Once Upon a Time...

I haven’t posted a book review in ages and, amazingly enough, I actually have read a couple of books recently.

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. This is a great read for, I’d guess, 9 – 10 year olds, as well as those of us who love children’s literature like me! It is fast paced, a little gross (to please those girls and boys who might like the thought of eating worms…), with strong male and female characters. This is the beginning of a trilogy based on the idea of "what happened before Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie?" I highly recommend the first book. I am halfway through the second in the trilogy (it’s called Peter and the Shadow Thieves) and am equally impressed although I have to admit that I keep having to put it down as the lead ‘bad character’ scares the crap out of me.

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw. Okay, I admit it. I bought this book in board book format for Iain because I liked the name. For a change, you can judge this book by its, well okay not its cover, but its title. It is a great book. The ‘Oh dear, the driver sheep forgets to steer’ cracks me up every time! This would be a wonderful addition to a hand knitted gift for all those new babies in your world.

Crewel World by Monica Ferris. This is the first in a mystery series based on a lead female character who owns a needlework store. DH was laughing at me for picking this up from the library. I was a little dubious at first. I love Ian Rankin’s Rebus mysteries and comparing these two authors would be like comparing apples and oranges as Rankin’s books are much darker and grittier. That being said, I quite enjoyed this book and intend on working my way through the series. They are a quick read but not too quick (e.g. like I find Janet Evanovich’s novels to be) and the characters fairly well developed. I was a bit thrown by the needlepoint information contained in the book – I’m not sure the level of detail needs to be there for the plot line, however, I still enjoyed it. If you like mysteries and want to add something fun and light to your repertoire, than these books are for you.

The Diaper Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh. I wrote a blog post about us using elimination communication with Iain awhile ago. I saw this book at the library and thought I’d have a boo. It’s a great read and is a great addition to Ingrid Bauer’s book. The Diaper Free Baby also has suggestions about starting an EC support group in your area, which is an interesting concept for me to consider. I returned my copy to the library and intend on buying one of my own.

Sorry, I haven’t bought any new knitting books (!) recently to comment on. I did receive my Summer 2008 copy of Interweave Knits magazine though. I really like the articles but, believe it or not, none of the patterns speak to me. That happens to me about once a year with this subscription. That’s not too much of a bad thing, however, seeing as most magazines have 5 – 6 patterns that beg for me to knit them (my pocket book only goes so deep and my time is so limited!).

Off to stitch – cross stitch that is. My WIP is almost complete!