Category: Reading



Loom Knitting Comfort DollsLoom Knitting Comfort Dolls by Denise M Canela

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

These cute little guys and the tiny dolls also by Denise M Canela are the reason I haven’t gotten very little of anything else done in my life.

This is November! That means NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. By now I should be almost finished with my novel for this year. But I’m only a third of the way into it.

These dolls are so much fun! And I keep thinking about the recipients, be they tiny little kids or adults who just need comfort, and I hope these little guys will do the trick. In case you’re curious as to my little guys: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Darra… these are just a few I’ll be adding more as I finish up. I seem to have several projects going at the same time: a hat and two or three dolls. I try to make a little kid hat with each of the dolls I don’t know if they’re going to end up that way but it seems to me a nice thing to give the kid who might get the doll a little hat or maybe big sibling gets the doll or hat, or maybe they go to both to a newborn baby or something. By having the dolls and the hats in different stages, my hands don’t get tired doing the same thing over and over. And I’m not fond of sewing. But so happy with the results when I’m finished!

About the book, I read this and the tiny doll book and I couldn’t seem to get it right just by following the book. Luckily, Denise has videos attached in YouTube that you can watch. I watch them over and over and finally took the book, made notes from the book so that I’d have one piece of paper to look at and wouldn’t have to turn on something electronic just to recall the steps and how many stitches. And now I think I’m at the point where I don’t need to look at anything to remember how to make them. I don’t think I can blame the book. I blame me. I just have a hard time with written instructions and I do so much better when somebody shows me how to do it. So may I suggest that you get the books, read through, watch the YouTubes, and enjoy making the dolls!

Thank you, Denise M Canela, for all your books and instructions to making fun things for charity.

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The Girl BeforeThe Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you, NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for a review.

This book takes the concept of perfection into the realm of scary and bloody. Take that as my word of warning. Do you read a lot of books about clutter and minimalism? Well, the home in this story is dedicated to that kind of lifestyle. But in the end, it does get messy. No, I will say no more. Spoilers!

I shouldn’t have pushed myself to read the last part of the book before trying to go to sleep. I don’t like mysteries, or suspense or thrillers. Still, the concepts presented in the book blurb had me curious.

The main characters are the renters of this special house broken into chapters that are titled: Then: Emma and Now: Jane. Then wasn’t that long ago as they had cell phones. That gives a clue to the reader. We are given the opportunity to live through each point of view. The characters are well-developed and I found myself SEEING everything that was happening. The author was great at describing everything. I nearly found myself huffing and puffing as the characters climbed the stairs or clean the home to perfection as per agreement.

I am giving this four stars. Not because I liked it so much, but because I don’t think I will ever forget it. I think that means the author did her job well. If you like thrillers, this one is for you!

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An introduction to take Body MeasurementAn introduction to take Body Measurement by Moyo Abikoye

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I nearly forgot to make a review of this book. It is a very quick read but a marvelous reference if you are a sewer and like to make your own clothes. I did learn about things I often forget to measure when buying a pattern or even making my own patterns. I will be keeping this handy when I get back into sewing again.

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A Looming LadyA Looming Lady by Pamela Murrey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I belong to a wonderful little group who makes hats for cancer patients, preemies, the homeless, and many other who need warmth and comfort. Before I started with the group I could crochet fairly well and had knitted a few scarves and slippers. I had bought the Knifty Knitter sets when I worked at JoAnn’s a while back. But I didn’t know how to use them. Carol, the chairman of our group, taught me how to use the knitting looms and I have become addicted to loom knitting. I scour the internet for new patterns.

That is how I found this gem. Most of the patterns in this book are easy beginner projects that didn’t fit what I want to make but I think novice knitters would like to try some of these. Notice I didn’t say women. Many men are finding the joy of making things with these looms. In fact, we have a guy in our group who makes many hats and gives us advice in our knitting pursuits. He is also a liaison to vets in need.

But this book is better than just a pattern book. It is a story of a homeless person who learned to use the looms. If you are involved in helping by making hats, this book personalizes recipients. Many people see the homeless as takers and leeches on society. They think that all homeless are out for drugs, in general, worthless beings. For those of us who have known folks who have been there, or almost were there, we know misfortune can happen to anyone and those without connections to help out of their plight are the most susceptible. This story gives us one example of a person as she tries to find her way out. Not everyone is as lucky as she becomes, even though that luck doesn’t seem good to her in any way. We get to see her growth. I loved the story.

Though I am on SS myself, the donated yarn gives me a chance to learn more about my obsession, while making comfort items for folks who need them. If you have the same obsession, this book may ring true for you. Even if you haven’t found your way to actually making loom hats, this story may open your eyes to the plights of the homeless.

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Forgotten WomenForgotten Women by Freda Lightfoot

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley.

Historical fiction is usually the best way for me to pay attention to history. Take a historical event and make it more real by putting characters I like into the story. That is not to say there weren’t real characters I would care for in the real event. But since I wasn’t there then, I don’t know characters who were.

In this case, I have to admit to not having a clue about the involvement of the British helping in Spain. Most of the history given to US students in my day was about dates and famous men. Yawn. Maybe teachers should take note to Freda Lightfoot’s method of letting us know about the women who helped all the people regardless of politics.

My only problem was that I didn’t care much for most of the characters until near the end. There wasn’t a strong urge to see how the painting had anything to do with the rich lady or the crazy hormones floating around the young people who started out with only the desire to help.

Still, there was enough story, or draw, that I kept reading. I remember! It was the feminist thread. It was nice to see that there were some who thought women could do anything that men could do. That women artist could paint as well as their male counterpart, etc.

I just couldn’t fall in love with the characters. Hopefully, other readers will like it more.

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Elphie Goes Trick or Treating (Elphie Books Book 3)Elphie Goes Trick or Treating by Hagit R. Oron

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book free of charge from the author. Thank you!

Do you have a child that is afraid of masks or other aspects of Halloween? I remember when my first was afraid of masks. The one that frightened him was made of rubber. I turned it inside out and said it was made of rubber. Then I picked up other things around the house made of the same substance. I don’t think it helped at all. This little story might have helped.

I loved how the parent let the little guy go out without his mask just so he could still have fun wth his friend. When the child got used to how everyone responds to the fun of the evening he decides for himself that wearing a mask is okay. It is always better to let the child come to his or her own healthy conclusions than forcing an issue. Wise messages are here.

I think that the only problem I had with the book was that it was written in first-person. For some reason that was jarring. I tried to imagine reading this story to a child reading the “I” statements would seem to take a child out of the story. If it is meant to be an early reader that might work. But books like this I would want to read aloud to my children long before they learned to read so we could talk about the subject matter.

Still, I do think this is a cute book. I love the little elephant, Elphie.

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Life After CoffeeLife After Coffee by Virginia Franken

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read this book. I liked the title and the premise of the story.

If you are under 45 this may be the book for you. Being a child of the 60s and the era of bra-burning, I was excited to see a book about a reversal of roles. Stay-at-home dad, mom travels for a high paying job. But I didn’t much like the characters. The dad seems the abandon the parenting job when the wife needs him to step up. She is left floundering with a couple young children after losing her job. She makes a lot of bad choices while her husband won’t see that his ‘back-up-plan’ won’t keep the family feed.

Look, I am glad we are in an era where this kind of story can be told and most of the reviewers LOVE it. The feminist in me is SO happy. But the humanist in me is still not satisfied with most of this story. I do love that the author researched about the finding and securing good coffee for the Starbuck’s obsessed. But for me, a tea-drinker, the story ended where I wanted it to start.

Still, I am giving this four stars for being modern and different. But YOU may just LOVE it.

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That's What Friends Are ForThat’s What Friends Are For by Sophia DeLuna

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short review on a short book. It was sweet and I wish there was more. I read this a couple weeks ago but life got in the way of reviews. I hope you’ll give it a try. I have a glow as I am writing this so even though it was a long time ago, it left its bittersweet mark on me. Enjoy!

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The Empress' New GownsThe Empress’ New Gowns by Gita V. Reddy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oops! I thought I actually wrote a review on this book as I ACTUALLY DID write a review already. But there was a computer glitch and the computer shut down. Then, well, life happened and I forgot. Luckily a friend “liked’ the review so I came back to the page and saw what I wrote wasn’t there. Sorry.

Let’s see if I can remember the gist of it. First of all, I do a lot of reviews for Gita V. Reddy. I like her work and when I saw this one I picked it up. I think I actually paid for this one but it was cheap and an author does deserve compensation for their work. I just am on such a limited SS budget that I rarely can buy a book. My small amount won’t keep a roof over her head, but I hope my reviews help lead people to try out her books for their edification and entertainment.

As for edification… this book was a cautionary tale to the pride that can be in each of us. The original tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes is the first part of the story. But the next part should be read by preteens, teens, and new adults. Pride can be a good thing, but if we keep it in check we retain our humanity. Gita was clever telling the female version of the original story. I enjoyed it.

Most readers will find this story fun. For me, the formatting stopped the full enjoyment. Since I do most of my reading at night and always using the black background with white font, I found I couldn’t see the words. I had to change my background to a lighter color but then found it too bright. Luckily, I always use Text-to-Speech and that worked fine. But had this been a longer story I think I would have given up. I have to read while listening as my brain needs to be fully engaged to get into a story. But for most people, this formatting issue won’t cause them a bit of a problem and they well enjoy this story fully.

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FaithfulFaithful by Alice Hoffman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from NetGalley dot com.

I read another book by Alice Hoffman, The Red Garden, and was very impressed. So when I saw this one offered for review I jumped at the chance. It was an ARC or Uncorrected Proof but when you get these from NetGalley it is hard to see the errors. At least, it’s that way for me. With most of the freebies I pick up through One Hundred Free Books, and the like, there are plenty of mistakes that even I can see. Sometimes there are so many I can’t get into the story. If the story is fantastic I can never see them. And this book hid the errors in a terrific story.

Okay. At first, I didn’t like the main character. Nearly stopped reading for her self-pity and hateful ways. But she grows on ya. Maybe that is because there is a line of characters that support and fill up the story. True, nearly killing yourself and best friend, knocking the friend into a permanent coma, would be hard to walk away from. One would think a person might learn that the negative behaviors didn’t help. But I don’t know how I would handle it all. I’m not a young person anymore. Hormones aren’t raging and I’ve seen my share of life. So who am I to judge this girl? So I did as I suggest other readers do, stick with it, get past it. She’ll grow on you. It was a great story. I’m glad I read it. Alice Hoffman is a fantastic writer!

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