January reads

Our dark and gloomy January was perfect for reading and sewing, for learning about new places and learning new software programs. And there was still plenty of time to enjoy some new fiction authors. It was one of those months when I was especially grateful for having access to the best public library system in the country.

These are my favorites for the month:

Fiction

• David Baldacci | Hell's Corner
• David Baldacci | The Collectors
• Vanessa Diffenbaugh | The Language of Flowers
• Tatiana de Rosnay | The House I Loved
• Louise Marley | The Glass Butterfly
• William Sullivan | The Case of D.B. Cooper's Parachute
• Kathryn R. Wall's Bay Tanner mysteries |first two in the series
• P.S. Wall | The Wilde Women
• Kate Wilhelm | Heaven is High

Photography

• Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Photoshop. Love this book. It makes sense of all the controls in Photoshop, putting them into a logical order to follow when tweaking photographs. There are lots of authors writing about Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, but I highly recommend Kelby's PS and PSE books.
• David Busch's Mastering Digital SLR Photography
• David Busch's Nikon D5100 : guide to digital SLR photography (he also wrote one on the Nikon D7000).

Other non-fiction

• Handmade tote bags, purses, wallets | found great patterns and ideas in a dozen books
• Fly fishing in Washington, Idaho, Montana. I especially loved the book on the Olympic Peninsula, as much for the fishing locations as for the ideas for photography locations
• Scott Kelby | CS2 Photoshop book (I've used Photoshop Elements for years, but just got a free copy of Photoshop to play with!)
• Rick Steves | ETBD books and DVDs on England, Ireland, and Scotland