How Can it Be?

It's a good thing I didn't try to be an Olympian. Knitting isn't growing very fast, but it's because I'm out having a life (as Cookie would say). Book club was Monday evening and we discussed a great read. Everyone enjoyed The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and the discussion lead to a deeper understanding of the story. Lacuna, a blank or missing part, was the main theme of the book and while hints were woven throughout the story they were not easily grasped. This is a book can be read again and again. Every time it's read more of the gaps are revealed and your understanding becomes stronger. Do not believe the bad or disappointing reviews. Lacuna is a book you need to spend time and effort to understand and it's so worth the time. 

Before I started this blog I read 50 books, or more, a year. Keeping up with the blog, and other bloggers, took time away from reading. With the purchase of an iPod reading time has increased enormously. I can knit and read, walk and read, work and read, exercise and read, and well, I love this invention. (There is a full spectrum of music on my iPod, but books are the main focus.)

So, today it's back to the blog, a place that's been on my mind all week but, with one thing or another, I've been unable to post. It is hard to write when you're distracted by books, dreary days (no pictures), little knitting growth, and ennui. Sitting in front of the computer just isn't where I want to be.

Anywoo (as Norma would say), Monday is my 6th blogiversary. SIX YEARS! How on earth did that happen? I'm not sure how I feel about blogging for that length of time and, in the last year especially, I've thought of giving it up. But, and it is a big but, loosing track of on-line friends is just not acceptable and their friendship (your friendship) is what keep me here.

So, blogiversary time means prizes and lots of comments, right? Let's show the prizes...

A skein of Malabrigo Sock in a beautiful shade, Eggplant

A Treasure Ball - as you knit  many little surprises will be found inside

2 balls of Sublime Kid Mohair (yummy soft!)

AND

FOUR skeins of Manos Silk Blend

The comments are up to you, but I'd love to know what was the last book you read. Thank you for reading this blog, for being there the last six months, the hardest 6 months of my life, and for your friendship. See you Monday!

Contest ends Sunday at 5:00pm MST.

Comments

[Yarndude]

Oh my, happy blogiversary! Hmmmm... the last book I read? I think that was "After Dachau" by Daniel Quinn. I honestly have to say though, I wouldn't recommend it. I was very disappointed as I like many of his other books, this one, however, I could have done without.

[Ruthanne (in Seattle)]

What an accomplishment Margene - 6 years blogging. Congratulations! I am in a book group, just started in January and our book for discussion next week is "The Enchantress of Florence" by Salman Rushdie. Not exactly my kind of book, but that's one of the reasons I joined a book group. . .

So glad you're doing so well and thanks for such a lovely blog.

[janine]

is it really 6 years! It will be 6 for me then soon.
The last book I read/listened to was Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. An excellent book if you are into sci fi. Set in a near future when everyone is living their lives virtually, it blends mythology with computer hackers, Samurai traditions,and lingustics for a faboulous story - and who couldn't love a main character called Hero Protagonist - greatest swordsman in the metaverse :-)

[Sidney]

The last book I read was People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Absorbing & interesting; about the Sarajevo Haggedah (don't know if I spelled that correctly or not...) It got mixed reviews from my book group.
Congratulations on your 6th anniversary here! It's been a treat to drop by and see what you're up to. So glad you're feeling better all the time.

[Patti]

The last book I read was Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde. I've been on a binge and am now on his fifth book in the Thursday Next series. I love how unique these books are, particularly all the literary puns. I totally got my eldest daughter hooked on them, too.

I agree that keeping a blog cuts into one's reading time and the fact that I've neglected my blog shows that I've been reading and knitting a lot (okay, and playing on Facebook). I'm proud of all of my virtual knitting friends who keep their blogs up to date. I love reading all of them. Way to go!!

[Mieke]

Since I knit I don't read much anymore. Strange I never thought about listen to books, but I am certainly going to try this. The last book I read, not that long ago I still do read, is Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. A lovely intense novel, a tragedy but also romantic, I couldn't stop reading.

[sprite]

Happy blogiversary! I'm glad to hear you liked The Lacuna, because it's high up in my To Be Read pile and I hope to tackle it next month.

I just finished The Help last week and am still blown away by it. It's Kathryn Stockett's first novel, and is set in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963-64. The story is told from the perspective of three women -- two black and one white -- and examines race and gender and love and community and privilege and leaves you at the end full of wonder that deep down, we're all essentially the same. I highly recommend it.

[kelly]

Happy Blogiversary!

In the last year, I've gotten back into reading again. I read a stack of books taller than me, and I'm planning to find more treasures this year. I finished Impossible by Nancy Werlin this week. It's about a girl trying to break her family's curse, woven into the song Scarborough Fair. It was a National Book Award finalist, and I really enjoyed it. Next up is My Life in France by Julia Child. I loved the movie Julie and Julia, and Julia is my baking hero, so I think I'm going to be hooked pretty well.

[Sophanne]

What a great question for comments! Short book reviews from trusted blogfriends. Ijust ordered The Help for the itouch (kindle version).

The last thing I read was dostoyevsky's The Gambler.

Happy Blogverry!

[Sophanne]

Eta blogversry

[Lynne S of Oz]

Congrats on six years, Margene! I hope to see many more pics of your fabulous mountains and knits and yarn :-)
The last book I read? Non-fiction - Cat Bordhi's socks for insouciant knitters, fiction - Terry Pratchett's umm which one...hmm, well, I've started reading Mort again. Ah, it was Feet of Clay. I'm into the light and fluffy at the moment - real life can be a drag!

[Penny V]

Congratulations on 6 six years! I have been reading for about a year and needed a good excuse to post (I have a terrible tendency to lurk). The last book I listened to on my ipod-was an Elizabeth Peter's book from the Amelia Peabody series, they are great knitting reads. I am currently reading Arabian Nights and Clara Parks Book of Wool.

[Kris]

Happy Blogiversary! Congratulations on 6 great years!

The last book I read was Eat, Pray, Love. I actually re-read it 2 years after the first time. Now divorced myself, I took something entirely different from it this time around. Now I'm on to author's new book, Committed - just started it.

[Nora]

Congratulations, Margene!

I finished The Book Thief a week or so ago. Now I'm working on Krakauer's Into the Wild.

Have a wonderful day.

xo

[Jane]

Congratulations, Margene! I loved Lacuna, too, and recommend it to everyone. The last book I read/listened to was Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It tells an interesting story, the characters are people you like, and it's a great audio.

[Elizabeth]

Congratulations on 6 years! I always enjoy your blog.

I used to read constantly - all my free time and a lot of my not-so-free time was spent with my nose in a book. Then, about a year and a half ago, I discovered knitting. Now, instead of avoiding cleaning the messy house by reading "just one more chapter" I avoid it by knitting "just one more row." But I have managed to read a couple of books I'd recommend.

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, and
The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss.

Thanks for the cool contest!!!

[Kim]

Wow...it's hard to believe it's been 6 years! My 6 year mark comes up this spring...yikes. I too used to read a ton before blogland, but not so much now. I should think about books on my ipod. :) The last book I read was 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult.

Happy Blogiversary!

[Manise]

Happy Blogiversary Margene! It's funny how time evaporates in a blink of an eye. The last book I read was Eat, Pray, Love a while ago. My mind seems to wander a lot making reading books hard right now. That's when spinning comes in handy.

[Issy]

May we be graced with 6 more years!

In the process of reading The Hunters.

[Rebecca]

Yea! Happy Blogiversary and many more years for you! My last book was The Girl Who Played with FIre by Stieg Larsson and now I am reading "candy" -- Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich.

[Kathy]

Happy Blogiversary!! I hear on thoughts of ending the blog -- I've had them too. That said, I'm so glad Zeneedle is still here!

As for the latest bood, I read "The Power of Half" on vacation. It's the story of an Atlanta family who downsized their lifestyle, most of all my selling their amazing and huge house, to give the money away to help with hunger in Africa. It was an interesting and quick read.

[Lisa]

Congratulations on six years! I enjoy your blog and find your knitting quite inspiring. I too read using my iPod. What a blessing. I am just finishing up "The Swan Thieves", by Elizabeth Kostova. A story about art, obsession and love. Interesting story.

[Viki]

Happy Blogiversary. Wow! Six years. I think I've been along for four or five years of that ride. You were one of my first blogs when I started reading them. My latest book was The Charlemange Pursuit by Steve Berry. Just okay. I'm currently reading The Ecoholic Home (The Greenest, Cleanest and Most Energy-Efficient Information Under one (Canadian) Roof). Very interesting.

Congrats!

[gayle]

Happy Blogiversary!
I just finished Terry Pratchett's Maskerade. Love love love Pratchett!

[Elizabeth]

Margene,
Despite the fact that it included bad news on occasion, I have loved reading your blog for the last year or so and offering comments that are appreciated and responded to. You do a great job of cultivating online friends and I'm so glad you are keeping on. And your work is an inspiration.
As reading is part of my job, novels don't get into my hands much (clearly I need an audible subscription), but one literary pleasure of recent months was Cara Black's mystery series about detective Aimee LeDuc. Each one is set in a different arondissement and gives a lot of historical information about the quarter and its buildings as well as reflecting the contemporary cosmopolitan nature of Paris of today.