Reading & Knitting – Week 19 of 2020

Happy Wednesday, friends! I hope this week has been treating you well. I tend to think every day is Thursday lately – I don’t know why I’m so fixated on Thursdays. But today is not Thursday. Today is Wednesday! And that means that I’m linking up with Kat at As Kat Knits and her group of Unravelers – bloggers who are sharing their current reads and stitching projects.

Reading

Finished This Week:

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I’m still reading! I thought last week’s finishes were a fluke, but I’ve kept going. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.

Deep Work is a re-read for me. I love Newport’s research into living a distraction free life, probably because I’m full of distractions! I’m not sure how I’ll use the strategies here because my season of life isn’t well suited to deep work right now (and what would my deep work even be??!), but I am constantly culling my social media use and finding more ways to be present every day.

I am reading one Anne book a month this year, but I couldn’t wait to start Anne’s House of Dreams so I actually downloaded this one in April! I devoured it. It might be my favorite Anne book so far. She and Gilbert moved into a tiny cottage in Four Winds Harbor so he can take over his retiring uncle’s medical practice. Friends, the characters that LM Montgomery dreams up! They’re perfect. They are funny, persickety, and lovable all at the same time. I’m going to try to make myself wait until June to read the next in the series – Anne of Ingleside – but we’ll see what actually happens!

I have wanted to read 84, Charing Cross Road for years but my library doesn’t have it. That’s usually a roadblock for me – I know that I only have to ask and they’ll order it or request through interlibrary loan, but that can be a steep hill for me to climb! But now that they’re closed, it’s given me permission to order books that I’ve always kept in the back of my mind but have felt out of reach. This was a short and fast book – I easily read it during the baby’s afternoon nap – but full of friendship and emotion. It’s the correspondence between Helene Hanff, a writer in NYC, and a bookseller in London. I loved how generous Hanff was with the staff of the bookshop in post-WWII London, when it was difficult to find an egg or a pair of nylons. I loved how kindly the staff accepted her gifts and begged her to visit them in London. This was a fun little book and I’m so glad that I finally read it!

Currently Reading:

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I’m still spending time with Ruth Galloway and A Room Full of Bones on audio. This series is so much fun! I am so happy to curl up on the couch with this and my knitting for just a few minutes each evening and enjoy the mystery. I’m just over halfway finished and am very curious about the murderer!

I started Murder at the Vicarage this weekend and have only gotten about 7% through it. It’s the first Miss Marple book and I’m thinking about working my way through her series in order, even though it’s entirely unnecessary to do so. I don’t yet know who was murdered at the vicarage but can’t wait to find out because everyone is already so ghastly.

(Clearly I’m finding comfort in mystery series right now! It’s too bad I’ve already read all of the Inspector Armand Gamache books because they would be perfect for this summer.)

Knitting

I was hoping to be at the ribbing on my Birkin by the time we met today, but alas – not yet. The pattern tells me that I have about 3 more inches to go before starting the 2″ ribbing, but I tried this on yesterday and believe that three more inches will make a rather long sweater. I’m going to be a Brave Knitter and knit just one more inch before starting the ribbing. I hope it works out okay!

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Friends, I hope your week has been treating you well. I hope that you’re finding comfort in this difficult time and that you’re starting to fall into a routine that brings you joy. Are you reading something that is particularly consoling to your soul? Or are you finding solace in a stitching project? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.