Crafty Corner: Felt Flowers

I vowed that I would try and learn something new every week or so this year, mainly focusing on crafty goodness. So last weekend I made my first felt flowers, in fact the orange one in the picture above. I've since made a few more. At the moment I'm sticking to using them on ATCs, but I have a plan to make a few cushions with them on (well buy the cushions and attach the handmade flowers) for a friends birthday.
Today I mastered paper flowers, and used them to make my own gift wrap, as shown above.

The ATC above is for my sister's birthday, on the reverse side her birthday message is stiched on. Unfortunatley my camera has run out of batteries so this is taken on my camera phone and has come out a far brighter orange and white than the real thing, which is far more mellow. I hope that she likes it as she is the arty one in the family. Along with this she is getting a copy of The Arrival by Shaun Tan, and I'm in the process of making her a scrapbooking kit as I think her artistic skills and eye, plus her photography skills would work wonderfully together in a scrapbook. She'll be recieving this late though as January is turning out to be an expensive month.

Tomorrow I'll go to my mums to see her and have dinner with the family. Monday I find out if school are going to let me go to Southern China over Easter with as part of the school trip. My fingers are crossed and double crossed.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend x

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Today was the first time I picked up a book since Sunday! I don't think that has ever happened before. Our school was told early Monday morning Ofsted (evil school inspectors) were coming to visit for 2 days. I planned, marked, prepared and pretty much lost my brain in the last few days, and I ended up only being watched once! Thankfully that is now over, and also my class got there exam results today and everyone did well, so now I get to rest for a few days.

As soon as I was home I curled up with The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which I had started on Sunday. And I've polished it off this evening. When this first came out I quickly dismissed it when I saw the word zombie attached to it, luckily I came to my senses and waited in the library reservation list (40 odd people before me) for it.

The book is set is a small enclosed village, run by the Sisterhood. Beyond the fence lie the Unconsecrated, zombies waiting to attack. The village practice drills, teach cildren how to kill, and teach you to think of number one. As with all utopian worlds life is supposedly perfect, yet below the surface danger and secrets lie.

Mary has been brought up with her mother's stories, stories of the ocean, of tall buildings, of a world that exists beyond the forest. She longs to escape. Orphaned and abandoned by her mother she is taken into the Sisterhood, a place which soon confirms that there are secrets and knowledge which are hidden by the villagers, and that it is those who are supposed to protect who are actually deciving the village. When she is forced into marriage her world seems to be falling apart but she has seen nothing yet. She is soon fighting for her existance.

The novel, although far from original in its storyline - deceptive authority, a world beyond the castle walls, kept me engaged and entertained. If you want something simple a bit of a break from literature this one could be a good book to get lost in.

The picture above is of the American cover as I have a huge issue with the English cover which replicates the style of the Twilight books.

The Sunday Salon: Reading a well known classic

I have managed very little reading this week, especially as I had a day and a half off of work due to the snow. I finished Doctor Zhivago, if you had seen my post during the week you will know that I wasn't very impressed with it. Now I have three bookrings which I need to get read, Serena by Ron Rash, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and Summertime by J.M Coetzee. Normally I would be rushing to read these books but at the moment they hold little appeal, so they sit looking at me making me feel guilty and therefore making me want to read them even less :(

I decided mid-week that a distraction from these was necessary and I also needed that gratification of finishing a book. I decided to pick up Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by C.S Lewis. I have a beautiful boxset of Adventures and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There which my mum brought me for Christmas whilst I was at university, its been sitting around unread for 8 years plus.

I'm sure as a child I was probably read this, but all I can remember is the film. I settled down to this on Wednesday afternoon, the snow was falling heavily outside and I was already in my pjs after a couple of hours walk in the snow. Curling up with a blanket to get sucked into Alice's world was bliss. The story was very familiar, the childlike simplicity was a godsend after the politics of Russia, and I was easily pleased. This is one of those books which pull you back into your childhood in a rush. The Mervyn Peake illustrations are simple and stunning and added to the effect. I'll be reading Through the Looking Glass in the next week or so.

As well as knocking this off mount tbr this is also my first novel for the wonderful Our Mutural Reads Challenge. When reading this I did think about the childrens books that we have today. Alice is such a simple tale, she is stuck in an imaginary world with talking animals and characters, who generally accept her into their world unless she does something to distress them. Children's books now-a-days seem so much more 'clever', but it makes you wonder if this is needed, surely all kids regardless of the generation they belong to want a bit of silliness, somewhere they can imagine dreaming themselves into.
Have you read any well known classics which you feel you know like the back of your hand without having read them before?

Doctor Zhivago

I've just finished Doctor Zhivago my first book of 2010, and I'm still ummming and ahhing whether to post this post. I thought I'd just say a few quick words.
I read this as part of a librarything group read, I'd voted for it and was quick off the mark to buy it when it looked like it was leading the votes. And I started reading it before the month even started. However I have crawled through this book for the last 10 days.
I found some parts of it wonderful(Lara and Yury living together), some parts okay (his first marriage) and then other bits I was just lost, not concentrating or skim reading (mainly the war section and the epilogue). I know this is a widely loved book, did anyone else have similar problems to me?

Sunday Salon - Victorian Short Stories

The first Sunday of 2010 is typically going to be spent doing all the things which never got ticked off of my to do list, marking, homework, studying and ironing. Possibly some reading will get done if I'm lucky later on. Then tomorrow its back to work, I'm not looking forward to the early mornings but it will be nice to have a routine back in place.

I thought I would kick off the Our Mutual Reads with a few Victorian short stories to set the scene. I'm going to try and read a real mix of authors for the short story mini challenge, hopefully covering a wide range of authors from the period.

An Imaginative Woman by Thomas Hardy (from Life's Little Ironies).

I've read a far bit of Hardy, several novels and poems but this was my first short story. A young family travel on holiday. They stay at a guesthouse, the wife discovers that the room that she is staying in is the bedroom of a local poet. She immediately feels a link with the poet as she once had a poem of hers published alongside one of his. This interest quickly develops into a fascination with the man, she waits day in day out for him to return to the guesthouse, she is anxious to meet this man whi she has built up in her head as a wonderful person.
This was a good little story, I'm sure we have all at some point created a character inside our heads of a person we have never met, imagining that if met an instant friendship would form. I was surprised at how modern the text felt.

For my second Thomas Hardy story I read The Boy's Veto.

This tells the tale of a young wheelchair bound woman. We learn early of her marriage to an elder man, her boss, who has decided he should take her as his second wife after she ended up wheelchair bound after completing a task for him. The pair get along well enough, but it it more a marriage of conveneyance. The husband strives to improve his wifes cultural knowledge so that she fits as part of his sociaty.
After the husband dies she is courted by a man she knows from her past, a "mere gardener". She desperately wants to marry this man yet is banished from doing so by her son who claims it would destroy his chance of being a gentleman.
The son's behaviour angered me, but it is typical of the society of the time, when your birth, parents and education counted far more than the type of person you actually were.

Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad, read online for free here

This story has changed my mind on Conrad, whose Heart of Darkness I despised. Amy Forster is a young simple girl in the story she falls in love with a migrant who found himself ashore after a shipping accident. Arriving in England he was beaten, thrown stones at and locked up, everyone assumed he was simply a lunatic. Amy was the only person who showed him compassion when she feed him. From that moment on they are in love.
The story, although titled Amy Foster, is more about the man and his experiences of living in England. The language is beautiful, showing the sharp conrast between the man's ways and that of the English folks. Well worth a read.



I sat down on New Years Eve to watch the latest BBC adaptation of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. For some reason the BBC had decided to set the story in 1921 rather than in 1898 when the story was written so it cannot count for this challenge. That being said this reminded me what a great novella it was. It would be perfect for this challenge, especially for anyone new to the Victorian period. I'll have to try and dig it out and have a reread this year. The BBC version is well worth checking out, the setting is beautiful and it is well acted throughout. I'm sure the novella doesn't make everything as clear as this version did, but my memory is fairly hazy.
(Just why is it that scary children in films are nearly always blonde?)

52 in 10

2009 was the year I discovered scrapping and mini book making, plus a stack of other crafts like collage, knitting and crochet (all of which I'm completely incompetent at at the moment - but will be working on). I've bravely decided to join a class to scrap about me in 2010. The class seems to be about scrapping about your life, rather than just the events of this year. The prompts also say that it will include a lot of journalling which is perfect for me.
Now, I'm sure most people doing this project are working on 12"x12" or 8"x8" sheets. Being different, I of course wanted to do things differently. I'm making mine ATC size (the size of a playing card). Each prompt will cover a double page in the book. As for the prompts I will try and complete all of them, however if they don't fit my mood that week I'll do something else, I may then come back to that prompt later in the year. The small size, hopefully, will mean its less daunting and can be completed fairly quickly. It's also good as unlike others I won't have many photos to add in. And, when I get to Cambodia and Vietnam in July/August I will be able to take a few of the pages with me to complete on my travels.
Here is a glimpse at my introduction page. Explaining pretty much what I said above. And, oh yes, for those of you with good eyesight I will be turning 30 this year (actually in the final days of the year), and although I'm dreading it already, it would be nice to have something as a momento of my final year in my twenties.

If your interested in participating its free and held here each sunday.

2010 Reading Resolutions

As well as making a bunch of personal resolutions - the old favs regarding money, health,being creative, weight and happiness. Oh, and to get myself to Cambodia and Vietnam this summer! I also set a few Reading Resolutions which I thought I'd set out here so I can come back to them.

Firstly I'm going to tackle the tbr pile: I'm aiming to have read 50 books off my tbr piles. The stacks are huge, I buy books and barely even look at them before stuffing them on the pile. Some of the books have been lurking since I started my A Levels (12 years ago). I'm not going to make a list however of the ones I want to tackle first, I've done this before and for some twisted reason it makes me avoid them even more!

I'm also going to cut down on buying books, I'm constantly buying books for challenges a lot of which I then don't read. I want to try and stick to this at least until the summer. It may even help me save for my trip.

In terms of what I'm actually going to read I'm trying to be a bit more selective. I've only joined a few challenges and bookrings this year so that I can have more freedom and control over my reading.

I want to read lots of classics - these could be the real classics, like The Divine Comedy but also those must read books which are more contemporary, like The Princess Bride. I'm aiming for at least a quarter of my books to fit in this category. This may also help me with my 1001 Books to Read Before I Die personal challenge. I've only read 18% so far.

I also am trying to read more books from around the world. I already read lots of international fiction, but seem to be stuck in a limbo reading the same countries - China always featured highly until last year - I'm part of the Olympic challenge on Bookcrossing and it is creating much more variety. Early in the new year I have books from Uzbekistan and Combros lined up.

An finally more non-fiction. I'm not sure if I'm just a typical girl but I read lots of fiction and struggle with the non-fiction. As my knowledge of history, politics, religion, science and general knowledge is fairly weak I know that this is an area I must really work on. I want at least every 4th book to be non-fiction and not just memoirs. I have a whole shelf and more of non-fiction which I plan on tackling this year. I've also picked challenges which hopefully will lead me this way.

Have you made any reading resolutions?

2010 Reads:
JANUARY
1. Doctor Zhivargo
2. Alice in Wonderland by CS Lewis
3. Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
4. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat (Non Fict)
5. Sorrow Mountain by Ani Prachen (Non Fict)

FEBRUARY:

Summertime, J.M Coetzee
The Fire Gospels, Michel Faber
Ruins by Achy Obejas
Whole of a Morning Sky by Grace Nichols
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

March:
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Magpie by Jill Dawson
Amok by Stefan Zweig


visited 12 states (5.33%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Africa:
South Africa
Summertime, JM Coetzee
Americas:
Antigua
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
Cuba
Ruins by Achy Obejas
Guyana
Whole of a Morning Sky by Grace Nichols
Haiti
After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
USA
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Asia:
India
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Russia
Dr Zhivargo by Boris Pasternik
Tibet
Sorrow Mountain by Ani Prachen
Europe:
Austria
Amok by Stefan Zweig
The Netherlands
The Fire Gospels, Michel Faber
UK
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Alice in Wonderland by C.S Lewis
Magpie by Jill Dawson