Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Traitor's Wife: A Novel by Kathleen Kent

This is a prequel to The Heretic's Daughter, which I read in 2010 and reviewed here.  Set in 1673 New England, Martha Allen works as a servant in her cousin's household.   Thomas Carrier is a laborer for the family with a mysterious past.  I enjoyed this book, but I thought The Heretic's Daughter was even better.  I might have liked it more if I had read it first, although it was interesting to learn the history of Martha and Thomas.  I rated it 4 out of 5.

Monday, December 26, 2011

A Day in Books (meme)


My friend Kathy Johnson posted about her day in books (here), and I thought it was so much fun that I had to try it for myself.  All books are ones I read this year.

I began the day with Abundance.

On my way to work I saw The Falls

and walked by A Room With A View

to avoid The Fiction Class.

But I made sure to stop at Coventry.

In the office, my boss said, “Let the Great World Spin,”

and sent me to research The Curious Incident of the Dog in theNight-Time.

At lunch with The Traitor's Wife,

I noticed Enemy Women

under The Black Flower,

then went back to my desk, Radioactive.

Later, on the journey home, I bought Dinner at Antoine's
 
because I was Lost in the City.

Then settling down for the evening, I picked up The Book of Ruth

and studied The Shipping News

before saying goodnight to Lolita.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie by Lauren Redniss

This was a very unusual book.  When I first heard a review of it, I thought it was a graphic novel but it wasn't; at least not like the few (ok, make that two) graphic novels I've read before.  It looked more like a children's picture book, but it wasn't that either.  It was an artful biography of Marie and Pierre Curie.  I enjoyed the book for the most part, but found the jumps forward and backward in time to be somewhat disorienting.  It was interesting learning about the Curies.  I rated it 3 out of 5.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Backpack



This worked really well to carry everything comfortably all over NOLA for a week. The only drawback to a backpack is it's harder to get stuff out of it when you want to, but IMO the added comfort makes up for that.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Comfort



All I ever wear anymore is comfortable shoes, so even though we walked all over NOLA, my feet never hurt.

Sweet & Juicy



I don't buy oranges very often, even though I like them. I was out of orange peel in the freezer, so I bought a few oranges for the peels. But they've been very tasty too. And of course I had to sketch this one before I ate it.

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Bagel



I did this for an exercise in Danny Gregory's book, The Creative License.

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Special Purchases for NOLA



I bought a couple of items specifically for my Imaginary Trip Made Real to New Orleans, although I'll use both of them again. Note - the items are NOT to scale - the stool should be larger or the neck pouch should be smaller! LOL!