It’s been a long while since I participated in Booking Through Thursday, so here we go!

How do you feel about illustrations in your books? Graphs? Photos? Sketches?

As long as they relate to the text and illuminate it in some way, then I am fine with illustrations. I really enjoy when they add to the reading, such as the illustrated Book of Negroes; you read about a plant you don’t know of in the story, and there is a lovely illustration of it. Where I didn’t enjoy sidebar images and asides was Generation X; some of the stuff were just little doodles, cartoons, random witty headings. The problem was they only made sense if you read the text, read the sidebar notes, then reread the text to see how it applied.

I love illustrated non-fiction. My favourite flipping/read-randomly book is The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. There are so many themes and play-on-words within Shakespeares’ plays as well as period-references that lend very well to an illustrated companion.

I don’t like illustrations when they dictate what the characters look like or exactly what a scene looks like. I think that the writing should be able to do this and stand alone. However, I recall my Literature 12 textbook having a number of illustrations, particularly for The Canterbury Tales. In this sense, I felt that illustrations of people were very poignant because the text itself is ironically flattering.

On the other hand, I also have to say that I would never buy a cookbook or knitting/craft book that didn’t have photos. And, in the case of illustrated young adult books, I think that it is fantastic to be able to visually balance the text, especially for reluctant readers.

Chelle taught me to crochet probably two years ago. She gave me a gift with a gorgeous crochet hook, WIP bag and 2 balls of KnitPicks Shine in garden green. It was a lovely gift and I went around in a circle crocheting double and chaining randomly in between. According to my Ravelry project page, I’ve been crocheting this since May 6, 2008. heh…

Well look at me now:

I had no plan, I just kept crocheting in a circle. I did have to rip back several times as I (1) learned to decrease and (2) tried to make it fit my head. Once my circle got too large, my idea had been slouchy hat, and I am proud to have pulled it off successfully.

Then I grabbed some pink yarn — My Strawberry Cheesecake from When Sheep Dream which I won in the Hot Cocoa Swap (round 2) for my Marshmallow Diver. I crocheted the flower from the same pattern as wenchlette’s wedding flowers.

I am really impressed with how it turned out. I did a few rounds of single crochet at the end to create a band. I wore it on Monday and it’s super easy to wear — tuck my hair behind my ears, place it on my head, and the bobby pins above my ears to hold it in place. I’m not much of a “hat person” because of my long hair, so this is the perfect compromise.

I know this post should have gone up sooner since the debates for Canada Reads begin today… but I procrastinated reading Fall On Your Knees and procrastinating writing this review. Why did I procrastinate? Tammy kept saying, “It’s so depressing, I’ve put it in my basement and just want to forget it’s there.” Which made me not want to read a depressing book after finishing the delightful Nikolski by Nicholas Dickner.

I have to admit, yes it was a somber story, but it is quite brilliant writing. I enjoyed the characters, how honest they were, and how real they were. At times I felt the book dragged on, but by the end, I was fully satisfied. My favourite character is Mercedes because I think that she is an unsung hero of the family. I was also constantly in awe of how she maintains faith while questioning the ways of her God.

At the start of the 20th century, James Piper sets fire to his dead mother’s piano and heads out across Cape Breton Island to find a new place to live, eventually eloping with 13-year-old Materia Mahmoud, the daughter of wealthy, traditional Lebanese parents. And so, from early on, Ann-Marie MacDonald establishes some major themes: racial tension, isolation, passion and forbidden love, which will gradually lead to incest, death in childbirth, and even murder.

At the centre of this epic story is the nature of family love, beginning with the Piper sister who depend on one another for survival. Their development as characters — beautiful Kathleen, the promising diva; saintly Mercedes; Frances, the mischievous bad girl, who tries to bear the family’s burden; and disabled Lily, everyone’s favourite — forms the heart of the novel. And then there is James, their flawed father.

[From the publisher, Random House]

At our book club discussion we basically agreed that it was well written, depressing, and wasn’t going to win Canada Reads 2010. I know this sounds pessimistic, but honestly, Fall On Your Knees‘ somber subject matter is not for everyone. Ann-Marie MacDonald deals with incest, faith, murder, pregnancy, and racism. The book really crosses a number of terrains and comes out the other side.

My friends Nigel, Deepinder, and I have been voting on the Oscars each year since 2003 (I think). One of these days I swear we’re going to have an Oscar party! Bascially we vote beforehand and then keep track who guessed the most correctly. It tends to make the long event more fun for the lesser-known Oscars. Every year Deepinder also tries to watch all the films nominated for Best Picture, but with 10 nominees this year I don’t think he made it.

Let me preface my guesses by the fact that I flip-flop between who I want to win and who I think will win.

Read the rest of this entry »

Honestly, I don’t get what the big deal is about Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. Although I found the writing witty I didn’t really get the point. Besides “understanding” the generation and telling these 20-somethings’ story, what was the point? Nothing really happens in the book and I’m not sure why it was picked for Canada Reads 2010.

I think my favourite thing about the book was the inscription; I picked the book up at a local secondhand bookstore (MacLeod’s in downtown Vancouver) and the following was written on the title page inside:

To Sean of:
Generation X

From Mom & Dad
of Generation Grey Hairs Remember

Easter 1995

At book club yesterday, there were a couple people who read and enjoyed it when it first came out. So I asked “why did you enjoy it so much?” One person said that it was probably something to do with feeling misunderstood, and Coupland, in talking to and about that generation, really identified with their feelings. Another common frustration was the side notes in the margins. The only time they seriously bothered me was when they didn’t relate back to the novel at all. Sometimes I could reread the asides and see how the witty definitions related to the story… but when it didn’t it annoyed me to a degree.

I think the main problem is that I’m from a whole different generation, not that unlike generation X-ers, but just different enough to not “click” with the book. I am now curious to read Generation A, Douglas Coupland’s latest novel (published September 2009 by Random House). Right now, we are living in a very digital and connected society and I’d be curious to read Coupland’s Generation A to see if I connect with the sentiments in a way that generation X-ers did with Generation X.

P.S. If you haven’t vote for your predicted win and your favourite book for Canada Reads at the Canada Reads Challenge, go vote! CBC also has a poll on their website. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast, or the videos, or listen live! The debates begin tomorrow, Monday, March 8th!

I know this post is a bit late, but a couple weekends ago the BookCrossers went on a daytrip to Granville Island during the Olympics. Our pretense was to deposit books… but I forgot to bring them. Instead, here are some highlights and photos from the trip. If you’d like to see all the photos, visit my Flickr set. Also, Marina got some fantastic photos too… I hope she doesn’t mine if I post a few here!

Marina snapped this shot of us sitting on The Bench art installation. I’m crouching in a swoopy-crevice that was oddly comfortable.

We met at the Olympic Village skytrain station where the city has borrowed a streetcar from Brussels. We rode the lovely, efficient, sleek, sexy Bombardier tram to Granville Island. The Bombardier “Olympic Line” had been running since February 1st and in just 30 days had over 300,000 riders! I wish we could keep it… but we have to return them to Brussels as they are far too expensive for Vancouver to keep.

We arrive at Granville Island and began wandering around. Here is the pond beside the Kids Market.

Wandering around the Public Market… to our left and behind were lines and lines of people waiting to get into Atlantic House.

Marina got interviewed by Slovak TV on who was going to be in the Gold Medal Hockey game.

Oh yea and we left books to roam…

Red and white admiring the Burrard Street Bridge.

Me basking in the Spring (February!!) sun

Marina snapped a shot of me scratching the Swiss mountain goat’s ears… and Dale is grabbing it by the horns.

Then we wandered around Place de la Francophonie (The French Quarter).

All in all it was a lovely day!

Here’s a video I took of the tram leaving Granville Island. Please excuse the shaky camera, I was reaching up a wall and under a fence to film this.

As you may know, Henry is a yarn snob. He only fondles fibres with 100% natural content. Therefore, I believed my cowl being knit with Nashua Ivy (50% alpaca, 45% merino, 5% synthetic) was safe. I thought wrong:

Fortunately he didn’t try to kneed or lick or roll in it… but he certainly likes it more than anything acrylic! The pattern (for the knitters out there) is the Herringbone Cowl from Hungry Knitter. [Click for my project page on Ravelry].

Hope everyone is having a nice Whiskers on Wednesday. Henry is napping obviously!

Last Wednesday I showed Henry inspecting my new houseplants. I bought them from the Garden Centre at Home Depot and chose plain terracotta pots to plant them in. I asked at the Paint Centre in Home Depot if I would be able to paint them, and he advised that I give them a primer base first and I should be fine. So I slapped a primer on, and painted away!

Initially I just wasn’t sure what to paint on the smaller one. I tried a mishmash of purples and blues. Planning to put it on my kitchen window sill, I thought it might go well with the new opal tile backsplash. What I ended up with wasn’t very attractive, so I washed it off before it even dried! I then sponged a green-yellow mixture on and was quite pleased with the textured finish. Then I had to do some swirls… because I have a slight obsession.

The larger pot was a bigger project. I love baroque patterns (and am planning to sew some couch cushions) so I thought it would be good to do a baroque pattern on the pot. Easier said than done! I sketched out a baroque pattern from mixed sources: dingbat fonts, interior design photos, website backgrounds, etc. Then I had to figure out how to lay them out on the pot so they repeated perfectly.

It was at this point that I realized I had no way to transfer the baroque sketches from paper to the pot. I texted my friend Evan who is doing the Display + Design program at Langara College. They do a lot of pre-prep and then have to execute designs, so I figured he’d have a suggestion. He did! He said to rub pencil lightly on the back of the image, place it on the surface of the pot, and trace over the lines of the design. This would cause the carbon on the back of the paper to transfer from the pressure. It worked brilliantly, but if anyone tries this, you only need to lightly rub the pencil on the back. I used an 8D pencil the first time, which is very dark lead. This caused even me pressing on the design, to hold it in place while I traced, to leave marks on the white pot. Carbon marks from an 8D pencil don’t erase easily.

Even though the baroque design was more labour-intensive, I’ve very satisfied with the final results. I had to wait for the paint to dry between designs, and then let the black acyrlic paint set for at least 24 hours to avoid smudging when I glazed it. It now houses my Peace Lily in my living room.

P.S. Happy March First!

Craig snapped this photo of Oscar and sent it to me just for Dogs On Thursday! (Isn’t he a keeper? Craig  I mean… oh I guess Oscar’s a keeper too. He’s a sweetheart.)

Anyway, Oscar was sulking because he’d just been told off (doing something naughty I assume). He apparently stayed behind the curtain for 15 minutes or so.

Happy Dogs on Thursday from Oscar in Manchester, England. Hope you all have a happier DOT!

We cats must inspect everything that enters our domain. We must approve of it before it is allowed to stay. Recently, mommy brought home these weirdo green things. They don’t taste as good as that bamboo-y stuff at mommy’s mom’s house…. don’t worry, I tried it. I guess they can stick around. All these silly things do is sit there anyway. They’re no fun. kthnxbai ~ Love Henry

P.S. The plants are here to stay. I went to Home Depot Garden Centre and asked for plants that needed either a.) no sunlight or b.) minimal sunlight. The smaller plant is a Money Tree with a beautiful braided trunk. It needs minimal light and lives on my kitchen window sill (I’m in a basement suite). The larger plant is a Peace Lily and needs nearly no natural light. It is in the living room.

P.P.S. I did an art project with these new arrivals. Photos of that shortly.