Category: Diversions

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Around the house Book Diversions Reading Review

Bookish – 3 Bs

So, moving on to the Bs….

The Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block

A screen capture of the cover from the library app; There is a church steeple in the fog.

This sort of shouldn’t count for the decluttering / organizing part of this activity because it turns out the actual physical book I have is book two in the series so I read book one from the library.

Storygraph key words: fiction crime mystery darktense medium-paced

Me: while parts of this “written in the 70s” detective story were kinda painful to read nowadays (bosoms should just not be commented on okay?!?) the overall premise of this one is awesome and I will be reading more! I don’t want to spoil it – which is weird to say about a book as old as I am but still. Once I get through the alphabet I’ll come back to read the second one.

Milkman by Anna Burns 

A photo of the cover of Milkman, an evening sky in shades of pink and rose and a person walking by the water. The book is on Lisa's desk

Storygraph key words: fiction historical literary challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Me: if you want to read a book that seems to me like what my brain is like read this. Digressions all over the place (like for pages!), but always swinging back around to the point etc. Again, not my usual sort of thing but I LOVED it. So far it’s still on the shelf. And will likely stay there for a while.

Kindred by Octavia Butler 

A picture of the cover for Kindred. A Black woman wearing a light coloured blouse looking down; overlayed with an image of trees and houses

Storygraph key words: fiction classics historical speculative fiction dark emotional tense medium-paced

I loved this book first published in 1979. Usually Butler is lumped into science fiction but I far prefer The Storygraph’s use of “speculative fiction.”

I thought this was just beautifully done. And also so much of what I would do. She travels through time, but doesn’t understand how or why and she and her partner try to figure it out as the story progresses and I love that part of it. I will definitely read more by her. I have read Bloodchild and Other Stories – I love short stories and these were all fantastic.

So I was really happy that I read three A books and got 4 books out of the house. Less decluttering with B books – they are all still here. But ohhhh so worthy of staying on the shelf. On to C next!

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Diversions Get Crafty

Stitching – 8 Dec

So, exactly how much stitching did I get done this week?

Oh you know

It really is hard to get anything done with a puppy around.

So here’s the last thing I did as part of a group project known as Steotch and it’s most recent Steotchalong. I had a deadline. I knew I could barely make it. So I was a few days late but I did it.

Toronto as touque. Our team picked a Canadian motif; the touque. Or toque. Or tuque. Whichever you use is fine. I use touque. Deal.

Anyway, the team captain made up a few versions of the shape but the mess inside this one is all me. The black is all standard DMC 310 (I have a cone of doom!). The white in the cuff is blanc étoile; the tweedy in the cuff is 310 and étoile together. The stars are glow-in-the-dark threads and the pompom is a mix of all three.

Our team – the Screaming Beavers no less – has some amazing people in it and some have really gone above and beyond. Our captain keeps us all informed and motivated and others have really done so much – one is putting all the touques together to submit as our group project; a bunch of us “sang” bits of ice ice baby and others put it all together; others acted out a spoof on the fold it in bit from Schitt’s Creek (complete with a cameo from one of the actors on the show!); they made cookies; and so much more.

And WE’RE IN FIRST PLACE

So apparently the final push is the percentage of the team to complete the stitch. By December 26. Clearly I need a solid deadline and there we go….I guess I should start!

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Diversions Get Crafty

A stitch in time

1 December 2022 update

Okay – so here’s where I’m at in my stitching projects. I do intend to finish them all I really do!

Stupid Big Stitch:

a piece of gridded aida fabric with a whole whack of black stitches.

Everything else sort of went to the wayside when I started this. But even this hasn’t been worked on in months.

So – I need a December goal = 90 minutes a week? Sure. Let’s go with that. No wait, the baby announcement (NO! Not mine; more on this below) goes first in order of priority but I want to do a little bit on this every week in December – maybe Wednesday evenings will be to work on this one, 20 minutes? great! 60 minutes? even better.

Galaxy Temperature Stitch:

Ohhhh so I love Climbing Goat Designs so much it’s actually a little ridiculous. And, obviously I’m a bit behind.

A spiral of stitches on a mottled piece of fabric with sparkly bits intended to resemble outer space.

So December goal – my excel temp chart only goes to April 12 right now. I would like to get the chart at least up to date even if I don’t do any more stitches right now.

Secret Project for the kid of a friend:

Okay – I bought the pattern and pulled out the treads for this one. That’s about it.

December goal = pick the fabric because…..

Project for my cousin’s baby

(who’s obviously not getting his baby announcement as early as his sister did!) Pattern and threads have all been purchased. I even picked out the fabric for this one now.

This is going to be my primary December focus.

Random seeming bits of threads on a bluish-grey piece of fabric

Secret Xmas Project for a friend:

This is one of those things I’m gonna work on as a break from the baby announcement and not on Wednesdays lol And if I get it done for this xmas then terrific; and if not, she’ll get it next year!

Okay – I do have a December goal for this one. FIND IT! ????

And another secret thing so secret I can’t even write about it really:

I am superduperthisclose to finishing something for a dear friend. I had hoped to get it done for min-November but that got lost in the puppy/sick Q shuffle. Should still be doable for December though.

scrunched up rainbow fabric with the back of stitches showing
Lisa tries to be “secretive”

I’m posting this stitching update on a Thursday so I’ll try and update every Thursday in December. The last Thursday might be dicey as we’ll be in BC but I’ll try!

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Book Diversions Reading Review

Bookish – 3 As

My quest to “read my own damn library” began with the idea of reading three books by authors whose names start with each letter of the alphabet.

Turns out I don’t have a lot of A authors but I picked out three:

Leave me by dying by Rosemary Aubert

The Storygraph key words: emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

A picture of the cover of Leave Me by Dying which shows a rumbled white bed sheet and pillow. The book is being held in Lisa's right hand.

My key words : slow and tedious. 

It was very nifty though for the setting I thought – 1960s Toronto; and he’s a law student in the book so I know lots of the places and that was the only redeeming thing for me really. So much so that I happily put this book, and another by Rosemary Aubert, in a local little free library. Hey! This whole “declutter by reading” thing may actually work.

The Greenway by Jane Adams

The picture shows the cover of The Greenway, a woman's face highlighted dramatically looks out over shadowy people. The book is held in Lisa's right hand.

The Storygraph key words: fiction crime mystery thriller dark mysterious tense fast-paced

My version: British rural mystery. My usual love. Ugh. It was awful. But yippie! Another book out of the house.

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton 

The picture is cover of Ghosts. Primarily a sort of Tiffany-blue with a pencil line image of a lady laying on her front scrolling on a phone. The books is held in Lisa's right hand.

I’m not sure where this came from. Wait – yes I do, I ordered a sweet reads box and it was in that. Anyway, definitely something I wouldn’t have read otherwise.

The Storygraph key words: fiction contemporary emotional slow-paced

My summary: A comedy sort of; a realistic story also. A romance. Definitely not my usual genre. Gosh I loved it. Seriously. Not enough that I would read it again or anything so this one went off to SWCBNOF and there we go, three for three out of the house.

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Book Diversions Politics Reading Review

Bookish – Sept 2022

So back in August I said I would finish the library books I already had and then focus on reading some of the actual books I already own.

Because my father teased me in a dream lol

So I finished up:

Introducing Feminism by Cathia Jenainati & Judy Groves

The Truth Will Set You Free – but first it will piss you off by Gloria Steinem

Introducing Feminism was published in 2007 and is a good overview of historical stuff. Also reminded quite clearly that non-white, non-affluent individuals are often relegated to the margins/footnotes. Though there is a fair bit of Black American feminism reflected here there is very little Indigenous or non-western.

Steinem’s book was published in 2019. It’s hard not to feel her energy coming off the page. It’s mostly quotes and little vignettes so a quick read though lots to stop and think about. I would like to read more by her. Any thoughts on where I should start?

Then there was:

This Book is Feminist by Jamia Wilson and Aurelia Durand

Published in 2021 it’s meant for teens and I’m fine with that. I still learned a lot and it was nice to have everything clearly set out without assuming the reader knew it.

There were some good definitions in here including intersectional feminism, womanism, and more. And a constant reminder to look at who is being left out.

And the last of my own little mini intro course on feminism:

Amplify – Graphic Narratives of Feminist Resistance

By Norah Bowman & Meg Braem with art by Dominique Hue, this 2019 book was published by UofT Press and tells the story of 7 different people / groups and how they can be seen as feminist.

This started with the premise that the willful taking on of a feminist political identity is itself an act of resistance. It told the stories (very briefly) of Pussy Riot, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Idle No More, Harsha Walia, and others.

The backlash to feminism always seems to come from conservative governments and their innate fear of change. And just outright selfishness: the fear that giving more to others will mean less for them. Sigh.

as an aside this little exploration of feminism was brought about by trying to read Nora Loreto’s

Take Back the Fight

I’m not gonna lie. It was a tough slog. For how amazing it is to read her stuff on Twitter and what she wrote for The Maple and Chatelaine etc. this was hard. I couldn’t do it. One of the rare times I said “enough, I’m not getting anything out of this especially for the effort going in.” So I took a step back and started from the basics.

And then I picked three random books from A authors, which I’ll write about soon… thanks. love you.