Comments on: Why We Sew

By: Mo'a

Mo'a — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:12:09 +0000

This is such a wonderful post. I also love the photographs you used to illustrate it.
I am putting Ahab’s Wife on my list of “Must Read”
Our house is quiet for just a few days while the families are in NYC…then they will be back for three days.
It will be hard to see them all go back to Denmark……..I will miss them and all the activity I am so happy to have Jude’s class to look forward to.

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:18:02 +0000

I had not heard of this author before seeing your post, I have now started reading Ahab’s Wife and am so delighted with it, the language, the writing is just superb. Thank you

By: Debbie Babin

Debbie Babin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:57:32 +0000

The comments and original post about Ahab’s Wife compelled me to order the book right away. I am SO thrilled I did!
I ordered the hardbound and it is beautifully made with very nice paper. The story grabs you by the ears from the very first page and doesn’t let go. This is the first book I have read that I would say is equal to Steinbeck (my favorite author).
Thank you for alerting me to this fabulous author and book.

By: Lois

Lois — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:57:32 +0000

What a wondrful post. Thank you Phyllis, I must read Ahab’s wife very soon! Peace, tranquility and perfectly-paced sewing to you… xxx

By: mendofleur

mendofleur — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:14:31 +0000

I can always trust that if I pick up a book recommended by you that it will be just as you described, a treasure to discover and a gem not to be missed. I am so far behind in getting through my stack of books these days and realizing it needs to be more of a goal especially since Ahab's Wife was left sitting on that stack far too long! It seems this book is loved be so many!

By: Linsey

Linsey — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:09:50 +0000

Beautiful Mom!

When I am walking in a bookstore (especially Powell’s) I’m overwhelmed by the books around me and the thought that there is a story, some glorious, beautifully written gem, that I might miss reading before I die. I see the pile of books waiting to be read in my room and wonder what treasures I have yet to discover.

I picked up Ahab’s Wife in one of those moment’s and the image on the cover, the period in which it’s set, and the dense number of pages assured me this would be a story I would crawl into and live for a while. You know how I love that!

I’m so thrilled that you are loving this book – I may have to revisit it myself.

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:19:35 +0000

Sorry, my comment was misleading. Weekends only. I’m like everyone else, I have to work. But weekends are very slow and idyllic.

By: mendofleur

mendofleur — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:56:02 +0000

Thank you for your contribution in describing your love of this book. It seems to be one of those books that people want to return to for a second reading. I think one of the reasons it might go slowly besides the fact that it is over 600 pages is that I find myself re-reading certain passages that I love like the one I shared on my post. Naslund’s writing is so lyrical and descriptive and true. And her characters so solid and believable that it is hard to think sometimes that it is a work of fiction. Your summers sound idyllic…..on the beach with your son sewing and swimming and reading. As far as I am concerned that would be a summer of total contentment and slow living, the finest kind imaginable.

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:22:27 +0000

I absolutely positively adored Ahab’s Wife. I spent the entire summer of 2000 reading and rereading it (slow reading??). It grabbed my imagination and I became thoroughly entranced with the world that Sena Jeter Naslund created. It is why I spend my summer’s on the beach at Assateague, Virginia, sewing and swimming and watching my son swim. It is a “keeper” book. I might have to reread it again this summer.

By: mendofleur

mendofleur — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:38:27 +0000

Slow living, a slow life, is a practice that calls for patience and self-caring, things that are often hard to give ourselves in a frenetic world.