No unraveling this week, but just barely!
I am making progress on my Beekeeper Cardigan, but I have had to tink back a few times when I was not paying attention and my bees got out of sync! However, today I have about 5 inches to go in the body, but I won’t get any knitting time on this project until Friday. My “days” of knitting on this have had to be adjusted because of pesky things like making meals as Steve is home so I have not had much uninterrupted time to knit. However, Steve is gone for a work function this weekend and I am selfishly looking forward to having the house to myself. And, with some luck – I will have a completed sweater before the weekend is over!
The reading had mixed reviews this week. I finished Backman’s Us Against You and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
After reading Bonny’s review of Us Against You, I was concerned but I forged ahead and began to read it. I, like Bonny, loved Beartown and it was a beautifully told story! However, Us Against You fell short for me and I gave it just 3-stars. It is a bit of a disjointed story and it felt quite chopped up as I read it and I think it could have been better if it the writing had flowed better. But, it is a dysfunctional story about some very dysfunctional characters. It leaves you feeling very uncomfortable and the story feels very unfinished, but I am hoping that the final book of the Beartown trilogy fixes these issues and my suggestion is to wait to read Us Against You until the third book of the trilogy is released.
The Picture of Dorian Gray fills my “Classic you should have read” bingo square and wow… this story really blew me away. The writing is brilliant, and the premise of the story is fascinating – again, Dorian is an utterly dysfunctional character, but the story that plays out is thought provoking and, yes, disturbing. If you have not read this story, I don’t want to give anything away, but the concepts of vanity, youth, and the perceptions of how one looks make for great discussion and I think this would be an excellent book for a book club to read! I gave it 5-stars and highly recommend it!
I am more than half way through The Weight of Ink and loving it. And, I just started listening to Anna Karenina… and will be listening for a good bit of time yet (I have about 34 hours of listing time to go!) I have just 7 books to go for a coverall so perhaps August will see me get a bingo or two on my second card!
But, what about you? What are you making and reading today?
If you wrote a post to share today, please leave your link below!
[inlinkz_linkup id=789463 mode=1]
I am jealous of your weekend to yourself! I expect a fairly low-key weekend, especially because the weather is not supposed to be great, but I’m sure I’ll have plenty to do that isn’t knitting and spinning.
Looking forward to seeing your finished sweater!! You continue to amaze me with ALL you are reading this summer! Anna K is good, though terribly long. I’m in queue for The Weight of Ink and hoping it comes in soon…though so many in my queue have recently come to me that I can’t possibly finish them all within the allotted time – lol. I will let some go and make notes of what to put in my queue again. My unraveled updates are on my blog.
It would be so nice to not waste good knitting time on meal preparation, especially in the summer! I’m glad you’ll have a knitting weekend. I really debated about that review. Backman’s choppy writing style just irritated me, and Us Against You didn’t add anything to the story for me. Fingers crossed that the third book is much better!
I am sadden by the reviews! Beartown was phenomenal and now the second isn’t measuring up by TWO reliable sources.. I’m doing some obligation reading which is the worst kind of reading. However, I am nearly done!
I haven’t read Beartown yet so I won’t rush toward this trulogy. Plenty of books on my Want to Read list. Enjoy your weekend. My relaxed summer work schedule is getting quickly filled up. I need to block some time to be unavailable.
I started True Colors last night and so far I love it. I’m reading a cozy mystery and have Us Against You to read next but I’m reluctant to read it after considering your review and Bonny’s, too. I may pass it by for now.
I guess I go against the tide …… I could NOT get into Beartown (and I liked Backman’s other books).
I shall certainly wait for book 3 before attempting book 2! Anna Karenina…almost as long as GWTW…I hope she’s got a better personality than Katie Scarlett! 🙂
Have you ever seen “Picture of DorianGray?” Shown often on TCM…I too love the idea of “home alone” days…and a whole weekend – nirvana?
Read and knit on!
Cheers~
Oh, you’re in for the long haul with Anna. Worth reading, for sure. But TIME INVESTMENT in the first degree. 😉 Looking forward to seeing your (all lined up) bees!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed Dorian Gray – I’m familiar with the story but haven’t read it. Hope your weekend is as productive as you’d like (feel free to FaceTime if you want cocktail company 😉
I’m so relieved I wasn’t the only person who was slightly “meh” about Us Against You.
I have never read The Picture of Dorian Gray. Maybe I’ll have to give it a try. The sweater looks great. Pretty color.