my ‘currently-reading’ shelf:
Recently read books, not yet reviewed:
Belinda (Maria Edgeworth) for Knit the Classics
The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Natural knits for babies and moms : beautiful designs using organic yarns (Louisa Harding)
The pregnancy decision handbook for women with depression (Stephanie S. Durruthy)
The birth partner : everything you need to know to help a woman through childbirth
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (JK Rowling)
Blue Shoes and Happiness (Alexander McCall Smith)
Forward the Foundation (Isaac Asimov)
Prelude to Foundation (Isaac Asimov)
The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)
Dark Tower series (Stephen King)
Knitting Around (Elizabeth Zimmerman)
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Wrap Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd
I checked this one out from the library recently. While I don’t like very many wrap patterns I see — the truth is, a lot of them look pretty dorky to me, including the one on the cover of the book — there are some lovely ones in this book.
I’d seen the Shetland Triangle on many blogs (including Grumperina’s) and I think I might like to try something like that… after I test my teeth on a more basic lace project. The Tapestry Garden looks like a lovely felted fair isle project which I’d prefer sans faux fur collar. Lastly, I just might have to knit up the Shoulder Cozy for a quick little item to throw over on cool evenings. (I couldn’t find any links on these latter two; is anyone working on it?
Wrap Style also features a section called “Design Notebook,” with handy tips and instructions for designing your own wrap, in case you want to alter some of the patterns in the book or start entirely from scratch.
To order a copy of this book and support this blog, click here: Wrap Style: Innovative to Traditional, 24 Inspirational Shawls, Ponchos, and Capelets to Knit and Crochet (Style series)
A related Knit-Along is here.
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Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham 
I never really liked the cover of this book, so I resisted it for a long time. Finally, somehow, it wound up on my holds list at the library and I’m really happy it did! This is one knitting book which I actually read, because it is fascinating to hear author & designer Teva Durham’s approach:
“I want my designs to express the deeper meaning I have found through knitting–therefore, I may use symbolic motifs or reference costume history with a hint of ecclastiastical or Elizabethan styling. I believe that with such dramatic and cerermonial elements, knits can explore visual metaphors just like museum-sanctioned art; I seek the subtext in this textile medium.” (p. 7)
Durham divides her work into three approaches: cycles, planes and waves, making for three distinctive sections of patterns. While I personally wouldn’t knit that many of her patterns, I find the writing and descriptions of how she designs fascinating. You know a writer is good when even her acknowledgments page is interesting!
The patterns I might do someday from this book are the ballet t-shirt, the yoke vest, and the corrugated asymmetrical v-neck. Maybe the lace leaf pullover too, the one which has been all overblogland too.
To order a copy of this book and support this blog, please click here: Loop-d-Loop: More than 40 Novel Designs for Knitters
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Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George. I wasn’t a big mystery fan, because I find a lot of the stories poorly written — but George’s work has definitely changed my ideas about this genre’s potential. Her mysteries portray intriguing, multi-faceted stories and complex characters who jump off the page. Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley and his assistant Sergeant Barbara Havers, whose widely divergent backgrounds increase the conflict and interest, are the primary players, but George’s cast of characters includes quite a few well-developed regulars. Although this author spent most of her life in southern California, her mysteries all take place in England and are steeped in contemporary British life.
Deception on His Mind finds Lynley on a well-deserved vacation — the story focuses in on Barbara Havers’ tough yet insecure character. Tensions simmer in a coastal town when a newly-arrived immigrant is found dead on the beach. Through her involvement in this case, which includes her friend and neighbor from London, Havers confronts racial and cultural misunderstandings and sees firsthand what happens when we try to deceive ourselves.
Start with George’s first mystery, A Great Deliverance, and you will be as hooked into this fascinating series as I am!
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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: It astounds me how different this book is from the commonly-held myth in our culture! First and foremost, Frankenstein wasn’t the the monster– he was the monster’s creator. This novel is an incredibly grim and compellling story of science gone awry. Without considering the full implications, the scientist Frankenstein creates life, a huge new “species” of being, out of the parts of dead humans. His creature grows in reason and knowledge and begins to desire companionship. Since humans revile the hideous monster, he is unable to gain friendships and hence turns to vicious crimes in an attempt to manipulate Frankenstein. Throughout, Shelley forcefully shows how events effect Frankenstein’s psychology and feelings, all the while giving us clues into the reasoning and emotions of the monster. This novel is indeed a tour de force psychological thriller, one which I highly recommend. (posted 22 Nov 2006)
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Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift: I appreciated Swift’s smart satire, particularly in the first two sections; however, the final section, A Voyage to the Houyhnhmns, made me sad. The Houyhnhmn way of life did seem much simpler and kinder than human ways. But perhaps my sadness stemmed from Swift’s poor view of humankind, and our hopelessness and lack of reason. A particular passage seems very a propos to our current time — Gulliver’s Houyhnhnm master asks him about the usual causes or motives to war, which does not exist in their society, and Gulliver replies:
“I answered that [the motives to war] were innumerable; but I should only mention a few of the chief. Sometimes the ambition of princes, who never think they have land or people enough to govern: sometimes the corruption of ministers, who engage their master in a war, in order to stifle or divert the clamour of the subjects against their evil administration. Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh: whether the juice of a certain berry be blood or wine: whether whistling be a vice or a virtue […] Neither are any wars so furious and bloody, or of so long continuance, as those occasioned by difference in opinion, especially if it be in things indifferent.
“Sometimes the quarrel between two princes is to decide which of them shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where neither of them pretend to any right. Sometimes one prince quarreleth with another, for fear the other should quarrel with him. Sometimes a war is entered upon, because the enemy is too strong, and sometimes because he is too weak. Sometimes our neighbors want the things which we have, or have the things which we want; and we both fight, until they take ours, or give us theirs. […] poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance. For these reasons, the trade of a soldier is held the most honourable of all others: because a soldier is a [human] hired to kill in cold blood as many of his own species, who have never offended him, as possibly he can.” (p 262-3, Everyman’s Library, 1991)
In my view, our wars today are just as senseless… (posted 20 Nov 2006)
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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte reviewed here.
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At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon: my first read for the Summer Reading Challenge was a sweet, cozy book. It was a departure for me since (as one of the SRC participants labeled it), it could be considered Christian lit. I’m not a Christian, but enjoyed this book thoroughly, so the label is not exclusive. At Home is the first of a series of novels set in Mitford, a fictional small town in North Carolina. Its protagonist is Father Tim, an Episcopal rector “who longs for change — until it happens to him.” Father Tim inherits first a very large dog and then an ornery 11-year old boy. Through the course of the book, we discover many memorable (and some very eccentric) characters. I wound up really appreciating the down-home, common-sense philosophy of the story. I’m already very at home in Mitford and am looking forward to continuing this series (although the next book will have to wait, since I neglected to put it on my Summer Reading Challenge list!) Originally posted 13 June 2006.
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My Summer Reading Challenge list posted on 23 May 2006.
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The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime, Jasper Fforde’s latest novel. Those familiar with his Thursday Next series will enjoy this book too, but I think it’s not nearly as good as The Eyre Affair. The new book introduces Jack Spratt, detective inspector of the Nursery Crime Division, where they attempt to solve mysteries based around nursery stories - the title mystery is about the murder of Humpty Dumpty. The first half of the book was a bit awkward and hard to get interested in. However, the second half redeems it with a faster pace and interesting developments. Fforde continues his usual style of puns, wordplay, subtle sarcasm and slightly off-kilter jokes. Here is a great paragraph describing Spratt’s mother’s cats: “She opened the door within two seconds of his pressing the doorbell, letting out a stream of cats that ran around with such stupidity and randomness of motion that they assumed a liquid state of furry purringness. The exact quantity could have been as low as three or as high as one hundred eight; no one could ever tell, as they were all so dangerously hyperactive.” (p 29) Originally posted on 2 June 2006.
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The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I haven’t read it yet but discussed some interviews about the book on 18 May 2006.
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I finished (re)reading this for the Knit the Classics read/knit along. This was one of my favorite books and I still love it. Austen’s wit and social criticism ring well with me. I got complètement sucked into this book this week, could not put it down! (posted 14 May 2006)
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The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall-Smith. I just re-read this and can still rank it among one of my top favorites! The combination of breathtaking scenery descriptions, intriguing mysteries, sweet humor, and down-to-earth philosophizing by Mma Ramotswe make this book a must-read. (4 May 2006)
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Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (readalong with Knit the Classics) was interesting and sometimes humorous, but I found the second half a struggle to get through. Once Moll turned to thievery to survive, the stories were a bit repetitive. I guess her machinations and manipulations got to be a bit much for me when they weren’t strictly necessary: she admitted to being well-off financially by then but could not stop the game of thievery. (posted 19 April 2006)
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Hello to All That: A Memoir of War, Zoloft and Peace by John Falk (2005), a fascinating memoir of Falk’s battle with depression, reminded me of my own here-now-gone-again depression issues. Falk lives what most would call a charmed life, but finds himself unable to appreciate it. For years he is filled with self-loathing because he cannot make use of the many advantages life gives him:
“I became hyper-aware that I was somehow shut out from whatever it was that made other people tick. What the fuck did I have to do? I had tons of friends, family that loved me, had accomplished things, but it meant nothing. Why the hell did I feel so dead inside? I had tried so long and so hard to keep it together.” (p 114)
For Falk, Zoloft is the magic bullet, bringing him out of clinical depression. However, living with depression for a decade and a half meant he did not learn to fully live and connect with people. He seeks a way to live deeper, fuller experiences, he has to push the envelope in order to catch up on all the living he’s missed. Passing himself off as a war reporter, he enters beseiged Sarajevo, where he discovers that connections with other people — especially through helping others — are necessary elements of his recovery. (posted 7 April 2006)
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Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Fascinating characters, sweet love story, the workings of an interpreter’s brain… all set in the Vice President’s house which has been taken by terrorists — in Central America. Excellent writing and story. March 06.
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The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith is the story of a 30-something (alcoholic) man searching for the autograph of his career. On the way he (drinks a lot,) discusses Zen and Judaism with his childhood friends, (drinks some more,) travels to New York for an autograph conference, (gets completely drunk there,) hurts everyone he loves, and searches for the meaning of life (while completely plastered). Just like real life, huh? The writing is beautiful — both colloquial and lyrical. For a better review check out Powells.com. (posted 26 Mar 2006)
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Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg. 1981, Warner: New York. A sometimes laugh-out-loud, sometimes tearful coming-of-age story, Daisy Fay is a quick read providing interesting commentary of 1950s US society. (posted 07-March-2006)
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Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man who Would Cure the World. By Tracy Kidder. 2003, Random House: New York. A truly enlightening, exciting, sad, and depressing biography of Paul Farmer who takes his Harvard medical school education and devotes it to serving poor, particularly in the high plateau area of Haiti. Sociologically important, the story shows how poverty and political position in the world effect whether and what kind of medical care you have access to. Author Tracy Kidder shows a complex picture of “Dokte Paul,” as his beloved Haitian patients call him, in both his faults and saintliness, but leaves us with a sense of his basic goodness and sanity in an insane world — a world where HMOs and the WHO discuss whether treatments are “cost effective” in poor regions of the world. Farmer brings us a vision of what it really means to see each human being we meet as a whole person, deserving of the best medical care this world can offer. He fights a “long defeat,” but his example shows a way to a better world. Feb 06.
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The Bodacious Book of Succulence: Daring to Live your Succulent Wild Life! By SARK. 1998, Fireside: New York. Handwritten and water-color-painted, all of SARK’s books embody her definition of succulence: “We are each a gift, exactly as we are in this moment, with no improvements!” Thank you Ruth for loaning me these fun and beautiful little works of art! Feb 06.
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A Language Older than Words by Derrick Jensen. 2000, Context: New York. A memoir and environmental treatise in one, Jensen’s beautifully written work shows how our culture and educational system lead to the silencing of our voices. I cried a lot while reading this, but the poignant stories pointed to a hopeful “other path”: one of respect for all creatures and each other. If we could remember how to listen, we might again learn to understand the language of the earth, a language older than words. Jan 06.