Just a plain old mid-week update

I have finally decided what my next project will be! Take a look at the Well-Traveled Bag, courtesy of Dawn. Isn’t it adorable? I have been itching to try a felted bag, so I can’t wait to get started. I placed my order last night with Knitpicks for Wool of the Andes. I selected tulip, rain, avocado, and cloud. When I told my husband these colors, he looked blank and then wanted to know what that meant in “real” colors! So from now on, I’ll just say “pink, blue, green, and cream, honey!”

I finished “A Night in the Lonesome October” a few days ago. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. There were even a few twists at the end that I didn’t see coming! I really would recommend this book for teens looking for a seasonal read. However, they really can’t be too young, because the main character is Jack the Ripper. It was odd to feel sympathy for such a notorious killer, but in the book, it is all in service of saving the world (this being fantasy and all!). Younger kids might not grasp the concept that sometimes you have to do bad things for a good cause, though. My current read is “The Drowning Tree” by Carol Goodman. It is shaping up to be a nice, academia-set murder mystery, in the vein of “The Secret History” or “Possession.” My only beef with these types of stories is the conceit that every character speaks Latin, knows Greek mythology, is intimately familiar with obscure historical facts, or in the case of the Drowning Tree, can recite Tennyson and appreciate stained-glass art. Ah well. Paradoxically, I think that is also part of their allure. Wouldn’t it be nice if everybody was as smart, educated, and sophisticated as these characters? (Says the woman who quotes Homer Simpson on a regular basis!)

And on that note... here’s a Homer quote that ties in nicely with my book ramblings:

“Ah, beer, my one weakness. My Achilles’ heel, if you will.”