Unraveled, Week 3/2024

Good morning, friends! I hope you are all keeping warm this morning. Here, it's a frigid 8ºF, with a "feels like" temp of -5ºF. Mo and I are having a bit of a lazy morning because her school wisely decided last night to have a two-hour delay this morning due to the cold (and notified us of it last night); I think the head of school got a little criticism for not delaying yesterday, when it was cold and snowy and the roads were a mess. It works out quite well because she has a dentist appointment at 9 this morning and was already going to be late, but now she won't actually miss any class. So we'll still need to go out in the cold, but at least it'll be after the sun comes out and it won't be quite as cold as it would if we left for school at the normal time.

As it's Wednesday, that means it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers and to give you an update on my making and my reading. What I'm making isn't going to be a surprise; I'm pretty much exclusively working on my sweater. The good news is that you won't have to hear about it for much longer because I am in the home stretch on sleeve number two!

The color is appearing a bit darker here than it is in real life, and that's just because the sun isn't quite up yet, so I didn't get the best lighting for this photo. But if you click to enlarge it, you'll see that the second sleeve is more than halfway done (if you consider the the rounds are getting smaller as I approach the cuff). Provided I can keep up the pace, I think this should be done by the end of the week.

Reading has been good this past week! I've finished two good books.

I had picked up Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World when I was in a Barnes & Noble in Florida and was intrigued by it, so when I saw it was a Kindle deal earlier this month, I bought it. The initial premise is the author's exploration of how people constantly seemed to be confusing her with Naomi Wolf, a particularly troubling occurrence as Wolf went further and further into the world of COVID-related conspiracy theories. But Klein goes beyond this confusion into examining how people have been drawn to such theories over time, and not just related to the pandemic, and how the internet and the proliferation of disinformation have led so many to accept them. It's almost impossible to try to describe this book other than to say that it made me think a lot and that I think it's one I'm going to have to reread at some point because I'm sure I've missed some important points. I also have to mention that though this book was published before the start of the current situation in Israel and Palestine, there's a section about the historical conflict that truly changed my perspective on the region and made me think about this in a different way. This isn't a book that's going to be for everyone (and be forewarned that Klein is very overtly anti-capitalism, so there is definitely a political lens to her commentary), but it's a fascinating read that I'd recommend if it sounds interesting to you. I gave it 4 stars.

My other finish this week was an ARC from NetGalley. The Safekeep takes place in the Netherlands in the early 1960s. The main character, Isabel, is living alone in the house that she, her mother, and her two brothers moved into in 1944 after it was purchased for them by their uncle. Her life is disrupted when her older brother's newest girlfriend, Eva, comes to stay with her when the brother has to go abroad for work. At first, Isabel is bitter about the imposition and unfriendly toward Eva, but soon she is strangely drawn to her. Remembering how her mother rejected her younger brother when he revealed his attraction to other men, she is troubled by this and fights herself over it, but the emotions soon become too much for her to ignore. Just as Isabel comes to accept this new truth about herself, however, she realizes that Eva may have been hiding something about herself and how she wound up in this house with Isabel that throws everything into doubt. This is a story about self-discovery and sexuality but also about the war and identity and who owns property. It is written in a very spare style, with much more left unsaid and unwritten than what is on the page. I gave it 4 stars.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster in return for an honest review. This book will be published May 28, 2024.

I'm currently reading The Poisonwood Bible on paper and listening to another ARC, Laurie Frankel's forthcoming Family Family.

Today, after I take Mo to the dentist and school, I'm scheduled for my first blood donation of the year. Please send good thoughts for a qualifying hemoglobin number and that I don't turn into a popsicle on my way there!