Christmas Ornaments to Crochet by Barbara Christopher

Christmas Ornaments to Crochet by Barbara Christopher
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

An extremely disappointing crochet book.

The designs are extremely simple - most are 4 or 5 rounds, use only a few basic stitches, and most of the ornaments are variants of one another, with only one or two rounds different from each other. The photographs are very simple (each ornament photographed on a plain background) but what got me about the photography is that clearly the ornaments were not properly blocked & / or stiffened, like all thread ornaments should be. I got the impression that perhaps the designer is not as experienced as one would like, to make such a rookie mistake (the only other book I can find by the author is another crochet ornament book, with equally badly photographed & unblocked ornaments).

Another thing I found really unacceptable for a thread crochet book are that none of the ornaments are charted.

(source unknown)

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8 bit Christmas

8-Bit Christmas by Kevin Jakubowski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is about Jake, a 9 year old boy who wants a Nintendo. I was a kid (though a girl) in the 80s and couldn't resist reading this book for the memories. There's a lot - and I mean a LOT - of pop culture references in the book (and not all of them were accurate, at least I didn't feel like they were really 80s pop culture references), from Cabbage Patch kids to He-Man, and it's a fun romp through memory lane.

That being said - I had to rate the book 3 stars because I didn't feel like there was any plot at all. Yes, certain things happen in Jake's quest to own a Nintendo, and the book certainly has a lot of funny moments (and a part where I bawled my eyes out hysterically, which may add to my 3-star feelings for this book) but I just felt like every scene was strung together mostly to lead the reader through memory lane and to the end of the book, more so then to actually tell a story of one young boy.

In other words, the book was fun to read, without any meat on the bones.

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Christmas in Apple Ridge: Three-in-One Collection: The Sound of Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Singing, The Dawn of Christmas by Cindy Woodsmall

Christmas in Apple Ridge: Three-in-One Collection: The Sound of Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Singing, The Dawn of Christmas by Cindy Woodsmall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those three in one type of books - three shorter stories contained in one larger book.I like Cindy Woodsmall's writing style, having read Plain Wisdom before.

The first story, the Sound of Sleigh Bells, was my least favorite. I didn't really like any of the characters and really hated the fact that the two main female characters, Beth & Lizzie, had very similar but obviously different names (which went along with the storyline, but I was constantly forgetting which one was the older aunt and which one was the younger one). Beth's big "secret" was very obvious to me from the very first page, and it drove me crazy that she was making such a big deal out of something so small (and add to that the fact that she was encouraged to lie about it, and that she agreed to keep quiet about the true details).

The other two stories were much more enjoyable and believable for me. I don't really like reading holiday specific books, but this one was pretty nice.

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Christmas Crochet for Hearth, Home & Tree: Stockings, Ornaments, Garlands, and More by Edie Eckman

Christmas Crochet for Hearth, Home & Tree: Stockings, Ornaments, Garlands, and More by Edie Eckman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Edie does it again in this modern collection of crochet projects designed for the holidays. They are all designed in Edie's characteristic style of easy, modern, simple enough for a beginner (for most designs) but not boring in any way. Most Christmas craft books are filled with things that are only OK - but not anything you'd ever actually MAKE - but this one is different.

All designs are well photographed, special stitches are explained within the pattern itself, and some of the patterns include charts - a must in today's pattern books.

(netgalley)

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