what I'm reading

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This was a wonderful book. Even though I knew how it ended, I was spellbound for the last thirty pages. I may have to re-read Great Expectations. I was astonished to learn that Oprah had chosen those two books for her 2011 book list.

At Home by Bill Bryson could have been a lot shorter. It was interesting, but I've forgotten most of the interesting facts he wrote about. It was easy to pick up and put down.

Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasan, and Angels Flight by Michael Connely were audio books we listened to while traveling during Thanksgiving. It's easy to miss exits when you are in the midst of a mystery. Neither one memorable, but good travel companions.

Room by Emma Donoghue has the most unusual narrator of any book I've read recently. I don't want to give too much of it away, but the narrator is five year old Jack who has lived all his life with his mother in a single room. Very quick read that stays with you. I highly recommend this book.

Waiting for Snow in Havana and Waiting to Die in Miami by Carlos Eire are both fascinating books. I lived in Florida during the years leading up to and several years following the the Cuban revolution. Before he was deposed and went to live in Spain, the Cuban dictator Batista had a home in my community. For a few years I went to a private school which was also attended by Cuban children. I returned to public school in the winter of 1959 when armed bodyguards became a fixture at the school. Later in high school I became friends with two boys who were part of the Pedro Pan airlift. Between 1960 and 1962, 14,000 Cuban children left Cuba and their families for life in the United States.  Carlos Eire was one of those children and these two books tell his story of life in Cuba before the revolution and life in the United States after he left everything behind. Both are beautifully written books which I highly recommend.

Japanese Stab Binding

I told myself before my surgery that I was going to learn another bookbinding technique, and last night I cut the pages and cover. Today I watched two videos that gave step by step instructions. Here’s my first effort at Japanese Stab bookbinding. It really was very easy. I’d put the holes closer to the edge next time.

Paper Crafts

Inspired by Debbi Crane’s article in issue 9 of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, I made some purse shaped books as party favors for a bridal shower. I’m not a paper crafter, so I don’t have a supply of printed cardstock, so I used a coupon and bought a coordinated card stock pack. Loosely following Debbi’s instructions, I cut the covers, pages, spines and ribbon handles. Then I had to learn the pamphlet stitch. It took several prototypes to arrive at a design that pleased me. Positively addicting! Debbi made a purse shaped book every day for a year. I felt at times I was working on making 365 purse books in a weekend. Check back later, I’m going to be giving some of them away to celebrate my first anniversary as a blogger.

The books have 6 pages of drawing paper. Not exactly a useful book, but a fun party favor.

A book! From scratch!

Using Debbi Crane’s instructions from her book Mixed Media Explorations, and an online class from Creative Workshops, I have managed to make my first book.

It has a cardboard spine, five hand stitched signatures, a front cover a back cover made from the board on the back of the watercolor pad. I has forty watercolor paper pages. I used a piece of tissue paper I painted last summer for the cover. It’s a little bit wonky, but I’m pleased with it.

Then I got so excited about the first one, I made a simpler one, a pamphlet stitched book with only one signature. It has 32 pages and a painted canvas cover. This could get to be a lot of fun.

Both books have watercolor paper for the pages, so I can do all kinds of wet work in them.