I am still working through the last clue of the Larissa Brown’s mystery shawl. I have some blocking of the pieces to get done (and a pattern update on dimensions just dropped yesterday) so in the mean time I am being entirely distracted with a Linen Ranunculus. The photo above is an hour or so of knitting, so I think this sweater will knit up quickly! AND it will be the perfect summer sweater! (and yes, I am totally copying these sweater mods)

This yarn is just incredibly yummy!

I have really hit my reading stride this week! No bingo’s yet, but I should have my first one in the next day or two!

Dept. of SpeculationDept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I started this book and almost stopped reading it because I wasn’t sure I needed a rambling stream of conscious book right now. And then it clicked. Perfectly. Or rather, imperfectly.

Three things no one has ever said about me: You make it look so easy.

If you have spent any amount of time looking at your life wondering why everyone else’s life is perfect and yours is just, well, not. This is the book that will validate you and have you feeling good about it by the time you are finished. I wish I had read this book when I had three small children and contemplating divorce. I too was living in the Little Theater of Hurt Feelings as well, but I wish that I knew the name of if while I was there!

This could have been my Christmas Letter, had I ever made the effort to send one:
Dear Family and Friends, It is the year of the bugs. It is the year of the pig. It is the year of losing money. It is the year of getting sick. It is the year of no book. It is the year of no music. It is the year of turning 5 and 39 and 37. It is the year of Wrong Living. That is how we will remember it if it ever passes. With love and holiday wishes.

Now I am looking at all those Christmas Letters I got and wondering…

I highly recommend this brilliant little book.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the BlitzThe Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Early Quarantine Days Me just could not settle into this book at all. I would pick it up and read a page or two and zone out.

So I put it down and waited. And about the 10th of May, I picked it up and started again and it all just clicked this time… and I suddenly found myself needing to pace my reading to make it last!

This is a brilliantly written book about Churchill and the Blitz of London. I thought when I started the book the first time that I would end up disliking Churchill, but I can tell you that is absolutely not true, in fact – I might love him even more!

If you like history you will enjoy this book. If you love history, you will love settling into the days with Winston, and you will appreciate the insight, the conversations, and all the things that are not in history books.

The preface gives a hint at the splendor to come:

Although at times it may appear to be otherwise, this book is a work of nonfiction. Anything between quotation marks comes from some form of historical document, be it a diary, letter, memoir, or other artifact; any reference to a gesture, gaze, or smile, or any other facial reaction, comes from an account by one who witnessed it. If some of what follows challenges what you have come to believe about Churchill and this era, may I just say that history is a lively abode, full of surprises.

AMEN! If you read nothing else this year, but this book on your list! I highly recommend!

And that is all I have for this week! If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you for joining us!


Pin It on Pinterest