Beautiful book, fascinating history, profusely illustrated, directions for making hooked rugs -- what's not to love? The lack of basic editing. Many people, poorly educated in North American public schools don't know the word 'pastime' (my eleven year old grandson recently spelt it 'pass time', which at least proves that he understands the etymology and meaning of the word!) but I could not believe that a book would go into print with a chapter title reading "HOOKING RUGS: A simple past-time"! The author refers to the 'past-time' of hooking rugs repeatedly and consistently throughout the book, right to the final paragraph of her conclusion: "Making rugs... is a meaningful past-time steeped in history..."

I have some tolerance for misuse of the English language in Facebook posts and fan fiction, but none in a work that makes it into print under the financial support of the Canada Council! I just couldn't read this; had I gone further there would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth. I'm sure there were other instances of unedited illiteracy, but I just couldn't bear to read further for fear of discovering them. ( )