Book Review Monday: Drunk, Divorced, & Covered in Cat Hair

I am going to try something else new to add content to my blog and cover another one of my loves: reading! I have read voraciously ever since I was little, sneaking a flashlight under the covers to read past my bedtime, straining my eyes to read in the car at night, trying to angle the pages so I could use the headlights of the car behind us. Maybe that is why my eyesight is so bad at such a young age! (More likely it is genetic). I read everything; cookbooks, fiction, classics, bibliographies, mysteries, and my favorite, sci-fi/fantasy! So I expect that there will be an eclectic mix  once I get going. I may not have something new every week, but my goal is once or twice a month at the very least! To start us off, I have a kniting book, first person autobiography of a sort (although I don’t know what genre it is exactly, seeing as I am not a trained librarian) since this is a knitting blog, I thought it was appropriate.

I read Crazy Aunt Purl’s (AKA Laurie Perry) blog after I found it, shortly after I discovered the existence of online knitting blogs. I was drawn to her quirky writing, mostly because it was funny. I therefore knew that her first book came out in 2007, however at the time I did not get it to read. I was tempted, but for some unremembered reason, I put it off. Until a couple of weeks ago when I came back to her blog again, and put her book into my wish list. Then I added it to my cart. And when my package arrived, I read the book. Thus, is fate satisfied.

It sat for a few days, and I picked it up at the end of the week, I think on Friday. In between cooking and cleaning and running and baby and errands, I managed to read said book. It is a quick and easy read, and I finished this past Tuesday. It is written in short chapters that are in chronological/insight order, meaning that it goes through in the order of events happening to her, but some chapters are devoted to what was happening in her view on life during certain time periods. This is not confusing at all, and if you are unclear by what I mean, it will most likely be clear as you read it. If I haven’t already confused you or scared you off. If I have, I’m sorry. If not, you won’t be sorry. But I digress.

This book starts with when her husband decides to leave her and continues through the trials and tribulations she faces after her separation and divorce. In no way does she make this recollection a ‘Woe is me, I’m so sad!” kind of narrative, in fact it is quite the opposite. She talks honestly about her struggles and injects self-deprecating humor to amuse you when the topic might have become too heavy. I love how her narrative writing is sans-accent but she quotes herself in a southern drawl! It makes those parts seem more like you can actually hear her saying these things out loud. I also like the short chapters, only a few pages long max, because it was easy to pick up and put down without having to reread in order to remember where you were. Overall, I highly recommend this book, because even if you aren’t divorced (which I am not) or a knitter (which I am) you will still be able to relate to the emotions she struggles with and see parts of yourself in how she copes. Although there are parts that will much more amusing if you understand knitting!

I have already added her second book, Home is Where the Wine Is, to my wish list and maybe someday someone will be nice enough to get it for me! (probably me!)