The books of September 2014

It's hit that portion of the year where time truly flies. I'm spending a lot more time making gifts and trying to get all the holiday shopping done, but still finding time to read, see a random movie, and cook. I also started a new exercise class that works the core...and all the other things. So much. It's not as entertaining as the belly dancing class was, but I'm not hating it as I had suspected I might.

Crafts:
People had some birthdays and stuff, so I can post a few things. Part of my BFF's gift this year was this pattern by Alessandra Adelaide called Gallo:

Knock, knock! (Click here if you don't know why this is funny.)

The same day as BFF's birthday, another friend got married. It was a very pretty wedding. When I was looking for something pretty to make, I returned to Alessandra Adelaide's patterns and found this one with kitties:

Look at the kitties' tails! Twue wuv!

Next up, my friend who I tend to give unicorn themed items. This year was no exception. I figure if you want to express your opinion without feeling bad later, simply pointing to this unicorn (I found the pattern on etsy) can help express your feelings:

Umhmmm...yeah...I hear you... (points at cross-stitch)

Movies:

This month I only felt the need to see two movies and they were completely worth my time and money. First up, I saw David Lynch's Duran Duran Unstaged concert movie. The music was fantastic...the David Lynch was interesting with moments of crazy. Mostly, they were still some good looking British men singing songs I still love. There were a few guest singers and they were actually good...but it's hard to watch Kelis and NOT want to hear Milkshake.

The other movie I saw was This Is Where I Leave You. If memory serves, I enjoyed the book immensely. The movie was no different. It's rare that I book I liked hits awesome on the meter. But whoever cast this thing was a GENIUS! Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Timothy Olyphant (Olyfantastic for those who know), Jane Fonda...the list goes on. It was just hysterically funny and I will definitely watch it again when it comes out in rental form.

Books:

This month I read: The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory, Viking Tales by Jennie Hall, Winter of the World: Book Two of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett, and The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin.

The Queen of the Tearling kept showing up my feeds as something that I might like. The feeds, they did not lie. It was a little slow going, but once I got into it, I did really enjoy it. Utopian world goes to crap and the rightful queen, who has been hidden away since birth, must come back to the Tearling to prove herself worthy of the task and rule her people. Of course, in no way does that go smoothly. She manages to get wounded more than once, nearly die, be captured by a master thief, develop feelings for that same kidnapping thief by the end of this first book, oust her corrupt uncle from the throne, defend against the evil queen of another territory, set free and defend hundreds of people, and finds out that the necklace her mother gave her might actually be the best weapon she has. It was a good read and I'm looking forward to more.

The King's Curse is the billionth(?) book in the Cousins' War series. Like all of the books in this series, and those by Gregory in general, I held my breath before diving in because I didn't know if this would be one of the good reads or one of the duds. I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be an interesting tale about the oldest woman to be beheaded by Henry VIII (not a wife). Margaret Pole was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence. She had a legitimate claim to the throne, but after watching many family members be killed (including her father) for the crown, she said silent and survived. The story follows her from trusted friend to Henry VIII's mother, Prince Arthur's governess (essentially), lady-in-waiting to Katherine (Arthur's and then Henry's wife), devoted friend and caregiver to Lady Mary, and eventually, declared an enemy to the throne. This was a really good story about a player in the game who isn't often brought to the forefront of the Tudor stories. I enjoyed this one a lot. Almost as much as the two in the series that were mostly about the Woodevilles.

I'd been reading Viking Tales on and off for a while. Just short stories from Viking life...mainly about King Haraald. Not too bad. Nice way to fill time between huge, historical, fictional tomes.

Winter of the World picks up in Germany before WWII begins. (The first book left off after WWI is over.) Again, the intertwined families are spread through eastern North America, England, Wales, Germany, France, Spain, and Russia. The main characters who were alive at the end of book one are now the parents of the emerging main characters in book two. WWII is not my favorite topic to read about, so it felt like this book took forever to read. It wasn't quite 1,000 pages, but it was close. By the time I'd gotten halfway through, I'd hit my stride though. I will need a fairly big break before reading the next book, Edge of Eternity. It's a lot of characters and side stories to remember...and Follett doesn't really go back and recap anything, so if you haven't read the first one, do not read the second. I will say that while it all seems a bit formulaic after reading two, I still enjoy the way Follett tells the story well enough to continue reading about them all.

The Fortune Hunter was kind of an outlier. I have American Heiress by the same author, but every time I've tried to start it, I put it down. I forced myself to read it in big chunks so it would be over a little quicker. At least it managed to keep my attention. I think what threw me was that all of it was loosely based on real events and people, but so much of it was made up. I don't know. I liked it, but I'm not sure I recommend it.

Since it's already getting close to double-digits, date-wise in October, I've already read a couple of things, but I'll talk about them in the next post. Looking forward to books, movies, crafts, and Halloween. Enjoy the awesome fall weather people!