The Bedside Stack

My bedside table is too small for a book, so my books tend to accumulate on the floor next to my side of the bed. Lately, it's gotten a bit out of control down there. I thought it would be fun to neaten up the stack a little and take a photo to share.

From bottom to top:

One World, Many Religions by Mary Pope Osborne. The kids and I are learning about world religions this summer, and I was pre-reading this book. The other book I'm using, Sacred Stories, was already out in the living room because we started with Buddhist stories. (Stories first, then some more factual background; that's my plan.)

Design-It-Yourself Clothes by Cal Patch. I bought this from Cal herself at the Squam Art Fair, but I think it's a bit beyond me. At least, every time I try to look through it, I get overwhelmed. I want to make a dress, but the dress uses one of the shirt patterns, so go make that first, it says, but that pattern is actually a modified version of another shirt pattern, and...I'll eventually try something from here. Maybe. I'd really, really like to feel competent enough to try, anyway.

Little Red in the City by Ysolda Teague. Also purchased at the Squam Art Fair, from Ysolda. I think I'll start with Cria. There is lots of useful information in here about fitting knitting patterns to your body and how to modify things, but it's hard to process because it's full of comma splices and run-on sentences. My husband makes fun of me when I say things like that, but I say, commas and periods send a different message to the brain. Periods are meant to come between separate complete thoughts (independent clauses, in grammatical terms). The ubiquity of run-on sentences is proof that many people's brains function just fine by stringing complete thoughts together without an end stop, but mine does not. (Also, no matter how common they are, they're still incorrect, grammatically, and have no place in a professionally published, beautifully designed book.) I may go through with a marker and edit it all, so I can read it without getting a headache. Other than that, useful book. Pretty patterns.

In the Days of the Pharaohs. From the library. I'm homeschooling* at least one child now (well, I suppose technically beginning in the fall, but I don't draw lines like that), and we'll be starting with ancient history. I checked this out to, well, check it out.

Science in Ancient Egypt. Same as above. I was intrigued by the title. I haven't read it all yet, so I can't tell you much about it.

Painted Pages by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare. I bought this a little bit ago in preparation for taking her online workshop next month. Exciting!

Cultivating Your Creative Life by Alena Hennessey. She gave a book talk at Squam one night, and I wanted to be supportive, so I bought her book.

Reinvention by Maya Donenfeld. She gave a book talk at the same time as Alena. I'd already decided I'd wait to buy this book from her in person. Her line was very, very long--which is why I went right from her table to Alena's. I want to start with some Tyvek projects, which means I need to remember how to log onto Freecycle and post to see if anyone has some they want to get rid of.

The first two Life of Fred books (upside down--whoops!). Again, pre-reading before sharing them with my eight-year-old, who, after three years of school, thinks he hates math.

Push Stitchery. Goodness, I ordered (and read through) this ages ago. It needs to find a home on a bookshelf!

*Herewith is the obligatory statement: I decided to homeschool because I feel it's the best thing for this particular child at this particular time. It's not a statement on what might be best for any other child or how I feel about his school or school in general. While the topic may trickle in here now and then, I have no intention of turning this into a homeschooling blog. This is my space.

So...have you been reading (or stacking) any good books lately??