First, the facts:

Title: Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep & Enough Wool to Save the Planet

Author: Catherine Friend

Published by: Da Capo Press, 2011

Pages: 255

Type: Memoir.

The In-Depth Look:

This book gives a whole new meaning to the word “sheepish.”

No, seriously. The author starts off by proposing that, instead of sheepish meaning embarrassed and awkward, we think of it to mean “Of sheep,” much like “Spanish” means “Of or relating to Spain.”

The interesting thing is that, at the beginning of this memoir, she’s really not very much “of sheep” at all. Oh, sure, she and her wife run a small farm and raise sheep. She admits that the lambs are adorable and appealing and that there are worse lifestyles, but she just doesn’t understand the appeal of things connected to sheep. Things like knitting, or spinning. We knitters have all been asked at least once, “Why knit it if you can buy it at Walmart for just a few dollars?”

At the beginning of this book, the author is one of those people.
The difference is that she just happens to raise sheep.

As the book progresses, though, she decides that even if she doesn’t have the passion to help in the field when things get too intense, she should at least be interested in what their sheep can DO. Or, rather, what they can grow. She takes up spinning. She takes knitting classes. She learns how to weave and discovers the wonders of hand-dyed yarn. And in the meantime, she’s researching everything she can on wool. You might already know that wool is flame-retardant and naturally insulating–but did you know it’s at the center of baseballs? Or that you can get wool underwear?

Like any good memoir, the book progresses through some major life changes and growth experiences. (Although it’s refreshing to read a memoir that does not center around a relationship crisis or catastrophe.) The journey here is more about making the most of the life she’s already in, not about giving it up to try another one.

As a knitter/spinner/wool-fan myself, I loved watching the story unfold. The author tells an entertaining story, and each step on the journey comes with touching anecdotes and heart-warming moments blended with a seesaw of self-confidence varying with self-doubt, but always with humor, and always with love and support given to and from her partner Melissa.

By the end? I don’t want to give it away, of course, but I’ll just hint that she’s not going to be mocking people for knitting their own socks any longer.

In fact, “Sheepish” might not only have that new definition of being connected to sheep, but the author might ultimately be feeling a little sheepish for not realizing it sooner. But that’s okay–it make the journey with her that much more enjoyable.

This lovely book can be found at Amazon.com. Go check it out!

This review copy was kindly donated by the author. Thank you!

First, the facts:

Title: How to Knit a Heart Back Home: A Cypress Hollow Yarn

Author: Rachael Herron

Published by: Avon Books, 2011

Pages: 347

Type: Fiction, Romance.

The In-Depth Look:

Second novels are tricky—prone to the “Sophomore Slump” that leaves so many bestselling-first-novel authors stuck with complaints from disappointed readers who didn’t find the same magic in their second effort.

Well, that’s not the case here!

When I reviewed Rachael Herron’s first book, I told you that the romance genre wasn’t really “my thing,” that I thought it was fairly predictable (a genre necessity, I think), but that I enjoyed it anyway.

This book, “How to Knit a Heart Back Home?” It’s stronger than the first, more accomplished, more confident.

The story begins with a car crash. Lucy, a volunteer on the fire squad when she’s not running her bookstore, rushes outside to help and finds herself working in tandem with a man in a leather jacket who seems vaguely familiar.

It turns out that he IS familiar. She tutored Owen in high school and they shared one, powerful kiss the night before he disappeared from town, never planning to come back. Years later, both of them still remember that kiss, but are trying to get on with their lives. Lucy is running the bookstore she inherited from her grandmother, and trying not to fall for Owen again. Everyone around her is warning her that he was a bad boy in high school, and no better now.

Owen, on the other hand, is back in town to care for his mother, sick with Alzheimer’s. Forcibly retired from the police department, he’s recovering from a bullet wound received in the line of duty and anxious to get things done so he can leave again. Except … he keeps being drawn to Lucy.

I don’t want to give away too much. There are a couple of nice cameos from Abigail and Cade, the couple from Rachael’s first book, and Cypress Hollow’s famous knitter continues to reach from beyond the grave to influence the younger generation. (And, my, it seems that everyone in this entire town knits!)

This book can be found at Amazon.com. Go check it out!

This review copy was kindly donated by Avon Books. Thank you!

Other posts for this author:

• How to Knit a Love Song
• http://knittingscholar.com/?p=1644

  First, the facts:

  Title: How to Knit a Love Song

  Author: Rachel Herron

  Published by: Avon Books, 2010

  Pages: 318

  Type: Fiction, Romance.

  The In-Depth Look:

  You DID know that our very own knit-blogging friend had her new novel published, didn’t you? It came out this week. How to Knit a Love Song.

  Romance isn’t my usual genre, but I’m nothing if not supportive of a fellow knitter-writer, so naturally I bought a copy. It came today, and I read the whole thing. (What? Like you didn’t already know that I’m a fast reader?)

  The book begins with Abigail driving up to a rusty gate, ready and eager to claim her inheritance. Her dearest friend and mentor has died and left her a cottage … the problem? It’s uninhabitable, and her nearest neighbor (the dreamy cowboy Cade) is hostile, to say the least. His house, her cottage, and the ranch he runs all belonged to his aunt–a woman who seems to have a remarkable similarity to Elizabeth Zimmermann. She, Eliza, is described as being one of the great knitters of the last century, famous for her ingenuity and fearlessness.

  Against his will, and hating every minute, Cade lets Abigail sleep in his spare room while she gets her cottage set up, and it doesn’t take long for sparks to fly. Cade is furious about his aunt having broken up his property. Abigail is just relieved to finally have a place to call her own, and a chance to get away from her ex. (Well, more of a stalker, really.) She is determined to turn the cottage into a yarn shop, and Cade is just as determined to prevent it.

  Of course, things don’t go as the two of them planned, either of them. There are a series of events that throw them together–a torrential rain, a bat, a stray alpaca, a fire … and they both recognize their attraction.

  Are the basic plot points kind of predictable? Well, yes. Except for some minor details like Betty being a natural spinner, and Abigail’s perfect charm for the farmers at Tillie’s, I wasn’t really surprised by any of the things that happened … but that doesn’t change the fact that it was an enjoyable book. You did a great job, Rachel!

  But, what I really want to know? What happened to Clara after the scene in the alley? And, did Betty ever come back to spinning?

  If you didn’t already know, the book is available from Amazon.com both in paper and in a Kindle edition.

  
  My Gush: Great first novel, even if romances aren’t really my thing.

  Other posts for this author:

  • How to Knit a Heart Back Home
  • http://knittingscholar.com/?p=1494 Not My Daughter tells the story of three teenage girls who stun their New England town by forming a pact to get pregnant at the same time. The girls are all good students, "achievers," as one mother puts it, which just adds to the shock as the ripples and the news spread. ]]>
    

    First, the facts:

    Title: Not My Daughter

    Author: Barbara Delinsky

    Published by: Doubleday, 2010

    Type: Novel

    The In-Depth Look:

    When the review copy for this book arrived, I was surprised. First, because it arrived at our new house on the day we moved in–showing up hours ahead of the moving van, even, and making it the first official piece of mail at our new address–so, that alone was a surprise. But, more … this is a site for knitting book reviews. Why was I getting a novel from Barbara Delinsky?

    Not My Daughter tells the story of three teenage girls who stun their New England town by forming a pact to get pregnant at the same time. The girls are all good students, “achievers,” as one mother puts it, which just adds to the shock as the ripples and the news spread.

    Making matters worse, Susan, the mother of one of the girls, is the high school principal and was once a teenaged mother herself, which immediately calls her ability as a mother into question, not to mention her standing as a community role model. Her daughter’s father comes to lend his support, and some friends immediately rally to help, while others hold off, willing to let the town decide what to do. Suddenly, not only is her daughter pregnant, but her job is on the line.

    

    So, what does this have to do with knitting books? Well, it turns out that Susan and her friends run a successful yarn company, PC Wool, and each of them have their own specialties–designing new colorways, dyeing the yarn, running their store, and heading the marketing campaign for the catalogs. Not only that, all of the main characters (the pregnant girls, their mothers, and even Susan’s estranged mother) knit. They knit a lot. They gather as friends to sit and knit, they carry socks in their purses, they make baby sweaters, they reach for their knitting when they’re stressed … and, there’s a lot of stressful situations in this book.

    I don’t know if Barbara Delinsky knits, but if she doesn’t, she got the compulsive, reach-for-the-needles behavior of die-hard knitters down pat. I don’t know how much her non-knitting readers will get out of, say, the exchange Lily has with her newly-met grandmother about the merits of DPNs, Magic Loop, or two circular needles for socks, but since I am a knitter, it felt perfectly natural to me. And the idea of calling other knitters to come show support to another knitter in distress during the public school board meeting to decide on Susan’s fate as principal? Isn’t that exactly the way the knitting world works?

    I enjoyed reading the book and appreciated the look at pact behavior, and the unforeseen effects. None of the girls ever meant for their parents to get into trouble, but that was exactly the point–at 17, no matter how prepared you think you are, you just don’t know enough to think of everything. The story focused on Susan and her daughter Lily, and while it touched on the other families, their involvement felt peripheral, as if they were more interested in how this whole thing affected Susan, than their own families. (Though it seemed like the repercussions were far worse for Susan and Lily than for any of the others.)

    There were a couple plot points that I thought were predictable, and that the stories wove together a little too neatly. I was torn at the end because part of me loved how all the loose ends tied up in a neat bow, while part of me kept thinking, “How often does that happen in real life?” But that’s not the point. It was a good book with an interesting story, and darn it, it’s nice to see a “clean” ending to a story. Plus the knitting.

    This book is due out on January 5, 2010, and is available from Amazon.com.

    
    My Gush: A good read about a serious subject, but with knitting, everything comes together. ]]> http://www.knittingscholar.com/2010/01/04/review-not-my-daughter/feed/ 1