Dear Kay,
What Makes a Beach Read is a juicy list of 44 books to read with sand under your feet or a hammock under your backside. The curator here is the staff of Nashville’s sublime Parnassus Books. I’m on the prowl for new audiobooks, so this arrives just in time.
Really Cool Stitching
Heard a great talk last night by Ilze Aviks, an artist teaching at Shakerag Workshops this week. She works like a fiend, creating five-foot-high pieces with a bazillion handmade stitches that become apparent only when you get quite close to them. She’s thinking about war and peace, the perfect imperfection of rose petals, the memory of her mother contained in a room full of sewing notions. I don’t want to lift images from her website, but if you click right here, you can see the way she captures the brutal anxiety of being a latchkey kid. “Don’t worry.” “You’ll be fine.” All rendered in the most perfect, meticulous stitches. Just like Mom used to make . . .
Youthquake
We send special Friday greetings to our intern, Emma, who has in one stroke upped our millennial cred by 1,000%. She’s cooler than we ever were, is an art major already on her way, and we’re lucky to have her. Emma was the one who talked me down from the bell tower when my boy was heading off for his first Bonnaroo. She correctly predicted that he would a) survive and b) have a great time. Thanks, Emma, for jumping into the knitting world without a blink!
Wishing everyone a very slow weekend.
Love,
Ann
Feeling very well set up by this beach read list – thank you, Ann!
Intern? I don’t quite understand. Have I missed some?
That should have read “something”.
That art! But really, I wanted to be a latchkey kid. A house full of siblings never allowed for that, as I’m sure you know.
I think it a sign of my geezerhood that when I saw the word “Youthquake” I immediately thought “Edie Sedgwick.”
Me too!
Congrats on getting an intern!!
I just read through every single review on the Beach Reads list. Even if I don’t want to read some of them, the mini-reviews themselves were great entertainment. Oh, indie bookstores. We should all have one nearby.
On the audiobooks reco list: The Harder They Come by TC Boyle, this is a good one to listen to—lots of thoughts going on in the main character’s head. Maybe not beachy but you are on a mountain. xox
Thank you for the book list. I am in the school of “never too many books” and I cannot resist a bookstore (or yarn store). Right now, when asked for book recommendations, I happily suggest The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson (of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand fame). I read it but imagine it would be wonderful to listen to also.
My two most favorite audiobooks from the last couple of months: The Poisonwood Bible (B. Kingsolver) and The Elephant Whisperer (A. Lawrence). If you are into science fiction, the audio book of the Martian is excellent as is Seveneves (N. Stephenson).
Audiobook recommendations: Have you tried Night Circus? It’s read by Jim Dale (who did the Harry Potter audiobooks and won awards for them) and I have listened to it repeatedly. Also, if you’re in a podcast mood, Overdue is two guys discussing books you probably should have read by now. Each week one of them reads something, so if you haven’t read it, you are no worse off than half the guys, and if you have read it, it’s a pretty cool to get a different take on it.
Also, definitely listen to Emma! Go Emma and Welcome!
You have an intern! I’m so happy for you, and still so happy and grateful that you and Kay have returned to blogging with a vengeance. I can’t wait to see the shiny new iteration of the blog and the further adventures of Modern Daily Knitting. And…a list of books! How great is that? I was a compulsive reader until I began knitting 12 years ago. Now I’m a compulsive knitter, but I still can’t resist a bookstore or library…or a book list!
Thank you so for featuring Ilze Aviks – great stuff, and following a discussion a fiber artist friend and I recently starting as to how it takes a special sort of mind to make art of note and quality. I have been around really good stuff for a long time, and really good stuff makers think differently, inhabit the world differently. Amen and may the gods bless. jdu
My *kid* (age 31) went to Bonnaroo this year, too — his 3rd? 4th? time. Maybe we should get them to meet up next time. One can chaperone the other 😉
A slow weekend is what is needed here too. I wish you the same. Going to be up on the 100 degree range both tomorrow and Sunday. Yikes. The fans are ready!
ooh booklist 🙂 and emma, what a doll.
Woo Hoo books along with inspirational knitting and an adorable intern. One never knows what might pop up on Modern Daily Knitting. I love that I lived in Nashville a long time with 6 Degrees of Separation from Ann and now live in CT not far from Kay’s stomping grounds. I only wish I could move from befuddled/scared advanced (maybe advanced) beginner status as a knitter to someone who can knit and talk at the same time. LOL