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!

Young Love, First Love

When I was little, I loved to read. Wait. No. I lived to read! I wasn't a particularly athletic child, and the house I grew up in was not part of a neighborhood with lots of other children to play with, but we had lots of books! I was reading before I went to school, and I drank in the praise of adults who were impressed with my mad skills...it was the beginning of my over-achieving.

As I grew, I found that the books I really loved were how-to books and self-improvement books...all the non-fiction. I also read novels and some historical stuff, but what I really craved was information on how life is done. To give you some perspective on how much I loved books, I used to go to the public library for fun. I would just sit there, reading book after book from the shelves, sometimes not even bothering to check them out or take them home.

In the eighth grade, I met a boy at the library. He also liked to read, and he was the first boy I kissed. He was not a particularly good kisser, but he sure knew lots of stuff and read a lot of books! As these things go in middle school, the relationship soon fizzled, but my library was still there for me, and so I kept reading.

When I first met my husband in the tenth grade, I devoured books about love and dating. I rarely brought these books home, but I stored up knowledge about relationships, and we eventually married. When I was pregnant with my first child, I turned to books and magazines about child development and parenting, and stacked them high on the coffee table for easy access.

Somewhere between the birth of that first child and the business of a young family, my reading dwindled until I was just reading 1 or two magazines a week (along with a LOT of Dr. Seuss!). I found that I didn't really mind, and I took great joy in watching my children grow into readers of everything they could get their hands on, too!

When I worked at the church, I marvelled at Tim's collection of books. Sometimes, when he was out of the office, I would just walk among his books and run my fingers along the spines on the shelves, occasionally taking one down to open it and smell the ink and old paper inside. Sometimes I would even borrow a book, and I would try to find time to read it. Inevitably, as a working mom, I rarely finished a book.

Now that our children are grown, and my life has gone through so many changes, I find myself once again curiously drawn to this first love. Without time to spend in the library on a regular basis, I have turned to my kindle, and I have three books open right now! I still prefer non-fiction, and most of the books on my shelf fall into that category. A new category of both print and digital books that I currently own falls into the knitting realm, and what joy it is to read and knit "at the same time!"

I guess you could say that I have come full circle. Welcome back, reading! I've missed you...where will you take me today?

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