Reading Maeve Binchy Books

Several weeks ago, I read the latest book by Maeve Binchy. Mrs. Binchy is an Irish author who writes contemporary stories set in Ireland especially the capital city of Dublin. She creates unique characters. Her stories are rich in detail, many plot lines and subtle humor. She is a masterful storyteller. When reading Heart and Soul, I realized that some of the characters in the story were characters from other Binchy books that I had read years ago. I recognized the characters, but couldn't remember the storyline or the book titles. That was all it took to interest me in rereading some of her titles. I did a bit of research and the best that I can tell, this series of books begins with the title, Evening Class.

(If I missed an earlier title that is connected with these titles, please let me know. I'll be happy to search for that one to read, too.) This title is set in Dublin and Italy. We are introduced to wonderful characters especially Aidan and Nora.

Tara Road is next. This was an early title in Oprah's Book Club. The story is entwined around couples and family life.

Perhaps, my favorite title is Scarlet Feather.

Twins Maud and Simon are so entertaining. Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather are wonderful, unique characters. Lots of food preparation, ridicule of the rich useless upper class and plain good escapist reading.

Quentins is a bit more serious. It's the book I'm currently reading.

Nights of Rain and Stars,

Whitethorn Woods and Heart & Soul. I have a stack of Binchy books on my night-stand. I'm looking forward to good Summer Reading.

Schizophrenia or Multi-Tasking?

I've heard about quilters who begin a project and don't even purchase fabric for the next project until the project is complete. I've admired and longed for that single-minded focus. It's just not me. Not only do I have many works in progress, I seem to make the best progress by working on several projects at the same time. Case in point, this week I sewed the rows on my red, white, and blue Firecrackers top, pinned the rows to the Autumn Ridge top and pinned parts of the 16 patches on my blue and white Strawberry Pie. Sometimes, all three projects were under the sewing machine needle as I chained sewed.

I seem to buy items in multiples, too. When shopping if I find a shirt or pants that fit, I almost always buy two of the item. If I really like it, I go back and buy two more in other colors or prints.

It struck me that I have the same pattern in my reading. This week I was following three different story lines. First, there was the book that I read in the evenings before going to sleep, Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. I started bringing a book to son's swim meets. I don't want to bring a book from the library in case it gets wet. I grabbed a paperback copy of Quentins by Maeve Binchy to read just at the swim meets. I like to listen to music, podcasts or aubio books while sewing. I like to listen to something that I've already read so I don't have to follow the plot too closely. My choice this week is At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon. The Mitford series is one of my favorite "comfort" books. About once a year, I read or listen to the entire series again.

The thing is that this ability to work on many projects at one time is a big strength in my job. We definitely multi-task.There are times when our school media center library is a real three- ring circus. I thought I had adapted for the job, but maybe I've structured the job to my personality. Strength or weakness?

Eating the Elephant

Happy Sunday!  I'm feeling a bit better today. Still sneezing and congested, but the nasty sore throat is gone. After finishing the laundry, 

I worked a bit on Michael's T-shirt quilt. I finished another step (like eating that elephant, one bite at a time). This is the project that I worked on at our Thimbles Club meeting last Saturday. The black sashing strips around the T-shirts are finished. I'm now ironing the strips and spraying them with 505 basting spray. 

While sewing yesterday and today, I listened to the end of the book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on  my Ipod. The audio version is superb. There were 5 different folks doing voices including the actress Juliet Mills. Now that I've finished listening to it, I'm at a bit of a loss at what I should listen to next. Any suggestions?