Good morning, friends, and thank you for the ongoing good thoughts. I'm sorry to say I'm still testing positive this morning, though I am feeling better -- I noticed on my (masked) walk yesterday that I could take deeper breaths and walk more or less at my usual pace, though I can still recognize the lingering symptoms of the virus in my body. I have pretty much accepted that I'm going to test positive for a while and I very well may miss out on the Great Race and Yom Kippur this weekend. I just keep reminding myself that although it's a disappointment to have to keep isolating and to miss out on things, the important thing is that I am feeling better.
It's Wednesday, so that means it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers!
Today finds me working on two projects:
On the left are the Polwarth singles I started spinning over the weekend that were finished last night. I just wound them into a center-pull ball so that I can ply from both ends of the skein today, I hope. On the right is my current sock WIP, using the skein of Woolens and Nosh self-striping that I bought at SSK. I'm going to be knitting afterthought heels on these socks for a bit of a change from my usual.
I still haven't pulled out my Birch Pullover to do the math I need to in order to continue, but it's on my list for this week.
Reading has been slower in the past week (for obvious reasons), so I've only finished one book.
A Spell of Good Things is from the Booker Longlist and tells the story of two Nigerians: a young boy whose family is struggling to make ends meet and a late-20-something female doctor who is financially well off but struggling with a sometimes abusive relationship. At first this seems like a book whose purpose is to compare the lives of the haves and have-nots, but as the two main characters' lives move closer together, it becomes clear that they both face huge challenges and that their decisions can have far-reaching impacts on their lives. It also shows just how broken modern society can be and who can fall through the cracks when power is in the hands of a few. It's a challenging read, but it's one I appreciated. I gave it 4 stars. I'll also note that I bought a copy through Blackwell's, for which I am now an affiliate, and the book itself is really beautiful.
I'm still working my way through the Booker titles and obviously won't succeed in reading all of the Longlist before the Shortlist is announced tomorrow, but I did buy quite a lot of the books from Blackwell's and thus will read them, even if they don't make the cut. Right now I'm reading The Bee Sting and am about 50 pages is. It's good so far, but I've been reading before bed and have not been able to keep my eyes open for long, so I'll have to find some time during the day to make some real progress.
What are you making and reading this week? Have any predictions for the Booker Shortlist?