Yarn Along

I can't believe it!  I managed two Yarn Along posts in a row!  You can tell it's March Break if I am finding time for this.  I love the Yarn Along over at Small Things hosted by Ginny.  The good news is that I find so many wonderful patterns and books to add to my list.  The not-so-wonderful thing is that I realise how little progress I am making.

Books - I finished Between the World and Me this week (the selection for the Red Couch book club over at She Loves) and I was rather proud of that.  I am not sure what I thought of it.  I found parts that definitely challenged some of my thinking and I would say that I am probably more receptive than most to the message but as a white middle class woman living in Canada, I can't say that I can entirely enter into the world of being black in the urban U.S.  It was the kind of book that stays with you and bits keep coming back.  It certainly made me think. 

I try to have one work of non-fiction on the go at a time.  I won malestrom by Carolyn Custis James from Red Couch so I felt like I should read it.  It's very interesting - exploring the gender roles that we have traditionally been told are biblical and yet, when you dive into the Biblical text with James, may, in fact, not be.  It's not a light read and it's another one that challenges some of my thinking.  The roles of men and women is an area that is hazy for me - I know what I have been socialized to and I know what messages are being presented but at the end of the day, I'm not entirely sure where I fall, other than that there are no straightforward answers and anything that involves oppression is wrong (but I think that the results of the feminist message of the 1970's can be oppressive, too).  It's an interesting read and is challenging me to look at things differently and I love anything that can take a biblical text that I have read for years and see it with a new lens.

I'm also still reading Suite Francaise.  I like it but it meanders slowly and it doesn't seem to keep my ADHD brain engaged very well.  I am determined to finish it - let's hope I can do it this week because I have some other books that are nagging at me urgently.

For readers, I thought I would share a little treasure that I discovered this past week.  I follow Leigh Kramer (editor of the Red Couch book club) and she mentioned that she was interviewed for What Should I Read Next: Book Talk and I thought I would check out the podcast.  Readers might really enjoy it!  She invites a guest who shares three books that he or she loves, two books he or she hated and then the host, Ann Bohmer, suggests three books for the guest to read.  I am really enjoying it.  I don't always connect with the books but I have developed a habit of making sure that Goodreads is open while I listen so I can add books to my "want to read" list.  It's great to listen to while knitting!

In the last week, my knitting has moved VERY slowly.   We spent the first part of March Break visiting my parents-in-law and I had hoped that there would be plenty of reading time but my little man with a bad tummy shortly after we arrived put paid to that.  I am hoping to get some more knitting done over the next few days.  I had hoped to have my leg warmers done by the time we got back from our visit but clearly, that didn't happen.

I can't wait to see what everyone else is working on!