I need a new blog header for my reading notes, don't I? I have loads of reading images so must sort through them and find something different and inspiring!
This weekend is going to be more a crafting weekend than a reading weekend. Did I mention that I have been taking art classes at my local museum? I am just starting my second backstrap weaving class. Now that I have nearly finished the project from my first class it is beginning to make sense and I am ready to start a new project and try and understand color choices and texture and weave. It is a whole new world and one I very much want to spend more time in and explore, and considering the many, many different weaving styles, I can easily spend lots of time and energy (and probably money, too) here.
I have also been taking a class learning the process of devoré to incorporate into weaving (or other artistic processes I suspect), though it is more a matter of learning a technique and maybe experimenting a bit with it rather than pursuing it. My instructor has some amazing pieces but she is an artist who has studied and has shown us so many different techniques that it is all very overwhelming. I have bits and pieces of things from my class (one more class to go next week) but I am not sure how/or if they will all come together into a final piece.
And to be really creative I have one more class coming up in a few weeks (when I finish with the devoré) that is learning textile wrapping. I have a feeling that will be more in my interest and abilities and I am very curious about learning the technique.\
All these classes have been in conjunction with a current traveling exhibit that I have enjoyed immensely. Sheila Hicks was born in Hastings, Nebraska but has lived in Paris for the last forty years or so. Her work is absolutely amazing and I think she is a very highly regarded and successful textile/fiber artist (though she began as a painter and I think she prefers not to be categorized by one style of work). Walking through the exhibit (I've been several times and suspect will go several more before it ends in early September) is so inspiring. Her use of color and texture is really vibrant. You just want to reach out and touch everything (which of course you can't . . .). This weekend there is a special day-long celebration of her work which will include a lecture and panel discussion, which I am looking forward to. Saturday will be all-day weaving between my class and the museum events.
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On the needlework front . . . no, I've not given up my love of and work with my stitching. I think if anything, one is a natural lead into the other and I am interested now to learn to knit or crochet as well. I have been stitching daily, though I have been working on a different project. I needed a little time away from my seasonal gardens, though I do plan on getting back to them.
I promise to share photos soon of my needlework and weaving projects! In the meantime, I discovered this pattern on Etsy. I think I need to buy and embroider this, don't you think?!
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And now on the book front. (It's nice to have so many things to be passionate about--and I need them all at the moment as life can be difficult in other areas). Are you sitting down? This might be a little shocking to hear. I have been reading one, yes one, book at a time for the last week or so. Okay, I know some of you read only one book at a time all the time, but for me who is always all over the place when it comes to reading, this is quite innovative. It is the library book conundrum along with having my own personal reading schedule/agenda that has just forced me into concentrating on one book at a time. I don't think this will become my new mode of reading, but it's been working so far.
First it was Philip Roth's (my very first Roth novel . . . not my last by any means) Indignation, which was made into a film and I plan on seeing this weekend. It is a short enough novel I thought I could manage to read it before seeing the movie. Short, as we all know does not mean easy, or thin in terms of content. It is not a hard read, but it certainly is a much richer reading experience that I was expecting. I had to go in search of a few reviews and still need to think about it and go back and reread a few passages as I think I flew by a few things too quickly. I am very interested now in seeing the movie as I wonder how it all translates to the big screen. I have heard favorable things about the adaptation and will share more about the book next week.
Then it was Rubyfruit Jungle, which I was just so close to finishing I had to finish it. It is a most memorable and enjoyable book and I think Molly Bolt will be up there when it comes to favorite bookish characters to like and admire. She is sassy and I like that in a person.
And now this weekend it will be marathon reading to finish Maggie O'Farrell's This Must Be the Place, which went on the backburner in order to finish the two books above. I fear it will be returned late (sorry next reader in line who is waiting for it). I still have half a book to read, but it will be my lone book to spend time with this weekend (and hopefully there will be time left over for reading with so many other things going on), so maybe I can immerse myself back in the story with no problems.
I was already undecided which library book to choose next and now to make life even more difficult I have a massive pile of New holds now waiting for me. I think I absolutely have to stop requesting books from the library as things are getting out of control. As much as I want to read them all, it is totally unrealistic for me to even attempt borrowing so many new books at once. I am going to have to choose just a few and then let the rest go back into circulation before they even have a chance to come home with me. Sorry library books. If only I were a faster reader . . .
The two most likely candidates for coming home from the library with me this weekend are Joanna Cannon's The Trouble with Goats and Sheep -- "Part coming-of-age story, part mystery, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is a quirky and utterly charming debut about a community in need of absolution and two girls learning what it means to belong." I am also very intrigued by Tim Murphy's Christodora -- "In this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan’s East Village, the Christodora."
So, there are my current reading adventures! Where are yours taking you this weekend?