Great books!

I've been reading a lot more lately.  I'm not sure why.  Probably a combination of more time and wanting to escape into something outside my regular world.  I'm really enjoying it, especially since I don't have a TV to distract myself with.  Here are a couple books I've read lately that are excellent and that I've been recommending to everyone.

I heard about this one on the CBC.  It's called Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay.  The main character is a famous ballerina who defects from the USSR.  The story jumps back and forth between the present and the past, tying together a man trying to learn about his past, a young woman who works at an auction house and of course the main character.  It is really well written and so easy to sink into, but also very intelligent and informative.



The other book is one that I happened to pick off a shelf at the library (why I love the library - you can try a book with NO risk).  It is called People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.  This book uses an ancient Jewish text to move between the past and the present, much the way the movie the Red Violin used the violin to connect past and present.  An Australian woman is called upon to mend this text and as she does she uncovers clues which are used to transport us back in the book's history.  These jumps bring us to various times where Jews have struggled under external oppression.  Again, a great story and a minor education into an area of history I knew little about.

Paris Cemetery inspired cross-stitch

In my Lonely Planet guidebook for Paris there is a beautiful photo showing the gate to a crypt in a Paris cemetery (probably the big fancy cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried).  For whatever reason it inspired me to design and do a cross-stitch.  In the end, I bit off much more than I needed to, but c'est la vie.

I often brought the cross-stitch to class, to the surprise of classmates and the probable chagrin of lecturers, but it made such a difference in my ability to pay attention.  When I have something mindless to keep my hands busy, my attention span is much improved.  I may come by this genetically, since I've been told that my grandmother knit my security blanket during meetings!

As with any project, there are things I would change about this one, including being more attentive to where I wanted the shadow to be so it was more consistent.  I also mis-counted the squares, and towards the end I had to modify the top to make it fit (oops)!