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Not much is going on in this group so I thought I 'd post a question. Since I haven't read any I would like some opinions on the books with a knitting theme like The Knitting Club. any comments ?
or are all of you doing this on the ravelry book group?

Debbie Macomber has some knitting themed books, mainly The Shop on Blossom Street. Her books are some of my favorites! :D

I loved Kate Jacob's The Friday Night Knitting Club" and Ann Hood's The Knitting Circle.

I also read the Maggie Sefton books, but they were just okay.

I've read both of Debbie Macomber's books and The Friday Night Knitting Club by Jacob. All three are good books, but they're a lot alike. Not great literature, but an entertaining read.

There's quite a few knitting, crochet, stitching and quilting fiction titles/series out there. I'm brand new to Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ so haven't got a complete list yet but feel free to lurk at my shelves. I like all sorts of fiber arts fiction but mostly mystery series with a little paranormal romance just for fun.

Bren

I'm a fan of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. She's usually knitting something or other while solving a mystery.

I'm gonna have to check those out! I've been looking for something a bit different, so a knitting/crochet mystery would be a nice change!

I just finished Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split by Laurie Perry.... and I loved it :) It was a very easy read. I also just bought The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs I'll probably read that after i finish my current read and let ya know what i think :)

Hi all,

I actually really liked "Knitting A Novel" by Anne Bartlett. Obviously the significance of women and knitting in history is considerable, this really reminds us how knitting, which being a complete addiction, is such a strong part of history and such a work of love.

I'm definitley going to check out Knitting a Novel and Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair...thanks for the great descriptions. I'm noticing knitting in movies and books more and more! Great inspiration :) marg

I just finished the Anne Bartlett "Knitting" and was greatly disappointed. As an homage to knitting it was fine but the two main characters are very troubled people and it was instant cure in the last 30 pages. People don't just wake up and say don't need to walk around with my baggage(literally) anymore.
So I'm still looking for a 'good read'.

I got my copy of "Crazy Aunt Purl" today. Maybe I'll have time to start it tonight. Does anyone have an opinion, would it make a good book discussion title?

I am currently reading the Friday Night Knitting Club -- good so far

I don't think Crazy Aunt Purl would be good for discussion. It's a good read, but it's not really "deep", if you know what I mean.

Yes, I know what you mean, Spudd.

I do like the wine recommendations to go with the knitting "recipes," though. (And I don't even drink!)

Friday Night Knitting Club: NOT worth reading, IMHO. Bland, uninspired writing, but okay for a summer read-at-the-beach, I guess!

I read that a few months back. I thought it was a bit slow at the beginning but I really liked it once the characters started interacting more.

I'm a sheep when it comes to knit-lit! Just started Dyer Consequences by Maggie Sefton even though I don't particularly enjoy her writing. I've read her other books in this series mostly because the setting is nearby, I've been to the Lambspun shop repeatedly, and enjoy the familiarity of the setting descriptions of Fort Collins with the pseudonym of Fort Connor, Old Town, and Poudre Canyon.

The knitting series by Mary Kruger is superior to the Sefton books. As for Friday Night Knitting Club, I agree...yawn...dull book.

I just checked *Comfort: A Journey Through Grief* out of the library. It's a nonfiction memoir by Ann Hood who wrote the novel called *The Knitting Circle." Personally, I liked *The Knitting Circle a lot better than *The Friday Night Knitting Club." (For a thoughtful but fairly universal pan of "The Friday Night Knitting Group*, check out the discussion in the Ravelry Book Group!).

In 2002, Ann Hood's five-year-old daughter died of virulent strep throat. From what I understand, learning to knit was one of the things that helped the author get through her grief, and *The Knitting Circle* arose from her true-life experience of healing.

*Comfort* looks like a more general memoir about Hood's journey through her darkest days. Glancing at the book--I haven't actually read it yet--just a small part looks like it is about knitting, but as a lover of nonfiction and memoir, I am curious about how Hood was able to channel her experience into two different forms of writing.

Another book that talks about how knitting helps a person through dark days is * A Three Dog Life* by Abigail Thomas. I liked *Three Dog Life* quite a bit. (Dogs, Knitting....even if Thomas weren't such a capable writer, she sort of "had me at hello" :) I know these sorts of books aren't for everyone, but I always feel strengthened by honest accounts of getting through grief and/or life's struggles. If you're like that too, I offer these memoirs.

Another thing (since I seem to be on a roll!): I just saw *The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art and the Comforts of Home* by Jane Brocket at a bookstore and it looks really lovely.
Jane writes the blog "yarnstorm"...

And here's another blogger made good: I really like the recently released book *Custom Knits* by Wendy Bernard, whose blog is "Knit and Tonic."

Has anyone else picked up the Harlot's newest book? Mine just arrived this weekend - I think it's more like her first book that was released instead of the more recent works by her.

No I haven't. I did get my MDK's Outside the Lines, though.

How do you like the new Mason Dixon book? It's on my want list, even though I haven't even seen it yet! I really like their first book.

I have used some of the Knit Lit stories at our Prayer Shawl Knitting group...I also read to them from Knitting Heaven and Earth-my all time favorite(Susan Gordon Lydon who also wrote Knitting Sutra.
I was not as happy with The Friday Night Knitting Club as I expected given some of the reviews from friends and family--but I did love the Scottish Grandma!
I read the Knitting Circle but it moved very slowly and again, the community parts/relationship were the best parts.
I have bee reading Maggie Sefton's mystery series and they are light but ok for when I need light mystery.
I admit I do love Miss Marple and her knitting everywhere...I do knit to think, ponder, listen and work things through....she is a good example of exactly that!

I really disliked the Friday Night Knitting Club.

I'm really loving Free Range Knitter. I think it's the best the Harlot has written, and I believe I've read (and own) all but her first. Wonderful, wonderful read.

Zaida, I completely agree. I had to buy the book on the spot when I found "Fine Qualities in an Adult" while browsing through it, and I've enjoyed every minute I've spent reading and re-reading her essays. I agree this is the best she's written, and some of the best writing of any author I've read.

I'm glad to hear pos comments about YH's new book. I requested it from the library. I thot her last two books were okay, and hadn't run right out to buy this one.

I enjoyed Casting Spells. It is an "urban fantasy" set in a town of fairies, vampires and werewolves and the main character owns a LYS.

Anita, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one! :) I'm down to the last chapter, and I'm sad it's going to end. Definitely a re-read.

B, I've enjoyed this one like wine, one sip at a time. Have you finished it?

Zaida, I've finished it and have started re-reading it, a chapter here & there when I have a few minutes. This one seems deeper and more insightful, both about knitting & knitters, than her previous books. I think that's why I like it so much.

Has anyone read the Knit Lit (Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf) collections of stories? I really enjoyed those, some funny and some poignant.

I have the Knit Lit 3 and have read some of the stories aloud to our knitting circle--and people have gotten a big kick out of them...

I read The Friday Night Knitting Club over the weekend, and really enjoyed it.

Kamikat wrote: "I enjoyed Casting Spells. It is an "urban fantasy" set in a town of fairies, vampires and werewolves and the main character owns a LYS."

I read this one over the last couple of days. It was pretty good I thought.

Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver mysteries are great if you like classic Golden Age cozies, and Miss Silver knits in every single one. It's true that the knitting isn't essential to the plot, but it's always there, and Wentworth knew enough about knitting to keep it real. I hate when actors in movies or tv pretend to be knitting, but you can see that they have absolutely no idea what to do with the needles.

I got The Friday Night Knitting Club for Christmas, so I hope I enjoy it more than most of you. Since it's been such a big bestseller, I wonder if non-knitters like it more than knitters? The only "knitting" book I've read is The Knitting Circle. It was pretty good, I thought.

I purchased a copy of The Friday Night Knitting Club for my Sony Reader Friday. I have read the first few pages so I don't have much to say yet.

I read it the other weekend and enjoyed it.

Melynda wrote: "Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver mysteries are great if you like classic Golden Age cozies, and Miss Silver knits in every single one. It's true that the knitting isn't essential to the plot, but ..."

These sound sweet. What's the title of the first one in the series?

You can actually read the Miss Silvers in almost any order . . . technically the first one is *Miss Silver Comes to Stay*, I think. But you should do fine just picking one up at the library and enjoying it!

Thank you. I'm going to get it from the library now.

Some others that I don't think have been mentioned yet...

What I call life (YA)
Chicks with Sticks (3 book series) (YA)
Unravelled
Divas Don't Knit
Needles and Pearls
Death by Cashmere

So, I’m finding a lot of novels about knitting. I’m wondering where did they all come from? I found a listophia list called Good Yarns: Knitting Fiction here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.

From that list I’ve read:

Sweetgum Knit Lit Society by Beth Portillo
Knitting: A Novel by Anne Bartlett
Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik

Waiting for the Library for:

Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (as of 3/10 rec'd, not begun)
(and the sequel, Knit Two)
The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood (as of 3/10, started today)

I have also found Debbie MaComber has written The Shop on Blossom Street & A Good Yarn, both knitting novels. Waiting on the Library for those also. (3/10, rec'd, not begun, guess I need to get busy!) (4/6, have also just finished Back on Blossom Street, in a LP edition, hoping the new book that Hillary is referring to in next post is NOT published in any form by Centerpoint as they did a poor job on this one.)

I may be adding more to my list!

Debbie MacComber has a new one yarn-shop-themed book coming out - Summer on Blossom Street should be out in May.

I just downloaded something called The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club onto my Kindle (I saw it on display at B&N and was intrigued) but haven't gotten to it yet (still in the middle of something non-knitting related :)) so I can't vouch for it.

Anyone have an opinion on Knitting the Threads of Time: Casting Back to the Heart of Our Craft by Nora Murphy?

As far as knitting books go, I'm really more toward the historical or practical in terms of content rather than whodunits or romances (not to say those aren't any good), so I'm wondering if anyone's had the chance to read this and may want to share their opinion on it before I snag a copy off of Amazon.

I've read A History of Handknitting, which was a really in-depth look at the origins and practices of knitting through human history and its impact on our race, so I'm wondering if Knitting the Threads is in the same vein.

Asia,
I've read Knitting the Threads of Time: Casting Back to the Heart of Our Craft by Nora Murphy, and IMHO it's good, not great. When it was first published, I read quite a few glowing reviews on various knitting blogs and thought it would be a must-read, but I was a bit underwhelmed. I found it to be a somewhat interesting personal account interspersed w/ small bits of knitting history & some "spirituality" of knitting. I'd rate it at 2.5-3 stars. I would be glad to send you my copy of KtTOT for only the cost of shipping if you're interested, since it's not a book I will re-read.

A History of Handknitting is a much more seriously historical & in-depth history of knitting than KtTOT ever approaches. If you enjoyed AHoH, maybe you would also like No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Handknitting by Anne McDonald.

b wrote: "Asia,
I've read Knitting the Threads of Time: Casting Back to the Heart of Our Craft by Nora Murphy, and IMHO it's good, not great. When it was first published, I read quite a few glowing reviews ..."

Hey, b, sorry for the late reply, but if your offer is still open, I'd be glad to take you up on that copy of KtToT. It may not stand up to the likes of other history-of-knitting books but I'm still interested in checking it out if for no other reason than to be able to say, "Yeah, I've read it" if it ever comes up in conversation.

Sleeping Murder & The Murder At The Vicarage

I just finished this Miss Marple book as they are listed as Knit Lit in the list I mentioned earlier.

Kamikat wrote: "I enjoyed Casting Spells. It is an "urban fantasy" set in a town of fairies, vampires and werewolves and the main character owns a LYS."

I just finished Casting Spells and found it to be really fun and easy. I understand that Barbara Bretton has a sequel that's going to be released soon, and if it's anything like Casting Spells, it should be a good one. Not deep, not discussion-worthy, but an enjoyable escape.

Just chiming in to say I thought The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood was a wonderful read...made me cry, though. I did enjoy the Friday Night Knitting Club too, though I didn't feel it was as good as The Knitting Circle. Both these books would make good movies, I think, and I know Friday Night Knitting Club is already being made into a movie...with Julia Roberts, I think?