Book Friday

Yesterday it snowed. The weather guessers were calling for for my area to get up to 8 inches. For the longest time, it didn't look like we were going to get the 8 inches. It snowed all day but only stuck to the grassy areas. But by late afternoon, the temperatures had finally dropped enough that the snow was sticking to the roads. And since the snow emergency plan was effect that meant no class last  night. And no class should have translated to plenty of knitting time. Well, I did get in some knitting but I also managed to finally finish my laundry and put it away. Plus I was able to spend some more time sorting out fabric in my sewing room. I am going to be destashin fabric for quite a while I think. I have more fabric than yarn. (But Norma has the most yarn!)

I did work some more on Wicked but I will wait until the first sleeve is finished before posting another photo of it. And the toe of Chocolate Sock#2 looks like the toe of Chocolate Sock #1, so no photos again.

But I did promise some books. Now I will read just about anything. Well, I do not like Stephen King, so you will never catch me reading him. Plus I will not read Tom Clancy. Mind you that I used to read his stuff up until I had the occasion to meet him. I will be polite and not say what I think of him.

The hot new genre in literature is called "chick lit" by the publishers and book stores. There is no chick lit section. But the books are not your straight regular romances. They  tend to have characters who are in their 20s or 30s and have issues with men. Who doesn't? The books tend to reflect real life yet are a bit escapist. They are sexy and a few are a little on the soft porn side depending on what you consider soft porn. I haven't seen anything in the books that you won't hear on Showtime or HBO. The plots move fast. Plain and simple, they are fun reads.

So following Mariko's lead (who got the idea from Gaile), I am offering up these books to the blog world. The idea is that if you see one you like, leave a comment saying what you have to offer in trade and I will get back to you. If you don't have anything to offer that I haven't already read, I am willing to work something out. Say, donating some of your time to work with a local literacy project or knitting something up and donating it to your local shelter for abused women and children or well you get the idea.

So here are the books with links to their Amazon desrriptions and the author's web pages.

First up is Erin McCarthy's mouth to mouth. The book is fun and a fast read. What I liked is that Laurel is deaf and the book discusses some of the issues in the deaf community.

Next up is Susann Carr's Wicked Women 101. It is actually 3 short stories which are related but can stand alone. Fast fun read.

Next up is Nancy Warren's Turn Left at Sanity.  One word -funny. Small town girl outwits big city businessman and falls in love with him at the same time. The best part is that her B&B used to be a house of ill repute.

The last book is an advance reader copy. Publishers sent these out to bookstores to get employees to read them. I have read some great books this way that I would otherwise have not picked up.

The book is by Joshilyn Jackson called gods in Alabama. I have only read the first chapter of this book and it looks really good.  But I have 2 other advanced readers that I want to read first. This is the first book for this author and it is not set to be released until April 13, 2005. The description from the back of the cover reads"The premise of this book says it all. When Arlene Fleet headed up north for college, she made three promises to God: She would never again lie, never fornicate outside marriage, and never, ever go back to tiny Possett, Alabama (the "fourth rack  of hell"). All He had to do exchange was to just make sure that the body was never discovered..."  The publisher, Warner Books, is making this book their lead novel for spring/summer 2005. So you have a chance to by one of the first to read it.

I will also be updating the Sheep and Wool blog over the weekend with more names, like Kerrie's, and a listing of hotels in the area with eatimate of the driving times from each hotel to the fairgrounds. Plus ifanyone has a listing of good resturants int he area, I will ist them also.