Unraveled, Week 19/2026

We've made it to the midpoint of the week, so it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers -- and I've got a pretty big update today!

Though it's still looking a bit disheveled because it's badly in need of blocking, my sweater now has a finished body and a finished sleeve! I have started the second sleeve -- and simultaneously started worrying that I don't have enough yarn. As this is all handspun, what I have is all I'll ever have, so I'm hoping there's more yardage in those two cakes than I think. I know I had more total yardage than called for in the pattern, but I'm also a bit off on row gauge. And of course I always have this moment of panic in just about every project, so I'd worry if I wasn't facing a potential round of yarn chicken. If I do run short, I could shorten the other sleeve to match or undo the body and sacrifice some length, so I do have options. But I'm hoping I won't need them. Please keep your fingers crossed! In the meantime, I'll just try to knit faster; everyone knows that's how you make yarn last longer!

It has been an incredible week of reading for me in terms of sheer numbers, with seven books finished! But that makes it sound more impressive than it is because four of them were relatively short audiobooks, two were ebooks that were only around 200 pages, and the last one was long (500+ pages) but had been started about a month ago, so I only had the last bit to finish. Because of the total number, though, I'm only going to do some very brief reviews here in the interest of time and space. If you want to know more about my thoughts on any particular title, please let me know and I'll be happy to elaborate.

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (digital)
2 stars

The Winfrey family -- the Rev. Sabre, First Lady Priscilla, and their five sons -- are the elite of Dominion society, but the actions of their youngest son, nicknamed Wonderboy, threaten to undo it all. I struggled to understand some of it and didn't care for it much; even though the narrative is told mostly by two women, it felt like it was all about men behaving badly and hurting the women who love them.

Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture by Samantha Ellis (audio)
4 stars

This memoir, read by the author, details her efforts to explore and perhaps save the Judeo-Iraqi Arabic spoken by her parents and grandparents and to learn more about what their lives were like in Iraq. I learned a lot about the history of Jews who lived in predominantly Arab countries (so-called Mizrahi Jews).

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (audio)

4 stars

If you haven't read this book yet, please do. I found it particularly relevant given that my parents and in-laws are aging, but certainly all of us hope to reach old age, and this book provides a lot to think about how we want to live when the end of our life is in sight.

Wreck by Catherine Newman (audio)

4 stars

We return to Rocky and her family several years after Sandwich; her mother has passed away and her father is living with them. The death of a young man in their community that is connected to her son's job and her own health struggles lead Rocky to once again focus on her family. Charming and relatable.

We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezon Camara, translated by Robin Myers (digital)

2 stars

This book won the National Book Award for translated literature last year and was on the International Booker Prize longlist this year, so I wanted to like it. The writing was certainly beautiful, but I couldn't fully understand what was going on. At least it was short!

The Hakawati by Rabih Almeddine (paperback)

4 stars

Osama returns home to his father's deathbed in Lebanon and recalls his childhood, including the time he spent with his grandfather, a hakawati (storyteller) to the local village official. Interwoven with his own family's stories are traditional Lebanese and Middle Eastern tales.

Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall by Helena Merriman (audio)

4 stars

This work of narrative nonfiction tells the story about a daring escape from East Berlin to West Berlin via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. It follows the history of the wall's construction, the work of the Stasi in East Germany, and the film crew that captured the escape. Very compelling!

Currently reading: On the Calculation of Volume IV on paper, The Bullet That Missed on Kindle, and The Things We Never Say on audio.