One Scheme of Happiness

Announcing ~ Our Winners!

Emma did just fine with the drawing.  Okay, her lack of opposable thumbs made name plucking tricky, so in the end, Ben had to help.

And the winners are:

1) Alli from Knitosaurus, who had 3 contest entries and nominated the books Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.  I haven't read any of these!

2) Star Rabinowitz who didn't leave a blog address.  Star had just three contest entries as well.  She left awesome commentary on her book suggestions The View From Castle Rock by Alice Munro, In Pursuit of Love // Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford and The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers.  Nope, haven't read these, either. 

3) Catsplay from Rickmananalysis, who had the most contest entries (26) and won on a referral entry.  She recommended the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon; some I have read, and the rest I will read.

4) Mel from Mel Knits & Lives in the Emerald City, who had 6 contest entries and won on her original recommendation.  Mel suggested Ill Wind (Weather Wardens, book 1), by Rachel Caine, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife and Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser.  I've never even heard of these books!

Congratulations to all the contest winners and to everyone who will be enjoying our Reading List this summer! 

I have emailed each winner regarding prize distribution, so please respond ASAP.  I will ultimately post to let everyone know who gets what.

There it is ~ the first OSOH contest completed and it was a success.  Emma is thrilled.  Can't you tell?

Blanket-lishish

Emma is feeling the pressure; last night I came home from an awesome dinner devoured at the bar at Sushi Yasuda (yum! except for the urchin, ick!  you were right, Amanda, I didn't like it - I swear it was like eating crunchy snot) where Amy and I celebrated a friend's birthday, to find Emma  hunkered down, eyes glazed over, staring at the pile of 643 646 contest entries (apparently I missed a comment.  Oops). 

The apartment reeked of catnip.  I told the cat to focus, to pull herself together and back away from the 'nip, but she just flopped sideways and writhed around on the ground, mewling and begging for a belly rub.  She has no misplaced priorities.  Unlike some of us, she has no trouble sleeping at night.  Or during the day, for that matter.

While I have tried to impress on her that today is the deadline, that word is meaningless to a cat, so this morning I amped up the motivation. I left Emma rooting happily in the contest entrants, working herself up for the big night.  I'm hoping that the unopened can of tuna I buried under those little slips of paper provides proper incentive.  I tucked the catnip out of paw's reach.

In the meantime, while we wait for Emma to get into the proper frame of mind for winner-choosing, I want to show you the Circle of Friends baby blanket that the Spiders knit for Amanda and presented at her baby shower last Saturday.  We'd heard a few nightmare stories about blankets gone wrong with this pattern, but we barged ahead anyway.  I'm glad we did.

Other than the fact that the blanket could use a good blocking, you wouldn't know from this picture that the last end was woven a hefty five minutes before the gifting.  Some frantic last-minute knitting proved Schrodinger to be the quickest end-weaver in Manhattan.  When she, Steph, Virginia and Nancy arrived at my apartment, the blanket looked like this:

 

But after a few minutes of their magic:

(sorry about the surprised!! picture - but this was our only "action" shot)

it looked like this:

Okay, actually a few ends are still unwoven in that photo, but we had to snap it quick before Amanda arrived, then finish those last bits on the sly.  I never planned to throw parties where people slip secretly into the bedroom with needles and glasses of alcohol, but apparently now I do.

Lots of Spiders took turns at the blanket, each knitting a half a strip or so before passing it along.  We then collected the strips and I seamed those together (okay, I might not have slept the night before the party.  Sometimes I forget to ask for help).

We used Knitpicks Swish Superwash yarn in 8 colors, knitting on size 4 needles.

Some of the gauges varied, but it really didn't matter so much in the end.  We came together and made a blanket that will show this new Spider-mite that she is loved.

The Best Summer Reading List Ever

I somehow survived exams.  We won't talk about how I trashed the Statistics final ~ let's just pretend those three hours never happened and hope that the professor enjoys a fine glass of Cabernet before opening my blue book, as I suggested he might want to do when I slunk out of  the classroom.

I also survived compiling all of your fabulous reading recommendations!  My, you are a well-read bunch, aren't you?   

Speaking of Statistics, here are some.

220 of you commented!  That's an all-time record around these parts.

188 of you officially entered the contest.   Wowzie.   You guys have awesome blogs.  I visited those of you who cross-posted over to me.  I'm still working through the rest.

From those entries, we received 450 different book recommendations.  That will keep all of us busy this summer!

The Top Three Most Popular Book Recommendations From the Comments:

1) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffennegger was far and away the favorite with 13 recommendations.

2) Life of Pi by Yann Martel and The Red Tent by Anita Diamant tied for second, each with 7 recommendations. 

3) Yet another tie: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, ringing in at 6 recommendations each.

Some of the books were old friends (Hi Jane!)  Some have been sitting on my shelf for a while, waiting for me to look up from my textbooks.  Others are completely new to me.

Of the recommendations, I have read 47.  I want to reiterate The Time Traveler's Wife and The Red Tent as personal favorites.  Here are some of my other top choices from the list:

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

and one book that did not make the list:

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Now I bet you are ready to hear who the contest winners are, right?  Right?!?

Well, you have to wait until tomorrow.  Emma isn't used to all this attention, so I need to coax her out from under the bed so she can figure out which four of you are having lucky days.  She's a shy kitty and seeing all of y'all around here got her a little out of sorts.

While I go an wave a can of tuna around my bedroom, I'll let you all browse (in alpha order)...

The Best Summer Reading List Ever:

1) 100 Malicious Little Mysteries by Martin H. Greenberg, Isaac Asimov, and Joseph D. Olander

2) A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer

3) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

4) A Dark Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine

5) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

6) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

7) A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

8) A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith

9) A Long Way Gone by Ishamel Beah

10) A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel by Meir Shalev and Evan Fallenberg

11) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

12) A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

13) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

14) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickins

15) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

16) A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith

17) A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

18) Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson

19) Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech

20) Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart

21) Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund

22) Accidental Vampire series (A Quick Bite, Love Bites, Single White Vampire, Tall Dark & Hungry, A Bite to Remember, Bite Me if You Can, The Accidental Vampire, Vampires Are Forever, Vampire Interrupted) by Lynsay Sand )

23) Adventure Divas; Searching the Globe for Women Who Change the World by Holly Morris

24) Affinity by Sarah Waters

25) After Long Silence by Helen Fremont

26) Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

27) Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

28) Almost French by Sarah Turnbull

29) Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble

30) Alteren Carbon by Richard K Morgan

31) Amazing Grace by Danielle Steel

32) American Gods by Neil Gaiman

33) An Ice Cold Grave Charlaine Harris

34) Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

35) Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

36) Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

37) Animal Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

38) Anita Blake by Laurell K Hamilton

39) Anne of Green Gables seriesby L M Montgomery

40) Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

41) Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

42) As I lay Dying by William Faulkner

43) Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

44) Atonement by Ian McEwan

45) Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

46) Beautiful Boy by David Sheff

47) Beloved by Toni Morrsion

48) Betsy Devonshire series by Monica Ferris

49) Beulah, or the Ugly Orphan by Augusta Jane Evans

50) Beverly Hills Dead by Stuart Woods

51) Beyond the Summerland (The Binding of the Blade, Book 1) by L. B. Graham

52) Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières

53) Bleak House by Charles Dickens

54) Blood Stream.by Tess Gerritson

55) Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts

56) Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt

57) Boo series by Rene Gutteridge

58) Boomsday by Christopher Buckley

59) Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

60) Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos

61) Brooklyn Noir edited by Tim McLoughlin

62) Candyfreak by Steve Almond

63) Catnapped by Gabriella Herkert

64) Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

65) Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

66) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

67) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

68) Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

69) Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

70) Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl

71) Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser

72) Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber

73) Dead Heat by Dick Francis

74) Demon Hunter series by Julie Kenner

75) Den of Antiquity series by Tamar Myers

76) Derailed by James Siegel

77) Desert Solitare by Edward Abbey

78) Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

79) Dinner with Persephone by Patricia Storace

80) Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

81) Dream of a Thousand Faces by Karen Connelly

82) Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

83) Driving over Lemons by Chris Stewart

84) Duma Key by Stephen King

85) East of Eden by John Steinbeck

86) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

87) Eleven on Top by Evanovich

88) Elizabeth & Mary by Jane Dunn

89) Elizabeth and After by Matt Cohen

90) Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

91) Emma by Jane Austen

92) Enchantment by Orson Scott Card

93) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

94) Epileptic by David B

95) Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

96) Facing 30 by Lauren Dockett and Kristin Beck

97) Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

98) Flying Changes by Sarah Gruen

99) Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

100) Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin

101) Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

102) Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

103) Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn

104) Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

105) Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison

106) Girl with Green Eyes by Edna O'Brien

107) Girls in their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien

108) Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

109) Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

110) Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

111) Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

112) Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris

113) Green Chic by Christie Matheson

114) Grim Space by Ann Aguire

115) Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

116) Happenstance by Carol Shields

117) Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

118) Hindoo Holiday: An Indian Journal (New York Review Books Classics) by J.R. Ackerley and Eliot Weinberger

119) His Dark Materials Series by Philip Pullman

120) His Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde

121) Hitched by Carol Higgins Clark

122) Holes by Louis Sachar

123) Horrors! 365 Scary Stories by Weinberg & Greenberg Dziemianowicz

124) Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

125) Hotel Paradise by Martha Grimes

126) House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

127) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

128) How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Marc Bittman

129) Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

130) Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai

131) I Am a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

132) I am Legend by Richard Matheson

133) I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

134) Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen and Mary Anne Vollers

135) Ill Wind (Weather Wardens, book 1) by Rachel Caine

136) In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

137) In Pursuit of Love // Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

138) Ines of my Soul by Isabel Allende

139) Inkheart (together with Inkspell and Inkdeath) by Cornelia Funke

140) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

141) Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

142) Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati

143) It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh

144) Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson

145) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

146) Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green

147) Jigs & Reels by Joanne Harris

148) Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

149) Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

150) Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

151) Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

152) Kentucky Straight by Chris Offutt

153) Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanna Fluke

154) Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder

155) Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

156) Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

157) Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik

158) Knitting Under the Influence Claire La Zebnnik

159) Knitting without Tears by E. Zimmerman

160) Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

161) Lamb by Christopher Moore

162) Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan

163) Liar's Diary by Patry Francis

164) Life of Pi by Yann Martel

165) Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson

166) Little Shop of Murders by Susan Goodwill

167) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

168) Lizzie Bright by Gary D. Schmidt

169) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

170) London by Edward Rutherford

171) London Fields by Martin Amis

172) Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

173) Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

174) Losing It by Laura Fraser

175) Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

176) Loving Frank by Nancy Moran

177) Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married by Marian Keyes

178) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

179) Mama Day by Gloria Naylor

180) Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

181) Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

182) Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

183) Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

184) Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote

185) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

186) Mindscan by Robert Sawyer

187) Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors

188) Moral Disorder and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood

189) Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll

190) Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald and Hilary Knight

191) My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picault

192) Mystic and Rider in the series the 12 Houses by Sharon Shinn

193) Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain

194) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

195) Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

196) Nine Taylors by Dorothy Sayers

197) Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picault Yeesh

198) No Angel by Penny Vincenzi

199) No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July

200) Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

201) Nothing Lasts Forever by Sidney Sheldon

202) Nursery Crime series by Jasper Fforde

203) Once and Future King by T. H. White

204) One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

205) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez

206) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

207) Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance: A Mystery' by Gyles Brandreth

208) Paint it Black by Janet Fitch

209) Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinksi

210) Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot

211) Paradise Lost by John Milton

212) Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Ravin

213) Peace like a River by Leif Enger

214) PennDutch Inn series by Tamar Myers

215) Peony in Love by Lisa See

216) People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

217) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

218) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

219) Persuasion by Jane Austen

220) Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

221) Pirates (The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists) by Gideon Defoe

222) Pirates by Celia Reese

223) Plenty: One Man, One Woman and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon

224) Possession by A.S. Byatt

225) Post Secret books compiled by Frank Warren

226) Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton

227) Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

228) Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

229) Professor Peter Shandy series by Charlotte MacLeod

230) Psychic Eye series by Victoria Laurie

231) Queen Betsy by Mary Janice Davidson

232) Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy

233) Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

234) Reading Lolita in Teheran by Azar Nafisi

235) Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser

236) Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes

237) Riding Lessons by Sarah Gruen

238) River God by Gary Jennings

239) River Town by Peter Hessler

240) Rollback by Robert Sawyer

241) Roots by Alex Haley

242) Salt by Mark Kurlanksy

243) Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold

244) Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

245) Scumble River series by Denise Swanson

246) Sepulcher by Kate Mosse

247) Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

248) Shades of Red by Doris Mortman

249) She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

250) Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

251) Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

252) Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

253) Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue

254) Small Island by Andre Levy

255) Small Island by Andrea Levy

256) Smart Girls Like Me by Diane Vadino

257) Smashed: A Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas

258) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

259) Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier

260) Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

261) Stardust by Neil Gaiman

262) Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

263) Stiff by Mary Roach

264) Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

265) Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

266) Straight Man by Richard Russo

267) Sula by Toni Morrison

268) Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

269) Summerland by Michael Chabon

270) Sunday's at Tiffanys by James Patterson

271) Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman

272) Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

273) Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck

274) T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

275) Tea Shop series by Laura Childs

276) Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

277) Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie

278) Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

279) Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein

280) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

281) The American Woman in a Chinese Hat by Carole Maso

282) The Appeal by John Grisham

283) The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher

284) The Banquet Bug by Geling Yan

285) The Bartimaeus Trilogy Boxed by Jonathan Stroud

286) The Best American Science Writing 2007 by Gina Kolata and Jesse Cohen

287) The Big Oyster History on The Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky

288) The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

289) The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

290) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

291) The Bone People by Keri Hulme

292) The Bonesetters Daughter by Amy Tan

293) The Book of Shadows by James Reese

294) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

295) The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot

296) The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

297) The Brief Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

298) The Brothers K by David James Duncan

299) The Buckminister Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

300) The Cardinal in the Kremlin by Tom Clancy

301) The Child in Time by Ian Mkewan

302) The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker

303) The Collector by John Fowles

304) The Color of Water by James McBride

305) The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

306) The Corrections by Jonathan Frazen

307) The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien

308) The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

309) The Crossroad by Beverly Lewis

310) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

311) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

312) The Dark Series by Christine Feehan

313) The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

314) The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A.S. Byat

315) The Earth's Children Series (starting with The Clan of the Cave Bear) by Jean Auel

316) The Engineer Trilogy by K J Parker

317) The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

318) The Fallible Fiend by L. Sprague De Camp

319) The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

320) The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

321) The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

322) The Goats by Brock Cole

323) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

324) The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick

325) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

326) The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

327) The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

328) The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

329) The Host by Stephanie Meyer

330) The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

331) The Hours by Michael Cunningham

332) The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

333) The Indian Clerk by David Levitt

334) The Inn on Lake Divine by Elanore Lipman

335) The Intelligencer by Leslie Silbert

336) The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin

337) The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison

338) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

339) The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

340) The Last-Herald Mage series by Mercedes Lackey

341) The Late Hector Kipling by David Thewlis

342) The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

343) The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly

344) The Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar

345) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

346) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

347) The Lover by Marguerite Duras

348) The Man without Qualities by Robert Musil

349) The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

350) The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

351) The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

352) The Mitford Series by Jan Karon

353) The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

354) The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

355) The Nimrod Flipout by Etgar Keret

356) The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers

357) The Number One Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

358) The Old Man and the Railroad Crossing and Other Tales by William Maxwell

359) The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

360) The Onion Girl by Charles DeLint

361) The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory

362) The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon

363) The Panda's Thumb by Stephen Jay Gould

364) The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

365) The People's Republic of Desire by Annie Wang

366) The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

367) The Pocket and the Pendant by Mark Jeffrey

368) The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

369) The Postcard by Beverly Lewis

370) The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

371) The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley

372) The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

373) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

374) The Road by Cormac McCarthy

375) The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

376) The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

377) The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and the entire Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig

378) The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

379) The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman

380) The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller

381) The Seven Sisters, by Margaret Drabble

382) The Shoes of Salvation by E. Monkton

383) The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

384) The Sister: A Novel of Emily Dickinson by Paola Kaufmann

385) The Southern Vampires series by Charlaine Harris

386) The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

387) The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

388) The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

389) The Sunlight Dialogues by John Gardner

390) The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

391) The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

392) The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

393) The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

394) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffennegger

395) The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

396) The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

397) The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

398) The View From Castle Rock by Alice Munro

399) The Virgin's Lover by Phillipa Gregory

400) The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

401) The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

402) The Wee Free Men by Terry Prachett

403) The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

404) The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

405) The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

406) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

407) The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

408) The Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson

409) The World According to Garp by John Irving

410) The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

411) The Year's Best Science Fiction by Gardner Dozois

412) The Zahir by Paulo Cohelo

413) Theft by Peter Carey

414) Things I Learned From Knitting (Whether I Wanted To or Not) by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

415) Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

416) This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson

417) Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonnie Swann

418) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

419) Through a Glass Deadly by Sarah Atwell

420) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

421) To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

422) Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

423) Turing Hopper series by Donna Andrews

424) Twenty Wishes (The New Blosson Street series book) by Debbie Macomber

425) Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

426) Twilight Falling (Erevis Cale) by Paul S. Kemp

427) Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer

428) Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

429) Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

430) Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

431) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

432) Watermelon by Marian Keyes

433) Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

434) What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

435) When the Heart Cries by Cindy Woodsmall

436) Whiskey and Water by Nina Wright

437) Whispers by Belva Plain

438) White Oleander by Janet Fitch

439) Wicked by Gregory Maguire

440) Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

441) Wilbur Smith Aztec by Gary Jennings

442) Wind in my Wheels by Josie Dew

443) Wiser in Battle by Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez

444) World without End by Ken Follett

445) Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

446) Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

447) Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

448) You are not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett

449) Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife

450) Zorro by Isabella Allende

BLOG CONTEST! BLOG CONTEST!

And it's about time.  The air may still be chilly here in the big city, but finals are this week and, to me, that means I might have some SUMMER READING time ahead of me.  Or at least I might be able smuggle a few contraband novels covertly into a park or beach during those weekends when I should be studying spreadsheets for the Foundations of Finance class I'm taking.

But what should I read??? YOU tell ME.

Anyway, here are the rules.  They aren't very complicated.  There isn't much room in my life for complicated right now.

The Rules:

There are 3 ways to enter the contest!   You choose which way(s) you want to enter.

Category 1) Comment with one, two or three book recommendations.    You will earn one, two or three entries.  You are welcome to recommend more, but three is limit for Category 1 drawing entries.

Category 2) Post this contest on your blog and link to me.  You get 3 extra entries for this one!  Be sure to provide me with a link of where to find it on your blog.

Category 3) Send someone over.  If someone comments and tells me you sent them, you get one more entry per person sent.

No matter the number of entries, no person can win more than once.

The Deadline:

That word has always given me chills.  Deadline.  It's so rough, so final and bloody.  This sensation has only gotten worse since I went back to grad school.

Anyway, this contest begins now and entries are accepted through the end of my finals and the subsequent celebration of the semester's end, which means Sunday, May 11, 2008 at noon (or whatever time I sober up).

The Winners:

There will be 4 winners, all chosen at random by our lovely EmmaTeazle:

Better get on her good side.

Winners will be chosen in order.  The first name drawn gets to choose one of these four gifts.  The second will choose from the remaining three gifts; the third winner has the two remaining choices.  Winner number 4, well, you get what you get, but you're still  a WINNER! 

The contest is open to INTERNATIONAL entrants as well as New Yorkers.  I have lots of stamps and I know how to use them.

The Loot:

The offering today is an astounding assortment of Spider-lishish goodies.

Prize 1:

One copy of Knitting Through It, featuring my story, The Castle of Our Dreams.  Whether you've got knitting fever or not, you'll enjoy reading these touching stories of people doing what they can to get through the tough times. 

You can read more about my contribution to the book here, if you need a refresher. 

With the book comes a special surprise gift - I'd show it to you, but then I'd have to kill you because it's still top-secret for now.  The gift that comes with this book will be one of the first versions of a handcrafted sewing design I will be creating for special occasions and special people and, if it is a hit, perhaps for an Etsy shop one of these days.  If you are an early adopter, or if you like a pleasant surprise, this one's for you. 

Prize 2:

A Schrodinger Original Cube, in this delightful Monkeys pattern, handmade by Schrodinger, of course.

Whoever wins this will have to pry it out of my clenched fingers.  Those little monkeys are so cute they make my eyebrows pucker every time I look at them. 

That curly tail would sure come in handy for slipping out the office window on beautiful days like these.

Oh, and you might find a fun little something-something inside that bag, if you know what I mean (it's bad luck to give someone an empty bag, after all).

Prize 3:

My criteria for prizes was to give away fabulous stuff that I'd love to win myself.  Which makes it so much more difficult to actually give away the stuff.  But I will be brave.

Take for example this pookeh Heart Shaped Box necklace.

Sandra outdid herself with this one.  Look, it even opens.

Prize 4:

Brooklyn Handspun's hand-dyed Green Valley superwash soft spun sock yarn!

Speaking of SPRING, I just want to romp naked through those fluffy green strands.  But I won't.  I promise.  You'd never get it untangled.

If you've tried this yarn, you know you love it.  If you haven't tried it, well, why not??  Win your very own skein, right here, right now.  This 4 ounce hank is more than enough for a fabulous pair of socks.  Now stop petting your computer screen, those smudges are unseemly.

Should you win this yarn and you are certifiably not a knitter, then you send me foot measurements, I send you exquisite handknit socks.  In about a month.  This part of the prize only applies to non-knitters so don't be all, knit me socks if you have a knit blog and published patterns floating around.  I'll catch on eventually and send you crappy socks with a special little present from Emma inside.  Did I ever tell you about the time in DC we found half  a mouse in our bedroom? 

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So there it is, an actual contest on the OSOH blog.  Will wonders never cease.  Now, get those book recommendations coming.  I will also compile and post a nice listing of these for everyone's benefit, post contest.