A knitting FO, a creepy (but GREAT) book and a not-so-sure book

A finished knitting project (or a knitting FO --- "finished object") and two book reviews are on tap for today!

I knit up this E-Reader Cozy real quick this week and will be teaching it as a class at The Spinning Room in April:

It is loosely based on this pattern on Ravelry:  Cabled Kindle Sleeve   ........ but I changed the cast on stitches and the number of knits/purls between cables.  If you are interested in my numbers, check them out on my Ravelry page HERE.  This one fits my Nook (most basic version) perfectly!  Can't wait to get it back from the shop after the class so I can use it..... maybe I should just make another.  It was a pretty quick knit.

Still not enough progress on my Dipped Infinity Scarf or my Umaro to show you.  I got distracted by another potential class project but that pretty much failed so I'm not going to talk about it!

How about some book reviews?????
Mallory's Oracle (Kathleen Mallory Novels) ; or the kindle version Mallory's Oracle (Kathleen Mallory)
(Click there to order this book on Amazon)
This one took me some time to get through.  I was enjoying the story but for some reason kept falling asleep when I went to read it.  So, I only read a few pages at a time and then couldn't keep the minor characters straight (and there were several since they were narrowing down suspects for several murders).   Usually the falling asleep thing is  a clue that I'm not that into a book, but I'm still intrigued.  This is the first in a series with the main character Kathleen Mallory.   She has an interesting history (which gets revealed little by little in this book - and I assume more in the books following - so I'm not going to tell you it here) and it is because of this that I will at least read the next one.   Mallory is investigating the deaths of several people by a serial killer (including her father, who was also a police detective and was killed investigating the same crimes).  Her methods are not always orthodox and in this novel, is getting away with them because she has been placed on bereavement leave.  This aspect makes the book intriguing and exciting.

This was the first book by Carol O'Connell that I have read and the writing style was hard for me to get used to. (Again, this may be because of my sporadic reading.)  The chapters would often end with a sentence that left me saying "what the heck is that supposed to mean? did I miss something?".  And often the story would change to another scene without me realizing it.  One paragraph talking about one subject, the next paragraph felt like I was coming in on the middle of the scene.  Ultimately, I was able to get the gist of the story but I did struggle a little.  Overall I enjoyed the story-line and will at least read the next in the series.  I'm a sucker for series books since I love to follow the changing lives of the recurring characters (ie: Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels; Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie novels; James Patternson's Alex Cross novels; James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels)

Now the next book I read was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games: Movie Tie-in Edition or the kindle version The Hunger Games --- click there to order on Amazon) and this was completely different.  Could. Not. Put. It. Down. -- had no trouble staying awake and in fact stayed up very late to finish it!  I had heard about this "young adult" book and saw a trailer for the movie, thinking it looked a little creepy.  And it is a little creepy.  It takes place in the future with a rather depressing view of how society could end up.   Despite that, this story really reeled me in.  Each year, the 12 districts in this society, put up a girl and a boy to compete in the Hunger Games in which they go to an "arena" and the last one standing wins.  Yes, they have to kill each other.  That's another reason it was creepy and made me think "this is a young adult book???".  But again, the writer just draws you into the story and I couldn't stop reading it!   LOVED. IT.

This is the first in a trilogy and I'll be on to the second one Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)
soon....  (kindle version: Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) )

Right now, I've started a book my mom recommended:The Jaguar (Charlie Hood) (or Kindle version The Jaguar (Charlie Hood))  I've only gotten into a few pages but so far there has been a kidnapping, a hidden room behind a wall in the closet and bunkers with lots of money in them.  Stay tuned.

And because this cracks me up, here is a picture of Mandy the Scaredy Dog not wanting to get her pillow back from Phoebe:

Laying on one tiny, little corner.  (She's still wearing the cone so the licking spot on her leg will heal completely.  Doesn't she look a little pathetic?)