Non-Fiction

Again with the Perennials

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

More books about perennials and perennial vegetables — leftover from when TW and I were talking about gardens and perennials and well, umm, vegetables.

I really liked both of these books — much better than the others I read last month (or was it July?) Perennial Companions was supper pretty and had lots of interesting ideas for garden designs. All the pretty gardens. And, How to Grow Perennial Vegetables was awesome because it had a lot of ideas for plants that would grow well together, tons of charts about the types of root systems and the plants that are good for the soil or good for bees etc. I liked those charts a lot.

I think I’m done reading about perennials now.

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Two Non-Fiction: Perennials!

2014, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

When I checked out that cool flower gardening book, TW suggested we plant perennial vegetables so I reserved a ton of books about perennials of all sorts, but primarily veggies. I read two last week (or was that the week before?) Perennial Vegetabls from Artichokes to Zuiki Taro and Perennial Companions. Both were interesting — The first was super interesting but TW kept talking about “invasives” and crap so I think she was pretty much boycotting most of the veggies I found most interesting lol. The latter was… just ok. Kind of pretty but not super useful.

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2 Non-Fiction for Grandparents

2014, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /

I impulsed picked a bunch of books from a Grandparents’ Day display at the library. The two non-fiction were Grand Activities: More Than 150 Fabulous Fun Activities for Kids to Do with Their Grandparents and Kids and Grandparents: An Activity Book.

The first was… not good. It was primarily things that kids can do with PARENTS in relation to the child’s grandparents or things to do and send TO grandparents. Not what I was looking for at all.

The latter was a nice enough book if you need help thinking about old-fashioned games and activities to do with kids. One thing that was interesting to me was thinking about the fact that so many of these activities are really REALLY old-fashioned. It won’t be long before grandparents have never done any of these activities as kids… which leads me to wonder what the next book of old fashioned fun for grandparents and grandchildren will look like. If I had more time or inclination, I’d write that book, lol.

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3 Non-Fiction

2014, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I probably read these in August but for the sake of my sanity and who the hell really cares which month I read these when the entire 30 day period should just be called JMP month and we should just leave off the two weeks before and the two weeks after and jump right to October… whatevs. I read three non-fiction. Home decor kind of stuff.

How to Hang a Picture. Woh. Who knew you could be so serious about hanging pictures? Not me. Except now I know. I’m kind of afraid to hang pictures now because I guarantee you that I’m doing it wrong.

Bright Bazaar was completely fun but not necessarily useful. Which is good. I like that in a coffee table pretty picture-y book.

Decorate Fearlessly was… fascinating. Also fun. Also definitely not something I would ever find useful at all. Except each funky room had one or two things in it that I coveted. Hard.

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Three Non-Fiction

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

First… The WORN Archive — shocking I know, but I really enjoyed this. It’s the kind of writing about fashion that I like. And, the photos were fabulous.

Second… Next Generation Real Estate because duh, moving in one year and 10 months and 2 weeks, lol. Mostly really it was an impulse pick up from the non-fiction new arrivals. TW read it first and that pleased me, though she now has her heart set on buying a house with modern electricity, lol.

Third… and horribly scary… All I Want Is a Job. Anyone who cares about poverty, the jobs crisis, and social services in the US should read this. It’s not pretty but it’s important to really think about and I really like how the material was presented. Yes, it’s dry reading. And depressing. But important. Really important. Could we pay our damn minimum wage people a LIVING DAMN WAGE, PLEASE? Not doing so is killing us. All of us. Really.

Now I’m moving on to some fiction. Heh.

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2 Non-Fiction (cooking and gardening?)

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, cookbooks, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

Did I mention the the non-fiction new arrivals are back downstairs where they belong? Heh. This means I’ve got all the fun non-fiction, just picked up because it looked interesting and because I love non-fiction.

First up, a cookbook. A cookbook I loved but TW made bad faces over. Heh. Stuffed: The Ultimate Comfort Food Cookbook. My kind of cookbook. Stuff all the yummy things with more yummy things! I’ve added The Food In My Beard to my feedreader (he wrote this book.)

Next, a book I want to buy but TW kind of rolled her eyes over. LOL. 5 Plant Gardens. I want all the gardens, with all of the plants (well with just five plants in each garden, of course. duh.)

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The Nesting Place

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

Oh look, another book from another shelter/DIY blogger! I know, you’re shocked, lol. You might be shocked to hear that The Nesting Place is one of my favorite books in the genre. Even though the blog, nesting place, is not my favorite — I like it but I don’t love it.

The book is one of my favorites because she includes photos of people with their feet on the table, laundry strewn around and crap like that. They’re still staged, pretty photos of a staged, pretty house but she’s right about the idea that some imperfections make a person feel more comfortable. That’s what happened with the book — I felt comfortable.

I was also amused by all of her stump tables, the section on putting holes in walls (lol), and I was fascinated by the entire series of homes she’s lived in. (And I thought I’d moved a lot…) (I also love what she did to the outside of the not perfect for us house. Brilliantly done — my partner liked it before the changes. I did too but we shall ignore her opinion on the updated version because she’s dumb.)

I don’t think anyone will necessarily LEARN anything from this book — unless you just hate your (rental or non-rental) home and think it’s the house that’s making you unhappy. In which case you might learn something from this book. Or at least get a glimmer of hope?

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Hard Choices

2014, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Women /

Now that I’ve finally finished, I realize I should not have decided to read Hard Choices in July. That was a bad choice. I should read a book like that in September. October. November. When life is much calmer and I can process serious things.

Overall, I did like the book. It’s just high on fact and short on personal reflection, which means it’s not easy to read. My favorite chapters were of course about topics/issues that I feel most strongly about. The chapters covering issues that didn’t immediately push my personal buttons were often the most interesting though since I haven’t previously spent a lot of time thinking about them.

Overall, I liked the book. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it, either.

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