Annette's Acre

First, thank you *so* much for all the great series suggestions! Many are now on my Amazon and GoodReads lists to pick up throughout the year.

Now for the book I just finished:

What was the last book that brought tears to your eyes as you finished the last page? Not due to the hero/heroine’s tragic death, but simply because you have finished the story? That’s how I felt after finishing Rhett Butler’s People tonight.

You must understand, I am a HUGE fan of Gone With the Wind. I watched the movie a number of times before I read the book (every spring on TV growing up). When I read the book in my late teens, I realized the movie barely scratched the surface of the story. I’ve read and reread it over the years until my paperback copy is literally falling apart.

Gone with the Wind – 1965 printing

Rhett Butler’s People is set “around” Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel. You meet Rhett before that fateful meeting at a Twelve Oaks picnic and the book continues to weave in and out of the well known events of GWTW. The author then takes you beyond Rhett’s dramatic exit and continues the story. Granted, he continues it for all of 90 pages, but it just feels *right* where the story goes after. Yes, I’ve read Scarlett, but I prefer Mr. McCaig’s version of the events. I will also admit that there were a few places in the story that I would have loved to smack Ms. O’Hara and that I can’t recall having that urge in “her” story.

 Rhett Butler’s People is true to the original novel.  Scarlett has three children, Suellen marries after the War and other characters left out of the movie are here.  That’s definitely a plus for me

If you didn’t already know, I read.

A lot.

I don’t think it’s been a lifelong pursuit, but I clearly remember devouring seemingly every fantasy novel in my high school library in the three years I was in school. My best friend and I would take turns buying new books (after high school) and we’d each be responsible for certain series with the only rule that whoever buys reads it first. I’ve done books on tape, but they just aren’t the same. I don’t want to hear someone else’s interpretation of character voice and style, I want to do it myself along with holding the book in my hands. I take reverent care of my books – avoid spine-cracking, never dog-ear pages (thus my collection of bookmarks) and never, ever lay a book on its “face” (open page side down).

Fiction all the way! I’ve read only a very few non-fiction that I enjoyed (Seabiscuit – but it read more like a fictional tale). I lean toward fantasy and mystery but any genre has the chance of catching my eye.

This week, in my poking around through the blogsphere, I ran across the “First in a Series” Reading Challenge. (She has a few other challenges for 2008. Interested? Click Here). A quick look at my stuffed bookshelves shows me I’ve got enough unread “Firsts” for half the challenge already and a handful more on my Amazon Wish List. But, I want options! So what do you recommend? I’ll list what I’ve got, the remaining contenders and then what I’ve read (which by no means will be comprehensive, but I’ll try)

What I’ve got:

• Big Over Easy by Jasper Ffordes
• Blood Price by Tanya Huff
• Devlin’s Luck by Patricia Bray
• Game of Thrones by George R R Martin
• The Gunslinger by Stephen King
• Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan

What I’m considering:

• Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn – I *love* her Dragon Prince series
• The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R Donaldson – It’s been a looong time since Thomas Covenant
• The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller – I’ve seen some decent reviews on this
• His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik – I’ve seen *very* good reviews on this series!
• An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan – Would fit well with my recent Jane Austen addiction.
• The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier – Not sure where I ran across this recommendation, to tell the truth!
• The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch – Found in Amazon-cruising
• Sleeping with the Fishes by MaryJanice Davidson – Love her “Undead and…” series

What I’ve read (in no particular order and not already mentioned):

• Everything by Anne Bishop
• Everything by David Eddings
• Everything by Dave Duncan
• Everything by Laurell Hamilton
• Terry Pratchett’s Discworld
• Trudi Canavan’s Black Magician Trilogy
• Everything I care to by Piers Anthony
• Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander & Lord John
• Charlaine Harris’ Sookie & Harper series
• Jasper Ffordes’ Thursday Next (and if you haven’t, you should)
• Most of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time
• Everything by Jim Butcher
• JK Rowling’s Harry
• Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden and Morganville Vampires
• Melusine by Sarah Monette (I have The Virtu, just haven’t read it yet)
• Kushiel’s Legacy by Jacqueline Carey
• Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series
• Lilith Saintcrow’s Dante Valentine series
• Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials
• JD Robb (Nora Roberts) In Death Series
• Nora Roberts Key Trilogy and Three Sisters Island
• Symphony of Ages by Elizabeth Haydon
• Garth Nix Keys to the Kingdom
• Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance

Whew….as I said, not an absolutely comprehensive list, but you get the idea.  I’m kinda looking for new authors or even Young Adult fantasy as my kids are both avid readers, as well.  Hmmm…maybe I need to raid their bookshelves, too….

Suggestions?  Please!

I get tired of using “Odds & Ends” over and over so this will be the “Bits & Pieces” installment…

So, last week I was out of town for work.  Miami is a nice place but definitely on the humid side.  I’ve lived in the Southwest for 20+ years – I’m definitely well dried out and humidity scares me.

Trip was good.  Presentation was well received.  Lots of cool new fun stuff coming in the software I work with…what more could you ask for?

Got precious little stitching done on the trip.  In fact, I only took knitting with me for the plane and what little downtime I had at the conference.  I definitely owe a picture or two of my current socks-in-process…

Upon my return to the lovely dry Arizona, I finished the first 10 hours on Desiderata:

(It’s cream fabric, not pink.)  I learned a couple of things:

I like the look of satin stitch (leaves and “G” are 3-strands cotton, over-2 on 34-ct fabric)

I like queen stitches with one strand only (but was too lazy to rip out the first three I did with two strands.  Like anyone will notice.)

Next is 5 hours on Lindsay’s UFO RR (Angel of the Morning by L&L) and 5 hours on Autumn Queen (focus for this round).  Yes, I officially started my 10-hour rotation with the slight adjustment of leading off with Desiderata to still fit in to Guilt-Free January

A small new box over on the sidebar there…..  I figured out how to add our Xbox360 Gamercard (I was coveting Heather’s).  This represents our entire family (DH is the Mass Effect/Gears of War guy) so I figured I’d add *my* current game favorites below.  Yes, the second one is a PS3 game…..and I played it quite a bit this past weekend.   Cause…well….we are now multi-lingual in console gaming and HD movie playing.  Blu-Ray anyone?

Emerald Mermaid

Mirabilia Designs

Fabric: 32-ct DaVinci Linen from Picture this Plus

(click the picture to see her *with* her left arm)

This morning I received an email with the following subject:

Vos Biscornu

Now, I get a *ton* of spam.  Coming home from vacation I had 2800+ messages – of which 95% were junk.  Currently the Spammers are using common words, usually three,  together in the subject line to try to bypass spam filters.  This one caught my eye though as “biscornu” isn’t exactly common.

I know enough French to identify that this was a request for information on the biscornus featured in my finishing lesson.  K (having two years of high school french) was able to fill in a few more blanks and then after a final pass thru babelfish  I was fairly confident what info was being requested.  I responded in French thanks again to the Alta Vista site.  Great workout for the brain this morning!

Updates:

Laura suggested I try Jasper Ffordes Nursery Crime series – the first two books are on their way from Barnes & Noble

Desiderata – I did find suitable fabric at my LNS on Saturday!  I bought a piece of Devonshire Cream 34-ct Legacy Linen (from Access Commodities).  I’ve never used this kind of linen but it has a nice soft feel similar to Belfast and it’s got thick threads which I like for this kind of “open” stitching (all the lettering).   The 40-ct pieces were all too dark after I tossed the Anchor floss (which I did get – I’d planned to use DMC but hey, I already had them pulled out….).  They didn’t have the perle (#8 in DMC 738) so I may sub something I’ve already got in stash.

Emerald Mermaid – Hoping to finish the last of the beading today thanks to playoff football   Only her tail and the fancy bits around her hair are left.

Just a quick post with New Year Stitching Status:

Emerald Mermaid – beading!!! The next post WILL be a finish.

January starts:

Desiderata – I pulled chart and fabric out on Tuesday and found that the cut size for 28-ct fabric (I had antique ivory Cashel planned) would be far too huge…and larger than the piece of fabric in my stash. I’m switching to 40-ct for something reasonable. I’ll check my LNS on Saturday, but if they don’t have anything suitable will order off to Silkweaver (where I can get a custom cut).

TW’s 12 Days Ornaments – Pulled fabric, chart and floss (only missing one color – wow) on Tuesday and have the beginnings of a drum. Yes, I started on Day 12. Why be predictable?

Tuscany Mandala – Probably won’t start until this weekend.

And for a bit of fun….

The Recipe For Annette

3 parts Fearlessness 2 parts Delight 1 part WitSplash of Class Finish off with whipped cream

What’s the Recipe for Your Personality?