I read this aloud to a room full of adults who collapsed into giggles and started yelling "RAWR RAWR RAWR!" along with me; Imagine what will ensue when you read it to actual children! Bright pictures and a fun refrain, what more could you ask for from classy literature?
The Man Who Fell to Earth
by Walter Tevis Ballantine Books
Our Price: $15.00
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a heartbreaking love letter to the dispossessed, the outcast, the ungainly one in all of us. A Sci-fi work only in that its main character is an alien, it was the basis for the film of the same name starring David Bowie in his first role. It is beautiful, haunting, and unflinching in its exploration of Otherness.
For an extra bonus experience, play Bowie's Low while you're reading; much of the material on the album began as soundtrack pieces for the film.
Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
by Joelle Hoverson Harry N. Abrams
Our Price: $24.95
So you had 9 months to make some awesome booties for your roommate's sister's new baby...9 months ago. Now that baby's putting on a pound a day and if you don't think fast she'll be graduating highschool just as you're getting the final bobbles finished. So now what? Good thing for you, Joelle Hoverson's got you covered with her beautiful collection of last minute gift patterns. Arranged by approximate knit-time and paired with some delicious photos, these will be your go-to patterns for the upcoming holiday season, and all year round.
Also of note in this book Ms. Hoverson's illuminating essay on color and her excellent tips for combining yarns to get simple yet beautiful effects. Just make sure you check for the online correction guide, since the edition went to print with some minor mistakes. And while we're at it, I highly suggest visiting the website for Ms. Hoverson's yarn store in Soho, Purl (www.purlsoho.com, www.purlbee.com).
However tempting and appropriate a weaving metaphor might be to describe this novel, I've felt since I started recommending it that it was a tired one. A more effective illustration might be to imagine being asked to consider a heap of sparkling jewels in your hands, each one in turn. You see each stone and all its brothers jostling for your attention, illuminating each other, obscuring each other. A Lebanese man returning home from L.A. to visit his dying father, a beautiful slave with her jinni lover, an epic narrative of an ancient king and his companions...
This is truly a work of shocking beauty. I haven't been so bewitched by a novel in years.
