A tale of two books

A tale of two books

I finished reading two books Saturday (1/3). One fiction, one non-fiction. One extraordinarily good, one very meh. Here are my reviews, such as they are.

1. Among Others [2011] by Jo Walton was read on my Kindle (paperwhite). 5/5 stars.

This book is completely brill(iant). Seriously. Why haven't I read this author's books before? Have they been magically hiding from me until 2015? Oh my.  

This is an exceedingly clever sort of coming-of-age, adolescent angst, magical realistic, science fiction festival of awesomeness. The thoughts and ideas and experiences of the central character [Mori] are just what are expected from a traumatized teenaged daughter of divorced parents (one of which is a witch) in late 1970s Wales and England.  

The author's ability to turn a phrase while simultaneously reviewing classic science fiction and interpreting teen-aged emotions is incredible, magical, other-worldly... Well, you get the idea. 

If you have not yet read this book, read it now. It's $2.99 on Kindle as I'm writing this! GO! Read! Or, get it from the library or Inter Library Loan! Read it. You'll enjoy every word. 

2. Knitting for Beginners [2014] by Susan Wilters was also read on my Kindle (paperwhite). 2/5 stars.

This is billed as a book for beginning knitters. It has lots of useful basic info in the first three chapters, especially about yarns and needles and so forth. The chapter on actual stitches seems way more than beginner level, though. The ideas that a beginner is going to a) learn from a description in a book, and b) learn to knit and purl pretty much simultaneously, seem pretty insane to me. Teach the newbie the knit stitch. Then use the knit stitch over and over in some simple projects (washcloth? scarf?). Only then should they be confused with the purl stitch, much less mixing up knitting and purling. Seriously. 

Honestly, learning to knit (and purl) is easier via youtube videos and online video knitting tutorials than from a book. Of course, it is probably easier to learn from another human in person but not everyone has that opportunity.  

The fifth chapter included discussion of color theory that was just way out of place and not very useful in the Kindle format I read. It's a beginner book about knitting so color theory is just a major tangent really. 

The last chapter is supposed to be beginning patterns and projects and few of them seem beginning level to me (a beginning).  The washcloth and scarf are far down the list of projects and should be first. Seriously. 

However, I did learn loads of useful things about yarns and needles and sizes and so forth, especially in the first three chapters (of six total).   I was put off by the number of typos, though, which usually reflects more on the editor than the author. Why doesn't someone hire me to edit their books? Honestly, some of those are pretty blatant. 

Since this book was free (it happened to be free as part of a box set on the Kindle a few days ago and Erin K. told me about it), it's worth at least two stars on the basis of those first three informative chapters, but the heart of the matter, how to knit, is probably not delivered in the best way possible in chapter four and beyond that the level is not beginner, but something more advanced than that.

Reading onward

I'm still working on book 3 and listened to one more short story today.

3. Interpreter of Maladies [1999], short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri [audiobook].

The stories are lovely, the writing is elegant, and the narration is superb. The Audible audiobook is narrated by Matilda Novak.

At bedtime (1/3) started two more books.

4. Middlemarch 1872] by George Eliot (aka Mary Anne or Marian Evans) is one of the masterpieces of English fiction, a Victorian novel of social criticism. I am embarrassed to admit that I don't recall ever reading it nor even reading anything by Eliot. Is that possible? Honestly, this surely is not true as I had a solid high school education at E. B. Erwin and we read many books of English literature. Perhaps I just have a faulty memory, which is, of course, quite likely, as anyone who knows me well will attest. This is quite a lengthy book [Wikipedia says 904 pages]  and will take some time to read, I suspect.

5. The Story of My Life [1902] by Helen Keller is likely a biography I should have read long ago as a native Alabamian. Keller is, of course, famously known for her struggle to communicate after losing her hearing and her sight as a very young child and as the first deaf blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. A native of Tuscumbia, Alabama, in this book she recounts her life up to the age of 21. She wrote it while in college at Radcliffe. She lived into her eighties, but it is this book that describes her upbringing and struggles to break out of the shell of silence and darkness that engulfed her as a child.

Clearly, the next book I start reading should be something more contemporary and with a heavy dose of entertainment...