Unraveled, Week 13/2026

It's Wednesday and the first day of April, so no fooling around -- time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers!

I've worked some more on both my sweater and the socks for my sister-in-law, and while I've made some progress since Monday, it's not enough to make it worth sharing an update so soon, so today I thought I'd share my most recent yarny acquisition. Now, we all know I don't need more yarn and have actively been trying to use up stash for a while. But I'm all about moderation, and that means that occasionally I feel it's acceptable to acquire some new yarn. In this case, it was done for a good reason. I think you all know that I am friends (in real life!) with Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works. Earlier in March (on my birthday, actually), she had hip replacement surgery. I knew she was worried about it and wasn't sure how long she'd be out of commission as far as dyeing yarn is concerned, so I wanted to help her out a bit by making a purchase -- nothing huge, just a little business thrown her way to help while she's unable to work. So here's what I ordered:

On the far left is Bounce (fingering weight) in her 2024 anniversary colorway called A Legacy. It was inspired by a zig-zag crocheted blanket that Lisa's grandmother made, one she still has. I remember my grandparents had one in their den, though theirs was in peak 1970s colors (browns and oranges), and I like the colors of Lisa's much better. The other two skeins came in a mystery grab bag; I knew the bases but not the colorways when I ordered. The center skein is Beguiled, a DK superwash merino/nylon/sparkle, in the colorway Mountain House Autumn, and the one on the right is Strong DK (superwash merino/nylon) in the colorway Gnome Place Like Home. That last one obviously needs to be made into something for my brother, but what I will do with the other two skeins is still up for discussion.

It's been another productive week of reading, largely thanks to audiobooks (I used to listen almost exclusively to podcasts while running/walking, but a number I subscribed to have stopped production, so I find myself downloading more audiobooks than ever).

Private Rites is set in a version of England where climate change has caused the rain to be unceasing and the water levels to constantly be on the rise. Three sisters whose relationships with one another have always been fraught come together in the wake of the death of their father, a rigid and demanding man who was celebrated as an innovative architect. The moment causes all of them to reflect on their childhood days, the mystery of what happened to the mother of the two oldest girls, and the strange memories they could never make sense of. This is billed as a retelling of King Lear, but honestly I didn't see much of a connection other than three sisters and a father who is cruel to them. I thought the writing was great but the story was just so-so, and frankly I'm still not sure what happened in the climax at the end. I gave it 3 stars.

After my experience with Lincoln in the Bardo, I knew I wanted to listen to George Saunders's newest, Vigil, and I'll tell you up front that that was a great choice -- it's excellent on audio with its full cast. The vigil of the title refers to the role Jill is playing and has played several hundred times. After dying at a young age, her new job is to comfort those who are close to death. This time, her charge is a former oil company executive, a man so sure of how he has lived his life that he sees no need for comfort. But other spirits are visiting, too, trying to get the man to atone for her contributions to climate change, and in such a charged atmosphere, Jill finds her thoughts straying back to her own life and death. It's sad, it's funny, and it's completely original. There's no question that George Saunders has a fascinating mind, and he is perhaps the only writer who could take the idea of a dying man being visited by a spirit in such a creative and unusual direction. I gave it 4 stars.

I heard about The Art Spy on one of the few podcasts I still listen to and immediately put it on hold because it sounded right up my alley: narrative nonfiction about the Germans entering Paris in WWII, determined to plunder the art held by France's museums and private (predominantly Jewish) collectors and the efforts by the French museum staff and resistance to prevent it -- yes, please! The book focuses largely on Rose Valland, a highly educated French woman well qualified to work as a curator who was repeatedly blocked from advancing in her career by men in positions of power. But in the war, her unassuming figure and the fact that she had a near-photographic memory enabled her to work right under the Germans' noses to keep track of where plundered artwork was going. The book also follows the Rosenberg family: Paul Rosenberg was a prominent Paris art dealer who represented Picasso and Matisse. His family fled the Nazis and escaped to New York, while his son Alexandre went to England to join Charles de Gaulle and the Free French forces and would be in the military group that eventually liberated Paris. And of course the book focuses on the Germans who took any and all artwork they desired, whether it was for German museums, Hitler's own collection, or themselves. I certainly knew that the Nazis stole a great deal of valuable art from European Jews, but I wasn't aware of the scale of their operation or the efforts of those in the occupied zone to attempt to counteract it. In addition to covering the entirety of the war, the book provides a comprehensive accounting of efforts to recover the stolen art and Rose's large role in it. I highly recommend this one. I gave it 4 stars (frankly, it would have been 5 stars except that I kept getting annoyed with what looked like sloppy copyediting to me).

I bought A Well-Trained Wife on a whim when it was a Kindle deal; I've always found memoirs to be a great way to learn about lives that are very different from mine, and certainly the "Christian patriarchy" of the subtitle is about as different from my life as I can get. When Molly was a newborn and I'd lie down in the afternoon while she napped, I'd often turn on TLC. At the time, the Duggars were very popular, and I was strangely fascinated by them. In this book, the author gives her perspective on the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement, showing that there is a very dark side to the wholesome public appearance. In short, she was expected to be obedient, submissive, and silent. Her exposure to the outside world was limited, and she was physically "punished" if her husband felt she was not respecting him, not doing her duty, or generally not following all the rules of their restrictive religious teachings. I admire her for her honesty, but I found the book itself to be hard to read and follow at some times and frequently got overwhelmed by all the theology. Plus, now I think I have yet something else to worry about with respect to the future of this country (the fundamentalist view of how it should be run). I gave it 2.5 stars.

Finally, another memoir, this one a little more lighthearted: In Everything I Know About Love, Dolly Alderton writes primarily about her teens and 20s and her evolving understanding about relationships and what matters. As you would expect, she gets wiser as she gets older, but through it all she maintains a sense of humor. I think many of the references were lost on me because I'm not British and because I'm older than the author, but I could still identify with feelings about friendships and getting older. I also really enjoy it when an author reads their own work, particularly memoir, so it was enjoyable to listen to. I gave it 3 stars.

I'm still reading The Odyssey -- but I've passed 400 pages, so I'm in the home stretch -- and have just started John of John, Douglas Stuart's forthcoming third novel. April is National Poetry Month, so I'm going to prioritize reading some of the collections I've acquired in recent years this month, too!

Passover starts this evening, so tonight we'll be at my parents' with all the family, and then tomorrow it'll be just my side at my brother's for the leftovers. Today Molly and I will be making charoset and roasting potatoes. I will likely be complaining about the food in a couple of days, but this is my favorite Jewish holiday, so I'm looking forward to it!