Personal exploration in the world myths and technology….

I find myself at an interesting crossroads of late reading two completely different forms of nonfiction which are making question what direction my personal journey will take in the next few years. I am taking a course in social software right now so am spending time exploring the virtual realm through projects and reading about topics from Facebook to blogging and tweeting. Some applications I can see using and other feel a little too out there at the moment. As a result of all this exploration I picked up John Palfrey and Urs Gasser’s Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives and am enjoying it. I am sharing little bits with the world through my other blog, Social Intelligence, which is the blog for my social software course. Born Digital talks about the differences between those that have grown up with the internet and that level of constant connectivity and the digital immigrants, who still more comfortable offline. I don’t know if I will ever completely give up sending snail or text and post blog entries from my cell phone so I know I am not a digital native. I still live a good portion of my life offline reading actual books and working cross-stitch, etc.

The other book I am reading is about a connection to the land and in the case of this story that land is Ireland. The Red-Haired Girl From the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit by Patricia Monashan is about her exploration of her Irish heritage and the importance of knowing where you come from. As someone who has moved every 3 years I wonder whether I need to make a trip to the British Isles to connection with my family heritage or take an opportunity to see Romania to get a better understanding of where my forbearers came from. She talks about feeling a connection to Ireland fairly soon after arriving on it’s shores even though she had never been there before. If you choose this book for a book club check out www.garravogue.com.

Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club novel

I know that it has been awhile since I posted and that this post is a few months late, but I thought I had to share my thoughts about this book. Kate Jacobs takes chic lit to the next level! This group of characters meets at Walker&Daughter, a cozy little yarn shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to share their lives and their projects. The group ranges in age from Dakota, who is trying to figure out her place in the world as a college student attending cooking school and trying to decide if she is still into her Italian boyfriend from her summer in Europe to Anita Lowenstein the grandmother of group who is fussing over her wedding and family.

The first book in this series is called The Friday Night Knitting Club and Dakota is in her earlier teens when we are introduced to group and the shop.

If you like this sort of book you might like to read Earlene Fowler’s work which is set in California around a craft museum and its curator. The books are titled with quilt patterns. The main character is usually dealing with some sort of mystery.

Janet Evanovich’s two series have a more casual language to them with a Jersey dialect. One is about a newspaper owner and the other involves a less than successful female bounty hunter.

Another option