DEAR

Remember in the Ramona Quimby books when Ramona had "Drop Everything and Read" and "Sustained Silent Reading" in school? That's my plan for this week. Since the time change, every time I get in bed with a book, I fall asleep instead. I've been trying to read The Night Circus for weeks! This week, my husband is off of work, and I should have a little bit more free time. Let's see how far I can get through the big stack of books on my nightstand.

More on Bookstores and Reading

So we saw Ann Patchett speak on Monday night. Author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder, Patchett has made the news lately by opening up an independent bookstore in her hometown of Nashville.

Patchett opened her store to fill a gap left by the closure of two major chains in Nashville. Like Pittsburgh, like towns all over, the major chains had come in, decimated the smaller stores, and then collapsed when they couldn't match Amazon. Certainly, that has been the case for me. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill had an independent bookstore. Then Barnes and Noble came in and the bookstore closed. Then Borders came to Shadyside. And now both that particular B&N and Borders are gone.

So I've filled that gap with Amazon and my Kindle. Is it ideal? In many ways, yes. It's instant gratification. It's lower prices. Patchett offered a list of books that she's recommending to her customers, and I ended up getting them on my Kindle, because I have no local bookstore. Have I contributed to this problem because I use Amazon? Sure.

But, what Patchett pointed out is that while she has nothing against e-readers and reports that her husband actually reads more on his e-reader than he ever has before (something that is proving to be true with my husband as well), her sales of State of Wonder have been split evenly between Kindle sales and hardback sales. And the people who don't want to read on e-readers deserve a bookstore, a place to go. The book is not dead. The bookstore is a community.

(And I can't help but point out that the same is true of the Local Yarn Store. You can buy all the Knitpicks you want, but if you want help, if you want to meet fellow knitters, if you want community, the best place to get it is your local yarn store. And since I see so many of our customers at the Arts and Lectures series, I know that knitters and readers are of the same tribe and can understand this.)

So where is my book community? For now, in my neighborhood, it's my library, which deserves all the help and money we can give. When we go to Jackson, I am delighted to spend my time and money at Valley Books, an excellent, well-curated independent shop. 

I don't know if we'll ever get an independent shop back in our neighborhood, but the ultimate message of Patchett's lecture is to READ, to support authors, and support communities of readers.

Ann Patchett on the Bookstore

I have a lot thoughts swirling around in my head about this, but for now, here's what Ann Patchett, who I saw speak at Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures last night, has to say about her new bookstore:

"I actually think that this is really going to work. The day of the small independent bookstore has returned. It's the giant bookstore that can't be sustained," she said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11323/1191020-44.stm#ixzz1eU01siAV

Clara Parkes Knows My Name

My coworkers used to tease me that if there were the equivalent of US Weekly for knitters, I would be all over it. And I admit, I get all fluttery and tongue-tied in the presence of "knitting celebrities." (To writ: omg Jared Flood Touched My Hand!)

I always have been simultaneously fascinated and horrified, and okay, jealous, by the way Steven barges up to knitting celebrities and then manages to make friends with them. Jokingly, the last time he took a class with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, I repeatedly texted him "Tell the Yarn Harlot my name!" And so "Tell [insert name of famous knitter here]" has become our running gag.

Still, imagine my surprise when Steven sent me this gift from Rhinebeck. It's an autographed copy of Clara Parkes' The Knitters Book of Socks.

Clara Parkes knows my name!

Thank you, Steven. I miss you lots, Work Brother.

Under the Porch

Some kittens from under the porch

My mother had this tough old broad of a Manx cat named Feather. Feather was our Cat Matriarch. Every few years, she'd give birth to a litter of kittens (please, no Bob Barker Flames; this was a barn cat in the 1970s). Before she went into labor, she'd disappear, usually under the porch, and then emerge a few days later with the kittens.

That's the way I'm feeling. Nature is telling me to get under the porch.

But there's only so much hiding one can do with a family to take care of. Henry and I have been watching Dancing with the Stars, and I've been sitting on the couch casting on for every sock pattern imaginable while he explains the complexities of Lightning McQueen to me.

Start 'em young

I've been working my way through Melissa's dvd of Knitting Around with Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen, and The Toddler (who is soon to be The Preschooler, good grief!) likes to watch it with me. See, he loves Elizabeth Zimmermann. Even before he was talking barely at all, he'd grab my copy of The Opinionated Knitter and page through it, pointing out "Sweater! Grandma! Red!" So the other night I wasn't feeling well, and we crawled into my bed and I flipped on the Aran Coat episode. After a few minutes of careful study, The Toddler turned to me and said "Dis is 'bout coats. I'd like to watch de one 'bout mittens."

Well! It's good to know what you like early on in your knitting career, even though you don't have the fine motor skills to knit yet!

The "books" part

It’s with a mixture of sadness and exhilaration that I write that the formal “books” part of my books, cats, yarn life has come to an end. At the risk of sounding trite, after a lot of soul-searching, I came to the decision to withdraw from my Ph.D. program. I am grateful for every single class I took, the exceptional lifelong friends I made, the amazing professors who taught me, and the joy of discovering my dissertation project (a subject that I will always love), but in the end, I do not think I am suited to follow an academic path. It’s exciting and scary at the same time to be at this point in my life, but I look forward to seeing what’s next.

Books will always be a great love, particularly now that I can read for pleasure without guilt! As for the yarn part, I’m increasing my hours at the store. I’ll be there most Tuesday afternoons, Friday during the day, and Saturday, with some other days sprinkled in there as needed. It’s a time of transition, and I have to admit, as much as I know that this is the right decision for me and my family, it is closing the door on something that used to be very important to me.

Random stuff

If you're as perplexed by some of The Drama on Ravelry lately as I am, check this out for a most excellent laugh.

And now, for a "book" part of this blog, I recently became an "advance reader" (actually, I'm not sure what my title is) for Random House. This means that every so often, I'll get some advance reader copies or uncorrected proofs of upcoming books in the mail, and in return, I am to blog about them. If you click on the Good Reads widget on the side of the blog, you'll see a link to the non-fiction selection, The Billionaire's Vinegar. At some point, I'll post an actual review.

Also at some point, I want to blog about my Noro sock experience thus far. If you've knit with this, I'd love to hear your comments.

Finally, it's primary day in Pennsylvania! Be sure to vote!