Book Reviews

Quote for the Day:

"A weekend wasted isn't a wasted weekend."

 ~ Author Unknown

I have a few minor plans for this weekend...
After Andy get homes from the estate auction he's at we are going to put a little time in on the kitchen remodeling.  Tomorrow I'm going to head to Joann's for their big sale...there is a ruler and some flat storage bins I want to get for my quilting.   

I have also ordered a pattern and some fabric online for making  my own tops.  

Many years ago (in high school and college) I used to make all of my clothes...even blue jeans!  After I graduated nursing school, I also made my uniform tops, and after I had kids, I made some of their clothes, too.  I've since gotten out of the practice.  But I am really getting aggravated with the ready-to-wear garments these days.  They are poorly made and they all have sleeves that are too short...not good for someone who has bat-wings for upper arms!  :(  I also like v-necklines the best, and this pattern has two v-neck styles.

This pattern got excellent reviews online, so I decided to try it.  I have a beautiful Bernina serger that I bought at an auction last year, but have never used it, yet!  :(   What better way than to make some stylish knit shirts?  :)

So this weekend, one of my goals is to get the serger set up, test drive it, and learn all I can about using it from the video that is included with it!  That way, when the fabric and pattern arrive this week, hopefully I can get some new shirts made!  :)


Last night we tried out a new restaurant here in town...Uncle T's.  It's located next to the post office downtown, for those of you who live here.  The food was WONDERFUL!   I highly recommend it to the Grafton natives...or to those who come to visit!  :)   I know that we will definitely be eating there again!  :D


I've finished a couple of books lately and thought I'd share them with you.

"Amen Amen Amen:  Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying (Among Other Things)" by Abby Sher.

Until the age of ten, Abby Sher was a happy child in a fun-loving, musical family. But when her father and favorite aunt pass away, Abby fills the void of her loss with rituals: kissing her father's picture over and over each night, washing her hands, counting her steps, and collecting sharp objects that she thinks could harm innocent pedestrians. Then she begins to pray. At first she repeats the few phrases she remem-bers from synagogue, but by the time she is in high school, Abby is spending hours locked in her closet, urgently reciting a series of incantations and pleas. If she doesn't, she is sure someone else will die, too. The patterns from which she cannot deviate become her shelter and her obsession.
In college Abby is diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and while she accepts this as an explanation for the counting and kissing and collecting, she resists labeling her fiercest obsession, certain that her prayers and her relationship with G-d are not an illness but the cure. She also discovers a new passion: performing comedy. She is never happier than when she dons a wig and makes people laugh. Offstage, however, she remains unable to confront the fears that drive her. She descends into darker compulsions, starving and cutting herself, measuring every calorie and incision. It is only when her earliest, deepest fear is realized that Abby is forced to examine and redefine the terms of her faith and her future.
Amen, Amen, Amen is an elegy honoring a mother, father, and beloved aunt who filled a child with music and their own blend of neuroticism. It is an adventure, full of fast cars, unsolved crimes, and close calls. It is part detective story, part love story, about Abby's hunt for answers and someone to guide her to them. It is a young woman's radiant and heartbreaking account of struggling to recognize the bounds and boundlessness of obsession and devotion.

This book was a riveting, first-hand account of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).  I definitely recommend this book!  It is a long book, but you will not be disappointed or bored.

Next up is "Three Cups of Deceit" by Jon Krakauer.  I've read and reviewed many of Krakauer's books in the past.  I love his investigative writing and this book did not disappoint!

Greg Mortenson has built a global reputation as a selfless humanitarian and children’s crusader, and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also not what he appears to be. As acclaimed author Jon Krakauer discovered, Mortenson has not only fabricated substantial parts of his bestselling books Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, but has also misused millions of dollars donated by unsuspecting admirers like Krakauer himself.

This is the tragic tale of good intentions gone very wrong.

I'd *heard* about "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones into Schools" from people who are avid Oprah fans and read everything that she recommends.  I'm not that into Oprah and tend to stay away from "groupish" things like her book club, etc., (I tend to dance to my own drummer), so I hadn't read these books or heard any interviews with Greg Mortenson, but I had heard about him from people who had read them, so I knew a little about the hype.  

This expose by Krakauer is short and to the point...shedding light on the lies and deceit that Mr. Mortenson perpetrated.  It is a reminder to us all to not just blindly follow the hype we hear in the media.

This book is short (unlike most of Krakauer's books) but very informative!!  I highly recommend it!

Loretta