My Bookish Christmas Trees

Up until it was time to decorate for Christmas, very few of my books had made it into the house after having moved at the beginning of October.  Decorating needs changed all that.  Here are some ways that my books are keeping me company this Christmas:

If you have any paperbacks (or magazines) lying around that you've been thinking of donating, it's easy to turn it into a Christmas tree instead.  This particular one is super easy—no cutting, no gluing...only simple paper-airplane type folds and a lot of spine-breaking/bending.  Fold each individual page, starting with the top corner...bring it down to align with the inside of the spine, crease, and repeat.  Then fold the bottom flap up to align with the lower edge of the page, making the bottom flat.

My 12-year old helped me make this tree.  She had a wonderful time stacking books by height, and needed to make sure that the cover of her favorite book was peeking out (A Monster Calls, bright blue cover near the bottom.)

We hosted a large party this last weekend with the theme of White.  Never before had I realized how little white I own...I surround myself with a lot of earth tones and some bright pops of green and orange for the most part, so trying to make my house seem white was a challenge.  It spurred the idea of turning my books backwards so the pages were showing.  Although it's terribly trying to not be able to see which books are on my shelves, it's a nice effect.  I couldn't leave them all that way though—books with green spines allowed me to make another bookish tree whose presence eludes most visitors.  That, somehow, makes it all the better.  It's like my little secret.  Except that now I've proclaimed it to the world.  But still.

This is actually the first year that I've incorporated any book trees into my Christmas, but it has been such a warm, wonderful addition that I think I must do it every year now.  There are so many more great ideas out there, it would be a pity not to enjoy them all!

What I Do While Listening to AudioBooks

I've discovered more time. Did I tell you that?  Well, maybe that's not entirely true, but I've found a fabulous way to multi-task, which is almost as good.  I've always said that I don't have time to listen to audio books, since I'm never alone--no commute, no quiet time--but I'm discovering that's not completely accurate.  A few days to myself at the beginning of the year spurred me to try Audible.com, and since then I've found that I actually have more time than I thought.

One of the things I love (apart from reading) is quilting.  I love the feel of the fabric, the creativity in the design, and the colors (oh how I love colors).

When my kiddos were little toddlettes, I quilted much more than I read.  It was easy enough to sew & watch kids play, not so easy for me to read and watch kids play.  I taught myself to quilt (& ended up with some bragging rights even--what a shock!) but as my kiddos grew up a bit and I started home-schooling, I began to do much more reading and much less quilting.  Life is like that.

I'm doing less schooling at home now.  My 7 year-old is at home with me, but she loves having her creative time just as much as I do.  Thus I find myself with bits of time to start using those fabrics and finishing up those projects and not feel guilty because I'm MULTI-TASKING (said in a big, booming "God" voice of course--it's that huge) by listening to a book while I sew.  Why didn't I think of that before?  Brilliant!

My latest project is what I'm calling my Slice of Pi quilt.  I had a lovely stack of gorgeous modern-ish fabrics that I was dying to use but dreading cutting apart.  I wanted to come up with a quilt design that showcased and complemented the fabrics, but nothing seemed good enough.  Finally I decided that 2" strips would still show off the fabrics enough, and I went about drafting a pattern on graph paper (love graph paper.)

My original design (below) was a random placement of strips that would run horizontally, creating a column down the center of the bed.  But then my husband (the math/science brain) asked if the placement was based on any sort of mathematical algorithm (um, no) like Pi (hm, good idea).  I'm impressionable, and so decided to see what it would look like (see photo above).  I ended up finding the first 50 digits of pi quite interesting.  (I'm also somewhat of a people-pleaser, so orientation of the strips changed so that it would make more sense to Chris.)

I decided on a base line, and used 2" intervals to determine placement.  Therefore, the first strip is 6" above the base line, the second is 2", the third is 8" and so on.  Each strip is 40" long.  The fabrics are arranged in a nicely organized, pretend-random manner.

Sewing the binding...kitties and quilts go together well.

Overall, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  Quilt design can do a number on my creative senses--I want it to be perfect, but because quilt construction is a pretty long process, (with no easy way to change your mind midway,) I go through waves of alternating excitement and fear about how it will end up.  Will it be wonderful? Horrible?  Listening to a book while quilting, I've found, does help even out some of these emotions (wonder of wonders!)  I'm still debating about the pillows, but meanwhile my husband is sure that he's going to get smarter by osmosis each night that he sleeps under it, and I'm thrilled to have found a way to combine two of my hobbies.

Sunday Salon: Peripheral Bookishness

I've just realized that I consider things to be bookish even if they are decidedly not literary.  Have you ever found yourself doing that?  Many forms of artistic expression give me the same thrill that an amazing book might, and thus I lump them all together in one wonderful bunch of inspiration.

Film.  I love watching indie films because they tend to be unique: there is more emphasis on artistry and themes than on general appeal.  Quite similar to literary fiction, in fact.  In the best circumstances, a film will leave me thinking for days, amazed and awed.  In the worst circumstance, well...at least it was different.  Last night I watched Melancholia with Kirsten Dunst, a new film by Lars Von Trier (who also wrote & directed Dogville with Nicole Kidman, another film I found fascinating).  Melancholia was simply incredible.

To put the plot simply: Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide into the Earth. (thanks IMDB) (check out a longer synopsis here)  It is saturated with art, from the almost-still shots in the beginning sequence (set to classical music...all of which adds up to something surprisingly non-boring) to the beautifully immense grounds that it was filmed on (which made it feel almost like a period piece...except it wasn't), to the incredible closing shots: the eye never gets bored.  This film has depth: themes, symbolism, stuff-to-think-about.  It kind of made my brain explode, and now I want to read the book.  Except there isn't one.  Watching the movie is reading the book.  (See? Non-literary bookishness.)

It's slated to release in the States on 11/11/11, (we watched it on Apple TV,) although I imagine the release will be limited.  However, if you are intrigued by the preview, you should find a way to watch the film.  It's stunning.

Modern Design.  I'm lucky enough to live in a spectacularly unique example of mid-century modern architecture.  We'll soon be beginning some renovations--a face lift mostly, bringing it up to date--and I find much to be inspired by in my design research.  I get all excited by an amazing design: the art & inspiration in architecture or furnishings being only another way to express an interest in how we live, an appreciation for what is around us.  This real-life inspiration is what links me, the reader, directly to an author.  It is more than comprehension; it is a different level of understanding and communication.

Quilting.  I know:  what??  Like in Little House on the Prairie?  Yes, it is a homespun, domestic sort of art form, but I love it.  I just designed a quilt for my modern bedroom, and the incredible fabrics and fun design just leave me full of happiness.  In my quest for a quilt design that wouldn't look out of place in my house, and with some input from my math-loving-husband, I've come up with a visual representation of the first 50 digits of Pi.  Weird, I know.  But also exciting in a geeky-intellectual sort of way.  My husband is convinced he'll get smarter by osmosis.  I'm getting ready to cut into the fabrics...I'll keep you updated on this one.

I'm seeing a theme here: I equate books with happiness and everything wonderful, therefore anything wonderful or happy must be related to books somehow.  That totally explains why I'm always tempted to blog about non-bookish things as if they were books.  What things in your life are as wonderful as books?

Open During Construction...

Hello friends!

I'm going to be giving the old blog a facelift tonight...will you do me a favor and let me know if anything stops working or disappears in the new and improved version?  Hopefully this will make everything cleaner and easier to use (for you and for me!)  As the dust settles, I'd love to know what you think!

Home Again

Ireland was fantastic--an amazing vacation (can you imagine Ireland being completely sunny for a whole 2 weeks in March??)--but it does feel good to get back and get everything in order.  I'll be posting pics of my trip and catching up with my very long Google Reader list as quickly as I'm able.  The month before my trip was a hard one, so I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do.  I'm looking forward to it. :)

A Foray into First Lines

Do you pay attention to first lines?  I kind of do.  Sometimes.  Usually when I'm wishing I could read the book but I'm reading too many other things to make it feasible.  It's like an extension of the longing glance at the bookshelf or the glancing brush of fingers on the spine.  In practice, I judge a book more by the first few pages than I do the first few lines.

I thought it might be fun, however, to compare some first lines.  I happen to be surrounded by a bunch of Pulitzer Prize winners (many from the giveaway I won at Ordinary Reader) and got curious.  Do think it says anything about a book?  Do you think that it can be used as an accurate assessment of what the book holds?  I've read the first two on the list, and their first sentences definitely remind me of the writing style and story. I want to get to the others soon! Have you read any of these? What do you think?




The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2007)
"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him."




March, Geraldine Brooks (2006)
"This is what I write to her: The clouds tonight embossed the sky."






Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2005)
"I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old."




The Known World, Edward P. Jones (2004)
"The evening his master died he worked again well after he ended the day for the other adults, his own wife among them, and sent them back with hunger and tiredness to their cabins."




Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (2003)
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage by, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974."




Empire Falls, Richard Russo (2002)
"Compared to the Whiting mansion in town, the house Charles Beaumont Whiting built a decade after his return to Maine was modest."






The Hours, Michael Cunningham (1999)
"She hurries from the house, wearing a coat too heavy for the weather."






Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, Steven Millhauser (1997)
"There once lived a man named Martin Dressler, a shopkeeper's son, who rose from modest beginnings to a height of dreamlike good fortune."




Independence Day, Richard Ford (1996)
"In Haddam, summer floats over tree-softened streets like a sweet lotion balm from a careless, languorous god, and the world falls in tune with its own mysterious anthems."

Now That's a Christmas Tree

Oh I'm loving this.  (thanks craftzine for finding it!)  It's so much better than any of the multitudinous trees I've decorated for my house so far this year.

Musically Inclined

I'm feeling rather disconnected...being away from my computer and blog-o-sphere this week: I'm camping (RV style) at a fairgrounds in Northern California in preparation for a music festival that my husband produces. My role? I get to supply everyone with coffee: Barista for a Day (or three). Mmmm...coffee.

So I am blogging via phone, which feels almost like driving blindfolded. It's a bit more difficult to read my Google Reader, and takes forever to type a blog post. A huge paragraph on my phone takes up a mere line or two on a normal sized screen--my sense of scale and proportion is all out of whack.

Even though I'm not able to do much reading this week, I've not been completely without inspiration. In the last week or so I've had the enormous pleasure of seeing two amazing bands live: The Weepies and Mumford & Sons.

The Weepies are a husband/wife duo from California that write happy, fulfilling music with simple, satisfying music and great lyrics. They were so fun and friendly, and the venue was so beautiful and intimate that it was just a great night.



Mumford&Sons hail from London, and I don't even know how to classify their music. I would say folk-rock, but that makes them sound simpering and simple--which they are definitely not. I love their heart and spirit, their poetry and passion. Their song White Blank Page is just amazing. I wish I were on my computer so I could link it. These four guys are all incredible musicians. Yep, I'm in love (don't worry, my husband is too.) Unfortunately, I was too far away to get great pics of the upright bass, mandolin, banjo, accordion and horns. But the sound of 4000 people crowding in and singing along more than made up for it.



So that's it--music is filling in for reading this week. I do have a couple of book reviews ready to post; hopefully I will get another bit of time to post them and make it through my ever growing Google reader list.

Do you have some music that inspires you as much as books do? Let me know who it is--I love to find new favorites.

Literary ADD

Hi.  My name is Melody, and I have Literary ADD.

I've been diagnosed by a bookish friend (and since I have but few, her opinion is weighty.)

I know I'm not the only one.  In fact, I would venture a guess that many of you out there have at least a touch of it as well (at least I'm going to do my best to make it seem that way!)

How do you define Literary ADD? you may ask.  Well let's see.  I found a website that defines ADD like this:

Attention Deficit Disorder is a biologically based condition causing a persistent pattern of difficulties resulting in one or more of the the following behaviors:

-inattention
-hyperactivity
-impulsivity

So then, Literary ADD would be those things...but with books.  Right?

How does this translate to my reading habits and enjoyment of books?  First, inattention.  Why focus solely on blogging when I could be breaking it up by checking my email every other minute?  Sitting down to write (or blog) or even, sometimes, read...when there are so many things to be done occasionally takes super-human strength for me.  I get a fair amount of reading done as it is, but I'm sure it could be more if I'd simply stop checking Google Reader to see if anyone out there has a new blog post.

What about hyperactivity?  How does that possibly fit in?  Consider this: how many books do you read at a time?  Why read one book at a time when it would make much more sense to have something going for each mood: nonfiction, classic, book club, junior fiction, ARC, etc.  How many books are on your [virtual] TBR list?  Why confine a TBR list to 20 books when it could easily have over 200?

I don't think I even need to explain impulsivity.  I can't let myself walk into a bookstore unless I'm prepared for the inevitable impulse purchase.  I keep stacks of books around me, waiting for an impulse to hit me--demanding immediate reading.  My book selection process (deciding what to read next) is largely dependent on impulse.  I don't know if I'm capable of reading a list of books in order...the impulse is half the fun!

It's true, sometimes these issues cramp my style.  Sometimes I'd love to be able to just pick up the next book in line, and sit down for hours, completely absorbed in the book.  Sometimes I get frustrated at my apparent inability to stop following those impulses.  But then I'll finish a book and have that delicious feeling bubble up inside me.  I think, "Oooh, what should I read next?" and all dissatisfaction melts away.

Please Pass the Trophy

Seriously, it's one of my life goals to get a trophy for something.  If it was a trophy having to do with books, I'd be tickled pink.  While I'm still waiting for that to happen, however, I can appease myself with this pretty award given to me by the lovely Aussie librarian at Booksploring.  Thank you!  What fun!

If you have received this award:

1.Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award
2.Share 7 things about yourself
3.Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic.
4.Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award

Seven Things About Me:

1. I hope I have an English accent when I get old.  Haven't quite figured out how to make that happen.

2. I can't stand lemon in my water.  Honestly?  It tastes like soap.

3. Mornings are my enemy: I don't like to go to sleep OR wake up.

4. Depressing music and books often cheer me up.

5. I got married two weeks after graduating high school and have never regretted it.

6. I HATE cooking, but thankfully my hunny loves it.

7. I can not read in the bath tub.  Waterlogged fingers and paper do not mix.

I can't bear to pick favorite blogs.  I've tried:  I typed, then erased.  I typed and linked, then erased.  It feels too much like picking kick-ball teams on the elementary school playground and I can't bring myself to do it.  I have a hard enough time picking favorite or least favorite characters...my favorite-picker is spent.  I'm just happy to be a part of the uber-friendly book blogging community; you guys are great fun.

Vacation Picks

It's the vacation time of year, and consequently, time to choose which books come with me.  I will be away from home for a good two weeks.  If I packed 5 books (plus my just-in-case-Kindle) for a 4 day trip, then how many should I pack for a 14+ day trip?  Admittedly, I only read 3 of those books on that 4 day trip, but my question remains.  How many?  Which ones?

This may be my big opportunity to get some reading done (we'll see) which means I want to consider my 2010 goals (including my Summer Slimdown).  I wanted to read some C. S. Lewis nonfiction this year, as well as some Charles Dickens, so maybe I'll bring Mere Christianity and  A Tale of Two Cities.  I also wanted to read another Pulitzer, so maybe I'll bring The Grapes of Wrath, or The Good Earth.  There's always the ARC and pre-reading books for my son for school, and I've really been wanting to read A Room With a View.  Those (plus my just-in-case-Kindle) should be good, yeah?  All of these books are on my TBR shelf, which is a handy bonus.

I'm really bad at estimating.  Whether it is how many books to bring, how many people at the concert, or how tall my ceilings are.  I need a reference to figure it out logically; pure raw estimating just doesn't work for me.  How do you decide how many books to bring?  How are your estimating skills?  Do you get weird looks when you load crates of books into your car along with your luggage? (or am I alone in that embarrassment?)

I've Lost It

My book, that is.  I've lost my book and I don't know where to find it.  This isn't just any book, mind you.  It is the book that I am currently reading (well, not quite currently, because I don't know where it is) and dying to finish.  It's  a lovely bright red, cloth bound copy of The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (a.k.a. the devil book).  I'm nearly done with it--I was carrying it around with me everywhere--and I need to know how it ends!

My public library--with 12 branches, in a city of a half-million people--has one copy at the main branch (a.k.a. the part of town I don't like taking all my kids to)  One copy?  I'm torn.  Where did my book go?  This just doesn't happen to me!

The Master and Margarita has been on my bookshelf for a year.  Waiting To Be Read.  A year ago, on the Fourth of July weekend, I was finishing reading War and Peace when a Russian friend told me that I needed to read The Master and Margarita: the one book he actually finished during his high school years in Siberia.  How do I refuse a book recommendation like that?  So, not knowing anything about the book, (except that Everyman's Library published it--I love Everyman's Library cloth bound books, someday I'll have them all,) I bought it and put it on my shelf.

It is totally NOT my type of book.  It is a political statement about Russian Communism at it's core, but the storyline is that of the devil visiting Moscow and wreaking havoc.  I'm really not into sci-fi (just ask my husband) or fantasy (have yet to be able to read all of the LOTR books). I didn't enjoy Peter Pan or The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass, of which The Master and Margarita reminds me of somewhat.  But this book is so well written that the novelty just doesn't wear off.  My eyebrows have gotten quite the workout reading this book, and there have been a few laugh-out-loud moments.  The fact that I'm dying without it, NEED to finish, must say something.

If you find it, can you let me know?