Restingmotion

I finished two books in the past couple of days.  Actually I finished both the same day.

I had been reading Christine Falls by Benjamin Black and really really enjoying it.  It took a while because I limited myself to reading it on the exercise bike and, well, I haven't been as diligent about that activity as I should be.  It didn't matter, the book was fascinating, even if a bit slow and thoughtful at times, and I had no trouble reading it or remembering where I was.  I'm looking forward to his next book, which is newly released.

However, since I didn't decide that this book was a "keeper", the next one will wait for me to get it from the library or audible.  It does strike me as odd sometimes, what I keep and what I don't.  Thank goodness for libraries, although there are enough books I borrow and then want to keep (The Rain Before it Falls comes to mind).  Still it is better than buying and then having to sell or otherwise find new homes for books.  For example  I loved The Cure for Modern Life which I read while G was in the hospital.  I could not put it down and I have picked it up and flipped through sections again and again.  I have read books, even this year, with more beautiful prose, but the writing here fits the characters and the story.  I like the way the author addresses many issues in modern life through her characters, and she does not fall back on "pat" answers when exploring her premise.  What is a good person?  The characters are well developed, and like most of us, they don't see beyond their own little preconceived views of the world.  But each of them is more complex than they appear to the others.  And in the end, you can't tell who is a good person from the superficial facade they present to the world.

But here, I have gotten off the current subject, meaning books I just read.  I also finished Kabul Beauty School which was a joy to read.  Reading this book gave me a feeling for people, for the women in Afghanistan perhaps, whose lives I really could never know at least in my current life,  and about whom the meaningless words in newspapers and scholarly books on current events and political unrest and history never address. In the end, to me, it is the individual stories that are the most important.  Perhaps there is no "great" accomplishment here, and society is not changed, but I continue to believe that is the individual connections we make that are the most important. No I don't understand. But perhaps now the veils over my eyes have seen a glimmer of something else so that perhaps understanding can someday come. Whether or not the endeavor was a success, the book is fascinating, as is its author.  The fact that she is often rash and irreverant, perhaps at times even a bit of an "ugly American" in her insensitivity, these things are also the qualities that allowed her to accomplish so much.   I don't know if the beauty school came to anything.  I don't know if the lives of women in Afghanistan are better than they were or not.  I believe that some women were elected to Parliamentary positions, but I don't know how much bearing this has on the lives of most Afghani women. I do know that the book made me look at the world a little differently.

Progress has been slow on the Shanghai tee because I just haven't been knitting all that much. 

I didn't go to knitting group Thursday night because I was just a
little frazzled and felt like there were too many things at home I
would rather be working on.  None of these things involved knitting.

Friday night we went into NYC for a concert at Avery Fisher Hall. 
Usually I would get a lot of knitting done on the train but not this
time.  G wanted to try listening to a book on tape so I lent him my
Ipod on the trip down and while I did knit a little bit, I spent more
time reading the papers (NY Times and Wall Street Journal) and Eat, Pray, Love. 
I got a Kindle from Amazon for G for his birthday, thinking that the
ability to use a larger typeface would make it easier for him to read,
since he so often complains about how tired and painful his eyes are
after about an hour of reading.  The Opthamologist says there are no
changes in his vision and not much they can do so I thought the large
type would help, but he has trouble managing the device.  Oh well.  I
however found that it was great when we were traveling, or at waiting
rooms and the like because it is small enough to easily drop in my
purse and I can have several books or newspapers on it.  As G watches
me use it, he is thinking that he might give it another chance.

G really liked the book on tape though and ended up using the Ipod on
the way home as well.  I read for a while, but at midnight to 1 AM on
an uncomfortable train, my concentration was a little lacking for
knitting without the aide of a book or music.

Despite the knitting progress, I did want to show you some of the knew
books that have been piling up.  Several relatively new books arrived
while I was away earlier in the month, and I am just getting around to
looking at them now.

 
I ordered Tweed
by Nancy Thomas because I am increasingly drawn to tweedy yarns.  I
have, as I have gotten older developed more of an appreciation for
traditional patterns and tweedy yarns and I just love my Rogue that was
knit in Tahki Donegal Tweed.  I enjoyed reading the information at the
beginning of the book about tweed yarns and there doesn't seem to be a
pattern in the book that I can't imagine knitting for either myself or
someone in my family.  The sweaters are all comfy country sweaters that
I could wear almost anywhere around my home area all fall and winter as
well as through the wet muddy cool days of early spring (which lasted a
little longer than usual this year).

The sweaters in Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece
fit the same need for stylish, comfortable, "country" sweaters which
can work for raking leaves, walking in the woods, browsing the shops in
Rhinebeck or even going out to dinner in the local restaurants which
are becoming increasingly sophisticated culinarily, but still maintain
a country "casual" atmosphere.  I had admired a few of Ms. Lloyd's
patterns before buying the book, and I love the idea that it has
information about handspun yarns, types of wool, and spinning one's own
yarn.  I also find it very interesting and instructive that the
patterns are shown in a handspun version and in a version using
commercially available wool, convenient for those of us who aren't yet
spinning, while also reminding me that I do really want to pick up that
spindle again and perhaps learn to spin.

When the papers came this morning, I immediately put everything else aside and sat down with a cup of coffee to read this article by Luc Sante.  So much of my own feelings about my library are expressed here.