Scrappy Hearts

Reading Update: March

March is the perfect month for reading. The days are mostly grey and chilly. The wind is blowing. We lose an hour of sleep early in the month which makes me tired the whole month. March was also a great month for reading because I traveled into Philly by train on three occasions which offered reading time and I also had a procedure on my back at the beginning of the month which saw me spend two days resting and in bed. When I wasn't sleeping or knitting, I was reading! Mysteries again, were the genre of choice. I did sprinkle a couple of fiction books in the mix, but the myteries kept me going this month.

The first read of the month is one of my favorites. A Murder at Balmoral kept me guessing to nearly the end. I did finish a couple of series this month, Emmie Caldwell's A Craft Fair Knitters Mystery Series was only three books. Without realizing it, I read the last two books in March. I also read the last two books in another mystery series, this one by Terri Thayer. A Stamping Sisters Mystery features a group of women who, stamp. It was a fun and light read.

The funniest book I read this past month was, Feel The Bern. I laughed out loud and I hope there is another in the works. Sometimes you need a good laugh, or two. I started a new series during March, a quilting mystery. My library only had the one book so I need to put in a request for the others, but at the moment I really don't need to add more books to my to be read pile.

My favorite book last month was Killers of a Certain Age. It was definitely a mystery but not cozy by any stretch of the imagination. If you happen to see it, pick it up. The characters are well-developed and keenly crafted. It takes place in the current time period with flash backs to the late 70's, and 80's. Without giving too much away, the focus is on a group of women as they approach retirement age. It is entertaining and suspenseful. I did quit one book in March, Murder in the City of Liberty. I was not fond of the setting and I did not really enjoy the characters. There are really too many books that I enjoy to push myself to read something that doesn't feel like a good fit.

I added a little stamping to my reading journal this month which helped me to feel like I was being creative! I read a total of 16 books in March which totaled 4,610 pages. My goal this year was to read 50 books and as of the end of March, I've read 28. More than half way there!

Reading Update: April

And just like that, May is almost over. I didn't even post my April reads yet, how can that be? April was truly the last month that I think my time inside is the only time that I have to choose between indoor and outdoor chores. It was easier in April to sneak moments to read, May, not so much!

In April I read over 5,000 pages and 16 books. The majority of my reading, again, was mystery books. Mostly cozy mysteries with a few regular fiction books thrown in. Also, I started a couple of new series, inspired by my love of reading about places I am familiar with. The Sloan Krause Mysteries by Ellie Alexander take place in Leavenworth, Washington and one of my favorite knitting mystery series takes place in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Happy Hoofer Mysteries take place all over, but the main characters are from New Jersey. My first foray into that series was less than positive and I do not think I will be traveling with those women again! I did finish the Stamping Sisters Mystery series, but there were only 3 books. 

The regular fiction books I read were a couple of books passed down from my mom and my sister. It Ends With Us and It Starts With Us were a short series, just two books, that follow the relationships of a woman from the time that she was in high school. I really enjoyed It Ends With Us, but I felt that the 2nd book in the pairing lacked a compelling story. 

In the back of my reading journal I have created a series of pages so that I can keep track of books and series that I have read. Sometimes, like towards the end of a series, it makes more sense to read books in order. In the beginning, I'm really not that fussy, I can read books in just about any order. The books that take place in Leavenworth, Washington are a series that is continuing and I have read all of the books currently published. I will have to wait to read the next one. Vinyl Resting Place is the first book in a series so again, I will need to wait to read the next installment.

The knitting series are among my favorites, especially the Seaside Knitters which is set on Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The characters are fun to hang around. They feel like old friends and their surrounding make me long for time at the shore. I have been enjoying the time I spend reading, the only drawback being that I stay up way past my bedtime to finish them. I think I have been like that since I started reading. Most days it isn't an issue, but some days it is a major thorn in my side. 

My May reading is moving along. I have about 4 days left to finish up this month. I took out ten or twelve books right before my husband ventured out to Burning Man in Pennsylvania. I do not think I will read them all before the 31st, but I can try!!

Reading Update: February

After a late start in January, I hit the reading road running in February. I am not reading anything heavy or that would be a challenge to get through. some of the books I select are just cozy mysteries which I have always loved. They remind me of reading Nancy Drew and The Boxcar Children books way past bedtime when I was a kid. But there are a few that require a bit more thinking and understanding of characters' motives than others.

All told I read 10 books at 3,109 pages. This month I had a few Elizabeth Berg books mixed in with my mysteries. The Murder of Mr. Wickham was one of my favorites. It was a delight to revisit a few of my Jane Austen favorite characters in this delightful mystery. Mr. Wickham has always been one of my least favorite characters in fiction. I began the book at the end of January and continued it into February. This particular book took me a bit longer because I needed to go back and forth to remind myself of the characters since they were taken from differen Austen stories and do not usually appear together.

My favorite Berg book this month was We Are All Welcome Here. An interesting and compelling story based on a true story. A revisit to the Civil Rights Era brought to mind how little and how much things have really changed. Isabel Puddles, who I met in January, was back this month. This book is the middle book in the series. The main character is a hoot, think McGyver as a middle aged woman. I think my favorite of the series is book 3 which takes place in England, but all the books are engaging and in some cases, laugh out loud funny. 

The Christmas Murder Game kept me on my toes and the knitters in A Finely Knit Murder do I fine job of mixing their sleuthing with knitting in a Massachusetts seaside village. I met another group of knitting sleuths in Knits, Knots and Knives. It is a Craft Fair Knitters Mystery, a series of 3 books, the latest published in December of 2022. This mystery takes place in a small Pennsylvania town out near Gettysburg which is one of my favorite places to visit. 

My favorite book in February was The Paris Apartment. I found it thrilling and suspenseful as I followed a young British woman in the city of Paris as she tried to locate her half-brother. I would definitely recommend it to my readerly friends. 

Finally, in February, I quit a book. I always have several business books being read at a time. I pick them up, find the information I need and then move on. This book was different in that it required reading from beginning to end in order for me to understand to concept being put forth. I will come back to it, right now I have too many irons in the fire.

Today is the last day of March. I think updating my blog with my monthly reading will take place by the 10th of the following month. That means that I will share my March reading by April 10th. For those interested, I will share how I print out my thumbnail photos of books in Photoshop and pull my pages together. Until then, happy reading! 

The Life of a Reader

Once I retired I wondered when I would get bit with the reading bug again. As a teacher, especially in the years since the pandemic, reading for pleasure really took a back seat. You see, I am one of those readers that has a difficult time putting a book down. So much so, that I will stay up way past my bedtime to finish a book. This did not work during the school year since most nights I was in bed and a sleep long before 7pm. 

On a fateful day in January I took a walk to our local library. I had lost my library card and wanted to get a replacement. I hadn't been to the library since before the pandemic and I found that our library had changed so very much. The one change that caught my eye immediately was the section for new arrivals just to the left of the entrance. Before I even made it to the counter, I had picked up a book. Two days later, I was back in the library, having finished the first book and in need of something else to read. That time I checked out six books thinking that would hold me for a bit. It did, for a short bit. 

I have always been a voracious reader. I read quick. I have always read a lot. This year I decided to keep track of everything I read and just how long it takes for me to read each book. A reading journal was quickly established. There is one thing I like almost as much as reading and that is memory keeping!

With a goal of reading 50 books this year, I was off to create the format of my journal and to read some books. This was going to be fun. My very first few pages would include an ongoing list of books read followed by the monthly pages.

In January, I read two books and was in process on another 2 when the month ended. Since I started on January 24th and we were still in football season, I did pretty well. I decided to begin each month with a title page; one side held the month and year and the other side had a stamped month along with the monthly details. The following pages would hold photos of the books read, total number of pages as well as dates read.

I am happy to be reading again. It has become a solid part of my nighttime routine along with knitting. I think I am going to be happy blogging again. I missed having a place to share the happenings of my life.

Please feel free to leave a comment. If you journal or read, share a bit about your process and any book recommendations that you have. I look forward to connecting with you!

Summer Reading

Don’t ask me how I ended up with this book, I really couldn’t tell you. But, it was next in the pile so I picked it up and started reading. Before I knew it, I had reached the end. I do that. I have a hard time reading novels because once I become engaged, I have a hard time putting the book down. Even books that I am not all that fond of keep me up at night, probably because I am hoping that they will get better. That was certainly true of the book pictured above.

On the other hand, the book I finished last night, I couldn’t put down. I really just wanted to know how it all turned out. The story was very engaging and I seriously kept reading until way after 3 in the morning just so I knew what happened before I fell asleep.

I am much better with non-fiction. I do not stay up to all hours and I do not feel compelled to peek at the ending. So, I decided to take a break from novels just so that I get a decent nights sleep. Staying up to all hours is not helping me finish quilt tops and that is what needs to happen here tonight!

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Reading is something that has always been a huge part of my summer. I remember as a child, curling up in a livingroom chair and reading Nancy Drew Mysteries or the Boxcar Children for hours. Then I would run to the library to return the books I read and take out another 4 books to start the process all over again. These days I still enjoy a good mystery and I can even be convinced to read a “beach” novel that does not take much concentration. My favorite books just happen to be memoir followed by some sort of non-fiction. This summer I have 3 “beach” reads selected to start with.

I started late, just last Wednesday or Thursday, but I finished my first book on Sunday. I have started my second book but it has been slow going since I have shop work to do most evenings. I haven’t forgotten my manifesto and I have been reading every day, but sometimes it is work related reading. When work is a quilt shop, the reading is all good! In fact, one of the books I am reading for work happens to be a book that I am thinking about using as a book club at the shop. 

I am hoping to finish 10 books this summer and I am happy with my progress so far! Here’s to summer and the opportunity to read for enjoyment!

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I remember visiting libraries since I was very young. I am not sure exactly how old I was the first time I visited a library, but I do remember that I was able to check out a Curious George book. We lived in Clifton then and heading to the library meant that my mother packed all three of us, myself, my brother and my sister in the car. No small feat, but my mother was and is a reader. She instilled a love of reading in me that still remains and I am grateful!

In 1966 we moved to the little town of Little Falls, a couple of miles down Route 46 from where we had lived in Clifton. I was 7 at the time and old enough to walk the two blocks to the public library on Warren Street. I loved that old library. While I was searching around the internet this evening I found the picture above and boy did it bring back memories. I remember having my library card, with the little metal plate on it. I remember walking up the stairs into the main door of the library and then walking down the stairs to the children's section.

Not long after we moved into town, the library was torn down to make room for a bigger building that could hold more books. Imagine, more books!

I remember coming into my own as a reader the summer between 4th and 5th grade. That was the summer of '68. I remember reading book, after book, after book. I remember the chart with all our names on it and adding a star each time I finished a book. I had lots of stars!

I read every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on. I also read The Boxcar Children and a few of the Hardy Boys Mysteries. I remember sitting in one of the arm chairs in the livingroom and reading for hours. That was the year the From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was released and I devoured that book. Dreaming that I, too, would one day run away and hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I still read that novel aloud to my students.

The children's section of the library hasn't changed much since that time. Mark and I visited the library in Little Falls just two years ago and it all felt so familiar to me. I found this picture online tonight and I thought, yup, that's where I remember falling in love with Ned and solving the great mysteries of the world along side Nancy Drew.

The public library is such a cool place. A world of opportunities awaits inside its doors. The other evening, right after Mark and I left our book club meeting, I felt the need to go immediately to the library. It was so close! 

It is at our public library that I explore new authors, re-visit old literary friends, borrow everything from books, to movies, to music and now, museum passes. I am so grateful for the gift that our library is and I am looking forward to finding new friends and treasures within its walls.

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A few of the members of the writing group that Mark is involved in decided to start a Young Adult Book Club. Fortunately I was there during the initial discussion phase so I was included, but truly, the group is open to just about anyone who has an interest in YA literature!

The Fault in Our Stars was chosen as the first book. I promptly borrowed my niece's copy and set to reading it. I was so excited to be a part of a book club, I have never done that before.

This evening we met at Victorian Savories on the Boulevard in the Voorhees Town Center. Once we settled with the appropriate pastries and beverages we got to discussing!

As a teacher who promotes book discussions amongst her students I was very interested to see the way adults create connections for themselves. On more than one occasion someone mentioned another book that they had read, a movie they had seen, discussed a personal experience or hypothesized the author's reasoning for adding a specific piece of dialogue or choosing a particular location. 

Tonight's experience gave me a tremendous amount of insight. Before September arrives I will be thinking about how to scaffold my little ones to have book discussions that are not only informative, but also engaging. I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to share this evening with a very passionate group of readers! I was so inspired that I came home and finished the book I started just a yesterday, Three Times Lucky!

Next month we are reading, We Were Liars. I stopped by the library right away but all of their copies were checked out. Oh well, I have a few weeks!

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