October: Haunting

I haven't been in the mood for horror, so for this month's BAM Challenge I opted for a book that is haunting in other ways.

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about his experiences in the Vietnam War. Part fact, part fiction, they are woven together in such a way that it feels more like a novel than a short story collection. It doesn't matter what is true and what isn't; the important part of this book is the general feeling of that time and place, and the author does a fantastic job of conveying that. The characters, and the author, are haunted by their experiences, and you will be too.

Malabrigo Hat

Lovely, lovely hat. Soft, warm, yummy! Sadly not for me, but I hear my sister is enjoying it.

I used the Top-Down Hat pattern from The Knitting Man(ual), which so far has been worth the price of the book as I have made three hats from it. The yarn is Malabrigo Merino Worsted, and the colorway is such a beautiful blend of greens and blues and reminds me of the ocean. I want an entire blanket knit of this yarn, but I am not wealthy - or patient - enough for that.

There is actually a decent amount of yarn leftover so I want to do something with it. I don't know if there's enough for another hat, but I may try for it.

Last Night at the Lobster: a review

What a great little book! I was just introduced to Stewart O'Nan recently with The Good Wife, and now he's two for two. Last Night at the Lobster takes place at a Red Lobster restaurant in Connecticut, on the last day that they are open before being shut down permanently. Because of the imminent closing, many staff don't bother to show up, and to top it off there's a snowstorm. But the manager, Manny, persists in keeping the restaurant open, determined to make the most of his last day.

The simplicity of this novel appealed to me, as did Manny's sense of responsibility and attention to detail. I loved the descriptions of all the little tasks he performed around the restaurant, from clearing snow from the walkway to clearing tables for the waitresses and appeasing customers. His work ethic is far beyond that of many people I've known and worked with, and was really admirable.

The flip side was the disorganization of his personal life, which he mused over throughout the novel. His girlfriend Deena was pregnant, but he still longed to be back with Jacquie, a Red Lobster waitress. But that was not to be, and his dissatisfaction with Deena did nothing to help him move past it. One gets the sense that conscientiousness he displays on the job is compensation for the lack of direction and responsibility in his personal life.

At 146 pages, the pay off of this novel far exceeds the time investment. If you haven't read anything by Stewart O'Nan, this is a great place to start.

End of September status update

I'm ahead of schedule on the stupid, hateful St. Enda sweater. As you may remember, my goal was to have one sleeve finished by the end of September. Although I do not have one finished sleeve, I have two sleeves which are both almost finished.

I finished the first a few weeks ago, I thought, until I realized that Alice Starmore apparently designed sweaters for gnomes. It looked a little stubby to me, but sleeves always do look funny before you sew them up, and the schematic measurements are all in metric so they are meaningless to me (the US really should go metric, but that's another rant for another day). I trusted in the pattern and after washing and blocking the sleeve realized that not only was the saddle part too short, but the whole dang sleeve was a few inches short as well.


By that time I had already begun the second sleeve so I will finish it and then go back to the first one, rip back the saddle to the bind off, add a few more inches and do the saddle again.


Actually, I only have about 2 more inches of very short rows and can feasibly finish this sleeve by the end of the month (i.e. tonight), thus fulfilling my goal. But who knows what I'll feeling like doing when I get home from work at 9:30 tonight? I may just have a glass of wine and some ice cream and call it a night.

Here are both sleeves side by side, just because it makes me feel productive. The little blue markers on the left indicate where I originally would have bound off, following the pattern instructions. Also, notice how nice the sleeve on the right looks, perfectly illustrating why blocking is so important.

American Wife: a review

Curtis Sittenfeld's new novel is a fictionalized story of Laura Bush's life, but don't let that deter you. As she says in this interview, although it is loosely based on Bush's life, about 85% of it is totally made up.

An epic novel, it spans Alice Blackwell's life from high school until middle age. Alice is a very likeable and complicated character, and the book explores some themes I've thought about a lot, such as how the private lives and opinions of political figures contrast with what they show the public, and the responsibilities of presidential spouses. Charlie Blackwell, her husband, I found much less appealing, and I'm sorry to say he reminded me a great deal of George W. Bush. I didn't understand Alice's attraction to him, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the book, and in fact their complicated marriage provided great food for thought about the way marriages work (or don't work). For the most part I didn't think about the Bush family as I read this, but just enjoyed it as a novel. So if you're concerned about reading a big long book about someone you don't necessarily like, please don't let that keep you from reading this. Sittenfeld is a great author and American Wife is well worth your time to read.

Librarians: Czars of Acceptable Information

So this article is interesting. The piece seems to be saying that librarians are bullies who decide what is appropriate to have in libraries with no consideration for what taxpayers have to say (because clearly, librarians themselves must not be taxpayers.) The major example in the article is a situation in Nampa, Idaho where some people complained about The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex, and recommended that they be moved to the director's office where only those who specifically requested to could see them.

Imagine this. Imagine going to the library and looking up one of these books in the catalog. The call number includes "director's office." Now you have to approach a staff member to ask the way to the director's office. They, of course, question why you need to see the director. You then have to say, "I'm looking for The Joy of Gay Sex." Remember, now, you are in Nampa, Idaho. You are shown to the director's office by a staff member who now knows that you are interested in gay sex, and you need to make the same request of the director. "Hi there, I'd like to look at The Joy of Gay Sex!" Most people wouldn't go any farther than seeing that the book is in the director's office before giving up. Even if you persist, what if it's in the evening and the director is gone for the day and the office is locked? Do you have to make an appointment?

This is all so that children will not come across the book laying about and look at it and see pictures that are not appropriate for them. What people - like the author of the opinion piece - seem to forget is that public libraries aren't for children, they are for everyone. There are a lot of things in the library that aren't appropriate for kids, which is why libraries all have a separate children's section, and why parents are expected to go to the library WITH their children.

Getting back to the bully librarians, the author asks, "Does this sound like democracy in action, the free exchange of ideas?" I would argue that yes, actually, it does sound like the free exhange of ideas. The only way to HAVE a free exchange of ideas is to allow lots of different opinions and views on various issues. If you don't want to read about sex (or worse yet, GAY sex) then by all means don't pick up that book. But shouldn't it be there for someone who does want to read about it? Allowing the few "taxpayers" who complain to dictate that certain things be removed from library shelves, well, that sounds pretty undemocratic to me.

Near the end of the article is a point I've made in a previous thought-provoking post about how librarians do actually censor collections to some extent, based on what they choose to buy or not buy. But then he goes on say "Not only that, they’re regularly removing books from the shelves for being out of date or suffering from a low check-out rate." Which, seriously, are you suggesting we keep out of date books and books that nobody at all wants to read that are just taking up space? And get rid of books that some people may actually want to read (even if you don't)? I really want this guy to learn just a teensy bit about collection development before writing an opinion piece about it.

Actually, what I love the most are the comments. Did you know that making books about sex available is a communist act? And that Russia is still a communist nation? The same commenter also said "Americans won't have immorality paraded in front of children" which totally made me laugh out loud. Has this person turned on the tv lately?

CNS news apparently exists as an alternative to the liberal bias prevalent in the media, so I would expect an article about libraries to take a similar stance (though I'd hope it would be better thought out.) But as a librarian, I am all for the free exchange of ideas and availability of differing views, so carry on.

Yum

I bought this yarn at Windsor Button this week, and it is so luscious! It is Malabrigo, and amazingly I've never used this yarn before. I can't show you the project yet, as it is a gift and not yet ready for public consumption (but if you're on Ravelry, check my projects page - I am threegoodrats - and there is more information and a project photo).

The colors are a bit off in this photo, and my camera has left the building so I can't retake it right now. It should be a little darker, more jewel-toned than it appears. But what the photo does capture is the shiny, lofty, lusciousness. It is a dream to knit with! Don't you just want to touch it?