Unraveled, Week 22/2021

I am quite happy about the fact that it's only the second day of my workweek and it's already Wednesday! That means it's time to join Kat and the Unravelers for an update on knitting and reading.

My sweater doesn't look very different from yesterday (I put a handful of rounds on it last night but spent most of the day finishing up a bobbin of singles), but I did make some decent progress on my brother's socks over the weekend:

Because these socks aren't a surprise, I had my brother try on the first one on Friday night when we were at my parents' for dinner, and it was a good fit. I ended up binding off when the leg was about 8 inches above the heel, making the leg and foot more or less the same length when the sock is folded in half. As you can see from the little yarn butterfly next to the start of the second sock, I didn't end up using all the yarn, but then Lisa's sock yarn skeins tend to be a bit heavier than 100 grams in general so I didn't feel I needed to use every last bit.

Reading has been good the last week, albeit a little slower (I was waiting on some library holds that seemed to take forever to come in). I've finished two books since last week, but they were both good reads.

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is on the Women's Prize short list, which I'm trying to read my way through, and I didn't know much about it before I started reading. Even after finishing it, I'd have a hard time giving you a plot summary; it's one of those books that's hard to describe because the plot isn't necessarily the most important point of the book. Rather, the book is about the characters and how they interact and about the intersection of race and class. This isn't an easy book to read, as there are a lot of heavy topics discussed (racism, incest, rape, infertility, miscarriage, child death, domestic abuse, violence, etc.), but it's extremely well written, and if you can handle the heavy topics, I highly recommend it. I gave it 4 stars.
Bingo square: Originally published this year

After a ridiculously long wait (seriously -- I was on top of the hold list for more than a week!) I finally got Kingdom of the Blind, the 14th in the Gamache series, from the library on Saturday and was able to start it Sunday. I don't know why the previous borrowers of this book took so long to read it; I read it in two days! Thankfully the last two books in the series that I have yet to read have no wait, so I can get to them when I'm ready. I would not put this installment among my favorites, but it was still a good read and had all the features I enjoy about the series. I gave it 4 stars as well.
Bingo square: An author you love

I am still reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which is very good but slow going because I'm reading an older paperback copy with small print. It's also a book I own, so it tends to get put on hold when a library hold comes up simply because my time with it isn't limited. I also started Gilead yesterday after finishing the Gamache mystery and am already nearly a third of the way through it. If it's another slow work day, I very well may finish it.

Here's the current state of my bingo card:

When I start a book, I write the title in the corresponding square. When I finish it, I add the date it was completed and highlight the edges of the square. It's surprising that I already have a bingo in progress because I'm not usually very strategic about picking what book to read next; often it's dictated by whichever library book is ready for me. But so far all the books I've read or started are in one of two lines, so that's kind of fun. My goal is a cover-all, so whether I get a bingo soon or not really doesn't matter much to me (though perhaps when I'm between library books, I'll pick one of the hard-copy books in my stack that will be in one of those two lines).

I hope your reading and crafting are going well -- please feel free to share what you're working on and reading in the comments!