Bernadette M. Murphy

I expected to think this book was rather silly and woo woo. Well, it is, slightly -- the title is pretty self-explanatory and sufficiently descriptive -- but if you can suspect your cynicism for a little while, it gives some interesting and worthwhile perspectives on why people knit and how it fits into their lives. There's also a nice set of instructions for making an afghan, and I'm keen to start.

Harley and Me is an incredibly well-written memoir about a woman's midlife crisis and a divorce and a Harley. She takes off on an adventure across the country from Los Angeles with a couple of other riders and has a couple of out-of-reach-of-cell-phone-signal disasters.

This memoir is not only about her personal journey but about risk-taking in general, especially in women of a certain age who are striking out at the same time their husbands are turning inward and homewards.

Woven into her show more "adventure" (that goes beyond the motorcycle journey into dating and sex and sports like scuba diving and ice climbing) she dives deep into the biology and chemistry of risk-taking, the risk gene, and personality tests.

It's an intimate story and I appreciate the risks she took in revealing some painful, soul-shaping events of her life. It is in those moments that I connected with her the most. In sharing the journey of life and her views on the risk of living she is most inspiring.

Enjoy! show less

I want to like this book, because I like to knit and I like to read. Some of the articles are interesting, others less so. The reason I don't find it very "inspirational" is that it's not well edited in the sense that the writing, while good, is flabby. All those extra words make me want to skim rather than savor. There is, however, a pattern for a sweater of many colors that I want to try...

While I thought leaving the different stitch patterns between patterns to be kind of wonky, I did enjoy the book as a whole. As I become more and more involved in the craft, I find that I identify more with Ms. Murphy.