Books and Apologies

Sorry for the lack of posting lately- things are crazy here, what with yarn decisions and selections and project breakdowns and orders, and early Thanksgiving meals, and getting ready to leave on Tuesday. Once we get to California, things will slow down a bit (they have no choice but to slow down, since I can't do Fair Isle knitting on the plane). I promise that I'll post more regularly, and with more ocean.

In the meantime, I ordered Storey's 101 One Yard Wonders. I don't have much (any) time to sew these days, but eventually, I'll get the machine back out. And when I do, I know I'll be making many of the fun projects in this book. The 101 One Skein books have been wildly successful for Storey (I've contributed to 3 of them, including the new one coming out soon), and I wish equal success for this branch of the franchise.

Though I've praised him before, I don't remember if I mentioned Neil Gaiman's Coraline here on the blog. It's an intense book, with a story line that is much less gentle than many children's books (I haven't seen the movie yet, but plan to soon). Last week, I read The Graveyard Book, which, in terms of intensity, is Coraline x10. In a nutshell, it's the story of a young boy who barely escaped the murder of his entire family, and who was raised and protected by ghosts in a graveyard. To tell more would be to give too much of this amazing story away. It's like no other book I've ever read. And it won this year's Newbery Medal.

A caution about the story: while it's aimed at younger readers, I would be wary of recommending it to anyone too young. Voracious Reader is eight, and she reads far above her grade level, but I think I'll hold off giving it to her for a couple of years. Older readers, those ready to handle the fact that real evil exists, will love it.

Oh, and the ending made me cry.