Every year for my birthday, I try to do something a little different. This year, I decided to ask the Curious Handmade community for a gift: a book recommendation. The title they’d pressed into someone else’s hands recently, or the one still sitting on their bedside table because they weren’t quite ready to be finished with it.
I wasn’t quite prepared for what arrived in my inbox. Dozens and dozens of suggestions, from knitters all over the world, covering every genre imaginable. It was one of the loveliest birthday gifts I’ve ever received, and a very happy reminder that the community that has grown up around this little corner of the knitting world contains some seriously well-read people.
Knitting and reading have always gone together in my mind, even though it can be a challenge to do both at the same time (that’s where audiobooks really shine!) But even (maybe especially) when we’re talking about physical, paper books, I think there are strong parallels between knitting patterns and stories. Both are a kind of collaboration between the writer/designer and the reader/knitter, both bring our imaginations front and centre, and reading and knitting are both important ways that I “refill my well” when I’m feeling a bit drained by the world.
Thank you. Genuinely. Every recommendation was read, every one was appreciated, and quite a few have already been added to what is now a very ambitious to-be-read pile.
I did make it to the bookshop. Armed with the most-recommended titles from your emails, I spent a very happy birthday afternoon browsing the shelves and came home with four books: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi and The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, which both received multiple votes from knitters, and The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams and The Bookshop of Buried Pasts by Sarah Clutton.
The full list of your recommendations is below, organised by genre. Consider it our community reading list, curated entirely by the Curious Crew, with no input from any algorithm whatsoever.
Literary Fiction
As a genre, literary fiction is notoriously difficult to pin down, which is perhaps exactly what makes it so appealing. These are the books that resist easy categorisation, but they’re all character-driven and beautifully written, and the Curious Crew recommended many that sound incredible. Several of these titles appeared several times in your suggestions, making them strong contenders!
Theo of Golden — Allen Levi
The Flowers of Bay C — E.M. Carter
The Correspondent — Virginia Evans
Out Stealing Horses — Per Petterson
The Names — Florence Knapp
This is Happiness — Niall Williams
Whistler — Ann Patchett
Run — Ann Patchett
Atmosphere — Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Calamity Club — Katherin Stockett
Anxious People — Fredrik Backman
The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom
The Blue Castle — L.M. Montgomery
Ferney — James Long
Historical Fiction
The most popular genre by some distance. If there is a thread running through the Curious Crew’s reading life, it seems to be a love of travelling to the past…which makes sense. As knitters, we spend a lot of time in conversation with history, tradition, and techniques that have survived centuries. Fiction that takes us back into the lives of people in other times is just another kind of time travel.
Burial Rites — Hannah Kent
The Daughters of Yalta — Catherine Grace Katz
The Clifton Chronicles — Jeffrey Archer
Still Life — Sarah Winman
Homeseeking — Karissa Chen
The Mademoiselle Alliance — Natasha Lester
The Chateau on Sunset — Natasha Lester
Elegy in Blue — Mark Helprin
Buckeye — Patrick Ryan
The Spoon Stealer — Lesley Crewe
The Only Woman in the Room — Marie Benedict
The Love Elixir — Lynda Cohen Loigman
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — Beth Brower
The Glass Makers — Tracy Chevalier
Remarkable Creatures — Tracy Chevalier
A Single Thread — Tracy Chevalier
Broken Country — Claire Leslie Hall
How to Knit a Love Song — Rachael Herron
The Other Bennet Sister — Janice Hadlow
The Women — Kristin Hannah
The Last Bookshop in London — Madeline Martin
The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris — Daisy Wood
As recommendations for a bookshop crawl, the two titles above couldn’t be more perfect, and there’s a funny little story about them. A knitter recommended a book called “The Last Bookshop in Paris” but when I looked it up, I realised that there were two possible titles that could match. She meant to suggest The Last Bookshop in London but we decided to also add The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris as a happy accidental addition, even though we don’t know what it’s like! If someone reads it first, please let me know what you think!
Mystery & Thriller
My personal happy place. A well-constructed mystery is deeply satisfying. I love the slow accumulation of detail and the creeping awareness of something that’s not quite as it should be. I also love to find my way into a long series where you genuinely come to know a character and their world over hundreds of pages and many books. It’s clear that I’m not alone in this! (I especially loved the email that recommended series from”trio of Dorothys”…there must be something about that name that makes a great mystery author. There’s a good mix here, from hardboiled courtroom thrillers to cosy mysteries, and I’d love to read them all. I’m familiar with a few of these great recommendations, but others are entirely new to me.
Good People — Patmeena Sabiti
Eddie Flynn Series — Steve Cavanagh
Mapp & Lucia Series — E.F. Benson
Dark Matter — Michelle Paver
Wild Dark Shore — Charlotte McConaghy
The Lewis Trilogy — Peter May
Tell Me What You Did — Carter Wilson
Mad Mabel — Sally Hepworth
Ellie Haskel Series — Dorothy Cannell
Mrs Pollifax Series — Dorothy Gilman
Peter Wimsey Series — Dorothy Sayers
Exham on Sea Series — Frances Evesham
Clint Wolf Series — B.J. Bourge
Driftless Spirits — Karen Ringel
None So Blind — Alis Hawkins
Gil Cunningham Series — Pat McIntosh
The Bookshop of Buried Pasts — Sarah Clutton
Non-Fiction
A strong lean towards the natural world ran through the non-fiction recommendations: books about landscapes, plants, and the creatures that share them with us. Alongside these sat a handful of titles on creativity and making, which were just perfect for me: I am constantly devouring books on those subjects! You can see a bit of the hedgerow and a bit of the design studio in these titles.
Meadowland — John Lewis-Stempel
The Creative Act: A Way of Being — Rick Rubin
Things in Nature Merely Grow — Yiyun Li
Whistler — Ann Patchett
The Art Thief — Michael Finkel
The Place of Tides — James Rebanks
The Elegance of Ferns — Solvejg Nitzke
The Secret Lives of Colour — Kassia St Clair
Lone Wolf — Adam Waymouth
Silk — Aarathi Prasad
Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break — Anna Brones (A cookbook with lots of delightful looking recipes!)
Memoir
Reading a memoir is like borrowing someone else’s life for a little while. Their memories, their landscapes, their specific way of seeing the world. I love the empathy, generosity, and surprise of walking a few miles in somebody’s literary shoes. These recommendations span continents and experiences, and all of them, in one way or another, invite you in.
How to Treat People — Polly Morland
Always Home, Always Homesick — Hannah Kent
The Big House — George Howe Colt
84 Charing Cross Road — Helene Hanff
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street — Helene Hanff
Fantasy and Magical Realism
This genre is a wide tent, from quietly enchanted stories to full-on epics. What these recommendations have in common is the possibility of the impossible on every page, whether that’s a sentient octopus with strong opinions, a world built entirely inside books, or a deep friendship with an alien lifeform. I have a soft spot for this corner of the shelf, and Remarkably Bright Creatures in particular was a recent book club read that has stayed with me long after I finished it.
We’ll Prescribe You a Cat — Syou Ishida
The Lost Bookshop — Evie Woods
Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt
Once Upon a River — Diane Setterfield
The Dream Hotel — Laila Lalami
Merivale Trilogy — Rose Tremain
The Fox Wife — Yangsze Choo
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heap — H.G. Parry
The Starless Sea — Erin Morgenstern
Fourth Wing Series — Rebecca Yarros
A Court of Thorns and Roses Series — Sarah J. Maas
Dragon of Ash and Stars — H. Leighton Dickson
The House on the Cerulean Sea — T.J. Klune
Somewhere Beyond the Sea — T.J. Klune
Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir
A Psalm for the Wildbuilt — Becky Chambers
The Breadmaker’s Carnival — Andrew Lindsay
I think I showed considerable restraint on my birthday, all things considered. Four books came home with me, which felt like a responsible start. But this list isn’t going anywhere! It’s coming with me every time I find myself in front of a bookshelf with a spare half hour and good intentions. I hope it gives your lots of reading inspiration, too.
This lovely little book adventure felt like community at its best: people sharing the things they love, freely and enthusiastically, with no agenda beyond the pleasure of a good recommendation. It makes me want to find more ways to do this kind of thing together. A curious thought is forming. More on that another time. In the meantime, if you’d like to be part of conversations like this one as they happen, you can join the mailing list here. (and I’ll send a couple of goodies your way, as well.)
The post The Curious Crew’s Birthday Book Recommendations appeared first on Curious Handmade Knitting Patterns and Knitting Podcast.
