Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Reading and Listening

What I've been listening to and reading lately:

Music:
It's a freaking miracle that I have new music that I'm listening to. I don't know why, but I tend to neglect my musical education for months and years at a time. Maybe it's because we prefer a quiet house when we're all together, and I usually don't have a chance to be in the house alone. But a few weeks ago I impulsively bought these on i-tunes:

Vampire Weekend--I love this. What can I say? I like the way it sounds. To me, it sounds happy and modern. I don't know enough about music to describe it further, but it's really been fun to have new music. Rainer and I listen to this in the mornings while we get ready for the day.

Juno Soundtrack--I love this one too! How lucky that both albums I bought are really good. This has a folkish sound, which I love. I bought it sight unseen, before even seeing the movie. The babies and I like dancing to it.

Books:
Eat, Pray, Love--I actually read this awhile ago, right after Rainer got out of the hospital. I loved it so much. The writing is amazing--amazing I tell you. It's a non-fiction book about a woman who takes a year long trip, first to Italy, then to India, then to Indonesia, after a painful divorce. I'm not even that interested in travel that much, but wow, this held me gripped to the page through all three sections. It's fascinating--I highly recommend.

At Large and At Small--this one is a book of "familiar essays," which apparently are an old writing form--not quite a personal essay and not quite an academic essay, but a blend. I loved this too. The writer is really engaging and touches on subjects as diverse as the flag, butterfly collecting, ice cream, moving, and the Romantic poets.

The Nature Corner--have I already mentioned this one? It's a craft book with all kinds of ideas for decorating your nature table. It's on the top of my pile again right now because I meant to make some felt rabbits at Easter and never did and I'm thinking a little hand work might be nice to start since I'm going back to work soon and won't have time to drag out the machine as much.

The Geography of Bliss--this one goes back to the library tomorrow--it can't be renewed--so I'll have to request it again. It looks very good--I've read just the beginning but can tell already that the writing is very good and very engaging and humorous. I love the subject matter as well--it's about the study of happiness and just where is the happiest place on earth.

The Birthday Book--I just got this, but it looks to be very good. It's in the same series with The Children's Year, which I've mentioned before. Lots of good ideas for celebrating birthdays and creating birthday traditions in your family, with craft projects and patterns included. I can't wait to delve in further. I love birthday celebrations and now is just the time to beef up our traditions while the boys are so little.

Bonjour Tristesse--I'm still reading this, so I can't really report fully yet. It's a translation of a French novel written by a 17 year old girl in the 50's or 60's. It is interesting, but the characters are not really likeable. I'll report back when I finish.

Alabama Stitch Book--Oh. My. Goodness. A gorgeous book on working with cotton knit fabrics, including overall guidelines on working with knits, deconstructing t-shirts to use as fabric for your projects, and the most amazing looking projects you will ever see. Many of the projects have reverse appliqué embellishments in which the overlayer of fabric is cut out, revealing the underlayer. It's amazing looking. I'd love to make one of the skirts, but that would take more time than I may ever have. More attainable, perhaps, would be the reverse appliqué head scarf (maybe for baby Rainer) and the "corset" t-shirt, in which a regular T is cut down and reassembled to be a fitted tank with lots of seaming--super cute. I've seen a lot out there right now on the new book on knits by Built by Wendy, but this book seems much more interesting. Check it out!

6 comments:

mixtapezine said...

I looooved eat pray love so much.
I really like your wedding ring quilt in the background as well!
justine

ames said...

Eat, Pray, Love, Vampire Weekend, and Alabama Stitch Book were already on my check-this-thing-out list. Now I definitely need to get over to the library soon :)

Carrie said...

I have already played out my Juno CD-but I don't get sick of it!Vampire weekend reminds me of the Police(atleast from what I heard on Sirius radio-I don't have the CD)which definitely is a good thing!Happy listening(and reading)!

jessica said...

I love the Juno soundtrack too!

amanda said...

Thank you so much for posting all of those. Alabama Stitch has been my "train table" book at Barnes and Noble for a while now. I look through the pages while Ivo plays in the children's section. Beautiful!! If you make anything from the book I hope you will share it here.

Eat, Pray, Love is going on my reading list for sure. I have heard so many wonderful things about it. The birthday book and nature corner book sound right up my ally too. Thanks :)

Sarah said...

Leigh and I are loving Vampire Weekend and Juno too! You have to see the film Juno. You'll totally love it. It's adorable.