Apparently, I Am A Grandmother

I don't have children. In fact, I can't have children. But according to a certain book, I am a grandmother.

The book is "Along For the Ride" by Michelle M Pillow. I was given an ARC (advance reading copy) at a recent conference. The book itself will not be released until this fall.

A day or two ago, I pulled it at random from my shamefully large TBR. TBR = To Be Read, and if you think I have a yarn stash, all I can say is, you should see my books. Periodically, I give away entire shopping bags full of paperpacks. And still I have more than I could ever reasonably hope to shelve despite a shocking amount of shelf footage.

In any event, I started reading the book, and I expected a good read because there's a strong buzz surrounding this author.

I got to page eighteen before ditching it.

I won't go into the problems in the text because I don't want to drag down this post, plus the book hasn't even come out yet and many of the errors may be corrected before release. But there are problems, and I was getting frustrated by about page 12, and then I hit this little gem on page 18:

"Her round, cotton-ball hairdo and fitted apron reminded him of the kind of grandmother who baked cookies and knitted socks...."

And then I stopped reading.

I'm so sick of that stereotype. We've got a whole clutch of knitters showing up to SnB every week, and yanno something? Not a grandmother among us, unless you count the one whose daughter will deliver her first child this winter. Technically, she's a grandmother-to-be. So that makes almost one grandmother out of the tableful of knitters.

Not that there's anything wrong with being a grandmother. There's not. What I object to is this notion that knitting belongs with cottonball hair, aprons, and old age. Knitting belongs to everyone who chooses to avail themselves of its many pleasures and benefits. The stereotype of "grandmotherly knitter" is about as factually accurate as a claim that all romance novels are bodice rippers. Talk about being behind the times!

Well, I'm not going to continue to rant about this. But I'm also not going to continue to read this book. Sorry, Michelle, but I just can't get past the cottonheaded knitter.