more) proving that I'm the biggest sucker of them all. It's embarrassing really.

And ten more, I read these as a kid or read them with my kids. Bonus! but no linking fest.

1. Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
2. Anne of Green Gables.
3. Chronicles of Narnia (a passionate favorite of Erin).
4. Nancy Drew.
5. Madeline.
6. Angelina Ballerina.
7. Little House on the Prairie.
8. Little Women and Men, etc.
9. Pippi Longstocking.
10. Betsey Tacey.
11. Peter Rabbit.
12. Winnie the Pooh.

EDITED TO ADD: There is a website that is still in progress that lists book series, all their books in order. It is called, practically, Books Series in Order.

Twenty-three. I refuse to read any of the posts of participants in Ten on Tuesday. I'm being strong. I will NOT let you suck me into another series! (Ignore that loud flushing sound you hear, it is NOT me being sucked into another series. No sirree-bob.)

Day Three.....

and I almost forgot to post. I suppose it really is too early to assume this is a habit. The first year I participated in NaBloPoMo it started something like a 16 or 17 month run of daily posts.

Yeah, I have nothing to add to that.

Read any good books lately? I ask everybody that question, I love books. I've read a few this year, more than most, but so many fewer than some people. I'm in a Ravelry group, 52 Books in 52 Weeks, the point is obviously to read on average a book a week during the year. There is a thread where I keep track of and list all the books I'm reading as the year goes on and a monthly thread to which participants post their progress for that month. Some people read a lot. Like more than 25 books in a month. IN. A. MONTH!

I have a lot of words in my head about that, but they don't really matter. The one purpose this truth has in my life is to keep my competitive nature in check. I probably could read more than I do, but reading as competitive sport? Tempting, but no. (Full disclosure: I do have to talk myself down every month while reading other people's totals. Seriously. It's a problem.) (Another disclosure: I have to talk myself down every month from asking if it is true, if they remember anything about the books, if they really listen while working or miss half of what they hear, if they have a life....OOOPS, see? That. That could be insulting and I wouldn't mean it, but my filter might disappear it really isn't any of my business, is it? The only person whose reading/listening habits I should be worried about are mine. Oh, this blogging thing. It's like a therapy session in my head and shared with the WWW. I could probably use a real therapy session, but that's for another post.)

After years of primarily listening to audiobooks (another long story-slight brain injury, hard to read, listening kept me in literature) I have lately, thanks to the purchase of a kindle, been combining listening with reading. On the kindle I can control the number of words on a page which helps eliminate the buzzy, confused feeling I would get in my brain reading a book with a billion tiny words on a single page. I wish someone would have pointed out how that would help me years ago. Part of the reason I can get through so many books now is the Amazon-Audible collaboration that gives me Whispersync for Voice. Books that are 'Whispersync for Voice ready' are matched, the kindle version to the audible version and progress between the books is tracked in the 'cloud'. When it is working (it mostly is) you can leave off on one device and pick up where you left off on another. Listen in the car then open the book on the kindle at bedtime and start reading at the right spot. It never occurred to me before that I could do this myself and am now with books that are not WFV enabled and tracking my progress myself. (Duh.) I love real books as much as the next person, but the e-reader has saved my reading life. Some book pairings have narrators that are so good, and writing that is so beautiful that I reread what I've listened to and listen to what I've already read. That isn't often, but having the kindle version can save a book from a bad narrator, that is for sure. I have also learned that while I get a lot from audiobooks, I get it in a different way when I read the words. Some words are meant to be read, some listened to and some both.

Whispersync audiobooks are often deeply discounted if you purchase the kindle version first. OR if you check out the kindle book from your library's Overdrive digital download service. Or, you might find the audio version on OD as well. This is where my own OCD (not overdrive!) kicks in. So much research goes into the most economical way to read/listen to a book. Between daily deals, monthly deals, library check outs.....

With that time back I could probably get through 25 books in a month.

 

Twenty-two. The last book I finished was Olive Kitteridge, I loved it. Frances McDormand is the title character in an HBO mini-series and she nails it. I didn't know about the show as I was reading it, I'm glad because McDormand would have been in my head and as perfect as she is in the role (Emmy award winning performance in my mind), I'm glad I had my own picture of Olive bloom with the story. The narrator in the audiobook version left me flat, so I read most of the book.

Ten On TuesdayBooks

The last ten books I have read. You might know that I listen to books a bit more than I read them, but I recently got a kindle and it has increased my reading time. Audible and amazon have a service they named Whispersync for Voice and for me it is pretty great. I purchase a kindle version of a book and have the opportunity to purchase the audiobook, or specifically the audible version of the book, at a discount. The book automatically syncs to where I last left off over all my devices, these being the streaming content at audible online, my audible app on my phone, my kindle and the kindle app on my phone. I've also found that when there is a sale or even sometimes when there isn't a sale that I can get the audible/kindle combination of a book for less than just the audio from audible (thus saving my credit for another great book). It has me taking a little more time investigating to get the best price or make sure that the narrator is one I want to listen to (some books have been recorded a bunch of times), but it is worth it for me in the end. And here is where I put it out there: my goal is 52 books this year. I know that for some that isn't really many at all, but listening to a narrated version of a book takes a lot more time than reading and I think that is true even if I take into account the time I can be doing other things (driving, knitting, sewing, cooking, cleaning.....) while listening.

Carole said reviews would be nice too and I think that this post will never actually happen if I start reviewing every book or it will be really long because once I get started things keep coming to me and then again, this post would probably never happen. Feel free to go look for me on Goodreads, my user name is 'mum'. I know it, why? Short story, but I'm not typing it now. You will find that some of the books I have read I have said something about and some I haven't. Some I start to talk about and think I'll come back so there is an incomplete documentation on my feelings of a book. I could still get back there, who knows. I am no gifted reviewer of books. What I am more likely to put down is a stream of consciousness emotional and somewhat critical impression of a book that has no direction or possibly less sentence structure than one who loves the written word as much as I do should probably click the save button on, but there you have it. Blabbering on and on and getting practically nowhere because of the circles I've spun on is one of my gifts. I have evidence of my highly developed prowess every time I am rewarded by Pete's blank expression at the end of one of my monologues and I consider that my version of a gold medal. Or maybe he hasn't listened at all, in which case I have much experience with the soliloquy.

Totally unrelated photo, but look! Books!
(More on the knitting later....)

Ten Books in reverse order. I'll include my 'star rating' based on a 5 star system, but keep in mind that I am sometimes hard on books and other times not and tend to rate a book based on my expectation of that book in regards to many things including the genre, the subject matter, previous books I may have read by the author, the purpose it was to serve in my life at the moment, etc. and not necessarily in relation to other books in general. And sometimes, as in the case of these ten books, I just hit upon a stretch of good ones, at least for me. So when a book like The Golfinch is awarded 4 stars from me and so is Bloody Jack, well..... throw in your grain of salt, because if I were to compare the two books side by side they would each be found better and lacking depending on the expectation of the book was at that time or the mood I was in at the time of the reading. Not at all objective, but this is all about me anyway, right?

1. The Sense of an Ending. Julian Barnes (audible) ****
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audible and kindle)****
3. Bloody Jack. L. A. Meyer (audible)****
4. Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck (audible)*****
5. The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck (audible)*****
6. The Golem and the Jinni. Helene Wecker (audible)*****
7. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audible and kindle)***
8. The Goldfinch. Donna Tartt (audible)****
9. The Book of Tea. Kakuko Okakura (hard copy)****
10. The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches. Alan Bradley (audible) ****
11. The Boy in the Suitcase. Lene Kaaberbol (audible) ****

I can never just stick to ten, can I? This represents the books I have finished since the beginning of 2014. I am currently reading a few more, a couple of fiction and the rest not. So many books, so little time....

Fifteen. That thing about the gold medal and all? Seriously, I am so good at going on and on and on about what I think is really something, and it is or I wouldn't be going on about it, that I earn that gold medal when I'm not even TRYING! Knowing one's strengths, even if others may not see them the same way, it is important.

 

Related articles

Introducing Whispersync for Voice & Immersion Reading

Yarn Along

It started with Weekending on Monday.  Ooops, found a new blog to read.  Love her photography.  Now there is the Wednesday Yarn Along on Small Things, a blog authored by Ginny.  No, Ginny isn't a friend or acquaintance of mine, but I just found her blog and love the Yarn Along idea.....

Swamplandia! is my current read/listen.  I'm attempting to read/listen through the nominations for the Orange Prize for Fiction.  Very few of them are available in audio format, so I may be actually reading some of them.  I wish I could recommend the current selection and probably would if I was reading it, not listening to it.  I admit to having high expectations when I listen to a book.  The audio version of Swamplandia! is poorly narrated by one of the readers.  It is unfortunate because while I am drawn in to the story, the young girl reading is distractingly bad.  When I find myself repeating sentences and phrases in my head using more appropriate inflections or to pronounce words correctly I get irritated at the interrupted flow of the story.  Why on earth would they hire a young teen to read a book?  There are many talented adult narrators that sound young and have worked for young characters before.  I will probably read this book on paper so I can get a better feel for the story which I am actually enjoying despite the issues of the audio version.

(See my nifty Woolen Rabbit Wee Bunny knitting bag?  Rumor has it that she is planning a website update of more bags soon.  Yay!)

2011. Nine.  $27.00.  What are your current "yarns"?  I can see my bloglines list growing from just the list of Yarn Alongers.  I was going to blog about bloglines today, but I'll save that for another post.   

 

Ten On TuesdayThe "Let's Share the Books We Are Reading" Edition

So, this is supposed to be Ten Books I Am Reading This Summer.  What it will really be is Ten Books On My 'To Read' List, because while I sometimes have a list in order, it is often upset by a new book that sashays by or what shows up from Recorded Books or Audible. At this point in time I am behind and have quite a few books on my computer already.  So here goes:

1. An Echo in the Bone.  I'm actually about 1/3 of the way through this one right now, it is the most recent of the Outlander series.  I'm tempted to start with the first one as soon as I finish this, but the list of books is long....
2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.  Sashayer.
3. The Body Farm.  I'm on a Kay Scarpetta kick.
4. The Beekeeper's Apprentice.  Just what I need.  Another series.
5. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.  It's been on my RB queue for a long time and I've finally received it.
6. The Joy Luck Club.  I know it!  Am I the last person on earth to read this book?
7. The Girl Who Played With Fire.  That one has been on my RB queue for a while and hasn't shown up, here's hoping it does soon.
8. A River in the Sky.  Amelia Peabody, yay!
9. The House at Riverton.
10. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. 

So, those are ten "planned", but you never know what will happen.  Now I'll go read your lists and mine will likely change.  Heh.

2010.  Sixty.  Any suggestions?

Randomly Yours,

• I decided to bullet these, but not number them because the numbers are a kind of pressure for some reason.
• You know, if you only have nine you should round out to an even ten.
• Or if you have twenty-two that is too many so you should eliminate a couple.
• I'll probably count them though.
• I hope Dancing With The Stars improves and fast.
• If it doesn't there will be a lot of free time in my prime time schedule.
• I'll probably switch to listening to books.
• Speaking of which, I'm loving The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
• Another translated book, which always has me wondering what, if anything, didn't cross over, but all in all I think this must be an excellent translation.
• So, I started this post on 9/22.
• Most of it remains the same.
• Except the book.  Finished it and recommend.
• I've read at least a couple of books since, but they must have been unremarkable because I can't remember them.
• I am at the end of The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox. 
• Three out of five stars.  Take that for what it is.
• I won't share my Rhinebeck experience with you.
• Heh, I stayed home and even before the reports of cold weather, crowded fairgrounds and long, snowy rides home I was not missing being there this year.
• Although I would have gotten a mug from Jennie the Potter.
• And I did miss seeing all of my friends.
• I'm still trying to remember what books I have read.....
• And by read I mean listened to, but you must know that about me by now.
• Two more Friday night football games and our marching band years will be over. 
• Yay.
• Twenty-three.  And I haven't said a blessed thing that is worth a random post.
• Deal.
• Here is something random for you:
  
  Is this ORANGE knitting at Knitting the Blues?
  What is it doing here?
• 
  
  Patiently waiting for a nice hot, agitating bath.

Ninety-seven.  In a future post:  I get carried away.  As usual.

For a Random Wednesday

This just turned up on the NETA list, so many of you may have seen it.  It is too good not to share though, and while I could have waited until YouTube Saturday, well.  I didn't.  Random of me.

Other randomness?

• We have been subscribers to Blockbuster for a year now and I have had the first season of One Foot In The Grave at the top of my queue the entire time with a status of "very long wait."  Okay. 
• I am taking advantage of a free two week subscription to Netflix, put the same dvd on the top of my queue and had it in two days.  Hmmm...  And it seems the turn around is quicker.
• Having seen only one episode I'm thrilled.  British humor is worth the wait.
• Did I mention I finished the second Outlander book, Dragonfly in Amber?  It was pretty good, not as good as the first, but I never wanted to put it down for good until I finished it.  I still think the author goes a little too far for shock value, but the story is a fun romp.  Who can't use that?
• Now I am listening to The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.  I am a bit more than half way through, and typical to Lamb's novels, there isn't a whole lot to be happy about.  Then the journals of the main character's great grandmother come to forefront and I am loving this aspect.  I remember that when I was reading She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True there was a point about half way through each that I almost put the book down because I hated the main character or something and then there is a turn of some kind that made me want to really finish the book.  I'm glad I kept with it, I hope this book doesn't disappoint.
• I never realized that Amazon has author stores.  Here is Wally's.
• I found a copy of the second issue of The Knitter (their website is not low on the priority list, apparently).  Meh.  I still like it, but am not as impressed as I was with the first issue.  Of course, there is always the Mason-Dixon column, very much worth the price of the magazine, right?  I think the third issue might be out any day now.  I'll be looking for it.
• I've been drinking a lot more oolong tea lately.  It hasn't ever been a tea that I was drawn to, not for any reason, just too taken with other teas.  I love this stuff.  It blends very well with fruits and makes a light, flavored tea.  Yum.  My favorite right now?  Sweet Oolong Revolution by Teavana.
• Have I complained about Teavana here before?  Probably, yes.  You know, I am willing to pay for good tea, especially when I find some that I really like.  Companies like Adagio and Harney are companies that have a wide range of tea qualities and you can pay an average to a huge honkin' lot for a few ounces of tea from either.  Usually, very worth the price.  When the tea arrives, depending on what size you have purchased, it will often arrive in a tin or in the case of large amounts from Harney (I'm talking a pound or so), a pretty respectable bag.  I like the bag, because I have probably ordered it in a tin previously and will deposit some of the pound into the tin for easier scooping. 
• Now, Teavana teas are expensive.  Especially some of their flavored whites, white tea being expensive anyway, but if you look closely at the flavored white teas you might think you aren't getting so much white tea, but an herbal tea with some white tea leaves tossed in.  Still in all, I have my favorites and will continue consuming them when I can afford to. 
• Here is the thing that gets my dander up.  Every time I go to order tea at my local Teavana I get the hard sell to purchase a tin to store my tea in, because even at the high price, you get the tea in a little baggy that is not really appropriate to keep your tea fresh. 
• Did I mention that Adagio and Harney send the tea IN.THE.TIN?  I save those tins to reuse.  A couple collect change, the rest are washed, dried will be used to store teas in again.  Some of them will be Teavana teas.
• When I get the big push from the Teavana tea scooper I always tell them (and yes, I know they are just the employees doing their jobs) that I will never purchase a tin from them, that when I get tea from other wonderful purveyors of leaves they include the tin with the tea at no extra charge and I save those tins and reuse them to keep my Teavana tea fresh.  I just take off the little sticker from the bag they give me and place it on the tin, so I always know what I have. 
• Having noticed the hard-sell on everything in the store by the tea scoopers, I asked one happy young girl if she worked on commission.  Her demeanor changed dramatically and she said, "No, not really."  "Not really?  What does that mean?" and she replied that while she doesn't technically work on commission, they are pressured to reach sales goals and quotas.  That explains the tea scoopers jumping on me every time I go through the door.
• I know, I'm a complainer, but I'll still buy some of their teas.  But Teavana, just so you know.  I won't buy a tin from you.  Ever.
• I couldn't think of a random thing when I started this post, and now I have a million thoughts in my head.  Some of them are of all the things I should be doing right now. 

Forty-three.  Maybe I should throw a random thought in every post.  Maybe with fewer linking things though.  That'll keep 'em coming back!

Well, It Was Bound To Happen Eventually

The first day without a post on Knitting the Blues in over fourteen months.  I was going to post on Sunday, but my computer woes are continuing and getting enough share time from Erin is difficult (plus I still cannot get photos onto her laptop!  She needs to do something about that).  It goes something like this:  blah, blah, blah, operating system, blah, blah, reinstall, blah, blah, blah, memory, blah, four or five days, blah, blah........  I have no idea what they really said, but Pete does and this is our last shot at keeping that laptop going before I really do have to buy a new one.  Bummer.  Who knew that my four year old computer was practically obsolete?  When I got it the memory was almost as much as you could get and it was sleek and fast.  Since then the internet has become more sophisticated and is using more of that memory to load pages, especially multiple pages and going back and forth between them.  Well, hopefully this will help for the time being, until I win a lottery or something and can get myself something shinier and quick as lightening. 

To tell the truth, I'm sort of glad to get that first day off out of the way.  I wasn't sure how I would do it and then it just happened.  I mean, technically I could have posted Sunday night, but just let it go.  And now it is done.  

If you already spend too much time on the computer and love reading then you should probably stop reading right now.  I'm sure I'm the last one to this party, but Gillian invited me to join yet another online community.  As if Ravelry isn't enough, this one is all about books, your favorites, other people's favorites, there are groups to join, chats to participate in, reviews to read....  There are even challenge groups, like read fifty books or one hundred books this year, of course, the ever popular read along.  It's all there at goodreads.   Come look for me, my screen name is ReadingtheBlues.  Surprised?  

I am currently reading listening to (do I still have to remind you all of that?) Possession by A. S. Byatt.  I am loving this book, despite being neither the academic or intellectual that many goodreads reviewers recommend.  While the book is on my practically weightless iPod Nano, I still have the impression of a heavy, dense book.  It is weighty in prose and flowery language, heavy in descriptive phrase, and plot hefty with two complete and thoroughly crafted stories, in two different time periods, wound throughout.  Add to that the writings of the characters, their letters, poems, biographies, diaries and papers.  There is a lot to follow in this book.  I have to admit to trudging a bit through the poetry and language at times, but the storylines keep me hooked.  I am almost finished and am listening every second I can to get to the end.  I so hope I am not disappointed there.

So, add your books to goodreads and add me to your reading friends list!  Just think, like Ravelry you can keep track of your library and all of your finished and current reads.  Unlike Ravelry, you never have to take a single photo or fill in the details of your projects!  That shouldn't be too much of a time suck, right?

Eighteen.  I apologize in advance, but if I'm going down into another slippery slope of computer obsession, I'm taking prisoners!