Unraveled, Week 44/2022

Good morning from a very foggy Pittsburgh! Goodness, it's been a week. Rainbow is back to school today after being home with me the last two days. She was feeling better by the end of the weekend, but she still had a fever until yesterday, so therefore she was not allowed to be at school. She was disappointed to miss two days (how many kids are upset about missing school?!), but thanks to how connected they are because of the pandemic, she was able to check in with all her teachers, get the material they covered in class, and do her homework. I wasn't really taking care of her all the time like I had to when she was little, but having her home was still a disruption to my normal routine, and on top of that I had a 40-page report to get through for work the past two days. I'm very happy to have the house to myself for a bit today!]

Yet another reason to be happy today is that it's Wednesday, which means it's time for my weekly link-up with Kat and the Unravelers -- my favorite blogging day of the week! I hope you will forgive the quality of the photos (due to the aforementioned fog).

I found myself rather anxious while Rainbow was unwell (because right now, with all the illnesses going around, how could I not be?), so plain knitting was all I could really handle. That meant more scrappy charity hats. The most recent one may be my favorite yet, probably due to all the really bright colors I selected. And I've already started another, though this might be the last for a while -- I'm nearly out of scraps and I want to send off the ones I've knit this weekend.

One of my goals for today is to finish up the colorwork cowl I've been designing, which should be doable as I've got maybe two dozen rounds left to knit (and, conveniently, a staff meeting to sit through later this morning). I already have my tech editor on alert for the pattern, so once the sample is done, I'll be motivated to write up the instructions.

I haven't gotten a ton of reading done this past week but did finish two books.

The Round House, which won the National Book Award for fiction, is our next Erdrich-along book for discussion. It was a hard read in the sense that it deals with some very upsetting topics and is quite emotional, but as usual, Erdrich presents them and discusses them in beautiful ways. The story is told from the point of view of a 13-year-old boy, and that Erdrich can do this so convincingly really tells you about her skill as a writer. The story deals with the themes of revenge, justice, and whether doing something truly wrong can be the right thing to do if it serves a larger purpose. It also touches on a theme that's common in Erdrich's books: who has jurisdiction over the land and how ambiguity in this area can have far-reaching consequences. I gave this one 4 stars.

Yesterday afternoon, I finished listening to The Chosen and the Beautiful. It's a retelling/reimagining of The Great Gatsby, which is not one of my favorites, and I really only picked this up because it's being discussed this month on the Novel Pairings podcast. In this version, narrated by Jordan Baker, there's an element of magic and the presence of some dark supernatural elements, all set against a backdrop of rising xenophobia. Jordan has grown up as the Vietnamese American adopted daughter of a socialite, and she finds herself navigating a society in which she is both a thing of fascination and someone who doesn't quite fit in anywhere. It's an interesting take on the classic, but I didn't love it, probably because I've never loved Gatsby, but also because I found some parts of it confusing. I'm looking forward to hearing it discussed on the podcast. I gave it 3 stars.

I'm currently reading a nonfiction book about WWII from Netgalley, and next up to start is The Marriage Portrait. What are you making and reading this week?