Lisa' Review: Modern Selvage Quilting

Modern Selvage Quilting by Riel Nason

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I was reading a work of fiction by Riel Nason a while ago, I was curious to see what other books she had written and pleasantly discovered that she is a quilter and had authored a book on selvage quilting. I had never heard of selvage quilting, but was intrigued by the idea, so the book went on my wish list.

What a great book! Nason's instructions for how to work with selvages, the three methods for how to sew with selvages, and the 17 projects were very well organized and described, making them very easy to follow. The supporting illustrations are helpful, and the pictures are definitely a quilters 'eye candy' - or at least they are for me as I am a sucker for bright fabrics. I also really enjoyed looking at all of the various interesting selvages featured in the projects.

I would love to make a project from selvages, but not sure if I will ever get to it. If I find myself with fabrics that have interesting selvages, I may start to save some, and someday might have enough to make a project, but will need to remember to cut the selvages with 1/4 - 1 inch into the fabric to make and end result that is interesting - that is not always feasible.

On my list of projects I'd be interested in making from this book are the Make Every Scrap Count Pincushion, Pick a Color Pillow, Sewing Room Valance (super cute!), and You're a Selvage Superstar Wall Quilt. 

I now also want to check out Nason's Sew a Modern Halloween book (I love her 'Mummy Wants Fabric' mummy selvage quilt on her blog quilt gallery).

This is my seventh book read for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

Lisa's Review: Bellevue Square

Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bellevue Square is the winner of the 2017 Giller Prize. My mother-in-law gave me a gift card to Chapters when I was in Canada for Christmas, and this was one of the books I picked up.

Jean Mason has a seemingly normal life - she is married, has two children and runs a bookstore in downtown Toronto. But as customers tell Jean they've seen her twin (or think they have actually seen her in places she has not been), Jean soon becomes obsessed with finding her doppelganger, and spends much of her time hanging around Kensington Market & the park of Bellevue Square to see if she can find her. From there, strange things happen.

I really enjoyed Redhill's writing...easy reading and I especially liked getting to know the different characters Jean meets in her 'stake-outs' in the park. I have to say when I got to the end, I was left with a confused 'did I love it or did I hate it?' feeling. The fact that I was having that debate with myself leans me towards a 'strong like'. A part of me wants to go back and read it again right away to see if there are other things I would pick up on now that I've finished it. It's a short enough book, that I think I will.

In the closing Acknowledgements, Redhill mentions this is a part one of a triptych of novels. I will give the next one a read when it comes out.

This is my sixth book read for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

Lisa's Review: Grave Secrets

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Grave Secrets in the fifth book in the Temperance Brennan series. Tempe is leading a team on a dig in Guatemala to help identify 23 victims from a massacre in Chupan Ya that happened in 1982 so that their families can finally put them to rest. While in Guatemala, Tempe is called in to help investigate a more recent series of disappearances of young women.

I've been reading these books in random order and this is the earliest in the series I've read so far, so this is earlier in the Tempe and Detective Ryan relationship. Their relationship is definitely an appealing part of the series, so reading these in random order makes for the only confusion (for me)...keeping track of where they are in their relationship. However, I think I can can keep on top of that, and I appreciate I can get a lot of the books in the series as an online audio book without even leaving my house.

Of the Kathy Reichs books I've read so far, this one has been one of my favorites from a story/plot perspective.

This is my fifth book read for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

Lisa's Review: Cross Bones

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

I seem to be on on Kathy Reichs kick, so I decided to keep going with it. Cross Bones is the eighth book in the Temperance Brennan series. In investigating the murder of an Orthodox Jewish man in Montreal, clues lead Tempe to Israel to examine ancient remains which may trace back to the Holy Family.

I listened to Cross Bones as an audio book. I have to say I found the first three hours a little tedious to listen to, which has not been my experience in listening to others in this series. But after that point, the remainder of the book was thoroughly engaging.

This is my fourth book read for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

Lisa's Review: The Only Child

The Only Child by Andrew Pyper

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dr. Lily Dominick is a forensic psychologist. She was orphaned as a child when her mother was brutally attacked by a bear (though this explanation never did sit well with Lily).

Her most recent patient, Michael, is unlike any she has had before. Not only does he claim to be more than two hundred years old, but he also tells Lily that he knew her mother.

I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the Goodreads synopsis "[Andrew Piper] radically reimagines the origins of  gothic literature's founding masterpieces - Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula." I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I ended up with a read that hooked me on the first page, and kept the pages turning.

This is my third book read for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

Lisa's Review: The Best Laid Plans

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Best Laid Plans is Terry Fallis' first book and winner of the Steven Leacock Award for Humor in 2008.

Daniel Addison, a head speech writer and political aide in Ottawa for the Liberal party, decides he has had enough of the grind working on Parliament Hill. So he resigns to pursue a teaching position at the University of Ottawa.

However, he promises to do one final task. He agrees to find a Liberal candidate to run in the Cumberland-Prescott riding in the upcoming election - a riding that is staunchly Tory, so the Liberals have no chance or hope in winning. The job for Daniel is to find any breathing person willing to enter the race, run the campaign, and then be done with politics. He does find a reluctant soul, and hilarity ensues.

I definitely enjoy Fallis' style of writing - it is humorous and easy reading. I wasn't certain how well I would appreciate the politics part of the story line, but I did!  

This is my second book read for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

Lisa's Review: Devil Bones

Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Devil Bones is the 11th book in the Temperance Brennan series. When mysterious remains (including chicken bones, a human skull, and cauldrons) are found in a hidden cellar, Tempe is summoned to investigate. When a decapitated body is then found at an area lake, signs begin to point at voodoo or devil worshipers.

I listened to this audio book, and was almost the perfect length for a solo drive from New Hampshire to Nova Scotia and back. As with the other Kathy Reichs books I have listened to, I was thoroughly engaged in the story. I like the attention to detail that is described & I always learn something new - in this instance a lot about Santeria and Wicca which I did not know much about.

This is my first book read for the 11th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.