Over the Counter #302

What books caught my eye this week as they passed over the library counter and under my scanner? Literary offerings this week - from knits to hoaxes.....

First up is Pride and Preju-Knits by Trixie Von Purl.

From the publisher, Harper Design:

"Knit your way through the incredible world of Jane Austen’s beloved novels, from Pemberley to Mansfield Park, and create your favorite Austen characters, including Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, Emma Woodhouse, and more with this delightful collection of twelve knitting projects from the famed craftsman, Austen enthusiast, and author of Knit Your Own Kama Sutra, Trixie von Purl.

Knitting maven Trixie von Purl helps knitters and Austen fans create the world of Jane Austen like never before with this inventive and unique craft book. Featuring a high-class art, Pride & Preju-knits gathers together the best sassy heroines and brooding heroes from all six of Austen’s beloved and widely acclaimed novels, including Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley, and Marianne Dashwood and Mr. Willoughby.

Following the complete pattern instructions for stitching each character, knitters can also recreate scenes involving these handsome Regency ladies and gentlemen. Capture Mr. Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth, the Netherfield Park ball, and Willoughby rescuing Marianne in the rain. Engage your yarn skills to fabricate extravagant stately homes, opulent tea parties, the rolling English countryside, and other genteel settings that are the essence of Austen. Pride & Preju-knits also features a wide-variety of additional patterns for bonnets, breeches, lacy parasols, and other charming accessories.

Each scene featured in Pride and Preju-knits is accompanied by Trixie’s own hilarious interpretation, clear, easy-to-follow knitting patterns, and instructions to guide readers through every stage of the project. Specially commissioned photographs accompany the instructions throughout so that readers can easily visualize every step."

Next up is Literary Hoaxes: An Eye-Opening History of Famous Frauds by Melissa Katsoulis.

From Skyhorse Publishing:

"The famous fakes and fakers of literary history.

When Dionysius the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400 BC (cunningly inserting the acrostic “Heraclides is ignorant of letters”) to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the fake Howard Hughes “autobiography” by Clifford Irving and Oprah-duper James Frey takes in every sort of writer, from the religious zealot to the bored student, via the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker.

But whether hoaxing for fame, money, politics, or simple amusement, each perpetrator represents something unique about why we write. Their stories speak volumes about how reading, writing, and publishing have grown out of the fine and private places of the past into big-business, TV-book-club-led mass-marketplaces which, some would say, are ripe for the ripping.

For the first time, the complete history of this fascinating subgenre of world literature is revealed. Suitable for bookworms of all ages and persuasions, this is true crime for people who don’t like true crime and literary history for the historically illiterate. A treat to read right through or to dip into, it will make you think twice next time you slip between the covers of an author you don’t know."

(Over the Counter is a regular feature at A Bookworm's World. I've sadly come the realization that I cannot physically read every book that catches my interest as it crosses over my counter at the library. But... I can mention them and maybe one of them will catch your eye as well. See if your local library has them on their shelves!)