Joining Kat and friends on Unraveled Wednesday.

Knitting.

I have lots of knitting to show and talk about, but none of it is photographed. So I will defer the knitting post and instead write about all I have been reading and watching and listening to..

Reading.

Frozen by Ann Cleeves. This is basically a short story — 22 pages — and is not nearly up to the author’s usual standard. I had to keep going back to see if I had missed something when an unknown character or reference cropped up. 1★

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I am nearly through Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope series, only one book to go.

The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper. A thriller set in 1950s Washington, DC. The author is a CNN journalist, so he is very familiar with that scene. It was okay, not fabulous. 3★

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One Life by Megan Rapinoe. A memoir written by someone in their early 30s does not have the depth of one written later in life, but this one gets close. Rapinoe is, of course, the pink/purple-haired captain of the US women’s soccer team that has won the World Cup twice, plus many other awards. She is also the driving force behind the lawsuit to get equal pay and benefits for women’s soccer. She is one tough woman and one to be admired. 4★.

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Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdich. Excellent book, excellent writing, but I was not in the right mood. That seems to happen whenever I try to read something by this author. I do not dislike her books, just cannot seem to get hooked by them — clearly a failing on my part.

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Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. The story of William Shakespeare’s son who died of the plague, but so much more. 4★

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The Water Dancer by Ta-Nihsi Coates. Excellent book, excellent writing, but I was not in the right mood

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The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie. A memoir written like a novel and with a *plot* like a novel. Two adult sisters return to their 90+ year-old parents’ home when the mother is hospitalized for a hip injury. Mother seems to me to have been an undiagnosed psychopath or perhaps a borderline personality. Reading about how she treated her daughters growing up and her husband since they left home is like watching a multi-car pileup on the freeway. It is fascinating and appalling and makes the reader glad for whatever kind of childhood she had. 4★

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Tucker Peak by Archer Mayor. I don’t remember who recommended this one, but my take on it was bleah. 2-1/2★

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The Good Detective by John McMahon. I don’t remember who recommended this one, but my take on it was bleah. 3★

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Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanism, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh. I used to read this author’s blog and loved it; then she went on hiatus in 2013 and published a book. Turns out that she is blogging again in 2020 and has published another book. If you have not had the pleasure, go check out her blog. She is hilarious in the mode of Jenny Lawson (TheBloggess.com), which is to say twisted and illogical-but-personal humor. Right up my street! 5★

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The Heir by Paul Robertson. Found this one in my Kindle app. According to Amazon, I bought it in 2010. Huh. It is a decent thriller, the ending kinda sucked, but worth the time. 3★

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Listening.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama. I knew I wanted to read this, but then I read a review by someone who had listened to the audio version, which is read by the author. The person gave high marks to the audio because, well, just because it was Obama. It is soooo nice to hear his voice again — calm, introspective, insightful, knowledgeable, self-deprecating. I am loving it! The only downside is that by choosing the audio I am missing out on the dozens of photos in the book. Oh, wait, I can check it out from the library to see those! 5★

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Watching.

The Crown on Netflix. When I first drafted this post I was in the midst of season 2 with Clair Foy as the queen. Now I am long past it. Prince Phillip is played by the same actor who was so dastardly in Outlander. Talk about being typecast… 5★

Speaking of the Queen…

Smokey took advantage of Hulu’s $1.99/month offer because, 1, it was cheap, and b, Hulu has all the episodes of X Files. So we will be watching those, too. Currently we are halfway through season one; 10-1/2 to go!