Check-In Post February 18th 2021

[badly_knitted]

Hello to all members, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


Today's Question: What are we all reading right now?


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Comments

[smallhobbit]

Owl has a beak now!

Books: 'The Summer Before The War' by Helen Simonson, 'Testament of Friendship' by Vera Brittain and 'Crossed Skis' by Carol Carnac.

[badly_knitted]

He's almost a full owl!

Are they all detective fiction?

[smallhobbit]

There's quite a bit more of owl to do yet.

Crossed Skis is detective fiction. The Summer before the war is more general. And Testament of friendship is a biography about Winifred Holtby.

[badly_knitted]

Ah, so still part owl, just with another part.

That's an interesting selection, something for every mood.

[medievalrosalie]

Owl look forward to photos!

[smallhobbit]

You are a hoot!

[badly_knitted]

Another 8 rows on the pink arm warmers!

I've got several boks on the go right now, Seems that's quite common among us! The main one is Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore. It's pretty good if you like SF and aliens that are very alien. A lot about the various characters trying to cope with their xenophobia. One main human character, a lot of different aliens.

Also re-reading Ghost Horse by Joseph E. Chipperfield, a book I loved as a kid but it's annoying me now with lots of factual inacuracies. Since when do rattlesnakes rattle in their throats? I'm persevering, hoping to find the enjoyment I had when I was younger.

Third is a short story collection. Visible Light by C.J. Cherryh. I started it last spring but the first story was about a plague aboard a space ship, and it was a little too close to the bone. Thinking I might pick that back up again. Either that or I'll start another short story collection. I usually have one on the go.

Then there's Joe Lansdale's The Thicket, which I got a bit bored with but I still intend to finish. It's a strange book, sort of a Western set in turn of the century (last century) Texas. Not as good as The Bottoms, but I think it'll turn out to be worth sticking with in the end.

[medievalrosalie]

I read Ghost Horse as a pre-teen too!! My goodness! I was in love with the cover art as well. I remember nothing about the story now, but I remember loving the book.

[badly_knitted]

It's sad re-reading it and seeing all the factual inaccuracies in it that I never noticed as a kid. To be honest, the Silver Brumby books hold up much better than this one, I re-read those a few years back and they feel far more realistic despite the horses communicating with each other in human terms.

The cover art is still amazing though.

[medievalrosalie]

I bought the Silvery Brumby series for my niece. And then bought another set for me. I loved them as a child.

[badly_knitted]

They're wonderful books =)

I also have some of the Black Stallion series, but I never managed to track them all down. There were a lot.

[smallhobbit]

That's a good variety of books.

[badly_knitted]

I like variety. =)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

The weather was sleet/freezing rain all day and the sidewalks weren't safe so I stayed inside and worked on a jigsaw puzzle.

I am reading:

If He Hollers, Let Him Go by Chester Himes, (1968), fiction, four days in the life of black man in Los Angles in 1945, for my book bingo.
It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr, (1930) a locked room mystery, for the Shedunnit podcast book club.
Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly, a children's book about a deaf girl and a whale [for a family book club at my son's school]

[badly_knitted]

Another fascinating mix of books!

I don't read fast enough these days for book bingos.

Yay for jigsaw puzzles. I've just been doing some more online ones. Small wonder I get to bed so late at the moment...

[medievalrosalie]

Wow! What a great array of topics! What is book bingo, please?

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks! My bingo card is a 5 x 5 square card made by kingstoken for 2021. Each square is a genre or characteristic of a book [e.g., sci-fi/fantasy or POC author or Number in the Title] and when you read a book meeting that criteria, you cover the square. Encourages me to stretch myself in what I read. My goal is always blackout by the end of the year. I've got three squares filled so far: https://stonepicnicking-okapi.dreamwidth.org/145709.html

[medievalrosalie]

That sounds great!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks!

[smallhobbit]

How are you getting on with It Walks By Night?

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I love it so much I want to marry it :)

[medievalrosalie]

Crafting didn't happen today but I did a bit of sorting and organising and maybe tomorrow some sewing on the grey hood.

Books I'm reading:
- The Clock and The Camshaft and other Medieval Inventions We Still Can't Live Without, is just finished, and I really enjoyed that.
- The History of Drugs; an old book on loan from a pharmacy friend because it had a lot of medieval pictures in it and may have some snippets and sources I can use.
- The Colour of Murder; a medieval murder mystery which I have to review. Not sure whether it's great at this early stage.
- Courtly Love Undressed; should be an awesome book and bits of it is, but it's pretty annoying in other areas. Insisting that lighthouses are clothes in waves nearly made me throw the book out the window, but it has given some good sources for things, so I'm persevering. It's not an enjoyable read, though, if you know what I mean.

[badly_knitted]

Sorting and organising are important preparations for actual crafting. If you don't do them you canh't make much in the way of progress because you can't gind what you want, so it all counts.

That's an interesting mix of books, I can see your passion for the medieval extends into your reading. Yes, some books can be... not enjoyable reading but still worthwhile for what you can get out of them. That's especially true for non-fiction books, which can be dry and tedious yet informative at the same time.

Murder mysteries come in all kinds. I hope the one you're reading turns out to be a good one.

[medievalrosalie]

I hope so. I need to do a review and I'd feel a bit awkward if it's really terrible. The author had done quite a lot of history study, so the facts should be solid, but whether the characters are believable and connective, will remain to be seen.

[badly_knitted]

Reviewing other people's work has got to be difficult. I don't think I could do it. Commenting on fanfic is one thing, but reviewing a book.... So hard!

[medievalrosalie]

Exactly! I've enjoyed her non fiction books, so with a bit of luck, her fiction ones will be enjoyable.

[badly_knitted]

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[smallhobbit]

That reference to lighthouses is just bizarre!

[medievalrosalie]

It really is. I get it- people can be clothes in jealousy and lighthouses clothed in water, but one reference would have been enough. The tendency to say something and then say it longer and then explain it by saying the same thing again is driving me bananas, but there are some GREAT references so I keep coming back. I also keep putting it down.

History of Drugs has a bunch of great medieval art at the front, so I feel like the first few chapters will be of particular interest. Sometimes there's a casual mention of a manuscript I'm not familiar with that "everyone knows" so I think I'll be well and truly finished with that before the other one.