Books: December 2004 Archives
This was going to be a picture-less entry with a short review of The Shop on Blossom Street that I finished over the weekend. But I arrived home this evening to find a package from the UK on my doorstep. Because I love treats that come from Wales, I thought I'd brighten up this post with a picture of the surprise I got from Marie:
These bright and beautiful colors (not as well rendered by my camera as I might like) were a special treat on a grey and not-so-great work day. (Thanks, Marie! You had excellent timing!) In fact, in this colorway, the Skye makes me think of Koigu on steroids. I'm beginning to have quite a lovely stash of Skye in my closet, soon I am going to have to come up with something creative to do with it.
We now return to my regularly scheduled blog post: The Shop on Blossom Street, by Debbie Macomber
This book was a pass-along from my mother, who picked it up for light reading and because she was curious about the knitting content. The story centers around a woman who has battled cancer setting up a yarn store and getting to know three other women as a result of the first class she offers.
As you might imagine, our cancer survivor and the three other women all come from different socio-economic backgrounds, all have issues in their lives that they are trying to work out (most of which revolve around men and family) and, in spite of their differences, all become friends and work through some of their problems together. By the end of the book everyone has pretty much made it through their difficulties (that shouldn't really spoil it for anyone as similar things are more or less said in the front leaf description of the book). Ah, better human relationships as the result of yarn and knitting!
While the characters are relatively well fleshed out, and it's easy to understand what motivates their problems and struggles, all of them conform to their stereotypes a little too well, and I found it hard to get too deeply engaged by any of them. I kept reading because I was hoping there might be some surprises that effected real character development, but that never really comes. Although there are a few bumps and false starts along the way, the book comes to the end with everyone getting a happy ending.
There are some nice references to current knitting community events, such as the Linus project, but otherwise, knitting related content is limited to the mention of a yarn purchase here or there or the peace and joy found in owning a yarn store. This is probably a good thing, since long-winded technical discussion of fixing knitting mistakes probably wouldn't make for a very enjoyable novel experience.
This book is a great light read for when you are looking for a little brain candy. It was a perfect "right before bed" book to help me relax before I turned out the lights, and would be a perfect read for when you need a little more happy ending in your life.
