Month: April 2015

The Current Book List (Updated)

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Okay, so I finished Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and, thanks to a suggestion by tuvahelenw I stayed up until four in the morning today reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.  That probably wasn’t a good idea because I have a cold and the sleep deprivation can’t have been good for me, but I could not put that book down.  The tale is such a gripping one.  I was kind of young during the time in Afghanistan described in the second half of the book (2001 on) and honestly didn’t pay much attention to what was actually going on in the country.  The story is so raw and touching that I found myself shaking my head at times because I felt like I knew what was coming and just didn’t want to read it.

If you haven’t read The Kite Runner yet, I suggest that you do so.

As for Perfume, wow.  The story follows the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.  The thing that I found most interesting about this book is that the murders are almost second-place to the storyline.  The author focuses heavily on the psyche of Grenouille and, as you see everything through his eyes, the murders hold far less horror than you might imagine.  That in itself is disturbing enough for me.

All in all Perfume is an excellent read.

So anyway, I plan on reading A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle next.  Here’s a view of the updated book list:

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Any suggestions about what I should read next?  Let me know in the comments 🙂

Also, I have several crochet posts that I’ll be back-dating later today (or possibly tomorrow).  I’ve been down sick all weekend and simply didn’t have the energy to pull anything together.

The Current Booklist

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Recently I’ve felt this weird desire to read more books.  I used to read voraciously in high school, but since then I’ve been caught in the “I’m too busy” mindset.  It’s not a good enough excuse for me anymore, so I printed off a list proclaiming to contain the 1000 greatest books of all time.  The goal is to read as many of them as I can.  So far I’ve read Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn and am now about halfway through Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind.

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Here are the first thirty books (chosen mostly at random) from the list.  And I’m reading them mostly at random as well.  Some of them (like The Count of Monte Cristo and Cloud Atlas) I’ve read a portion of at one point or another but never finished.  Others (like American Gods) I’ve read before but enjoyed so much that I’m going to read again.  There are a few that I struck off the list because I’d read them before and am not overly interested in reading them again.  At least not for the moment.

See any that you’ve read and would totally recommend that I read next?  Let me know in the comments 🙂

A Notebook for the Projects

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I wish I could tell you that I made something super cute today, but the truth is that I got home from work, grabbed a book, and took a two-hour bath.  Because reasons.  I did, however, buy this little notebook to keep all of my crochet project notes in.

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So far I only have the Rustic Doll project notes down.  I made some rather hasty notes on a scrap of paper as I crocheted the first doll.  Some of the row counts were a little off.  So, as I make the “final draft” doll, I’m writing down the exact pattern as I finish each row.  The groundwork is done, now I just have to perfect the science as it were.

Currently, I’m five rows in to the head portion of the pattern.  I hope to get much more done tomorrow.  Plus, I still have to add the finishing touches to the original Rustic Doll.  There are loose ends to be tied off 🙂

P.S. I know.  The notebook isn’t all that cute.  I’m not good at doodling.

Playing With Dolls

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Meet Rustic Doll, everyone.  Or, to be more precise: meet the head of Rustic Doll.

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I thought it would be fun to craft something a little more three dimensional than what I normally work with.  The first thing that came to mind was a doll and so I trundled off to the local craft shop to pick out some yarn and buy a bag of stuffing.  While I was there I found these awesome leather buttons that I thought would work great as eyes.  (I was right!)

This is the first project I’ve done where no pre-planning was involved.  By that I mean that  I didn’t sit down and figure out exact row-by-row stitch counts on paper.  I did have a general idea in my head and I drew a cartoonish approximation on a scrap of paper.  That makes this doll an official first draft and I’m so happy with the way she’s turning out.  I had my moments of doubt while I was yarning away, but the end result (post stuffing and attaching limbs) is super cute.

The next step will be to design clothing for Rustic Doll.  I have to say that I’m really looking to accessorizing this little gal.  It’s going to be a challenge, but I feel that I’m up to the task.  I’m thinking something with a distinctly 1940s British feel.