The Yarn Girls’ Guide to Simple Knits by Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs
Novice knitters, rejoice! This book lives up to the promise of its title: its projects are simple. And they’re darn cute. I made myself the “Summer in the City” tank, which is one of my favorite shirts. In the category of “I just can’t stop knitting these!”—I’ve become addicted to knitting the little “Hole-in-One” scarves, which make wonderful gifts and are also a fine way to use up a random ball of yarn. The authors are the co-owners of The Yarn Co. in NYC, which is a great shop even when you’re shopping from across the continent. I called them to order some yarn for a project that involved mixing/matching some yarns, and the staff person was tremendously helpful. (And their web site always sucks me in for way too long. Witness the 20 minutes that just elapsed while I cavorted among the online yarn and patterns.) One additional note: On their web site, they have also posted corrections to some of the patterns, which is useful. (Hey, nobody’s perfect!)
Friday, February 27, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Cancer Be Damned
Anticancer: A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber
On the book’s cover: “All of us have cancer cells in our bodies. But not all of us will develop cancer.” And Dr. Servan-Schreiber, an M.D. who survived brain cancer, explains some of the reasons why. And it sounds like lots of it has to do with our diet. (A reviewer/physician in the New York Times suggests: maybe not.)
Reading this book has caused me—a notorious cheapskate (“frugal person” is the nice way to put it)—to increase the grocery budget by nearly 50% (egads, organic produce and dairy are expensive!) but I’m thinking it’s worth it. (And I’m already planning how to maximize my vegetable garden this summer.) And, blast it all, I’m reducing the amount of sugar and bleached flour in my diet, which, frankly, is an even bigger sacrifice than the budgetary outlay. I’m not easily converted by fad diets (please note: I never fell for all that Atkins diet hooey), so the fact that a book has made me modify my eating habits is a big deal. Cancer-surviving physicians catch my attention; I’m all about cancer’s annihilation from this earth; and if these fairly simple steps can help, then I’m all for it.
On the book’s cover: “All of us have cancer cells in our bodies. But not all of us will develop cancer.” And Dr. Servan-Schreiber, an M.D. who survived brain cancer, explains some of the reasons why. And it sounds like lots of it has to do with our diet. (A reviewer/physician in the New York Times suggests: maybe not.)
Reading this book has caused me—a notorious cheapskate (“frugal person” is the nice way to put it)—to increase the grocery budget by nearly 50% (egads, organic produce and dairy are expensive!) but I’m thinking it’s worth it. (And I’m already planning how to maximize my vegetable garden this summer.) And, blast it all, I’m reducing the amount of sugar and bleached flour in my diet, which, frankly, is an even bigger sacrifice than the budgetary outlay. I’m not easily converted by fad diets (please note: I never fell for all that Atkins diet hooey), so the fact that a book has made me modify my eating habits is a big deal. Cancer-surviving physicians catch my attention; I’m all about cancer’s annihilation from this earth; and if these fairly simple steps can help, then I’m all for it.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Happy Presidents' Day!
On this Presidents' Day, I want to share a great article I read recently in Publishers Weekly, in which several popular historians list their favorite presidential biographies.
(happy) sigh...
(happy) sigh...
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Good Guys
Tilt a Whirl by Chris Grabenstein
I defy any woman to read this book and not fall in love with John Ceepak. But let’s back up a step— This fantabulous mystery debut is narrated by young Danny Boyle, a townie who assists with part-time summer policing. Ceepak, his partner, is the real deal: not only a full-time officer, but a man who lives by a Code. So when a young girl runs down the street, screaming that her father has been shot at the local amusement park, Ceepak is the natural lead officer on the case. Boyle, whose youthful, somewhat cynical, voice is a delight, shadows Ceepak and offers occasional insight that his hometown background provides. Theirs is a tourist town, and murder does not sit well with the city fathers. As the case becomes more complex, it also begins to reek of a conspiracy. And when it all comes together, it is even uglier than Ceepak, haunted by his past demons, could have imagined. I’m darting to the library to check out the next book.
I defy any woman to read this book and not fall in love with John Ceepak. But let’s back up a step— This fantabulous mystery debut is narrated by young Danny Boyle, a townie who assists with part-time summer policing. Ceepak, his partner, is the real deal: not only a full-time officer, but a man who lives by a Code. So when a young girl runs down the street, screaming that her father has been shot at the local amusement park, Ceepak is the natural lead officer on the case. Boyle, whose youthful, somewhat cynical, voice is a delight, shadows Ceepak and offers occasional insight that his hometown background provides. Theirs is a tourist town, and murder does not sit well with the city fathers. As the case becomes more complex, it also begins to reek of a conspiracy. And when it all comes together, it is even uglier than Ceepak, haunted by his past demons, could have imagined. I’m darting to the library to check out the next book.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Another Kind of Spying
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says about You by Sam Gosling
This is one of those books that has a person looking around her living space, thinking, “I am so sadly obvious.” Yikes. Gosling, a professor of psychology at U.T.-Austin, is an expert at deciphering the clues we place right out there in clear view, in our offices, living rooms, and especially in our bedrooms. He also describes how we can learn some interesting things about people by looking at the email address they choose for themselves, and by looking at the contents of their iPod. There’s an interesting explanation here of the Big Five personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Gosling explains how these factors inform many of the observations we can make about people by checking out the possessions they have chosen for themselves. This is one of those books, along with Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy, that makes me realize that people are observing things about us that we don’t even realize… and it’s kind of cool, and yes, it’s also kind of creepy.
This is one of those books that has a person looking around her living space, thinking, “I am so sadly obvious.” Yikes. Gosling, a professor of psychology at U.T.-Austin, is an expert at deciphering the clues we place right out there in clear view, in our offices, living rooms, and especially in our bedrooms. He also describes how we can learn some interesting things about people by looking at the email address they choose for themselves, and by looking at the contents of their iPod. There’s an interesting explanation here of the Big Five personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Gosling explains how these factors inform many of the observations we can make about people by checking out the possessions they have chosen for themselves. This is one of those books, along with Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy, that makes me realize that people are observing things about us that we don’t even realize… and it’s kind of cool, and yes, it’s also kind of creepy.
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