Happy 4th!

I hope all the Americans are enjoying a fun Independence Day, and that all the Canadians had a great one over the weekend. Everyone else, happy Wednesday!

I apologize for my lack of a book review, and it will probably be at least a few days before there is one. I've been reading a lot, I swear - in fact, I spent most of my weekend camping trip with my butt in a chair and my nose in a book. Dorothy Dunnett's The Game of Kings is proving to be very time-consuming. It's a good book and I'll absolutely finish it, but getting there is taking me longer than I expected. It is dense and confusing and I really want it to be a tv series, preferably from the BBC or HBO.

In addition to this historical novel, I'm also reading a bit of chick lit and listening to an audiobook, so I'm bound to finish something and review it sooner or later.

In other book-related news, you may have noticed the new little pink banner on my sidebar. I just recently found the Insatiable Booksluts blog, and they are hosting a reading challenge in which participants compete to read the most pages by the end of the year. There are various giveaways along the way, which is good because there's no way I'm going to win this thing and it's nice to have a chance at a consolation prize. I'm doing what I need to do to qualify, but not changing my reading habits at all (like reading only books that go quickly. Obviously.) Anyhow, it's all good fun!

This morning, I impulsively signed up on NetGalley to get free pre-pub ebooks to review. The publishers pick and choose who to give the books to and I probably won't ask for many (because dog knows I don't need to add to my to-read list!) but I thought it would be fun to try. And they have knitting books, which are always welcome at my house.

What about you? Reading anything interesting? Participating in any contests? Writing filler posts on your blog to deflect from your sorry lack of content? Do share!

Sunday Knitting

Here's my latest knit-on-the-bus project.

It's hard to get good pictures of socks that are such dark colors!

These are part of my ongoing effort to knit socks that are practical (i.e. not bright orange). Don't get me wrong - I love my impractical, bright socks. I just need a little balance in my foot wardrobe.

These are just plain stockinette with an Eye of Partridge heel. I used basic instructions from Sensational Knitted Socks, my go-to sock book. The yarn is Regia Design Line Random Stripe by Kaffe Fassett.

I'm feeling unreasonably proud of myself for already using 2 of the 3 skeins of sensibly hued yarn I bought in March, and I should continue on to the third, but I may wait. As usual, I want to use the summer to catch up on knitting and darning socks and though I'm closer than usual to my goal this year I want to put a little extra effort into my Les Miserables wrap. It's grown quite a bit since that photo, and I'd really like to keep the momentum going so I'm thinking of working on that during my bus commute.

Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska by John Green (2005)

Miles Halter reads only biographies because he is fascinated by last words and has memorized those of many famous people. Hoping to find his "great perhaps," he leaves his safe, boring life behind and enrolls in the same boarding school his father attended. His roommate, known as The Colonel, soon dubs Miles "Pudge" and introduces him to his friends Takumi and Alaska (apparently at this school you require a nickname only if your real name isn't unusual.) Under the watchful eye of their Dean, a.k.a. The Eagle, the group bonds over cigarettes, strawberry wine, and an ongoing series of pranks. But it's not all lighthearted fun, and soon Miles and his friends are hit by a shocking blow that leaves them reeling. Their homework takes on new meaning as they struggle to answer the question, "How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?"

I liked the dynamics between Miles and his friends, including his romantic interest Lara. He had an intense crush on Alaska from the moment they met, but she already had a boyfriend so he pursued Lara while still trying to get to know the mysterious and secretive Alaska. He liked Lara but didn't treat her especially well or have much consideration for her feelings, which was pretty believable. The time the friends spent together actually made me a little nostalgic, as their evenings of getting drunk on bad wine and philosophizing reminded me so much of my own formative years. The high school experience John Green created here was so genuine, with all the fun and drama and confusion of real life.

Although I did not love it as much as Green's latest, this was a great novel that I could have benefited from reading rather than listening to. The audio wasn't bad, but my mind wouldn't have strayed so much had I been actually looking at the words. As with other books by Green, there were many fantastic quotes and had I read a print copy, I'm sure I would have dog-eared it beyond recognition. I read this for my library book group, and I really can't wait to hear what everyone else thought of it. I think it will be a great discussion.

Slammerkin

Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue (2001)

In 18th century London, a girl on her own is hard pressed to achieve her dreams of upward mobility. But Mary Saunders maintained her ambition after being kicked out of her house for being pregnant, and even after working as a prostitute to earn enough money to keep herself fed and drunk. Mary wasn't educated or patient, nor did she make especially good life choices, but her liveliness and resilience made for a captivating character.

Based on an actual case about which few facts survive, Emma Donoghue (author of Room) created a well-researched and richly detailed historical novel with an amazing sense of time and place. This is exactly what I love about historical fiction: the clear portrait of what everyday life was like. Because of Mary's interest in fashion, there were many descriptions of the tawdry dresses worn by the prostitutes as well as the lush gowns of the upper classes. Daily tasks, meals, and living quarters were also vividly illustrated throughout. As unpleasant a time and place in which this was to live (especially if you are Mary Saunders), I couldn't get enough of these descriptions.

Mary was a fascinating character, and while I didn't exactly like her, I was sympathetic to the conditions of her life. When she made bad choices - which was frequently - it was easy to understand why she did so. She wanted more for herself, and though she was sometimes briefly tempted by the promise of a quiet steady life, her ambitions were greater and her circumstances desperate. Unfortunately, in that place and time there were few options for a girl in her station, and the kind of life she wanted would be nearly unattainable. Mary was not the only character stuck in a life she didn't want; for a while she shared quarters with a slave, Abi, who made even Mary seem upwardly mobile in comparison. Freedom was a predominant theme in this novel (in fact, few of the characters were really free) and in that way it reminded me of Donoghue's very different novel, Room. I'm curious if this theme appears in any of her other work.

Much like with Tipping the Velvet, I've been wanting to read Slammerkin for several years before finally picking it up last week. That's not the only similarity to the Sarah Waters novel either - this look at London's underbelly was every bit as lush, detailed, and satisfying. I'm so glad I finally read it!

Sunday Knitting

All was going smoothly on my re-knit of the Puff-Sleeved Cardigan peplum until I reached row 17 of the 20-row lace pattern. Suddenly I didn't have the right number of stitches in ANY of the repeats, but I just fudged it by doing a k2tog instead of a k3tog in each repeat. Then on row 19 I saw that each lace repeat begins and ends with a yarnover, but the next row doesn't indicate any special treatment in these areas -such as knitting the first and purling the second, or knitting the second through the back loop - even though you can't knit two yarnovers in a row. I became suspicious. I've made this sweater before. I went on Ravelry and looked at forum posts related to this pattern. I saw a couple from me.

Oh.

I had forgotten about this.

It's the Peplum of Vexation.

I just winged it like it did last time, but it still looks wrong, like it did last time. And like last time, there is STILL no update to the errata even though the lace chart is obviously wrong AND people have emailed the designer. I have become annoyed all over again.

But hey, the peplum is done! Again!

Here is my new, improved, shorter cardigan.

Now, just to make the button bands and sew on the buttons, tasks that I am not at all looking forward to.

How to Be an American Housewife

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway (2010)

Shoko understood from a very young age that her best hope for the future was to make a good marriage. World War II brought lots of opportunity on that front, and she married an American soldier and left Japan. Trying her best to assimilate, she heeded advice on American cooking, housekeeping, marriage and customs from a book called How to Be an American Housewife. But her break with Japan wasn't a clean one, and years later when her health has failed, Shoko wants more than anything to make amends with her brother Taro. She isn't well enough to make the trip to Japan, so convinces her daughter Sue - Suiko - to go in her place. There Sue learns long-held secrets about her mother and finally begins to understand her more than she has from a lifetime of being her daughter. 

After Shoko came to the US she had many difficulties fitting into her community and forming friendships with Americans, no matter how hard she tried. The cultural differences with which she struggled were embodied even in her relationship with her daugter. Sue is a completely different kind of woman, born and raised American in every way, but not necessarily better at it than her mother. She too has struggled at being a housewife, finding herself divorced with a child. Neither woman understands the other though, of course, they are more alike than they realize.

The fictional book excerpts ranged from the helpful to the hilarious. My favorite was the passage explaining the personality characteristics of men with certain blood types and urging women to check the dog tags of military men to find out if their type is compatible before getting involved. But many passages were also nice illustrations of the clash of cultures with which Shoko struggled, and I really liked their inclusion in the story.

Despite the heavier focus on Shoko, including her bittersweet early relationships and complex marriage to Charlie with only brief attention to Sue's marriage, both characters were compelling and both struggled with the same challenges in finding happiness. Dilloway deftly wove the past and present together into a lovely exploration of a mother daughter relationship that was a pleasure to read. This is such a promising debut that I'm really looking forward to her new novel, out in August. Check out the gorgeous cover!

Girlchild

Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman (2012)

Rory Hendrix lives in a trailer park with her single mother. It is a hopeless place, and Rory is determined to get out and make a better life for herself. She takes guidance from the Girl Scout Handbook, which she checked out of her school library so many times that the librarian finally withdrew it and sold it to her for 10 cents. Her story is told through a hodgepodge of memories, social work reports, word problems, fake Girl Scout badge guidelines, a couple of completely blacked out chapters, and a cocktail recipe. 

The story is one I've heard before: a young girl living a hardscrabble life riddled with abuse and broken dreams. What sets this novel apart is how that story is told. Although there are some events that happen in a particular order, it's more like a picture of what her life is like than a story in the traditional sense. Frequently I don't like that sort of novel, but this flowed well and the very short chapters made it quick to read, and I really enjoyed the untraditional elements. They were all a little satirical, like the cocktail recipe that calls for "equal parts sweat and heedless disregard" and the Girl Scout badge for puberty, which includes this required activity:

"Forget to change your pad long enough to allow a silver-dollar-sized spot of blood to leak through to the seat of your pants. Intermediate: Have a boy notice the spot before you do. Advanced: Have the boy who notices it be the one you secretly have a crush on (or his best friend)."

But the novel doesn't rely on gimmicks; these elements only enhance Hassman's writing which is spare and concise, yet clever. Describing Rory's hometown, she writes: "Tiptoe up behind Tahoe and put a hand over its mouth. Bear down slowly until it doesn't fight the developers pawing its land. That's Reno." There are many passages worth savoring and I found myself re-reading many of them as I went along.

Although I didn't love the novel the way many people do, I really admire Rory's ambition, and her dedication to Girl Scouting even though, or maybe especially because, her town had no troop and she was doing it all on her own. That is what I liked the most about the novel - it made me want to dig up my old Girl Scout Handbook and start working on the badges I didn't earn the first time around.