Thanks so much for entering our giveaway for a copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire. The winner is:

Reading through your comments it occurred to me that we haven’t done a “What are you reading?” post in ages. So, what are you reading?

I just started a new mystery series by Christopher Fowler called the Peculiar Crime Unit Mysteries. The first book- Full Dark House- is set in present day London but there are lots of flashbacks to World War II London. Very Foyle’s War.

The Ag Fair starts tomorrow and will keep me busy for most of the weekend but I’ll post pics when I can. The Fair is my very favorite Vineyard tradition- you can read my last year’s post here.  If you’re on-Island be sure to stop by the fiber tent and say hey.

When I was younger, I didn’t understand people who read mysteries. I was a Serious Reader, interested only in Serious Fiction. I felt vaguely sorry for people who read genre fiction and still had the audacity to think of themselves as readers. [Wow. What a pompous idiot I was!]

And then, about two years ago, I became deeply and hopelessly addicted to mysteries. Because my life was pretty difficult at the time and I didn’t want my reading to be difficult as well.

Now some people- some very uniformed people- have accused me of never admitting I am wrong. So I want to go on record right here, right now as saying that I was wrong about genre fiction. Wrongedy-wrong-wrong-wrong.

A few weeks ago I got an email from a publishing house asking me to do a book giveaway. And I was crazy flattered. But also the tiniest bit conflicted. Because the book they gave me to give away is a very violent and somewhat dark thriller/mystery called The Girl Who Played with Fire. It’s the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a book I enjoyed immensely.

BUT. Both books repeatedly reference a rape that is graphically depicted. It’s integral to the plot of the books but it’s tough to read. There is also a whole lot swearing in the book, and I don’t mean ass and damn. I mean hard-core swearing that could make a Navy veteran blush. That being said I couldn’t put either of these books down. Un. Put. Down. Able.

If you would like to win a shiny new copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire, comment on this post. Winner will be chosen at random tomorrow night at 10 p.m. Good luck y’all!

Here’s a little fact you may not know about me- I own a serious number of books. Like, in the thousands. And there are a couple of reasons for this.

The first, of course, if that I read a lot. At least a couple of books a week. And I’ve always wanted to own the books I read. Checking books out at the library hasn’t appealed to me since I was in elementary school.

But the reason I’ve held on to all my books is more complicated. For years, when I didn’t have a lot of money or nice furniture I had books. Books became a sort of stand in for stability in my life. Every time I moved to a new apartment in a new city, the hundreds of boxes of books I that went with me made all that new feel like home. They were my ballast.

Lately, though, looking at the dozens and dozens of boxed books in our bedroom has kind of overwhelmed me. The bookshelves in our farmhouse are stuffed to overflowing and there are books on just about every other flat surface. I have books that have been in boxes for more than four years now and that just seems…silly.

Besides all that, a flock of nearly 100 sheep and goats is a hell of a lot of ballast. So I’ve decided it’s time to jettison the books. Not the ones I love, the ones I’ve read a million times and still get cravings to read again. Not To Kill a Mocking Bird or Franny and Zoey, or a hundred others that I really care about. But books that have been read only once are going. So are cookbooks I’ve outgrown, the back issues of Martha and Cook’s Illustrated and who-knows-what-all else that’s in those boxes. 

Everyone I’ve mentioned this to has told me to sell them on Ebay, but come on! Who has time for that? Not me, that’s for sure. I’m planning to take a streamlined approach. I’m going to put all the books I can bear to part with on tables and sell them all for a dollar. And I really hope that every book will go home with someone who will treasure it. 

I might feel a little sad when they are all gone, but mostly, I think I’ll feel unencumbered, less weighted down. Free.

Did you know that the UN has designated 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibres?  They’ve put together a terrific website with lots of information about natural fibers, where they are produced, what there impact is on local economies, the environment, etc. Very informative. 

They are also sponsoring some neat competitions going on at Keep the Fleece in conjunction with the UN effort. And the Hudson Valley’s own New York Sheep and Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck) will be hosting an “International Day” on Friday, October 16.

In honor of the International Year of Natural Fibers I am giving away three copies of Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, and Miles of Yarn. This is a lovely book filled with gorgeous pictures, inspiring stories and beautiful pattens. You’ll love it!

To enter, all you have to do is help me spread the word about the International Year of Fibers by directing people to this post. I think it’s so cool that the UN is doing this for fiber farmers and I want to see this post go viral! You can post about it in your rav groups,blog about it,  email your knitting group or phone your friends. Any way you can think of to spread the word is acceptable. Then come back here and leave a comment on the this post telling me what you’ve done. Easy-peasy, right?

Even on days when next to nothing happens I hate not to post something on the blog. I know from my own personal blog reading experience that it’s sort of a let down to click on one of favorites only to find that same old post from yesterday, or even last week. 

So, in the interest of fending off disappointment, I’m going to post about my day. This morning I woke up, goofed around on the internet for longer than I should have then got to work on the book. [Maybe that should be The Book. ] I let the dog in and out approximately 11,000 times, each time cursing him for interrupting my writing flow. At four, I got up from my computer and started dinner (cowboy beans and corn bread muffins). Then it was back to The Book and the all important letting the dog in and out. 

Tonight I’m going write until I fall asleep or until the sound of my own voice in my head causes me to bleed out of my eyes, ears and nose, which ever comes first. (My money’s on the bleeding.)

Tomorrow I will repeat today in it’s entirety, with the addition of a five hour car ride back to New York.

Now, wasn’t that better than the same ol’ post from yesterday?  No? Then how about this nice picture of Ernie as a lamb? That’s gotta be better, right?

So, this morning Erin and I left the house at 9 a.m. to do a few errands. Just the bank and the post office. And the office supply store. Oh, and the printer to check the proof of the new MVFF 2009 calendar. And by then we were starving, so we stopped to eat. Then I needed to find something to wear for the book cover photo shoot that was scheduled for this evening, so we quickly went into two clothes stores.

Ready for the big new? Are you sure your ready?