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.)
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To Kill a Mockingbird will always be my favorite, followed closely by the Harry Potter series, which I re-read about every two years.
I love the Elk Creek Novels by Jennifer Chiaverini. About quilters but the way she writes, you feel like you are in the room/house with them. Need to read the first couple books of this series to have the background setting but great reads. Jennifer is great in person also.
I’ve been really into graphic novels lately. I just re-read the complete Maus. It is so perfect. I just picked up a copy last night to give to my dad for Christmas.
Well, what a great way to augment my Amazon wish list, which is where I keep my “to read” book list even if I get them from the library, which I am doing a lot of these days.
Your recommendation of Learning to Swim reminds me of one of my favorite books of all time – The Bone People by Keri Hulme. It’s the story of the relationships between an isolated woman, a mute boy, and his adoptive father set in New Zealand. I started reading that book one night while I was home on winter break from college and I couldn’t stop reading it until I finished it in the wee hours of the morning.
Thanks for the list. I’m adding a couple of these to my reading list. My favorite that I go back to year after year is Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.
If you like cold war spy thrillers, I recommend The Last Super by Charles Mc Carry. Amazon has it.
My favorite book to recommend is a memoir: Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker’s War by Leo Marks. Fascinating look at WWII codemaking/breaking.
My favorite book of all time, A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I first read it in seventh grade and 25 years later I almost named my third child after one of the characters, it has that staying power with me. Favorite knitting book is Handmade Holidays, which was probably one of the first books I checked out of the library when I learned to knit. I wanted to knit EVERYTHING in it but nearly everything was way above my skill level for, um, years. I gave myself a copy for my birthday that year and I’m slowly but steadily working my way through it!
If you like British detective stories, I would recommend anything by Ngaio Marsh. When Marsh started writing in the 1930′s, critics hailed her as “better than Agatha Christie”. I agree–characters are well-developed and interesting without being eccentric; murder without mayhem; vivid locales.
i just read the collected stories of leonard michaels and some of the stories were pretty cool
I admit Im not much of a recreational reader-I tend to spend my time with cookbooks, knitting books, reference books, magazines and newspapers. As a youngster I devoured the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books; but, that was eons ago. My kids are readers-my 14 yr old is hoping for Dark World by Zack something. I do need something that would be great to do at a public reading. I was asked to read my own recent writings from the news site I wrote for but it was all lost when the site expired prematurely…sad. Anyway, if you have some thing to suggest for public reading, bring it on.
My favorite books of all time are Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird. But next on my list is Out of Focus by Eva Ekvall, former Miss Venezuela, who passed away this past weekend of breast cancer at 28! The book is about her journey with cancer. Unfortunately breast cancer still kills a lot of people each year.
I’m reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Cancer Ward right now. I think it’s Russian literature at it’s best. So far, I haven’t had to “try” to read it, like I did with The Brothers Karamazov or War and Peace. I think it’s a fascinating look at communism and society, and people’s moral obligations when the world is falling apart. Fascinating.
I bet you already know these, but my most recent favorites are The Pillars of the Earth and its sequel World Without End. I actually watched The Pillars of the Earth as a miniseries, learned there was a sequel, and pounced the book. I’m really not a reader, so I was shocked to find I couldn’t put the book down. I would read it in free moments, while walking down hallways, down stairs, and — most shocking of all — I would Put Down My Knitting to read. That’s backwards.
I like to read Debbie Macomber’s books especially the ones about Blossom Street, the knitting series.
I love the Elm Creek novels too. I am a big fan of coming of age novels, and one that I recently enjoyed was Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. Thanks for the giveaway!
My latest favorite series is Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series set in Quebec. The first is Still Life, the seventh, A Trick of the Light, was published this year. I got into this series earlier in the year. Now I’ve read them all and am impatiently waiting for her to write the next one.
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. An oldie but a goodie.
I have been re-reading Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. I couldn’t make it through Twilight’s glittery vampireness, but I’ll read about Lestat for hours.
My favorite Mary Stewart book not in a series (of course the Arthur series is great!) is “Airs above the ground” about a long lost Lipizanner horse found in a traveling circus and how he came to be there. Having seen the Lipizanner’s perform on several different occasions, this was a natural for me.
LOVE the recommendations. Thank you!
I love the Covington series by Joan A. Medlicott. These are novels about 3 woman who reinvent themselves when they are senior citizens. For knitting mysteries I love Death by cashmere : a seaside knitters mystery by Sally Goldenbaum. This is the first in a series of mystery books about a yarn shop. There is a pattern in each book.
Thanks for the recommendations and the giveaway! I’ll definitely be checking out Learning to Swim–I’m already wanting to know what happens next! I’d recommend Middlesex–I know it’s been out for a while, but I really loved reading it. I’m generally a fan of multi-generational sagas, and this one has a definite twist.
Thanks for the suggestions – added most to my wish list! I enjoyed Kate Jacobs’ Friday Night Knitting Clubs series. Right now I’m working my way through Stieg Larsson’s Milennium series – the first book started off slow for me – but now I can’t read fast enough!
You’ve just made my day! Thank you so much for listing my book. Big grin here. (Also, thanks for great recs! I’ve read quite a few on your list, but that Learning to Swim is new to me and sounds wonderful.)
I’ll always love the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey (I haven’t yet read the ones by her son, Todd… I guess I’m apprehensive). Lately I’ve been more into graphic novels, however–The Walking Dead is pretty good, and is infinitely better than the overwrought, nearly-all-tension-and-drama TV show. I also like the Hellboy and BPRD series.
I tend toward nonfiction. One of my all-time favorite books is Life and Death in Shanghai, by Nien Cheng. The author tells the story of her experiences during the Cultural Revolution, a time of great upheaval and danger in Maoist China. Nien Cheng endured such hardship–six years of isolation in prison, torture, the loss of everything she had–but she endured without bitterness. She tells her story with such grace, that when you finish the book, you feel as though you have met the most wonderful person in the world.
I wrote down a lot of your suggestions, and I will definitely be reading them! For fun, I like the Knitting Mysteries series by Maggie Sefton–the characters are so nice that I am sad to see them go at the end of every book…
Just recently finished the “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. It’s about a young Indian boy who is on his way to Canada with his parents and a bunch of zoo animals on a ship when the ship sinks. It’s his story on the lifeboat.
Great suggestions!
A great recent read for me was The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis — a wonderful blend of facts and lore woven through colorful stories about sailing on and driving around our inland seas. Very entertaining.
I love anything by James Lee Burke but especially the Dave Robicheaux ones. My favourite would be Tin Roof Blowdown. I listen to them while knitting
I’m making a list from your list though lol
Wow, thanks for including our books! Now I have a lovely reading list to work through in 2012, thank you for the great suggestions!
Oh, books. I love books. Hardcover, softcover, e-ink – I love them all! ‘Time and Again’ and ‘From Time to Time’ by Jack Finney are two delightful, thought provoking books that deal with the possibility of time travel and the responsibility thereof. I will certainly add a few from your list to mine. They sound delightful!
One of my very favorites of all time is “The Golden Gate” by Vikram Seth. It’s a novel in verse (690 sonnets, to be exact), which sounds like a chore, but it sucks you right in before you even know it. It came out in 1986–I don’t remember when I first discovered it, but I read it again every few years & always love it.
Snowcrash. Neal Stephenson was ahead of his time. I read it every summer, and it never ceases to amaze.
“The Art of Racing in the Rain” — you’ll love it.
I just bought Weekend Hats which has many good patterns.
Knitted Lace of Estonia…it´s such an inspirational book..and I also Like the DVD it has.
Shadow of the Wind. Read it when I was on a study abroad trip and it made me love romantic style writing (something I typically loathe). I recommend it to anyone who will listen!
I don’t know if I can narrow it down to one favorite book, but I can narrow it down to three. Favorites for me are A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens), Emma (Jane Austin), and All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot).
The latest good book I read is Broken For You an evocotive novel with wonderful quirky characters one of whom becomes an artist making incredible art from broken dishes. I don’t want to spoil anything but this book is about world war II, love, friendship and restoration and more. I hightly recommend it.
To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorites but lately I’ve loved reading the Hunger Games and The Underland Chronicles.
I finished White Truffles in Winter early this morning. It’s about Escoffier and his wife and his loves, but mostly about it’s about food. It is exquisitely written.
I always re-read two favorites from my childhood at this time of year — Pat of Silver Bush, and Mistress Pat by L.M. Montgomery. They give me such a cozy, homey feeling and are full of rich characters.
I really liked the The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change, by Charles Wohlforth.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and of course, The Help, Pillars of the Earth, The Deep End of the Ocean, Harry Potter, Franny and Zooey and almost any mystery.
The best book I’ve read recently is The Book of Night Women by Marlon James. It is the story of a young mulatto slave girl on a sugar plantation in 1800′s Jamaica. The story is horrifying and engrossing and I couldn’t put it down.
Someone else recommended Broken for You, also a favorite of mine.
Thanks for the list. I need some R&R reading and finding something good in odd moments between deadlines is always challenging.
Adding a new one: Walking Nature Home, by Susan Tweit. It’s a memoir involving many strands. I have bought about a dozen copies to hand to people, and that’s not something I normally do.
I just finished Cutting for Stone and really loved it.
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