Knit Two by Kate Jacobs eBook edition

No, I don't knit.  Nor do I live in Manhattan.  But I am a woman who is lucky enough to have a group of long-time women friends who meet weekly.  So of course, I absolutely fell in love with Kate Jacobs'  Friday Night Knitting Club.

When I saw that Knit Two, the sequel, had been released I could hardly wait to download and read it.

I finished it a couple of days ago and sat down to write this review.  I spent the next half hour or so staring a the title, cover art and a blank page.  A classic case of writer's block. . . not something that ever happens to me.  I finally got up and walked away.

Over the last couple of days I have idly wondered what the hell that was all about.  I mean, I enjoyed the book.  It was a pleasant and easy read that kept me entertained over the holiday weekend.  So why was I at a loss for words?

I think I finally figured it out.  I was disappointed.  I wanted to love the book, but I just couldn't do it.  Instead, I ended up with a mild case of like.

The first couple of chapters required a whole lot of work-- I had to go back into my memory bank a long way to find these characters and to remember why I cared about them.  Once that was accomplished I was faced with these characters in their current incarnations. 

Jacobs draws strong, fully rounded characters.  These women are believable and almost stride off the pages into your real life.  In fact they became so real that I found myself getting annoyed with them.  Anita and Catherine in particular indulge in way too much angst and high drama for my taste.

I found, however, that my annoyance with the characters was vastly reassuring.  I have certainly been annoyed with all the women in my group at one time or another.  And I am sure they have been as annoyed with me.  Face it, humans are often annoying!

The real problem with this novel is the plot; a real disaster.  Now, coming from me, who can stretch credulity to extreme limits, this is a pretty amazing statement. 

Knit Two, graphically reminded me that I prefer the classic "no discernable plot rambler" to a highly contrived plot with a neat and tidy resolution that has one in a million odds of actually ever happening that way. 

Trust me, the plot stinks, but the book is worth reading for the characters.  And no matter how I diss this story, when the inevitable third book in the series is published, I will read it too. 

Here is the publisher synopsis:

Knit Two returns to the Manhattan knitting store Walker & Daughter five years after the death of the store's owner, Georgia Walker. Georgia's daughter Dakota is now an 18 year old freshman at NYU, running the knitting store part-time with the help of the members of the Friday Night Knitting Club.

Drawn together by their love for Dakota and the sense of family the club provides, each knitter is struggling with new challenges: for Catherine, finding love after divorce, for Darwin, newborn twins, for Lucie, being both a single mom and caregiver for her elderly mother, and for seventysomething Anita, marriage to her sweetheart Marty over the objections of her grown children. As Kate Jacobs returns to the world of Walker & Daughter, she's once again keyed into many of the stresses and joys of being a mother, wife, daughter and friend.

Every woman who picks up this book will see themselves in its characters¿the very thing that made The Friday Night Knitting Club such a huge word-of-mouth success. A true love letter to the power of women's friendships, and, of course, knitting, Knit Two is entertainment with a heart.

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Speaking for Myself by Cherie Blair eBook edition

  Do you ever play the game?  You know, the one where you sit around with a bunch of people and talk about which famous (or almost famous) person you would like to sit down and have dinner with?  We play it often.  And in the last few years I have often said, "Cherie Blair."  I just had a feeling . . .

I mean, here is a woman who is married to the Prime Minister of England, works as an attorney (and in this book I found out she is also a judge), has a family and still manages to show up for official functions. 

You can tell from her accent that she isn't exactly "upper crust" and the British Press have a field day reporting on her.  Most of the reporting less than flattering, but somehow managing to show her as a REAL flesh and blood person with a real inner life.

Often these conjectures about people are hilariously off base.  But in Cherie Blair's case they may not be. 

Speaking for Myself is her accounting of her life.  Her telling of her own history is frank, opinionated, unsentimental and humorous.  It is at times a painfully honest account of who she is (and not always to her benefit).

She is a study in contrasts and contradictions.  A high achieving professional and a devoted wife and mother.  A political operator who has a tin ear when it comes to handling people and personalities. A pugnacious defender of her husband who sees him warts and all.  She has tremendous insecurities about money and this drives her to make some very unwise choices.  She is in fact, very human.  I ended up liking her a lot! 

And even if you don't like her much, her "ringseat to history" make this compelling reading. Her recounting of the events, stories about the people and insights into government make it a fascinating read.

Sure, some of the intricacies of the British legal system and Parliamentary maneuverings are dense and to me as an American a little boring.  But her story and her voice will keep you reading.

Here is the publisher's notes:

Even if she hadn't married Tony Blair, Cherie's story would have been amazing. Abandoned by her actor father, she overcame obstacles to become one of the UK's most successful barristers. But when Labour took power in 1997, she faced new challenges: her husband was the first prime minister in recent history with a young family, and Cherie was the first PM's wife with a serious career. Now, she gives a complete account of her own life--an astonishing journey for a woman whose unconventional childhood was full of drama and who grew up with a fierce sense of justice.

In her autobiography she reveals for the first time what it was like to combine life as a working mother with life married to the prime minister. She writes about her encounters with scores of foreign leaders and her friendships with Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as with Hillary and Laura. And she offers inside details of her relationships with the royals, including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Princess Diana.

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