Bookgirl's Nightstand | When I'm not reading books, I'm making them.

Some Things

iliana Nightstand December 16, 2007

For anyone in the Dallas area, the 17th Season of the Arts & Letters Live program has just been announced. This season they have one of my favorite authors on their program list, Joanne Harris. Know who else is stopping by? Tracy Chevalier, Geraldine Brooks, Anne Lamott, and Marjane Satrapi. There are some others I’d enjoy listening to as well but the only bad part about all of this is the cost. $37 a ticket per author event does put quite a damper on this for me.

Anyway, moving on to other things I can get excited about I just saw that Becky is hosting the 19th Century Women Writers challenge! This means I might be able to read some of those classics I’ve been putting off for so long. Really, isn’t this challenge great? I’ll get back to you guys on this but I’m pretty sure I’m going to throw in my name for this one as well.

Finally, last night was just one of those nights where I couldn’t settle down with any one book. I tried a couple of new books but nothing was working for me so I did what I usually do when this happens…. Fall back on a series I like as I know the characters and know what to expect from the author. It was the perfect choice as I quickly relaxed and started to enjoy another adventure with Inspector Banks. I started Blood at the Root by Peter Robinson which is the 9th book in the series.

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Just Waiting

iliana Nightstand December 14, 2007

As soon as my husband gets home from work we are off to the bookstore. I’ve got a little Borders Rewards to use and as I still need some Christmas presents I think this is perfect timing. Granted, I’ll probably end up finding things for myself instead. That tends to happen a lot.

Anyway I did say that I was going to tell you about some mystery books I’ve read and I just haven’t gotten around to writing about them all but I did post my review on Deadly Advice by Roberta Isleib. A great mystery and first in the series. Hmm, maybe I’ll use my Borders Rewards to get the second book in the series.

Let’s see, other weekend plans include going to the library to return some books, catching up with my latest issue of Bound & Lettered and hopefully finishing some books. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

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Hammered

iliana Nightstand December 12, 2007

Today was another adventure in bookbinding. I am working on another hard bound book but this time I am making a rounded spine. The book should look something like this. Of course to get that rounded spine is no easy feat. I had to hammer the spine to get it to form and because I had glued up the spine last week the glue really settled so it was a bit harder than it should be – at least that’s what my instructor said. Anyway, after all that hammering my arm and hand were beginning to feel numb and I even worked up a sweat! But I think the spine came out well and now it’s sitting in the studio in one of the presses until my class next week.

That’s it for bookbinding and now to talk about some of my current reads. I am still enjoying Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton a lot but this is a book that I think is best savored in bits and pieces. I find myself taking note of a sentence here and there and then I’ll close the book and just try to mull over the bits that I liked.

I’m also reading The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done by Ursula Hegi and it’s not really what I expected. I find it hard to get to know the characters but I’m sticking with it to see what happens. And, I’m finally getting to the second book by Will Thomas, To Kingdom Come. The first book in the series was one of my favorite mystery reads from last year so it’s nice to revisit these characters.

Hopefully I’ll get a chance tomorrow to tell you about two really good mysteries I’ve recently finished – Deadly Advice and Last Rituals.

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