Bookswap haul

[slemslempike]

I went to the bookswap yesterday, which Nuala hosted in her lovely house. I made cinnamon brownie muffins, which are chewy and rather nice, and tried to make mini doughnut muffins (milk-free), which were a failure. Today I might do some more baking and take it into work. I was going to make gammon and pear casserole, but I think it uses sweet potato, which I forgot to buy any of.

I was comparatively restrained and only came away with 9 books, one of which was knitting patterns, so doesn't even really count.



I feel I have a nice mix there. I recently went through my shelves to winnow down the amount on them, and took out all the ones I wouldn't want to either reread or refer back to or lend to someone else, or just have to have them. What I also did was take off all the things I want to keep but haven't read, and piled them up on the floor to have at hand. I'm trying to work through these before buying new books or rereading books. Here they are:



So that's 151 books I need to read (not including the separate books within one set of covers). I do want to read all of them, at some point, just... not as much as I want all the other books in the world as well.




The bookswap also featured a yarnswap. There was a lot of beautiful yarn - I got some kidsilk haze, which I've never knitted with before, some light green merino, some lovely Chilean variegated alpaca, and enough gold silk yarn and beads to make an amazing beaded shawl. Now I have sorted through all my yarn (something I should probably have done properly beforehand), and I really, really have to start some projects. I have three aborted projects to finish frogging, and a cardigan that I have been stalled on for FIVE MONTHS. The pattern is wrong, and I'm at the same bit for the fifth time of starting where I have finished the chart, and I need to start calculating for bust darts, but it's also the bit where I'll find out if it's too big AGAIN and probably have to start again. I was determined not to let the pattern beat me, but I'm not sure I can bear starting again.

So in order to get back in to knitting I think I'm going to start an entirely new project to get me back into the swing of it. Unfortunately my ravelry browsing has mostly led me to patterns I love for yarn I don't have, and that is not at all the point.

Maybe I could make these pretty fingerless mitterns, probably in some fyperspates sparkly sock yarn I got in the yarn swap anglaisepaon ran a few years ago. Or does anyone have an idea of what I could make with 1300m of Kidsilk haze? or 800m of drops Alpaca? or 700m of merino fingering? or, ooh, 1500m of dk linen? THERE IS TOO MUCH CHOICE AND NEVER ENOUGH YARN.

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I feel better about the mere thirty books in my to-read pile now! Some of them have been there several years, however...

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I have had a number of these for at least 11 years...

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I looked at that pile and was like 'ha! That is a THOUSAND books, I feel better about my Kindle backlog' and then you said the number and it is less than half of the unread books on my Kindle, not even counting my unread books in hardcopy at home. I KNOW I should stop buying / acquiring new books until I've cleared the backlog, but STUPID AMAZON keeps offering things for STUPID CHEAP.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel better, that doesn't include the unread non-fic and biography that is unread. Hang on, I'm going to do a quick count. A further 103 books in the other categories, though looking through biography I was pleased to find I'd read more than I thought. So you still win ("win"). Though I also have unread stuff on my Kindle app, but no current way of reading them.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

Bearing in mind that the spine is part of a rather uniform series, how worrying is it that I immediately recognised Behn's Love Letters from my first glance at your long-shot? Heh.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I would call it very impressive!

[nwhyte]

See, this is where I use LibraryThing, and livejournal polls, to help me prioritise getting through my unread pile (which incidentally fills entire bookcase in our bedroom). At least that way I feel, however incorrectly, that I am making headway through the vast pile of unread books most of which I have actually spent money on (and most of the rest of which someone has lovingly procured for me).

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm not sure if I'm going to use any particular order to get through them. Maybe I will use an online random number picker to pick for me.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I do like the way you've piled up your TBR pile, especially the long run of Virago green spines. My TBR pile is also getting bigger but that's because I keep getting books from the library and reading those instead of the ones I've bought.

Jon and Rumer Godden were guests at a literary luncheon along with Jane Duncan.

Those fingerless mittens are very pretty.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I think I will definitely be doing those mittens at some point, but for now I have cast on a Hobbit themed shawl - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/an-unexpected-journey-2 .

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

That looks amazing! Is that with the silk? Or the kidsilk haze?

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

The silk! And there were beads with it as well, so I might try some beading for the first time.

[anglaisepaon.livejournal.com]

You got lots of books I love in your pile to be read, and lots of books I now want to read!

That's a lovely pattern.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I have some leftover books I didn't take to the swap that I'll look through to see if they might work for your classes. Are there any particular things you're looking for?

[notmarcie.livejournal.com]

I love Middlesex. Love it.


Unrelated question: when you order from Modcloth have you been hit for customs/import charges.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I've tried to read Middlesex before, I think, but didn't get very far with it. I'll have another go and if that doesn't take I'll donate it somewhere.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, like anything from the US, I guess!

[jinty]

Amazing bookpile! Most of it is stuff I haven't read, but can I just mention a few (feel free to ignore recommendations of course) - Native Tongue (Women's Press SF) was fantastic I thought but the sequels are disappointing. Enjoyed Middlesex though am in no hurry to re-read. The two Joan Aikens I'd say the Cuckoo Tree is better than Dido and Pa but they are both in the good, classic run of the James III books (whereas the latest books in that series are considerably thinner, to my mind). The Cynthia Voight - have you read her other books? I'd recommend starting with the first of the Tillerman books (Homecoming) and then just keeping on reading, personally.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Recommendations very welcome, thank you! I intend to give them all a go, but will get to some sooner than others. I've not read any of the other Cynthia Voigts - how necessary is it to start with Homecoming? I don't want to get any more books in order to read the ones I already have, but equally I don't want to ruin books for myself by not having the right background.

[jinty]

Not so easy to say because it's been a little while, but I'd give a qualified no to the question about the Voigt. It won't ruin "Come A Stranger" by any means but I think it would impact a bit on your reading of "Homecoming" if you went back and read that afterwards. Not fatally or anything but still.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

I am very sorry to say that my first scan of your BTR books was picking out the books that I think came from me at previous bookswaps....

Let the Hurricane Roar is definitely worth a read and if you want to get rid of it afterwards I would gladly take it off your hands, as I am a big RWL fan.

So glad you took the Big Knitting book - I bought it when I was still with AD (ah, I love dating books by where I was living and/or who I was living with!) and never opened it, and I just had to admit that I was not going to knit anything out of it. But since you have it, I can still tell myself that if I ever want to see it again, I could just ask you! (NB this will not happen.)

I keep telling myself that anything on my BTR shelf that pre-dates my move to this flat which is still unread when I leave this flat is going to disposed of. Ha. Hahaha. Yeah, well. I *am* at least successfully keeping my books in/books out levels at more out than in.

[mrsminiversdaughter.blogspot.co.uk (from livejournal.com)]

Oh, dear - the Persephone pile of shame. I have one, too. (But do try to read At Mrs Lippincote's, it's one of Elizabeth Taylor's best.)

[starfishchick]

I think 9 is a good haul - does the knitting book look good? I am interested in big knitting!

And your to-read pile is intimidating but inspiring!!!