Deb’s Gift Book Recommendations and Giveaway!

When my friend Deb offered to curate a Holiday Gift Guide featuring books, I was pleased but I wouldn’t say I was excited about it. That was before I read her contribution. Deb has a special gift for capturing the spirit of a book in a way that gives you a taste without giving anything away. Enjoy Deb’s recommendations and be sure to enter her giveaway at the end by sharing your own favs! Meanwhile, I’ll be on Amazon ordering some of these…

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One of my favorite things to do is to recommend books, so I was so excited when Susan said I could share some of the books I think you’d enjoy. (Yes, you.) I was going to include some actual
knitting books (since heaven knows I’ve got a lot of them to choose from since I write a blog of knitting book reviews), but decided to go with books that are more fun to curl up with without needles in your hand. Perfect for a snowy day, a lazy afternoon, or a cozy night.

Or, you know, for when you’re recovering from the holidays.

Basically, there all just good books.

In no particular sequence:

Epitaph for a Peach
by David M. Masumoto
Beautiful. Elegiac. Poetic. Wistful. Evocative. Just . . . a beautiful read. I stretched this book out over a month when I read it, just to be able to savor it. It is a memoir of a year on the author’s farm as he struggles to save his heirloom peaches in a marketplace more interested in durability than in taste. Not only does he write beautiful prose, but I could almost taste those Sun Crest peaches. Absolutely wonderful memoir.

 

 

 

A Life in Stitches: Knitting My Way through Love, Loss, and
Laughter

by Rachael Herron
Best known for her knitting-themed romances, this book is a delight of heartwarming essays. They’re touching, funny, entertaining, and just truly a good read. She’s such a good writer, I never get tired of it. In fact, I liked this book so much, I bought a paper copy and then bought a second copy for my Kindle. Her writing is heart-felt and vivid and rings true not just for knitters, but anybody trying to feel her way through the world. (Her first book is How to Knit a Love Story.)

 

Phoebe’s Sweater and Freddie’s Blanket
by Joanna Johnson, illustrated by Eric Johnson
Two of the sweetest picture books you’ll ever want to read. These are produced by this husband/wife team, and I do mean “produced.” Joanna writes them, Eric illustrates them, and together they run their own publishing company to create them. And they’re awesome. (The books, I mean … but, the people, too.) Both books start with a sweet little story. Phoebe is a mouse whose mother knits her a beautiful sweater when she becomes a Big Sister. Freddie is a platypus who can’t get to sleep at night without his special blanket. The illustrations are amazing, with so much incredible detail. You can (and should) sit and pour over them because there’s so much detail. But then each book gets even better–because after the story, come the patterns so that you
can knit these for yourself or your child. Not to mention dolls of the characters with their own scaled-down versions of the knits in the stories. If you have a child in your life (or even if you don’t), you
MUST check these out.

 

Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep & Enough Wool to Save the Planet
by Catherine Friend
I know, you’re already reading about a woman’s adventures on a farm with sheep (why else would you be here?), but it never hurts to get a different perspective, and this book was delightful. The author was convinced by her wife to buy a farm (told in an earlier book), and now spends her days caught between writing and helping with the sheep … except she’s still not entirely sure WHY. What good are sheep, really? And so she begins her exploration of wool and the things you can do with it and suddenly,
she’s a convert. She’s “of” sheep now, like a Spanish person is “of” Spain, and the journey and explorations on the way? Fun.

 

Fifty Acres and a Poodle: A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on
a Farm
by Jeanne Marie Laskas
Another farm-memoir. Here, the author falls in love and decides to move to the Pennsylvania countryside with her boyfriend, even though neither of them has ever run a farm before, and then of course,
hilarity ensues. It’s heart-warming and wholly enjoyable reading. There’s a sequel, too.

 

Extraordinary Chickens and Extra Extraordinary
Chickens
by Stephen Green-Arnytage
I had to include these, if only because I knew Susan would love the amazing photos of beautiful chickens (Because we know how Susan feels about exotic chickens.) This is eye-candy at its best for chicken lovers. (It doesn’t hurt that he has an “Extraordinary Pigs” book, too.)

 

Still Life with Chickens: Starting Over in a House by the Sea
by Catherine Goldhammer
After a messy divorce, this now-single Mom had to move to whatever house she could afford, and the only way she could convince her daughter was by promising her that they would have a yard so she could get chickens. Do I need to say more? You know, other than that I really enjoyed reading this, and that their trials and tribulations as new chicken owners were entertaining?

 

The Case of the Missing Marquess

by Nancy Springer
These are written for younger folks (like middle-grade/young-adult age), but oh! They are so much FUN. They tell the story of Enola, the much younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes, who runs away when they threaten her with boarding school. Being as brilliant as her brothers, she goes to the last place they’d expect–London. I can’t tell you how much I loved this series of six books. I wanted to cheer every time she outsmarted her brothers. I started the first book with grave misgivings … I mean, a SISTER for Sherlock Holmes? The purist in me had doubts but … oh. Fun, fun, fun. I’ve read the entire series three times now, and it’s been less than a year.

 

Expressive Photography: The Shutter Sister’s Guide to Shooting from the
Heart
by the Shutter Sisters
We all like good photography like Susan provides here, but maybe your own photos aren’t quite up to snuff? Maybe you want to improve your skills but you’re not interested in learning about f-stops and apertures and lens focal lengths and all that other technical stuff. You just want to improve your eye for a good picture. Well, this book is charming, with some of the sweetest photos and tips on what to look for. It’s not a ‘how-to’ book, exactly, because it’s not about equipment and jargon. It’s about figuring out a new way to LOOK at the world through your camera.

 

Nine Coaches Waiting
by Mary Stewart
Actually, it was hard picking just one of Mary Stewart’s books to mention to you. If you’ve never read her delicious blend of romance and mystery, well, you should. She started writing decades ago and her books are gentle little mysteries with exotic locales, scrumptious food, and always a brave heroine. They’re not gritty, hard-edged mysteries, they’re not even all murder mysteries–but they’re wonderful, atmospheric, and charming. This particular one has always been one of my favorites, with its Cinderella-like parallels, but almost all of them are a delight. (And, of course, let’s not forget her Merlin series which retells the story of King Arthur and is a classic in its own right.)

 

Learning to Swim: A Novel
by Sara J. Henry
This is a page-turner of a book with SUCH a good story. I mentioned it on Ravelry when it came out (and even interviewed the author) and am still spreading the word because it’s GOOD. It begins when Troy, riding the ferry home, sees what she thinks was a person fall overboard from a passing ferry and, without thinking, dives overboard to help. She finds a little boy drowning in an oversized sweatshirt and gets him to land but when they arrive–there’s nothing. No worried parents, no emergency crews. Nobody who appeared to miss him. So she begins to wonder … did he really fall overboard? Or was he thrown.

And, folks? That’s just the first chapter!

 

This was fun! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. (Honestly, I could keep going.) Now–go to your library, grab your ebook reader, or head to your favorite bookstore and start reading! They all make great gifts OR excellent rewards for you for getting through the holiday season.

Now, as a prize? I’ve got LOTS of books, and I periodically weed out my library (much as it pains me), and I’ve got a pile of about seven knitting books looking for a new home. If you’re the lucky winner, they could be yours! All you have to do is recommend one of YOUR favorite books. (Because, hey, a devoted reader such as myself is always looking for recommendations.)