WARNING: For my knitter friends, this post is slightly long, and has more to do with the reading goal, but there is some content for you at the bottom. Sadly, no pictures.So the knitting and the reading haven't been that progressive over the last two weeks. I have had a lot going on, but still... I should be able to read and knit at a reasonable pace, right? It ain't happening.
The reading slowdown has occurred because of a lack of interest in the book that I read last week. loway, which is, I'm sure, a remarkable book, was just too... tooo.... something. All over the place. Without point. I'm not quite sure. I only read it because I belong to the book club, and that was the current read. I'm glad I read it, as I've heard much hype about it (especially since The Hours), but I can't say that I was intrigued by it. It was very hard for me to follow, possibly because it was hard for me to get into. I know that Virginia Woolf is a difficult writer, anyway, so I'm not surprised that I wasn't completely enamoured with this book. And, following the Knit the Classics guidelines, I also didn't knit anything for this book. Eh... what are you gonna do?
I'm now reading two books - and . I'm reading 700 Sunday simply because it is short, funny, and I love Billy Crystal. I'm reading Eldest since it was recommended to me by my roommate. I'm finding Eldest very hard to get into, and I really do like fantasy novels, but the story is soooooooo much like that of Lord of the Rings/Star Wars/The Hobbit/any sci-fi/fantasy novel you can think of, and the writing leaves much to be desired, that I'm not really sure I want to finish it. But I will. I am amazed that the author started the first book, , when he was 15. However, I can totally tell that he wrote it while he was a teenager. And, can I just say, it seems like the boy is VERY friendly with the thesaurus feature of Microsoft Word. He's using all sorts of "big words" that don't make sense in the context in which they are used. HIs point would have been better had he not tried to "smarten up" his writing. Quite annoying. Again, its a good story, and once I'm invested in a story, I'd like to see it through to the end.
I wanted to report that I really, truly liked the book . The author (another youngin', by my standards, born one year after me) has some telent in telling a very complex story - or maybe he has some talent in complicating a very simple story, then making it seem simple again in the end. Either way, it was a very haunting tale of a Jewish community, namely one family, leading up to World War II. The story was, at times, confusing, but simple enough to follow. The writing was beautiful, as was the imagery of illumination. Really, a recommended read, but a challenging one. If you're up for it, I think its a good one. Oh, and if you're Jewish, could you possibly explain some of the things to me? Much of the Jewish humor (of which I heard there was plenty in this book) was lost on me, since I'm a Gentile.
As for the knitting slowdown, I've already said that I'm simply hesitant to start the second Mini-Jaywalker for Rachel, since I'm not sure if her foot will fit into the first one. I've really been trying to soak up my experience here in Maryland, and, like , be less of a homebody. Mostly, this involves going to the gym with , and window shopping around Rockville. I think this weekend, I will be window shopping at Tyson's Corners. Believe it or not, I have yet to go there! (for the out-of-towners, this is, apparently, the best mall in the area) I'd also like to go the Outlets in Leesburg before I go. Anyone up for a little road trip?