Recommended reading

* David Byrne - Bicycle Diaries
I bought this at the famous City Lights bookstore in North Beach (San Francisco). It's an interesting book about Byrne's travels throughout the world and his observations on city structure as it relates to the culture. I'm about 2/3 done with it as knitting has taken up most of my time on the train.

* Geoffrey Canada - Fist Stick Knife Gun
I heard Geoffrey Canada speak on This American Life and was really interested in reading this book. It speaks of his life growing up in the South Bronx among street violence and how he has seen it change as he grew up. He is now a social activist and educator and has been the President & CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone for the past 20 years, where I would like to volunteer.

* Ishmael Beah - A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier
This tells the story of Beah, who is from Sierra Leone. He was made into a child soldier by the army and was forced to fight the rebels as a teenager. It's difficult to read at times thinking of the violence and losses he has had to endure. I'm about halfway through - highly recommended reading.

* 642 Things to Draw
A really fun book - there are spaces inside to draw 642 things, including a rollercoaster, smoke, a gold medal, David Bowie, the sound of girlish laughter, a sandwich, a paperclip, a submarine.

* Anna Hrachovec - Knitting Mochimochi
I've been following her on Flickr for a while - she makes these amazing, miniature, knitted pieces and has finally published a book, in conjunction with an installation here in NYC that I of course missed. Most of the projects require a tiny size 1 set of DPNS but they are fast and fun to knit.

I'll be busy this winter, anyway!