Bookish Chatter | Settling In For Winter

Welcome to Wednesday, friends. I’m starting to wrap my head around the fact that Christmas and the new year are just around the corner. That also means winter is nearly here and it’s time to take stock of my indoor plans. I’m thinking about the stitching projects I have lined up as well as the books I hope to read. I’m feeling hopeful and excited about what’s in store! I hope that excitement can last until spring, when I will be slipping on my gardening gloves and getting my hands into the dirt. But one step at a time, right? Today’s agenda is to share what I’ve read in the last week. I’m excited to chat about three popular newly published novels as well as another Captain Underpants. Because of course.

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FINISHED THIS WEEK:

I was the second person in line* for my library’s copy of A World of Curiosities and you’re not going to believe this, but it was returned to the library while I was at storytime last Wednesday. While we were checking out our giant stack of books the librarian said to me, and this just came for you. I squealed. I was expecting to wait at least another week and was excited to begin it almost as soon as we got home and I got the kids settled in with a giant snack plate.

I couldn’t stop reading. I had been in a small reading lull before this book arrived; nothing was holding my attention and I wasn’t itching to pick up anything. I thought I needed a little reading break, no big deal. And this came and it became clear that I was just reading the wrong books for me right now. This installment took us back to the first case Gamache and Beauvoir worked on together – a really terrible one that involved a mother who overdosed and children who were sexually abused, so trigger warnings there. I think this was the most intricately woven plot of Penny’s that I’ve read to date. Gamache paired memories of several old cases with a newly found room that had been bricked up for over 100 years in Three Pines to unlock the mysteries of this novel. And the food was top-notch, friends. I only wish there was more of it to balance out the truly terrible things that happen in our world. Now we wait another year for the next book!

(And so many of you have mentioned that you’re 200-something in line for your library’s copy of this book. I am sorry! I wish I could share my library’s copy with you because I don’t even think there are 200 people in my town who use the library.)

Lucy by the Sea was another book that I didn’t want to put down. I’ve been on the waitlist for the audio version on Libby but decided to pick up the hard copy at the library last week. I love these books on audio but didn’t want to wait anymore after finishing Anything Is Possible. If you were curious about what Lucy Barton did in 2020, then this is the book you’ve been waiting for. It was a smidge frightening to relive those early days of 2020, watching the news unfold through Lucy’s eyes. She and her ex-husband, William, were lucky enough to leave NYC and stay at a house in Maine. I felt so lucky to have a house and a yard for the kids to play in during those dark days and still, I would have welcomed the chance to stay at a house by the ocean in Maine! Lucy was just like so many of us: scared, restless, outraged. It was quite comforting to have the knowledge that we were — eventually — going to get through this, sort of.

And then we relive George Floyd and the protests. And then January 6. Oh friends, I wept. In so many places. It was almost cathartic for me. I had a moment of thinking that I wanted to crawl into this book, make a pot of coffee, and just sit with Lucy. But then I remembered that I did NOT want to return to 2020 or early 2021! So I stayed put and kept a hankie nearby. I love Lucy Barton. How many times I have written that in this blog? But it’s true. And now that I’ve read all of the Lucy Barton novels, I’m going to reread Olive Kitteridge and then go through her series, but I will miss Lucy!

I spent weeks with Demon Copperhead and struggled to get through it. Luckily, I found the second half of the novel much more compelling than the first and was able to gain some momentum over the last couple of days. This book is narrated by a young boy who is nicknamed Demon Copperhead and lives in Appalachia. His family is extremely poor and he deals with extraordinary hardships. Demon’s narration is pitch perfect: he is smart, observant, and the epitome of a teenage boy (I think). At times, though, he really grated on me for personal reasons that are too complicated for this short summary. But I think that’s why I struggled with this one so much. This book is still a worthwhile read and I’m glad I stuck it out and finished, but I don’t think it will end up on my list of favorites this year.

I couldn’t help but compare the narrators of Demon Copperhead and Lucy Barton. They were both, essentially, speaking to the reader. How could one work so well for me and the other be such a miss? I loved how it felt like Lucy was speaking TO me, while it felt like Demon was speaking AT me. I love Lucy’s quiet, observing nature, while Demon felt brassy, loud, and know-it-all-ish. In essence, Lucy feels like ME and Demon feels like people in my life who I try to avoid. And teenage boys are kind of gross, so that probably has something to do with it, too. I am still anxious to read more Kingsolver next year with my blogging friends!

Bryce and I finished Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers late last week, after finishing the Part 1 of the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit that I don’t remember much about the plot of this one. I know that Melvin Sneedly and Captain Underpants switched bodies again and George and Harold were trying to figure out how to separate them. I’m sure the exact plot isn’t essential to today’s post though, so I’ll try not to worry too much about getting it just right.

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I started Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher yesterday and the main character is currently in Cornwall visiting her brother and I’m trying to decide what I should bake today that will pair well with this story. How does Pilcher know how to make me feel so perfectly cozy?! We’re expecting rain most of the day today so I expect to have plenty of opportunities to settle in with a page or two here and there. Perfect Pilcher weather!

I’m planning to be back on Friday with a stitching update. Until then – take good care!

*I have an imaginary competition with a woman in town who also reads this series. I try to be the first to ask the librarian about the Armand Gamache series prior to publication, because the first person who asks is the first person on the list. I’ve lost the last TWO years. There’s always 2023.