Another Monday

After last week, you'd better believe that I'm greeting this Monday with a bit more joy and significantly less blues than most Mondays seem to warrant.

The start of this weeks signals a return to a "regular" schedule. No more try outs, no more "first" anything, definitely more routine and regularity.

While we still have a few blips on our calendar, (Bubba is getting some teeth pulled, for orthodontic purposes; DancingDiva has extra rehearsals; I have an Awana convention on the weekend . . .) it's going to feel far more normal than usual.

Now, for the regularly (or not) scheduled knitting content of today's show blog. In the snippets of time over the past week, I knit a little here and knit a little there and worked up this little topper for Bubba. Again, the mitten leftovers and a full skein of a coordinating color were used to make a coordinating hat. The ability to get a little knitting done is another sign that life is returning to normal.

To celebrate a return to normalcy, I picked up a copy of Crazy Aunt Purls new book and read it over the weekend. Now, I'm not a literary critic, by any means. I'm generally not in agreement with most book reviewers. Books they hate, I love and vice versa. Same with movies - if it wins an Academy Award for best picture, I avoid it like the plague! And keep in mind that the book was read late at night, after an incredibly stressful week. And remember that most professional critics have the opposite opinion from mine and it's probably because I lack literary taste or something. All I'm saying is take what I say with a grain of salt and check the book out for yourself. You are more than welcome to disagree completely with my assessment because I have a history of being not quite in step with those in the know.

But I have to admit I was not as impressed with Laurie's book as I thought I would be. While I have perused her blog from time to time and enjoy her sense of humor, the book seemed like a bit too much of her writing style. It was as if she took some of her blog entries and edited out the extraneous material and distilled just the clever colloquialisms, sarcasm and wit into a book. Instead of those piquant touches of Southern charm and humor in the midst of her more down to earth writing, it became just too overwhelmingly "witty". It just seems to work too hard at being clever and humorous in every line.

I did like the progression of her personal development through the divorce and the symbolic use of the physical junk in her house to represent the emotional baggage she was shedding as she emerged from the depths of depression. Her stark honesty about the tremendous void she felt in her life was very poignant and compelling. While she showed her knitting hobby as a catalyst for change in her life, it wasn't over done and I think that makes this book more widely appealing than if she'd pushed the knitting further forward. A very smart balance, in my opinion.

Perhaps in a second, more deliberate read through, the subtle sense of her using humor as a shield and a weapon against the darkness will be a bit more evident and my perception of the over use of humor will be modified. I don't know. But for now, I was left just a little disappointed.

If I change my opinion on the second read through, I'll let you know. In the meantime, it's back to the Monday morning routine for me. Yay!