2018 Recap: Books

Whoops, one more recap post! This is my annual "I do occasionally read words instead of writing too many" post where I cover what I read for the year, plus a bit of a ramble.  I wound up trying, and failing, to keep track of the manga read.  There are just too many!  It's especially "bad" in the winter when I curl up with the cats and my laptop and just... binge read all evening.  Imagine all the crafting I could have done!  Oh, well, I am enjoying myself either way. :)

image via Google image search

Italicized is a book I have never read before.   
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

1. Jingo (Terry Pratchett)
2. The Last Continent (Pratchett)
3. Carpe Jugulum (Pratchett)
4. The Fifth Elephant (Pratchett)
5. The Truth (Pratchett)
6. Thief of Time (Pratchett)
7. The Last Hero (Pratchett)
8. Night Watch (Pratchett)
9. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Pratchett)
10. The Wee Free Men (Pratchett)
11. Monstrous Regiment (Pratchett)
12. A Hat Full of Sky (Pratchett)
13. Going Postal (Pratchett)
14. Thud! (Pratchett)
15. Wintersmith (Pratchett)
16. Making Money (Pratchett)
17. Unseen Academicals (Pratchett)
18. I Shall Wear Midnight (Pratchett)
19. Snuff (Pratchett)
20. Raising Steam (Pratchett)
21. The Shepherd's Crown (Pratchett)
22. The Unadultered Cat (Pratchett)
23. Gilgamesh (Stephen Mitchell)

I started the year continuing the Discworld series.  They just kept getting better!  I was surprised at The Last Hero since I didn't realize some would be young adult novels too.  There wound up being several like this which made for quick and enjoyable reads!  I had hoped to finish the series by June but sometimes there wound up being too much of a delay between books (some had to come from the far corners of the state). I finished in the middle of July.  It's great to have them all read though bittersweet that there won't be any more to enjoy. I cried reading The Shepherd's Crown.

My husband got me The Unadultered Cat off of my wishlist for Christmas last year thinking it was part of Discworld.  I had that book on my list before I ever knew of the Discworld series!  I have no idea where I had heard of it though.

After Discworld, reading books kind of slowed down as I worked on getting caught up on our National Geographic subscription.  I had several months worth of backlog to get through.  There were a few library book sales during the downtime and I stocked up on some new (and old) material.  So, this year isn't as good as previous years in terms of numbers.  And now I have a new series of books to watch for hah.

My husband wanted to read a bit more in terms of stand-alone books (most of his reading is on the computer) and wanted to keep track of them.

1. Ringworld (Larry Niven)
2. Eat That Frog! (Brian Tracy) 
3. Creativity, Inc. (Ed Catmull)
4. Gilgamesh (Stephen Mitchell)
5. Extreme Ownership (Jocko Willink & Leif Babin)

I'm really glad he's joined a bookclub at his work!  He seems to be enjoying it too, even though they only read one chapter a week of their chosen book. I often feel like we're holding library books hostage but the librarians are great at encouraging keeping them until they're finished.  :)

owned media - why yes, we DO like Asimov, have you noticed?

Because we've gotten a healthy collection of books, one of my goals whims for 2018 was to sort of organize them so I wouldn't wind up with duplicates.  I think a lot of people might use GoodReads or something similar to track their books.  My solution was simple and less elegant: a Google spreadsheet!  We had already started one for our CDs ages ago (we have as many CDs as books -- we love music!).  It eventually grew to have separate pages for manga, movies, and video games.  I like this method because it's easy to search on my phone whenever I accidentally find myself in a bookstore or at a thrift store.  According to the sheet, we have 275 books (excluding manga, my craft books, and some miscellaneous items).  It sure felt like a lot more when we moved...

I think this year I will tackle my craft books.  I really like vintage craft magazines and books.  Ravelry is a great place to log them but not all of them are listed and I have no scanner to contribute.  I think it will be easier to have everything in one spot anyway.

thread stash

On a stitchy note, I also have a spreadsheet for my floss.  :)  I think we just really like spreadsheets (I also have them for sewing machine attachments and my Corelle set, and my husband has several for his things too).  If you're interested in this stitchy one, you can find a copy here.  You'll need to save it to your own Google account if you want to use it.  She has since updated it to contain the fabric calculator and floss availability, but the newest colors are not in there.  They're easy to add if you have basic spreadsheet knowledge.

Okay, that's all the recap posts for me.  I've already started on 2019's list with a whopping three finishes.  They're children's novels though, so nothing too extreme. :) There's still a little time to enter the first of 2019's Year of Giveaways, if you'd like!

2017 Recap: Books

Hi!  It feels weird to be posting so many times but I wanted to squeeze in a timely recap of books for the year.  I won't give you any book reports, though.

image via Google image search

Italicized is a book I have never read before.   
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

1. Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
2. Little House on the Prairie (Wilder)
3. Farmer Boy (Wilder)
4. On the Banks of Plum Creek (Wilder)
5. On the Shores of Silver Lake (Wilder)
6. The Long Winter (Wilder)
7. Little Town on the Prairie (Wilder)
8. These Happy Golden Years (Wilder)
9. The First Four Years (Wilder) 
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J. K. Rowling)
11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
12. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
13. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
14. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling)
16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Rowling)
17. The Color of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
18. The Light Fantastic (Pratchett)
19. Equal Rights (Pratchett)
20. Mort (Pratchett)
21. Sourcery (Pratchett)
22. Wyrd Sisters (Pratchett)
23. Pyramids (Pratchett)
24. Guards! Guards! (Pratchett)
25. Faust Eric (Pratchett)
26. Moving Pictures (Pratchett)
27. Reaper Man (Pratchett)
28. Witches Abroad (Pratchett)
29. Small Gods (Pratchett)
30. Lords and Ladies (Pratchett)
31. Men at Arms (Pratchett) 
32. Soul Music (Pratchett) 
33. Interesting Times (Pratchett)
34. Maskerade (Pratchett)
35. Feet of Clay (Pratchett)
36. Hogfather (Pratchett)

After unpacking our books post-move, I felt the need for familiar, easy books that I love and that would serve as a pick-me-up.  The Wilder books were given to little-me as a boxset from one of my father's college professors.  My copies are very well read at this point.  I've always particularly loved The Long Winter.

It was past time to do the almost sort of annual reread of Harry Potter.  At least these are hardcover and can stand the abuse!  No Cursed Child, never again, boooo hisssss.

And then, after joining the new local yarn group, they roped me into a summer reading challenge, which I'm pleased to say I not only completed, but also won the drawing for a gift certificate to a local restaurant!  The Discworld series fit in nicely with some of the options, and after a spectacular enabling essay from Jo, I dove in!  I decided to stick with publication order as it was easiest for me to keep track of where I was.  All of our local libraries function as one and we also have the option to request books from any library in the state.  Because I often had to wait for the next one(s) to come in, progress slowed as the year aged.  I didn't quite make it halfway through though I started reading the series in June. So far, I've greatly enjoyed Equal Rights, Small Gods, and all the Witches and Rincewind books.  (Rincewind may or may not make me an oddity in the Discworld fandom but I just loved his personality and timing haha.)  There were a few I didn't really love, at least not as much as the others (such as Moving Pictures and most of the Watchmen series).  And it was a bit fitting to be reading Hogfather at Christmastime!  I promise that wasn't planned.  It took this book for me to fall head-over-heels for Death.  :)

I did not include any manga.  After thinking about that, I might try a separate list for them in 2018, at least for completed series.  I'm sure this year I was well over 200 for this genre alone!  I read a lot of manga, though many are one-shots (basically one chapter) and almost all of them are online.  I do  have a nice collection of my own on my "geeky" bookshelf.  I will keep track of them by completed series, not a separate line for each individual book (volume).  I'm not sure how to go about including ongoing series.  Perhaps I should just omit them or I'd really wind up with a plate of Spaghetti-Os.

You know, I guess I did pretty well on books this year. :)  No new-to-me authors but that's okay.  Sometimes familiar favorites make things better.

And that's it for this year's posts!  I'll see you all on the other side. :D

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* HAPPY NEW YEAR! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

2016 Recap: Craftiness

Hello there.  Thank you to the lovely ladies who messaged me over my long absence, and especially those who ferreted out my email after my last post.  Your kindness and concern was really, really appreciated though I couldn't bring myself to reply to you.  Things are starting to fall back into place again.  Routines are a good thing for me even if a bit "boring."

Though 2016 didn't end on a particularly high note, I still wanted to do a crafty recap post for it because it wound up being one of my most productive crafting years to date.  Rather than a large assortment of pictures, I will put the list from my finishes pages here and a collage of each craft.

1. February - Uno - knit fingerless mitts, pattern found here (ravelry)
2. February - June Wild Roses - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
3. February - Lemon-Lime Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here  
4. March - Speaker Cozy #2 - crochet, pattern from Star Book No. 78: Television and Radio Scarfs
5. March - Shamrock Dishcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
6. June - Dolphin Washcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
7. July - Rathian - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
8. August - KitKat Hat - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
9. August - House Slippers - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
10. August - July Delphinium - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
11. September - Brachydios - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me 
12. September - Mittens - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
13. October - Kitty Prints Scarf - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry), modified by me 
14. October - Fan Bookmarks - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
15. October - Jack-o-Lantern Bookmark - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
16. October - Haunted House Dishcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
17. November - Yellow Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here
18. November - Green Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here

Totals:  7 knit items, 7 crochet items, 4 cross-stitch

the knits

I'm glad I completed the "kitty set".  They came in handy this winter and the hat especially got a lot of smiles and comments.  The fingerless mitts taught me how to do cables which, at the time, was very exciting.  And then never again for the remainder of the year.  And the washcloths are plain ol' fun.  I like themed items obviously.

the hooks

Lots of thread crochet this year, which is good, I am very fond of it.  After finishing the two thermal crochet potholders in November, I started a third, very large potholder (think 9x13 casserole dish) in a combination of the yellow and green and a couple skeins of white.  This is the only project I had out as all my yarn/floss/notions/life/sanity was packed away.  I finished it February 3rd (though as it's 2017 it's not a 2016 recap but more of a catch-up).  Of course, I still had a small bit of yarn left over so I made one more smaller potholder, again with the white/yellow/green combo.  I finished it February 10th. It felt nice to have some new things to unpack for the kitchen and it made me feel good to make space for new yarn use up stash.  The collection is the (small, I know) picture on  the far right.

the stitches

A fairly dismal year for cross stitch though.  I finished two of the lovely huck towels and two more sides to the husband cube.  I still love how Brachydios turned out.  I have yet to fish out my cross stitch stuff.  The mojo just hasn't been there.

I also managed a lot of progress on FFIII but it wasn't a finish like I had hoped.  It went from here...

before

...to here.

after

So it's getting there, slowly but surely.

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

Also, I read a few books.  I had originally intended this to be its own separate post but for reasons, it's getting tacked on here.  I like to read but am not a very avid reader (gee, I wonder if all the other hobbies take up too much time). I tend to stick with old favorites, rereading them as many times as I please.  I did not include any manga I have read although several series were sprinkled in throughout the year.

Italicized is a book I have never read before.   
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

1. The Diamond Throne (David Eddings)
2. The Ruby Knight (Eddings)
3. The Sapphire Rose (Eddings)
4. Domes of Fire (Eddings)
5. The Shining Ones (Eddings)
6. The Hidden City (Eddings) 
7. The Redemption of Althalus (Eddings)
8. Hyperion (Dan Simmons)
9. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
10. The Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
11. The Two Towers (Tolkien)
12. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett)
13. The 5 Love Languages (Gary Chapman)
14. The Return of the King (Tolkien) 
15. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Rowling et al.)
16. Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
17. Anne of Avonlea (Montgomery)
18. Anne of the Island (Montgomery)
19. Anne of Windy Poplars (Montgomery)
20. Anne's House of Dreams (Montgomery)
21. Anne of Ingleside (Montgomery)
22. Rainbow Valley (Montgomery)
23. Rilla of Ingleside (Montgomery)

I received both the Elenium and the Tamuli series by Eddings for Christmas 2015, and then just felt like rereading Althalus because he's fun.  Yes, I had never read a Terry Pratchett book before!  It was in our library's book sale for 25¢ and I took a liking to the ridiculous title. 5 Love Languages was interesting.  I found both my husband and I "speak" the same language: Acts of Service.  I hated Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  It was like a horrible fanfic with none of the magic of the original books.  I put it in bold because surely Rowling did not write such a jaded view of the adult magical world.  I was fully intending to purchase this book but after reading it through the library it will never find a home with me!  strong feelings  One cannot just read one Anne book.  I can never pick a favorite of the series.  Maybe 1-3 and 5.

And then all my books were packed away for the move that felt like it was never-ending.

Okay, I think that is enough for this recap / catch-up post.  All of those items seem so far away, from a different life.  I'm not even going to do goals this year and just take things as they come and enjoy life outside of boxes.  Eventually.  The boxes are never-ending as well.