Unraveled Wednesday | Books & Knitting | Week 8 of 2021

Each Wednesday I join Kat at As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday – a weekly check in with my reading and knitting. I’ve had another fantastic week of reading – I’m in one of those magical spells when everything I read is just so good. This week’s knitting update is more of a placeholder than actual progress, which is how it goes sometimes (for me, anyway).

Finished Reading This Week:

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The Crystal Caverns by Katrina Charman – the second book in The Last Firehawk series, which we’ve been reading aloud. It was a fun follow up with Tag, Skyla, and Blaze who are on a mission to find all of the pieces of the Ember Stone in order to save their enchanted forest from the evil vulture, Thorn. This adventure includes a cute seal named Coralie!

The Room on Rue Amélie by Kristin Harmel – I’ve had this book on my shelves for a few years and picked it up as soon as I finished The Book of Lost Names by the same author. An American, Ruby, falls in love with a Frenchman, Marcel, and moves to Paris just before Hitler begins his invasion of Europe in earnest. The marriage is rocky, mostly because Marcel is secretly involved in the Resistance and Ruby doesn’t understand why he doesn’t confide in her. Ruby befriends a Jewish family who lives in a neighboring apartment and promises to watch over their young daughter, Charlotte, if anything should happen to the family — and this becomes a promise that changes everyone’s lives. You can imagine the tragedies endured as the war drags on. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, so I’ll stop here. I was invested in Ruby’s story, but there was a bit too much romance for my tastes – I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden – this is the second book in The Winternight Trilogy, which I began a few years ago. It’s set in Russia during the Middle Ages and is full of superstition, fairy tales, and magical creatures. It’s downright fun and Russian winters are totally perfect when you’re aching for coziness. I immediately borrowed the third book from the library when I finished this one!

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather – thank you to everyone who encouraged me to read more Willa Cather. I was surprised by how good this was. Alexandra Bergson is a capable and smart young woman when her father dies and leaves their struggling farm to his young family. His dying wish is that they don’t give up on the land. Alexandra and her two oldest brothers toil to make something of their farm and to send their youngest brother, Emil, to college. As time goes on, the family’s disagreements splinters their relationships and somehow Alexandra remains successful and constantly looking towards the future. This is a “classic” and was totally approachable and compulsively readable – I couldn’t stop and carried it around with me everywhere last week, hoping for an opportunity to read just a couple more pages. I’m now looking forward to the next in her Plains Trilogy, The Song of the Lark (which is free on Kindle!).

Knitting This Week

I haven’t knit a stitch on Bryce’s Jubilee Hat. But it’s still patiently waiting in its project bag, ready for me to return at any time. I’m certain that my stitching mojo be back at some point, but I’m going to welcome all of the reading right now!

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That’s all from me today. I can’t wait to see what all of YOU are up to!