I tried so hard to motivate myself to sew this past week, but it just didn't happen. The super cold temps make the upstairs (where my sewing room is) even colder, but in general books just grabbed my attention more.
I DID sew a little, though!
Forever ago, I joined the Bramble Blooms Quilt Along - a very slow paced improv-style project. The first quilt, once I finished the prompts, seemed to need something more, so I decided to use these blocks that were started and then set aside for an earlier prompt, as cornerstones for one last, solid, border.
Though I was trying to use what I had (and up to this point, I did), I purchased some darker green fabric to use as borders. And then stalled out. The second quilt in the quilt along was started and this was abandoned.
So last week I picked up the applique flowers and finished them - they were nearly done anyways - and then stalled out again. Maybe this week the top will officially be completed? (Now where did I stash that green?!)
So instead, what have I been reading?
This is the book I was a little ways into last Sunday - it's part of a series (maybe three?) that all deal with the same set of historical characters (royalty in England in the 1400s), but each one deals with a different woman, so a slightly different time period. I've read one other in the series and vaguely remembered it being a bit of a slog. This one also was.
The "white queen" is a young woman who somehow catches the eye of a man who is fighting his way into being king. There are two (three?) families all vying for the supreme spot - literally raising armies and killing each other. She marries the man in secret, but worries once he does win the crown, he will deny the marriage. He doesn't, and they go on to rule for a while until he dies. (Sorry for the spoiler, but if you look at history, that would also spoil it for you.)
There is a LOT of fighting and battles. A lot of detail, a lot of death, a lot of plotting. I suppose if you're a history buff, this would have been more interesting, but to me it felt more like reading a high school history textbook. With some of the story of the queen mixed in.
It was difficult to keep track of who was who (never mind they named their children after himself and his brothers), who was loyal to who (changing sides was a daily thing apparently) and sometimes I just gave up and kept reading to maybe get to a part that wasn't about plotting.
The book is categorized as a romance (among other things), but other than her seduction of him (which is honestly not very much described) and the information that he returns from battles to put babies in her (again, not much detail), the only thing I'd say makes it a romance even a little is that I think they truly loved each other. Or at least he loved her. But she was often accused of being a witch (you know, the normal for a woman of that time period who allowed others to see she could think for herself), so maybe she enchanted him?
So that's a lot of words to say "meh".
Next up:
Best book I've read so far this year! (I know, I know, it's not even the end of January, but still, this one was good!) (And the cover is not creased - it's printed to look that way and the lighting when I took the photo didn't help.)
Set in 1925, during prohibition, the narrator is a plain girl working as a typist at a police station. She is very proper and careful. Then, due to one of the other typists becoming pregnant, another typist is hired to cover things. In comes the "other typist," a flapper in all the senses. She is glamorous, wealthy and wild. Of course the two become friends and the proper girl learns all about the world the police she works for are trying to fight against.
As you might expect, things start to go wrong and get worse as the book goes on. In the end, it's all a mess and I'm not even sure who was telling the truth. I read a few reviews after I finished the book (dangerous to do before, I've learned) and many complained that the ending was muddy. I think it was meant to be.
Some of the details reminded me of the Great Gatsby - the lavish parties and lifestyles, so my next book was a free e-book:
I vaguely remember reading this in high school. Or maybe I read it myself because I missed the class that everyone else read it in. Anyways, what I remembered was the lavish party lifestyle of Gatsby and a girl named Daisy that he was in love with. Or fell in love with. Something like that.
Rereading it, I read a whole other tragic love story with very little wild parties. (There was the one that was well described, but just the one.) Maybe teachers were guiding my focus, maybe my youth focused on different things. It was enjoyable and quick to read.
I've moved on to another book, just started last night, and it seems to have promise...
I also cleaned off my bookshelves at home. Years ago, I purchased two nice bookshelves and gradually filled them. But I was keeping all the books I'd bought and eventually realized that was not sustainable and so I started to read and re-donate books. Every so often I find one I want to keep and that was making the bookshelves very messy. So I took off all the books, dusted, and got rid of a fair number of them. (They'll be donated, of course.) Anything I couldn't see myself re-reading or loaning to a friend to read (it has to be pretty good!), got the boot.
I found quite a few I'm not sure if I've read and they predate my keeping track, so if they sounded interesting still, they made it back to the shelf, in a different orientation to remind me which is which. And I suppose I'll have to figure out a system of working those into my other stash...maybe if I add one to the shelf, I have to read one from the shelf?
Anyways...that's been my week. Mostly.
Happy quilting!
Katie
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