Reading and Knitting (and Crochet, too!)

I've been spending time listening to audio books and podcasts as I play with yarn lately. Both are helping me to expand my horizons and connect with the world around me; because here, in the middle of life, when I read an actual book, I fall asleep! 

I have always loved non-fiction, but fiction re-entered my life when my granddaughter joined a reading club this past spring, and I asked about what she was reading. I hopped on Libby to see if any of "her" books were available as audio-book borrows, and lo-and-behold I now read young adult fiction! 

I have also rediscovered the books of my youth. Stories and authors I am comfortable with, in the way that I might be comfortable with a friend I haven't seen in 20 years but have bumped into while shopping. The books I read in the open, and some I hid inside textbooks, a little embarrassed that someone might "catch" me reading them. Catching up has been fun, and I kind of love not having to write the book reports. ;) But I have noticed some things...

In YA fiction, there are an impossible number of "devastatingly handsome" young men. There are also freaks and geeks, to be sure, but the hero is usually not that, and his appearance (and his kiss) makes a love interest go weak in the knees. Lol...

Language has changed since I was a young adult. There are more 4-letter words in the newer YA fiction (especially those that start with an "f"), which makes me uncomfortable, but which also seems to be the way of the world. I know this is the way young people (and older people) talk these days, but I don't like to think about my grandchildren with potty mouths...and these characters could be my grandchildren.  

Love is nearly always complicated by a problem that could be easily solved by a simple, face-to-face conversation...which has always been a problem in the world of entertainment. C'mon people. Couldn't the girl just say to the boy, "Hey. I saw you talking to Karen. What's up with that? It sounded like you two have something going on."? That might not solve all of the heartache, but some angst could likely be avoided. (I may have notes for Hallmark movies, too...oy!)

In the older fiction, the comfort from my youth, while the language is often tamer, characters and authors are sometimes problematic. They are also reflective of the time in which they were written...a fictional history of real-world problems. This doesn't make them bad, and it doesn't mean that we should ban these authors, stories and issues...and even though the world is re-thinking the attitudes expressed (which it should), it does not nullify their past and present existence.

As I read with the pre-teen and with the little kids in my life, I hope I will be wise enough to foster real conversations about what might work (and what might not) in the books we read. I hope we talk about why older books might be problematic now, and why they weren't then, and I hope they learn how to respect others and practice kindness when they can. I look forward to sharing ideas and favorite books as they learn and grow and develop their own thoughts and opinions in their ever-expanding world, and to seeing each light-bulb that goes off in these early-readers!

When they are ready to learn to knit, I'll be here for that, too! Have you read any good books lately? I'm currently re-reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and The Girls by Emma Cline (YA fiction, fyi and lol).

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit (and Read) in Good Health!

Dishcloths and Toys are great projects to read with!