Book Review - Knit One, Kill Two

Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton (unabridged audiobook)

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

"Kelly Flynn never picked up a pair of knitting needles she liked—until she strolled into House of Lambspun. Now, in the first in a brand-new series, she learns how to knit one, purl two, and untangle the mystery behind her aunt's murder."

Review:

This book falls under the category of  cozy mystery, little violence, no graphic material, the writing equivalent of  a "Matlock" episode.  This subgenre of crime fiction has a huge following and you can often find books with themes such as knitting, sewing, baking, you name it.  Sometimes one might want to do some light reading, perhaps featuring a particular hobby.  Being an avid knitter is obviously what drew me to this title.

That being said, I wanted to like this book more than I did.  This is my first foray into cozy mysteries and even knowing a bit about the genre it still felt really, really thin on everything, story, character development, etc.  I certainly enjoyed the knitting portions of the book, the description of the yarns, the yarn store, Kelly's first tries with knitting made me nostalgically think of my own.  All in all, it was a sufficient story, but not challenging enough for me to thoroughly enjoy it.

I'll probably give another cozy a try, if I feel the same way then I'll conclude this genre isn't for me.

2 out of 5 Iggystars

Reading and Challenges 2013

A few years ago I discovered reading challenges.  A simple activity used to encourage reading, bond with fellow book lovers and find out about new titles from the reviews posted in the challenge.  I excitedly overcommitted myself to a bunch, read some books from a few of the challenges and didn't finish one!

So this year following the theme of "Better" I decided to give it another go.  I've joined only three this year (click on the challenge title to link to the actual challenge page), hoping the more reasonable goal will allow for success.  There is a fourth challenge that I've created just for myself which I'll detail at the end.

Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge 2013

This challenge focuses on non-fiction in categories such as, biographies, music, science, sports, adventure, crime, animals and so on.  Particpants are encourgaged to pick books from the varying categories, not reading more than two in each.  For some reason I love non-fiction in audiobook form, in fact most of my audiobook listening has been in the non-fiction category. 

I'm aiming for the Geek level, 4-6 books in 2 -3 categories.  I already own enough to reach that level.

2013 Audio Book Challenge

Reading + knitting = awesomeness!  I'm an audiobook convert! Not that I've given up on the printed (or electronic) format, but when working out, knitting, doing housework and driving I've found absolute enjoyment in listening to a book. 

I plan on at least making the Flirting level of 6 audio books.  There should be no reason not to reach this level as you can cross challenges.  Any book I listen to can apply to another challenge and with the number of non-fiction books I have in my Audible library I should be good to go.




Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013

Dystopia: A dystopia is a community or society, usually fictional, that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is the opposite of a utopia.  Sounds like a bummer of a genre, huh?  But for some reason I really enjoy dystopian fiction.  These books usually feature some really interesting hypothetical situations, those "what if" kinds of themes involving govermental rule, society, often with some good sci-fi or tech thrown in.  I wholeheartedly recommend books such as Ready Player One, The Hunger Games, 1984 (that book will never, ever leave you).  So this challenge is particularly interesting to me since there seems to be a boom in this kind of fiction especially seen in the YA category, which I have quite a few titles having a teenager in the house.

Level 1: Recruit (1 to 6 books) seems to be about my speed. 

With the Audiobook Challenge allowing me to listen to titles that I can use for the first and last challenge I'm looking at reading at least 12 new titles this year.  I'd go for more if it weren't for this fourth challenge.

Are You Serious?  Finish the Blasted Book Challenge 2013

I was actually hoping to find a challenge focusing on half-read books, but I guess for a real book lover that's kind of lame.  I never used to have unfinished reading, as a personal point of pride if I started a book, I finished it.  There's a saying, "life's too short to read a bad book", but I've watched enough horrible reality television  that I can't in good conscienc use the "life's too short" adage.  Plus, my unfinished book stack contains perfectly good reading it's just somehow along the way I've developed a bad case of start-itis  A new book looks interesting and off I go.  Well, I'm finishing those books this year and posting my triumph of tackling this pile.

Ok, lastly...I have a Kindle Fire HD!  I love it to pieces.  I got it basically for free as I had a horrible experience at Best Buy where they had to give me lots of gift card money.  I originally bought it for the Amazon Prime Instant Video content.  I thought I'd catch up on some shows like Firefly and Fringe, then use the device for apps and magazines.  Well, I like reading on it too as I can adjust my settings to my liking.  It's really nice to read while laying in bed while the lights are out too.

2013 the year for reading in all formats!

What's in a Name Book Challenge 2011: The Giant's House

Um, no.

This is the story of a lonely librarian, Peggy, who forges a friendship with a young man, Jimmy, who is tall, very tall. In fact he starts out tall when they first meet, over six feet at age eleven and eventually he grows to be over eight feet tall. The fact that he doesn't fit in with society draws her to him as emotionally she feels just as much of an outcast.

There were things to love in this book, ideas I connected with, that really hit home. Passages about love, wishing you could find love just so you could finally think about something else, not wanting to listen to love songs because love feels so out of your reach that those romantic melodies pain you to hear. The voice of Peggy had wit, and sometimes humor as dry as a bone, that I liked...at times. However, that just wasn't enough for me to fully enjoy this read.

I had issues with this book. I didn't like Peggy. As I kept reading I kept wanting to like her, expecting to like her, but I didn't. Well for one, if you read the description on the back of the book, you'd be led to believe that this was a friendship which evolved into a romance, but Peggy pretty much set her sights on Jimmy during their initial interactions when he was that tall kid. There was nothing inappropriate about her actions, but in her heart she'd decided he was her soulmate well before he had even made it to his mid-teens. It was unsettling to me how much she'd devoted her heart to him and no, not just as a friend, but as her one, true love. Had it been a man as the protagonist, with his attentions on a girl, I think that there would have been a very different reaction to this story.

I moved past those feelings once Jimmy became of age (as I mentioned there wasn't any appropriate conduct), but I never connected to the romance. Trust me, I love quirky, eccentric, off the beaten path, but some of the writing seemed to try and force this upon me.

I know this book was critically acclaimed, but I just wasn't feeling it.

2 out of 5 Iggystars

2011 Dystopian Book Challenge review: The Handmaid's Tale

This terrific novel is set in the near future, where the government as we know it is overthrown by a strict totalitarian regime based on religion. In this system men rule supreme, distinct classes are formed and women no longer have freedom, even to read, independence or control over their own bodies.

The story is told from the viewpoint of a handmaid, a woman whose only purpose in life is to procreate for her owner and his wife as fertility is now a rarity. The handmaid in question, Offred (“Of Fred” as she is stripped of her very name and is now the property of a commander named Fred), gives an interesting glimpse of a woman at the turn of this governmental upheaval. She clearly remembers her former life and the people who inhabited it, the memories of that life fresh enough for her to long for it, with great detail as she now acquiesces to her daily, bleak existence. Attempts of insemination by the commander himself, where even a hint of emotion is not allowed, not that she would want any as she is a mere vessel, an object used to further the human race and to give birth to a trophy for the wife to show off. This new world has been formed under guise of helping society based religion, a most dangerous thing when twisted by the hands of persons with an ulterior motive.

I enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale very much. It’s not about a grand story of troops and wars, but one of a single woman and how she must shape her new hopes and dreams in a world that won’t allow her to pursue the things and people she truly loves. The ending was surprisingly abrupt, which jarred me at first, but after I read the epilogue that made the finale all the more poignant.

I give this novel 4/5 Iggystars

Crusin' thru the Cozies Book Challenge 2011

Ok, that's it! My final challenge for 2011:

Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2011

There's a really great description of what a cozy mystery is at Cozy-Mystery.com along with a million very helpful suggestions (bookmarked, yes!). The reading sounds nice, relaxed and more lightweight than other genres of mystery, like noir or hardboiled. Sure, those have their place, but sometimes I want a chill little read, infused with some humor, set in a quaint town, with the local yarn store owner or baker solving the mystery without reading each blow-by-blow gory detail of the crime to get my adrenaline pumping so hard that I can't sleep after I've put it down. Something I can curl up with while drinking some hot tea and eating cookies while wearing my handmade socks. Doesn't that sound so very...cozy? I thought so, so I just had to join this challenge. I'll be participating at the Snoop level (1 - 6 books)

My selections (no one should be surprised that I have a couple of knitting themed cozies):

Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton

Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

Murder has a Sweet Tooth by Miranda Bliss

To Love and to Perish by Laura Durham

I was recently gifted a lovely cozy mystery from a knitting pal of mine that I'm adding to the list:

Murder on the Ol'Bunions by LaTisha Barnhart

So that completes the listing of my reading challenges for 2011. If I finish all of the books I intend on reading I'll have read 20 books for the year. I don't think I've ever counted the number of books I've read in one year, but 20 doesn't sound ridiculous. I haven't been watching nearly as much television lately and my 'going out on the weekend' days have dwindled so I'm sure completing all of these challenges will be doable and fun!!!!

*books I already own

What's in a Name Challenge 2011

As previously posted in 2011 I want to read...more. So here's reading challenge number four:

What's in a Name Challenge

You can click on the above linky for more details, but in short you have from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 to read a book in each of the following categories. Creativity with your choices is encouraged and I already have some tentative selections listed below in bold.

A book with a number in the title: Life of Pi by Yann Martel (this one is a bit of an imaginative stretch) Possible substitute: Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors by Brian Eule

A book with jewelry or a gem in the title: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier Possible substitute: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson or A Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden McClure

A book with a size in the title: The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken

A book with travel or movement in the title: Run for Your Life by James Patterson Possible substitute: The Long Run: A New York City Firefighter's Triumphant Comeback from Crash Victim to Elite Athlete by Matt Long and Charles Butler

A book with evil in the title: Known to Evil by Walter Mosley Possible substitute: Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (I've always wanted to read a book written by him.)

A book with a life stage in the title: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

I have a few non-fiction substitutions ready in case I need a change of pace from the many other fictional, themed books I have to read for other challenges. This is a really popular challenge and I'm happy to be joining for my first year. I'm already having fun combing through the other participant's selections. Yay for books!

The Dystopian Book Challenge

My third book challenge for 2011 is, The Dystopian Book Challenge!




According to Wikipedia, the source of all accurate and legit information (LOL), dystopian literature is, "in literature, an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian."

I've dabbled in this and in the similar post-apocalyptic genre reading, "1984" by George Orwell which is terrifying, "Parable of the Sower" by my all-time favorite female author, Octavia Butler and most recently "The Road" by the master of lean prose, Cormac McCarthy among others. The genre is so fascinating because usually it seems like a future that can actually happen under the "right" (or should I say wrong) circumstances.

I'm aiming for the Asocial level of 5 books, but I had so many options that I've settled on 7. This could change though with all of the challenges I've joined, but I'm going to give it a college try, especially since several of these books have been on my "to read" list for a long time. I'll also try to blog reviews on each, even if it's a short one.


The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

The Postman by David Brin

Idlewild by Nick Sagan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Running Man by Stephen King

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

If you're interested click on the picture which will link you to the page where you can sign up too. The more the merrier!

*books that I already own

POC Reading Challenge 2011

This is the second challenge I'm signing up for 2011.



"The persons of color reading challenge has been put in place to highlight and celebrate authors and characters of color."

It never hurts to diversify ones reading, since the written word can open a window to a completely different view of the world. For me, since I'm African-American I will be choosing books by persons outside of my particular race to make the most out of this challenge. I'll come back and edit my post with my choices, but due to the number of challenges that I'd already planned on participating in for 2011 I'll shoot for a Level 1 which is 1 to 3 books.

Click on the above link if you'd like to expand your horizons and join the challenge.

(Edited to add my selections.)

I've chosen books by authors of two races that I've never read about before:

Swimming Lessons: and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry (Indian)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Native American)

I'm looking forward to it. :)

Time Travel Book Challenge 2011

In accord with my reading goals for 2011, I present my first book challenge for the year:

Time Travel Reading Challenge 2011

I love the theme of time travel, the consequences of going back in the past or racing to the future. Will things be better or worse? Will the simple action of stepping on a butterfly cause Hitler to win the war?

Time travel in movies and books can be so complicated and confusing, but if you stop thinking about the "how" and go with the premise you'll usually find one amazing story.

Alyce is hosting this challenge (Thanks, Alyce) and the rules are very flexible. Choose the number of time travel themed books you want to read and do so between January 1 through December 31st 2011. She has also included a very nice list if one needed help chosing appropriate material. I was happy to see that two of my favorite books, not just with the time travel theme, but of all time are mentioned, Kindred by Octavia Butler and The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, hopefully some other participants in the challenge will discover these gems!

Me, I already had several books on my "to read" list and I've decided to finish five:

Replay by Ken Grimwood

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

About Time: 12 Short Stories by Jack Finney

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman

I tried to get a nice mixture of serious and light-hearted and hopefully I'll love each one. Click on the above link if you'd like to join in on the fun.