Lazy Days

This is a little card I made for a challenge here a the Easy Craft Projects site, they set a template which you interpret with your own design, for the chance of winning some crafting goodies.
If you caught my post last week I made Mr Men cards for my sister and mum, these were made from a set wheras this week I took all different bits to make it.

I'm not sure whether I'm going to blog about my crafting here or not, I might just do so once a week as this blog was meant to be about books - anyway I'm off to make some more stuff, I have 10 tags to make, so far I only have this one done. (You'll have to click on it to see it properly.

My Thoughts: The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint

Having read The Wild Woods by Charles de Lint a few months ago I was eager to read some more when I spotted The Onion Girl as a audiodownload. I've been listening to this on my long walks to town and the gym (40 mins each way) and looking the world which was created in my mind.
Fairie artist Jilly is knocked down in a hit and run and left in a coma, whilst in this coma she discovers the ability to visit the 'dreamworld', a world a few of her friends inhabit reguarly or through their own dreams. When I got to this point I thought it was going to be a cute story but then things get darker. We learn about Jilly and her sister's abuse as children and the different paths it led them through. We watch as her sister Raylene grows up living a life of crime and escaping into the dream world to hunt as a wolf. We also get to know many of Jilly's fabulous friends, they're all different and quirky in their own way.
The novel splits between different characters and places and worlds, giving us different impressions of what is going on. More Charles de Lint will soon be added to my tbr pile!
Challenges:
A-Z (Title)

My Thoughts: Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

I've been in a real reading slump since the weekend, I've picked up books but not had the concentration to read more than a few pages at a time. I was about 80 pages into Lost in a Good Book so today I decided I had to make myself read it. I managed it, but did get distracted any numeber of times so it took me longer than it normally would. Hopefully now I'll go back to reading like a normal person!

Lost in a Good Book is the second book in the series, I read The Jane Eyre Affair bout a year ago and loved it, but its taken me ages to get around to this next book. The series is set in a parallel universe to our own. Thursday Next is a literary detective in SpecOps, she previously rescued the story of Jane Eyre from the evil Archon Hayes but in doing so changed the ending (to the one that we have). She also trapped an evil, terrorist inside Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven'.
Now that she is back she is something of a celebrity and also the subject of a muderous plot. Thursday had to deal with her new husband being erased from life, her timetravelling father, tv appearances and a series of coincidences which leave her in the path of death. She also learns how to escape into books, discoevers Shakespeare's missing play and has a dodo as a pet.
The books are funny, and far more silly than anything I would normally read, but they do assume that you know something about the major classics as their characters turn up all over the place.
A great read, even if I did struggle.
Challenges:
The Genre Challenge - detective
999 - Fantasy

Crafty Corner

I always read Viviens blog, she talks about both books and her scrapping, I always look at the images and wish that I could do that. On Saturday I clicked on a few links on her page and discovered the world of crafting. After looking a blogs and websites for a few hours - I'm not exaggerating, I thought I'd have a go.
Being on a budget I've brought a few bits and pieces - card, glue, sequins etc. I also went and raided my costume jewerlry box for the necklaces and bracelets that I know longer wear or are broken, I stole from them beads and buttons.
I brought a couple of magazines as well, including Lets Make Cards, I was shocked when I got to the till and discovered it cost £7.99 but when I got home and discovered the tons of Mr Men and Little Miss goodies I got with it I realised it was worth the money.
I spent a few hours today using that kit to make these two cards - one for my mum and one for my sister as I haven't been home since June.

I also used the kit and a few beads to make these book marks, which I'll probably stick in the bookcrossing books I send out.

My Thoughts:A Year in Green Tea and Tuk Tuks: My Unlikely Year Creating an Eco Farm in Sri Lanka by Rory Spowers

Sri Lanaka is always one of the top places that I'd just love to visit - if I could ever get the money together - so I love reading about it, rather than another fiction book I thought I'd try some non-fiction.
Rory Spowers is a determined bloke, he travels the world to discover new ways to save the planet and reduce his families carbon footprint. He also reads a stack of books gathering ideas for living without the pollutants of modern life.
As a teenager he walks through Africa and then again through India, knowing that to live the life he wants he will need to live abroad. He and his wife first visit Barbados, a place they consider living until they see the devestation caused by tourism and the Western world. But in Barbados they meet Doc Man, the creator of an eco garden which provides for his family but is also used as an educational tool to teach local children about the local plants and fruits. From this his dream to create an eco farm unfolds.
Rory and his wife and two small children move to Sri Lanka and start searching out a new home and a place to build the eco farm, they consider many enviromental issues in their search for the perfect place. Eventually they discover the '60 acres' an old tea farm which had laid empty for years.
Work then starts to transform this place into a 'bio-versity' a place not only to cultivate local and rare fruits and wildlife, but also a place to teach others about this form of farming. Rory recounts not only the farming of this land and the creation of Samakanda, but also the trials and tribultions with the local people. He is honest about his moods, his families struggles in this new country.
In the middle of his creation the tsunami arrives, impacting on everyone he knows in Sri Lanka and he is quickly involved in working with friends to create new homes for those who lost theres.
This book was a great read, Samakanda is now open to visitors and looks great, he also is a founder of The Web of HopeChallenges:
Non-Fiction 5
World Citizen Challenge
999 (non-fiction)

My Thoughts: The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

This is my second read for the Southern Challenge, it featured lots of Southern food which was making my mouth water as I was reading it, fried shrimps and grits (whatever they are!).

The Mermaid Chair is Kidds second novel after writing the bestselling The Secret Life of Bees - which I loved but can't remember a bit of. This book will be the same, it was a good read for the last two rainy afternoons but it will slip out of the memory pretty soon.
Jessie is woken one night by a phone call, her mother has puposefully chopped off one of her fingers. Jessie rushes back to her and her childhood home, a place of ghosts and memories which she has avoided for years.
The return home (as happens in many novels), sparks doubts about her present life and reveals truths from the past. Within hours of being there she has fallen in love with a monk in training and figured that her mother chopped her finger off because of her guilt over her husbands death.
The novel is set on an unnamed island off the coast of South Carolina. I think it was the islands quirky characters which made this book more enjoyable, their is Kat and her daughter Benne - a woman with a childs mind, Hepzaith who speaks Gullah the language of the slaves, a mermaid shop I wanted to dive into, a few charming monks and Max the dog who seems to belong to every islander.

Challenges:
The Southern Reading Challenge
A-Z (Author)

Library Loot and Mail Box Monday

Library Loot is hosted by Eva and Marg.
After saying I was going to try and avoid the library and actually tackle my tbr pile I failed miserably and came back with an armload full as usual.
I picked up:
Good Omens (audiobook) by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (for the Dream King challenge - which I'm really behind in).
Piercing by Ryu Murakami (Japanese Literature Challenge)
Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest (Manga Challenge)
By Hook or By Crook: A Journey in Search of English by David Crystal (for my Language course)
Social History of English by David Leith (for my Language course)
A Year in Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks by Rory Spowers (Non- Fiction 5 and World Citizen Challenge)
Annie John by Jamacia Kincaird (Caribbean Challenge)
The Manderines by Simone de Beauvoir (for a Yahoo group)
The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey (Booker challenge)
Normal by Amy Bloom (World Citizen and Non Fiction 5)
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb (a random pick up because the cover reminded me of Siobhan Dowd's books)
Midnighters: The Secret Hour by Scott Westrfied (Scott Westerfied Mini Challenge)



Mailbox Monday is hosted at The Printed Page this is my first time participating.
These three books arrived via bookcrossing:






Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon and Dona Flora and Her Two Husbands both by Jorge Amado were both sent by a bookcrossing friend who had seen them on my wishlist - Yay for bookcrossing.
I was sent The Piano Tuner as a mystery book, I knew the locations and first and last letter and that was it, I already own a copy - its a great read - so I will be passing this on to other bookcrossing friends when we meet for dinner tomorrow, and where I'll probably end up picking up more books!

With a mounting tbr pile I know I need to spend less time on the net and more reading! Anyone else have that problem?