My Favorite Books of 2015

Cue trumpets! It time for My Favorite Books of 2015, the fourth in the series of posts where I bring you the best literature that's passed my way during the past year.

A quick count of the books I read in 2015 tells me my total hit 23 this year. Frankly, I find that surprisingly high because this is also the year that I discovered podcasts, and so I expected my audiobook count to drop, but apparently the edict that we leave our home offices and start working back on campus this year has afforded me enough commute time to listen to both.

So which ones did I like the best? Let's start with the ones that garnered

 5 stars

The first two books, The Court-Martial of Paul Revere and A Spy Among Friends were ones that I received as part of the Early Reviewer program on LibraryThing.com.

The Court-Martial of Paul Revere sounds like one of those novels where they rewrite history and make you wonder "what if?," but this book is no novel. It's a non-fiction account of the accusations made against Revere after the ill-fated Penobscot Expedition. Well done history! You can read my full review here.

Not just the title, but all of A Spy Among Friends reads like the best in spy fiction stories, but it, too, is a history book. A suspenseful, enjoyable read. More here.

I listened to All the Light We Cannot See for a book club that I led. It was the first of two books I read this year that included scenes from the occupation of Paris during WWII. This one was my favorite. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so as it won the Pulitzer. Here's my full review.

The last two on the 5-star list were audiobooks--although it's hard to even classify NPR American Chronicles: First Ladies as a book, I'll do it because it's another that I received from LibraryThing.com. First Ladies is a compilation of stories about the women beside the President as told on National Public Radio. Each of them offered something surprising. Those of you who are podcast fans like me would enjoy this listen. Find out more here.

And finally, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I think it's my favorite book of all time, and this year I decided to give it a read again. It's just as good as I remembered. And one day, when I write my first Broadway musical, it'll be a co-production between me and Hardy.

And now for the runners up at

4.5 stars

Stoner is one of those very subtle book, like the Bridges of Madison County, where not a whole lot happens, but ordinary lives are changed in profound ways that make them not so ordinary anymore. A little more here.

The last two are about birds.

I'm kidding.

Instead they are both gut-wrenching stories--one about WWII and the other about the first interplanetary contact with an alien society.

The Nightingale tells the story of two sisters living in France during the occupation by the Germans. The two women deal with the circumstances in different ways, and it is this contrast that causes you to ask what's right and wrong? Is there such a thing during war? What would I do?

And finally, The Sparrow. This is one of the most unusual books I have ever read and so intriguing. Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit priest, has returned to Earth as the sole survivor of a mission to Rakhat, the first planet where intelligent life has been found. The story jumps back and forth in time between the build-up to the mission and the investigation into what happened on Rakhat that turned Father Sandoz into the physical and emotional wreck he is at his return. Equal doses of science fiction, theology, and old-fashioned good writing make this a book not to be missed. Read this one.

And that does it for the winners. Five books clocked in at a very respectable 4 stars. If you want to see a list of those and all the others I read last year--even the stinkers, check them out on LibraryThing.com.

We now return you to your local blog.

Take My Heart For a Spin

Today I did something pretty silly. For the past several years I've had this table in my craft room. It holds my Silhouette machine and my laptop. It's a nice table, but it's really, really low. Whenever I had to use my computer or feed my machine I had to scrunch over.

I finally decided that I needed to buy a real big-girl desk, so for the past couple of weekends, I've been scrounging for one. I finally made Captain America take me around in his pickup today so we could bring one home. And we did.

So I got home, and I went upstairs to move the table out of the way, and it was at that point that I noticed that the legs were expandable, and tje tab;e could stand as high as all my other tables and my new desk.

I kid you not. Sometimes I can be so dizzy!

Speaking of dizzy, I've been folding books like crazy the past couple of weeks, but in between I managed to make this swirly, twirly heart.

There is something about iris folding that just makes me happy. My eyes keeps following one swirl and then find another one and go off in another direction.

This one made with pages from two different dictionaries and two atlases. I love the subtle colors and how they all blend.

In the middle of my heart is you...of course. What else would be there?

If you're looking for a gift for an anniversary, wedding, or your Valentine's sweetheart, it can be yours. Go ahead. I can make more. I have twice the table space in my craft room that I used to. Doh!

Make Your Own Valentine Book

Happy New Year!

Thank goodness the holidays are finally over! I spent last weekend putting up all my Christmas decorations. And then I spent all last week gathering up all the things I forgot to pack. I have an entire table filled with the forgotten stuff. I kid you not.

I was going to put them up in the attic this weekend, but I forgot to do that, too.

Isn't there a pill for that?

Well, it wasn't so much that I forgot to put them up, I just got busy doing something else--like playing with my new fancy-dancy camera that Captain America got me for Christmas. It has more buttons than I know what to do with right now, but this is the year I'm gonna learn.

Here is one of my first pics.

Which reminds me--Valentine's Day is coming up. If you're looking for a book that makes a statement, this beauty is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Or if you're a DIY kinda person, you still have plenty of time to fold your own book just like this one. The pattern is for sale in my Etsy shop, too! 

If you've never folded a book before, you can get the Love pattern as part of my Folded Book Kit. The Kit includes instructions and a book to fold along with the pattern. If you're already an experienced book folder, you can also get just the pattern.

The Trouble with Tribbles - Folded Book Edition

It's December and you know what that means...it's time for the annual supper club progressive dinner.

There is nothing better than a hayride through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights punctuated by some out-of-this-world food. Highlights this year were the marinated cheese at Vicki's house and the Churro Chex Mix at Babette's (seriously) ...and the decorations at Barb's house, of course.

Check out the white and silver sparkly buffet in her dining room! It was outstanding...as was her French Market Bean Soup.

And speaking of outstanding...here is Barb's tree out standing in her living room. It's about 12 foot of spectacular! Covered in ornaments from top to bottom...

...including some made by yours truly. Remember this one from 2012?

Or how about this one from last year?

For the Christmas 2016 supper club ornament, I headed out to Office Depot to get some books cut down like this...

..and turned them into these.

I have been making them for the past several months while sitting on conference calls, and watching TV, and waiting for water to boil, and sitting at stoplights. They are addictive. 

I started out just making a few different shapes.

And then I made some bigger ones. 

And then some big and little ones

And pretty soon...ACK! I started to feel like Capt Kirk in a pile of tribbles!

I blame my friend, Jan Agnello, for being my enabler on this one. Jan has this very cool antique business, Storyology Decor, deep in the heart of Georgia where she's been featuring Reading With Scissors books for several years. 

This year she asked me if I could make her some ornaments. After a little experimenting, I figured out how to make them. If you check out the Storyology Decor Facebook page, you can see how cool they look on Jan's fuzzy Christmas tree. She decorated her ornaments with vintage chandelier crystals and paper flowers.

My supper clubbers got beads and tassels. 

And as old school as beads and tassels are, they still add a very merry pop to a mid-century mod aluminum tree.

On the 24th Day of Christmas My Phanie Gave to Me

It's the middle of December. Where did the time go? 

I've been buying, and wrapping, and baking, and cutting, and folding and...

I'M NOT READY!

Thank goodness that I finished some things before the season got into full swing.

Case in point. This advent calendar I made for QuarterPounder.

And yes, I made more flat boxes! I am a pro at them now. These just don't have roofs on them.

But they do have sparkly snowflakes and and fuzzy presents--and book pages, of course.

Oh, and the numbers are covered in GLITTER! 

QuarterPounder wasn't really sure what he thought of the whole thing.

But he seemed to think the finger puppets inside were pretty grand.

And the bib and the Rudolph book were a hit, too!

Side note: Here is my goal for next year.

Learn how to take a picture of a rectangle that isn't skewed. This one kinda makes me dizzy when I look at it for very long.

Speaking of dizzy. I gotta go. The pecan pie in the oven is dinging and Amazon just left another package at the door.

I'M NOT READY!

But if you've got extra time on your hands, check out all the cool ways to decorate a Silhouette Advent Calendar on this Pinterest page!

Little boxes made of ticky tacky--and GLITTER!

Captain America is always teasing me about having too much book sense and not enough common sense. This mainly happens when we are comparing old report cards. He has no other defense. But it's true that back in the day I got good grades, which I mostly attribute to being a good test taker. I managed to pass the tests that my teachers gave me. I scored really well on the ACT and did just fine, thank you, on the SAT.

But over the years there were three tests I notably did not do well on, and by "did not do well" I mean they ate my lunch.

The first was an eye test when I was in third grade. OK, I know an eye test is not the same thing as a math test, but tell that to an overachieving 9-year-old. They came to my class, made me peer into a dark box with a light on the far side, and asked me how many trees I saw. Trees? What trees? There are trees? Soon after I got my first pair of glasses.

Then there was the driver's test that I flunked. That is a story for another day, but let me just say that there is nothing more embarrassing than coming back to school after flunking the driver's test. If hell is reliving your most embarrassing moment, that may be it. Hills? There are hills? No one ever taught me how to park on a hill and what the heck does it matter when there are no hills to park on anyway??

And then there was that Army test they gave us in high school. I can't remember the name of it, but I remember the lasting hit it did to my ego. I was a senior and feeling overly confident about my test taking ability, until I started reading those questions about gears (If Gear A is turning in a clockwise direction, which direction is Gear D turning?) and questions about flat boxes. You know, questions like this one? For the life of me I couldn't put those boxes together in my head. It bothered me that I could not figure those out. Bothered me so much that I'm still talking about it  some 30 years...wait, I mean 15 years later, of course.

Side note: This is why I love Captain America - because he can do gears and flat boxes in his head. And he takes out the trash. And kills bugs. When he is not on the other side of the world.

Anyway, all my life I've said I do not do flat boxes....until I saw this post about Putz houses last year on my favorite blog, All Things Paper. I don't know what it was about all those little white houses that caught my eye, but I knew this Christmas I was going to conquer my fear and make a whole bunch of them.

And last week I finally did it.  Look!

Aren't they the cutest things?!?

The patterns are part of the tea light village set from the 3dcuts.com website. They worked perfectly with my fancy-dancy Silhouette machine.

I love the variety of all the buildings.

And the extras included in the kit are grand, too. Check out that fence and all the trees--it's all part of the kit. Such a deal!

So I finally figured out how to get over my fear of putting flat boxes together. The keys are:

A. Buy a kit with great instructions and lots of pictures.

B. Reward yourself with

I just happened to have an empty Graze box sitting on my countertop and it soon became my glitter station. (I have a glitter station!!)

Check out all that sparkly goodness!

This is as close to snow as we'll probably see in Houston this year, so this is my white Christmas.

The whole scene is as pretty as a picture sitting on my shelf.

And look what happens when you turn on the tea lights at night (and turn your Disklavier piano radio to the Holiday station).

I mean seriously, why didn't someone tell me how fun flat boxes could be a long time ago? More importantly, why didn't someone tell me I could have my own glitter station??

Let the holidays begin!

Double Your Fun

Just because I haven't been posting much, doesn't mean I haven't been folding. Didn't these pink beauties turn out so sweet?

When life brings you twins, don't fret. I can make you a duet of books!