Monday Book Giveaway (March 16, 2009)

Today’s winner is … insert drum roll here … Sena! Sena chose Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. Congratulations, Sena! If you’ll send your shipping information to katrina (at) stonoff (dot) com, I’ll get your book in the mail. Please include a phone number — I promise I won’t call, but my independent bookseller says his distributor is asking for them now.

For today, I have two copies of The Year My Son and I Were Born by Kathryn Lynard Soper. Soper’s book is a brutally honest yet ultimately triumphant memoir about the maelstrom of emotions a mother goes through when she learns her newborn has Down syndrome: mother-bear love mingled with grief — and guilt over the grief.

To enter, just comment below and come back Monday to see if I’ve drawn your name from one of my hats. Contest open to anyone on the planet who has access to reliable mail service, even if we’re related or you won today.

Now, the hat from which Mad Scientist drew Sena’s number (#40):

 It’s 100 percent wool with a satin hatband, made by David M. I don’t remember where I got this one.

This should be one of favorite hats. It matches almost everything in my wardrobe, and the no-nonsense design makes it work with everything from jeans to business suits.

BUT.

Remember the Sonni hat, and what I said about blocking? This is a perfect example of a mass-produced hat. It was clearly blocked by machine, and the resulting shape is fine, but nothing special.

Blocked by hand by a master like those Sonni hired, a hat like this would look simple and work-a-day, but subtleties in the shape would quietly transmit, “Ah! But I have impeccable taste.”