Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I have been relaxing today after the first week in my new job. No knitting has been done today though as I have been finishing Pegasus Descending by the wonderful James Lee Burke. I just love the way he writes, the way he really gets you inside the skin of Dave Robicheaux, which is not always a pleasant place to be, but is never, ever dull. Complex characters, complicated plotting and wonderful writing - if there was ever a crime writer I would like to be able to emulate, I think it would be James Lee Burke. Well, it's something to aspire to anyway.

So, now I have a dilemma. Pete picked me up a couple of books in a charity shop yesterday, both of which I want to read right away. I have a choice of Echo Park by Michael Connelly or Sharpe's Fury by Bernard Cornwell. I could also read any one of the many books in my TBR pile, but I love Harry Bosch, and I haven't read a Sharpe in quite a while so I'm torn. I think maybe I'll read the Sharpe first as the style is so different from JLB, and I try not to read similar types of books one after the other if I can help it. While Connelly and JLB are very different writers they do both feature American detectives, both Vietnam vets, both a bit maverick. Richard Sharpe is of course none of these things, so I guess I'll start with him.

Of course because I very rarely read only one book at a time I am also reading Triggerfish Twist by Tim Dorsey. This is a blackly comic crime novel set in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, bit like a Gulf Coast Carl Hiassen. Very funny, ironic and twisted. Also its a paperback and therefore suitable for carrying around in my bag for a spare ten minutes reading at lunchtime.

I am currently between knitting projects, which always makes me a bit twitchy. I could re-knit the first crenellated toe-up sock, or re-start the front of the crossover cardigan I started way back in about May (I've knitted the front of this about 4 times already and can't seem to get it right - maybe I should use a pattern instead of just busking it). However none of these is grabbing my attention at the moment. Some time this week I'm going to have to delve into the stash and find something I want to knit. My next day off isn't until Friday though so I may have cracked by then....