Oh, and here’s another one I made after lunch (crochet):

An Improper Aristocrat (Harlequin Historical Series), by Deb Marlowe

Regency romance with Egypt-archaeology adventurers, but with some good chemistry between the hero and heroine.

#22:

Slow Hands (Harlequin Blaze), by Leslie Kelly

Now, you know I do like a hot story, right? Slow Hands may not be great literature, but it’s quite steamy and fun.

#23:

The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival, by Stanley N. Alpert

The true story of Stanley Alpert, a federal prosecutor who is kidnapped at gunpoint and manages to survive the ordeal. This hit near and dear to my heart, so much so that I may very well write one of my rare “fan” letters to an author.

#24:

A twist on the Suprise Baby, we have Surprise Parents! All over the place! With cowboys! and PIs! I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did, but the truth is, I finished it because it was short.

#25: The generic trade paperback, by Doug Miers. A trade paperback compilation of The Generic Comic Book. This is a very entertaining spoof of the superhero comic book genre and the machinery that pumps out comic books but really looks for merchandizing and movie deals to make the millions.
#26

Homespun Bride This was terrible. It was a treacly, god-infused, “sweet.” Think Nicholas Sparks, but the writing was actually worse, if that’s possible. Blind girl has the worst possible luck with horses, yet inexplicably loves them, and the horse rancher who jilted her five years ago, anyway. It’s in the “Historical” line, but it’s actually an Inspirational, with god appearing in pretty much every other paragraph. All of that could be redeemable, if the characters were consistent, but of course, they aren’t– the hero starts out early by saying his prayers for her happiness, as he has “every night for the last 5 years,” but then later, there’s a repeated to-do over the fact he isn’t much for praying, and a big crux of the storyline is him coming to terms with his faith and the plan god has laid out for him. Clearly, I didn’t like this book, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, even if they expressed an interest in inspirational romance novels or sweets. A “sweet” is a romance novel in which there is no sex description at all, with the hottest part of it being a few kisses. This was technically a “sweet,” but the author relied far too heavily on telling the reader that these characters were full of emotion instead of actually demonstrating in any way, shape or form, that they cared about each other

#28

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi

Graphic “novel” (autobiography) in the tradition of Maus, an excellent read about growing up in Tehran during the revolution(s). A little harrowing, but educational. I definitely recommend it. The stark artwork gives the story a weight that matches its subject matter.

#29

Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas. An entertaining Victorian-era romance novel about a married couple seeking a divorce after 10 years of estrangement.

It’s also beaded. Did I mention that? Not heavily– just a little line of beads along the very edge to give it some weight and force the scallopy edging to do something neat once it’s all blocked. But yes. I do like it very much.

This shawl, incidentally, is destined to be given to someone who was a big help to my family last year (and who is in my family, I’m happy to say). The design/pattern has a future as my first mystery lace knit-along. That’s where you sign up and get each clue sent to you over the course of several weeks (I’ve done these before; they are fun), and you knit along in a big group of people also tackling the same project.

Designing and knitting this shawl has given me ideas for no less than 2 other shawls, which I’m going to work on sometime in the next few months, and both of which would be highly fun and amusing.

Meanwhile, we’re staying in a local park that has RV sites, a lake, and a waterslide (for pay– we’re going to save up and go when the temps hit 90 later this week). There’s a 14-day limit, but it’s first come, first served in our campsite, so we can stay here until July 5th! Hooray– we won’t have to hunt for a campsite on 4th of July weekend!

It’s for my stepmother. She doesn’t like to wear socks, so I decided to try making her a pair to see if she’ll like handknit socks.

Remember the Anna Karenina socks I made in April?

Well, after wearing them for over a month, I decided that the anklets were too short, even for my little feet. So I decided to make them longer.

These were originally knit as cuff-down socks, so the cast-on edge is at the top. So, I took my scissors, and cut my socks!!!! I snipped the cast on edge and unraveled it. I picked up the stitches and knitted in the other direction for a couple of inches on each sock:

The result is a pair of socks long enough to stay up and keep my ankles warm:

Beautiful!

Oh, and these socks have officially broken 3 Brittany needles now. After the first broke, I requested replacements, and they sent 3 extras. I’ve broken 2 of the replacement needles, leaving me even. I’m going to quit while I’m ahead.