The Girdle of Melian

op ten list of intimidating books! I first posted about intimidating books back in 2013. My list at the time was as follows: War and Peace Crime and Punishment (but I've read other books by Dostoyevsky) Anna Karenina Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul in Turkish and/or Turkish translation of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander German translation of Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn another French book -- I asked for suggestions Le Morte d'Arthur "numbers 8, 9, 10 and higher up belong to... anything on an ereader! So far I've only read one ebook in its entirety, Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. I read it on my phone, and while the experience wasn't a bad one, I just can't seem to settle down to regular e-reading. Meanwhile, the books are piling up - 50 of them last time I checked my Kindle for iPad!" How things have changed since then! I still haven't read the first two, but not only have I read Anna Karenina , I read it on the Kindle app on my phone...

heep! They have sheep grazing at the Palais des Nations , as part of environmentally friendly gardening practices: This is post 1200 on my blog! No time now to run a contest or other celebration, but maybe I'll host one around Christmas, as part of my Annual Books Read post. As for ROW80 , I've been keeping up with schoolwork, and haven't written in a little while. I'm starting to feel the lack of story. NaNoWriMo can't come soon enough! Two of my assignments should be submitted by then, giving me some wiggle room. Sunrise Chestnut tree Field near our house View from the United Nations rooftop What's your favourite way to celebrate blogging milestones?

ational Novel Writing Month is coming! The website is acting up at the moment, so I'm having some trouble entering this year's project: The Antipodean Time , a contemporary romance featuring new character Kimberley Hamilton, and Simon Chevalley MacDonald, who had cameos in The Charm of Time and The Handful of Time . I also can't seem to see any of my buddies at the moment. But if you're on there, let's join up! In the meantime, I've squeezed in another knitting project, which wasn't part of my stated ROW80 goals, and which didn't turn out to be quite the right size... Baby hat At least the model is cute! Next project is a secret gift for a friend! Thanks to Knitty for the pattern. I'm going to try to do it properly this time, which means experimenting first and then knitting the actual gift, rather than simply diving in and hoping for the best. Hmm, maybe that should be my NaNoWriMo approach, too -- pla...

ew book and new art! Leah Mercer has a new book out on 1 November – but you can get it earlier if you sign up for the Amazon First Reads newsletter! (As far as I can tell this isn't one of those weird things where they trick you into paying for something you don't want every month (remember how mail order book clubs and cassette clubs used to do that unless you mailed back the NO form?), but simply a mailing list announcement of new releases for a discounted price.) The Puzzle of You by Leah Mercer She’s woken up in a life she doesn’t recognise – with a daughter she doesn’t remember. When Charlotte McKay wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there, all she wants is to go back to the perfect London flat she shares with her husband, and the impressive career she’s worked so hard to build. But something’s not right. Her husband David is at her bedside – but so is a three-year-old girl, and she’s calling Charlotte ‘Mummy’... Charlotte’s first...

ew projects! Somehow there's always time to do something you really want to do. In between the usual busy-ness, I found time to knit something! I sorely missed knitting, and my daughter needed new mittens... I love Marianna's Toddler Mittens pattern because it's not only easy to knit, it's also easy to resize as needed. It took a bit of experimenting (one mitten came out slightly wonky on top, and I haven't shown that in the photos!), but not much time overall. It always feels good to finish a quick project. Particularly relevant, as it's time to set our goals for the next round of ROW80 . Mine are to: keep up with (complete?!) The Antipodean Time for NaNoWriMo solve the plot hole in The Handful of Time keep up with school and everything else (A corollary to this is that it's been about a year since I've actively commented on other blogs. I'm really hoping to remedy this and get back to regular visiting ...