Think Write Thursday

The Think Write Thursday topic for today is to tell you about a book I wish I could read again for the first time.

I had to give careful consideration to a few books before I arrived at my final choice. The first one I thought of was The Shell Seekers. I always remember how reading it the first time made me feel. It's a family saga with such gorgeous descriptions of domestic life, food, flowers, gardens, and cottages that I wanted to move to England and buy a thatched cottage with a conservatory. (Plus, it's one of my favorite covers ever.)

The next book I thought about was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. This one is also based on a feeling, the delighted feeling of anticipation I had when my local bookseller put a copy into my hands and said, "You must read this." He knew my reading tastes incredibly well and told me to go home, read it, and come back when I was done and we could talk about it. I was back two days later, and I will always thank Larry for introducing me to the wizarding world. The feeling grew when Ryan was old enough to be interested in the books and we attended lots of midnight release parties together at the book store and read the Harry Potter series side by side. Life was good until Borders moved in and Larry just couldn't compete. His knowledge of books was vast, but sadly that didn't pay the bills and I couldn't afford to buy enough from him to keep him in business. 

But the book that I really wish I could read again for the first time (now that I've told you about three instead of choosing only one) is Still Alice. My mother had brain metastases when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and because of this, she underwent many personality changes and had a whole host of Alzheimer's-like symptoms. I read this book seven years after my mother died, but Lisa Genova's writing was so medically and emotionally descriptive that reading the book gave me an incredible feeling of comprehension. Genova is a neuroscientist and Still Alice made me feel like I finally understood what my mother might have gone through, even if she wasn't able to tell me herself. It was a bittersweet moment, but one I truly value.

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Read other Think ... Write ... Thursday! posts here, and sign up for Carole and Kat's great idea here.

Unraveled Wednesday

What a pleasure it is to sit down to write a post, know what I'm going to write about, and have those things (reading and knitting) be important parts of my life. Join Kat for her Unraveled Wednesday and unravel the stories you are reading and share your crafting inspiration – knitting, crochet, spinning, sewing, quilting, weaving, drawing, watercolors ... 

My reading has been the slow savoring of Katrina Kenison's Moments of Seeing. I've read several of her books before and when I came upon this collection of essays from her blog, I knew it was the right book at the right time for me. Her writing really speaks to me, partly because we're in the same stage of life (our kids grown and gone and we're wondering what now?) but mainly because she is simply an excellent writer. Along with this book, I've also been s l o w l y working on my Serena socks. All things in their own time ...

My main knitting has been my Peace Cowl, and it is doing its job. The past week has been a good news/bad news/worse news kind of week, and I've found myself furiously purling and fiercely slipping stitches. I replaced my beginning-of-round marker with a little heart and by the time I reach it, I'm usually calmed down a bit and feeling more peaceful. This knitting paired with listening to The Shell Seekers (one of my favorite "peaceful" books) has reminded me to relax, breathe, and try not to overreact. Not bad for some yarn, needles, a small heart, and an ipod!

What are you reading and knitting this week?

Beartown

Yesterday I mentioned reading Beartown over the weekend, and quite a few people asked questions about the book. It's only the beginning of April, but I think it will be in serious contention for one of the best books I read in 2017, so I'm going to share my review here.

Whatever happens to the ice hockey team happens to the whole town on the edge of the woods. Jobs have disappeared, and tiny Beartown is gasping its last breath. Years ago a hockey rink was built by the men who worked in the factory, and hockey has become Beartown's salvation, but it may also exact a huge price upon everyone who lives there. The junior ice hockey team is readying to compete in the national semifinals and the hopes of the whole town are tied up with the players and their skates.

I really have almost zero interest in sports, but have loved several of Fredrik Backman's previous novels, so even though I thought it was about hockey, I was anxious to read his newest, Beartown. Hockey does figure largely in this novel, but the genius in Backman's book is how well he writes the stories of the characters that play hockey and live in Beartown. I was amazed that Backman could make me care about hockey enough to be totally immersed in the practices, games, and their outcomes, but what he really made me care about is the characters, their lives, and stories.

People like Peter, the general manager of the hockey club, Kira, his wife, and Maya his daughter. Sune, the coach of Beartown's A-team since Peter was a boy, but who is now on the verge of being fired. Kevin, star hockey player, golden son of a wealthy family whose expectations of Kevin become more important then Kevin himself. Benji, Amat and his mother are part of the whole host of people who live and play hockey in Beartown, and each one of their stories and their interactions is remarkable and well-told.

Hockey is the star in Beartown itself, but Backman’s characters are the stars of Beartown the novel. The story can be dark, but the love, sacrifice, teamwork, friendship, and family that Backman writes so well are what make this such a compelling read. I loved A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie was Here, but with Beartown, Backman has matured and improved upon his successful formula of writing about a quirky character to something even more wonderful. This is his best book yet, and may be one of the best books I read in 2017.

My clumsy use of Google translate has produced this wonderful news from Mr. Backman's blog post of March 24:

"Bear City" came out last fall, it is probably the most personal I have written and definitely the most difficult. It is out there in the big pocket now comes in standard paperback in a few months. In late August, I give out the sequel. It will be called “Vi mot er” (We Are Against You) and set during six months after the "Bear City". 

I can hardly wait!

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book.

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Beartown is due to be published in the US on April 25th, and you can enter the giveaway by Atria books here on Goodreads through April 16. I have preordered a hardcover copy so I can re-read it, underline passages, and dog-ear pages. I haven't felt this way about a book since The Nix and The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, and I hope you get a chance to read Beartown if it sounds like a book that might interest you. 

I'd love to hear your suggestions for what I should read next!

Weekending ... Now With More Bees!

It rained here all day Saturday, but that provided me with a great day for reading,

and baking some chocolate chip cookies.

When the clouds began to clear around sunset, the sky was lovely and dramatic.

A sunny Sunday gave me a great reason to knit on the porch, and wander around the park looking for budding trees to hang my knitting on.

I was admiring my grape hyacinths when I noticed lots of movement ... bees! I got so excited to see them that I took lots of pictures. Some of them are hard to find at first, but every picture has a bee collecting pollen. 

This was certainly not a wild and crazy weekend, but a good book, warm cookies, beautiful skies,

 some knitting, and bees sure made me happy. Hope you had a good one, too!

Across America Part IV

Two weeks ago (before the scanner broke), we were just arriving at our primary destination - Yellowstone National Park.

My photos probably look a lot like those of thousands of other families (who may have all been visiting at the same time we were).

We saw thousands of acres of fire damage, but fire is necessary for rejuvenation, especially after decades of suppression.

The West Thumb Geyser basin has hundreds of hot springs, mud pots, and hydrothermal features.

Ryan continued to point out interesting features, like stumps on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. He wanted reprints

of all the stumps he had pointed out on the trip and made his own photo album that he called "Stumps of the West".

It even includes this rare and wondrous petrified wood stump at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Yellowstone Lake is huge, beautiful, and also where we learned about the Yellowstone Caldera.

There were times when the crowds got be a bit too much for all of us, so it was nice that the park also afforded plenty

 of places to pull over and do some quiet fishing. Some of us knit in between our duties as the official fish photographer.

The Grand View of Lower Falls was exactly that.

And of course we had to see Old Faithful. I was proud that after a ranger had explained some of the geology of the park

 to us at Yellowstone Lake, my kids understood that the eruption of Old Faithful was not caused by a ranger

 pushing a button and could explain this to the woman sitting next to us. 

We hiked and saw elk in velvet.

And buffalo up close. I took this photo from inside the RV because of this:

Yellowstone is beautiful and I'm glad we went, yet much of what I remember is crowds and traffic jams. We were there in early July, so crowds were to be expected. We didn't expect traffic jams, but we spent several hours sitting still in traffic every day of the four that we were there. Much of this was due to road construction and maintenance, and traffic also came to a complete standstill every time wildlife was sighted. All of this is understandable (and we were part of the crowds!), but I think I would not try to view Yelllowstone in a vehicle if I were to visit again. I would go in the fall and do more hiking.

One of my favorite times during our visit was when we got up really early on our last day and stopped by Norris Geyser Basin

 around sunrise. It was quiet, lovely, and we were the only one around besides the birds. Ah, solitude and beautiful views.

Next week: A rodeo and the race home.

Hello, April

The Think Write Thursday topic for today is (no surprise here) to write a post called, "Hello, April." 

Piles of snow recede.
While daffodils are budding
The deer help themselves

April, please, no fools.
Just eggs and lovely flowers.
Spring can stay a while.

This next haiku isn't specific to April, but it did spring fully-formed into my mind when I was checking the calendar.

Time flies far too fast
I realized with alarm
I'm sixty in June.

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Read other Think ... Write ... Thursday! posts here, and sign up for Carole and Kat's great idea here.

Number Ten

I finally finished my most recent Hitchhiker, and even though I always say this, it's one of my favorites so far. We've had rain

 all week and it's far too dark to take any decent pictures, but I gave it a try during the six minutes it wasn't raining.

Hedgehog Fibers calls the colorway Eel, but all the eels that Justin has caught are black and slimy. 

It reminds me more of labradorite than eels.

I got the bright idea to attach labradorite beads to each end, but I don't love them. 

They only show the colorful irridescence with just the right light at the right angle, so I may be removing them soon. 

It's soft, has wonderful drape, and has kept me nice and warm in this chilly and damp weather. 

Who knows, maybe my next FO will be something besides a Hitchhiker!

Ravelry details here.

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I didn't write this post specifically with Kat's new Unraveled Wednesday in mind, but since it is about knitting (and I did some unraveling with this project) I'm going to link up with her.

Kat says, "I think this is something we all do rather well – in both knitting and reading. And, while unraveling a book might be less painless than unraveling your knitting – it is necessary occasionally.

I hope you will join me on Wednesdays and unravel the stories you are reading and share your crafting inspiration – knitting, crochet, spinning, sewing, quilting, weaving, drawing, etc." 

So I would encourage you to head over to Kat's for some of her stunning stitching and to join in on Unraveled Wednesday!