never too old

[snugglekitty]

Recently, I have been gobbling up nonfiction with vigor.

I like a certain kind of nonfiction - written for the layperson (since usually I read nonfiction on topics that are new to me), engaging, but not totally fluffy nor containing errors a five-year-old could spot. I'm always taking suggestions in that category, so suggest away.

First I read Beyond Stitch and Bitch: Reflections on Knitting and Life by Afi Odelia Scruggs. I have mixed feelings about knitting lit. Usually it has patterns mixed it with it, which I find kind of pointless - aren't there enough patterns and pattern books out there? why don't they write well enough that you don't care if there are patterns? I liked this one okay. It was a collection of essays - I didn't initially realize they were all by her. I'm not sure I agree with her assertion that knitting transcends race and class. These days, knitting is a luxury, not a moneysaver. I'm planning to pass this book on when I do a big post on knitswap. I'd give it three stars, since it's hard to please me with knitting books and I didn't hate it.

I followed it up with The Wand in the Word, a collection of interviews with fantasy authors given by Leonard Marcus. I loved this book. He includes a photocopy of something the person actually wrote, and a few pictures of them. He asks them some of the same questions, and they were good ones, like, "What were you like as a child?" "What would you tell aspiring writers?" and "Do you know how your books are going to end?" I found it fascinating. I also loved that he picked good authors - they were mostly people I've read and enjoyed, like Lloyd Alexander, Ursula LeGuin, and Diana Wynne Jones. Four stars. It made me think, and it made me want to revisit a lot of my childhood fantasy favorites. That makes fifty-three for the year.

Comments

[gothtique.livejournal.com]

I had a year or so where I commuted on the train in Boston. I started reading non-fiction, because, well... no matter how boring the book was it was better than staring at people on the train.
I read the biography of Gandi and Elenore Roosevelt, books on the history of Stonewall, 'Conduct Unbecoming" , Some history and art history books... it was well worth the effort.

Trying to find more time to read these days...