A mystery and a meme, but no tagging

Thank you all so much for your fabulous and sweet comments of yesterday! *sniff* Love you guys.

*collects self*

Ok, in the interest of actually having some knitting content, here’s what I’m working on these days:


What? You can’t tell what it is? Excellent! It’s a secret project, so you shouldn’t be able to figure it out yet. Hopefully it’s at least a bit Project Spectrumesque.

Carrie K tagged me for another book meme. I like book memes. 🙂

Name five of your favourite books, in no particular order. (This is subject to change, depending on what I can remember at any given moment.)
To Say Nothing of the Dog, or How We Found the Bishop’s Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis. Come on, it’s science fiction written in the form of a Victorian novel, inspired by Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog! (1889) – what’s not to like? You must keep reading past the first 100 pages, even if you’re confused. The narrator’s confused. You’re in his headspace.

Bellwether by Connie Willis. Light-hearted satire about a trends researcher. There are sheep in it.

Someplace To Be Flying by Charles de Lint. What can I say… I want to be a Crow Girl.

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. Not only is it a good read, it takes place in Minneapolis.

The Bee-Keeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King. I like most of the books in this series. It’s a great take on Sherlock Holmes.

What was the last book you bought?
I bought several books last weekend at Magers & Quinn and Booksmart (about 8 blocks from my condo – I love Uptown, Minneapolis!): Kafka on the Shore, Quicksilver, Separation Anxiety, and Women Who Love Cats Too Much.

What was the last book you read?
Dying to Sell by Maggie Sefton. I thought it was another one of her knitting mysteries when I reserved it at the library. Turns out it’s a realtor mystery and not that great… but I read it anyway. Right now I’m reading S is for Silence by Sue Grafton.

List five books that have been particularly meaningful to you.
Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami. I read this shortly after 9/11 and the parts about terrorism resonated.

Egalia’s Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes by Gerd Brantenberg. Turns some of our basic perceptions of male and female roles topsy turvy and makes very effective points in doing so. I particularly liked “hysterical” being changed to “testerical.”

The Control of Nature by John McPhee. Looks at several places where humans are trying to control nature, including the Mississippi in Louisiana and the mudslide-prone areas in southern California. Written in 1990…

White Noise by Don DeLillo. Nails life in America in these modern times…

Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann. This is the book that demystified knitting for me.

Name some books you want to read but just haven’t gotten around to yet.
Kafka on the Shore, Quicksilver, Lambs of God, Blue Shoe, Julie and Julia… I could go on and on.

“Hey, I’m just hanging out on my tissue paper, thinking about a snack. Leave me alone. Go find SRM. That might make me less cranky.”

20 thoughts on “A mystery and a meme, but no tagging”

  1. You’re such a smartypants and your taste is so varied; I haven’t read ANY of those. Thanks for the recommendations though, I see a few that sound really interesting.

  2. I can’t wait to hear what you think of Kafka on the Shore and Quicksilver!

    Poor Chaos. Obviously you stopped attending to his needs for a nanosecond.

  3. Ooo, Pretty! I have questions, and I can’t ask them! Help, they might back up!! What if I explode? Will you feel bad? Will you miss me? Or just grumble about the mess?

    Ooo, I found three books on your lists that I haven’t read!! I must run to the library quick!!!

    Ooo, I’ve obviously gone a bit overboard on “I’ll let myself have caffeine during this rough spot”!!! I think I need to go on an exclamation point fast

    (there, didn’t think I could do it, did you?)

    (you were right)

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. OK – you’re way more intellectual than I am. I just about bust a gut yesterday when I finally decided to make the decision to attempt to read Anna Karenina. That was with the gentle coaxing of two toatl stranges are Barnes and Noble. Perhaps it was the fact that I had just seen “Aquamarine” with 2 nin-year old girls that made me think my idea of culture neede a boost?!?

  5. What? Does Chaos think you will take the tissue paper? Is he gaurding it so you don’t use it for a present? I just bought some neat tissue paper, does he need more? Target has it for $1.48 clearance. But do they have an ice tea maker for one who has given up soft drinks and must now find an alternative drink? NO!

  6. Hmm. I know that look. That is the look that precedes naughtiness and biting 🙂

    The project colours are very pretty – lucky secret recipient 🙂

  7. Kafka on the Shore’s on my TBR stack too. I really enjoyed Julie and Julia. Not necessarily the best written book in the whole world, but just the whole idea–30-something schlep decides to take on Julia Child–was great fun.

    Oh, and hey, can’t figure out the mystery project, but those colors are wonderful!

  8. oh chaos…what did you to to SRM? I hope he enjoys his snack… and i SO envy the ability to read and knit at the same time. I would be much more productive were I Shiva with the 8 arms.

  9. Poor Chaos — he looks pensive :o( Our Willowpede has been sleeping most of the day, enough to make me check up on her once in a while.

    I love all of the book memes — I hadn’t heard of that other Murakami book, but J says he’s been thinking about ILL’ing it. Thanks for linking to Carrie K today too ;o)

  10. It was an unofficial tag, Chris. I love that Connie Willis book! I had to get the Jerome K Jerome book too, but my fave of hers is The Doomsday Book. Hey. The Black Plague, time travel, what’s not to love?

    Uh, oh, rhelynn couldn’t find me? Have I been in the Fortress of Technological Incompetence without realizing it? It took me forever to figure out how to do the email thing.

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