Pen to Caper: Keeping it Real With My Pal Chenille

 Buddha Brigade Charm Necklace

Sweater: Express

Skirt: Marshalls

Shoes: Payless

Bag: Merona, Target

Green and orange bangles: Mixit, JCPenney

Maroon bangle: Iris Apfel for INC, Macy's

 Double Trouble Gumball Necklace

Sweater: Alfani, Macy's

Leggings: Gifted

Shoes: Ami Clubwear

Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Purple bracelet: Etsy

Yellow, pink, and rainbow bracelets: So, Kohl's

Bigger rainbow bracelet: A. C. Moore

Dark Romantic Dramedy Necklace 

Sweater: TJ Maxx

Skirt: Material Girl, Macy's

Shoes: 2 Lips Too, JCPenney

Bag: Fred Flare

Striped bangle: Mixit, JCPenney

Yellow bangles: B Fabulous

Emma Elephant Necklace 

Rad Rainbow Necklace 

Lime Time Choker

Sweater: Express

Skirt: Mudd, Kohl's

Boots: Simply Vera, Kohl's

Bag: Worthington, JCPenney

Cozy sweaters are like old friends.  They comfort you on the coldest days, embracing you in a literal hug.  Half of the sweaters here are chenille, which is, to my delight, enjoying a bit of a renaissance.  That said, if sweaters are old friends, then pen pals are friends we -- to borrow a phrase from a USC psych study on blogging -- haven't met yet.  As someone who loves to write, I've had more than a few pen pals in my day.  But never one quite like Amy.  

"Huh?" you're probably thinking, "I thought we were talking about sweaters.  Who the heck is Amy?"  She's (at least in my opinion) the driving force in Katarina Bivald's novel The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend.  Which is not about sweaters but might as well be.  The book is about twenty-something Sara, who lives in Sweden with her parents and works in a bookstore.  Quiet and lonely, Sara seeks solace in books.  Her most meaningful relationship is with her pen pal Amy, an older Iowa woman who is a fellow bibliophile.  So when Amy invites Sara to visit, she accepts.  Her parents are skeptical, warning her of the dangers of America and of traveling alone.  But Sara, who is tired of just standing still, packs her bags.  Yet when she arrives in Amy's hometown of Broken Wheel, she finds out that Amy is dead.  Also, that Broken Wheel is tiny and behind the times and, as its name implies, damaged and going nowhere.  In the tradition of small towns, the locals take Sara under their collective wing, insisting that she stay in Amy's library of a house.  So she does, and it's scary and weird and a little boring.  At least until she decides to use Amy's books to open a bookstore.  Which would be challenging enough in any economically depressed area.  But it's nearly impossible in Broken Wheel, where almost nobody reads.

At first, I was like, how odd, a Swedish woman putting roots down in -- and, if we're to include Bivald, then writing about -- Iowa.  But then I remembered that the Midwest was settled by Scandinavians (thanks, Rose Niland.  Watching all those Golden Girls reruns taught me about more than the restorative power of cheesecake).  Bivald keeps the connection between Sweden and Iowa alive by including Amy's letters, all of which are well-written and kind.  They're also a little formal, reminding us that Amy and Sara have never met despite the life-changing effect of their friendship.  

Opening the bookstore brings Sara out of her shell.  Which just goes to show that when you do what you love, your best self emerges.  This comes in especially handy when Sara has to deal with uppity customers from the neighboring hamlet of Hope.  She does so with confidence, aplomb, and, when the situation calls for it, spirit.  It's as if she's soaking up Amy's essence through her books.  The thing that eased her isolation becomes the thing that makes her belong.  

Sara also begins to get to know Amy's nephew, Tom.  They don't go out to dinner or to the movies.  Instead, he teachers her how to cook American classics.  Like corn dogs.  Now, what they have is not the hey-little-lady-you-must-be-new-in-town kind of thing that so often blooms when boy meets girl in novels (corn dogs notwithstanding.)  They have a downright unflirty relationship, in no small part because it's foisted upon them by their meddling if well-meaning friends.  But what they lack in frission, they more than make up for in steadiness.  Theirs is a no-nonsense, pioneer kind of companionship that's made all the more tender for its dearth of za za zu.  

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a quiet book, befitting a narrative about a reader.  And although the only real reader remains Sara, her bookstore inspires everyone who lives in Broken Wheel to come together to save it.  In its humble, deceptively simple way, Wheel reexamines what it means to be an American and what it means to be in love.  Both are about commitment and jumping right in, even when it seems reckless.  What makes it work is the characters, all of whom are earnest in their search for an everyday kind of happily ever after.

And that's pretty comfy cozy.  Just like a warm, colorful -- and possibly chenille -- sweater.  

I won't judge if you call yours Amy.