Unraveled Wednesday: 7/19/2023

I'm joining Kat and fellow Unravelers with the completed Vergißmeinnicht (Forget-Me-Not) Hitchhiker.

I do love it and it's safely put away until fall. But because I do love Wollmeisen Rolls, I'm going to be starting on my next one.

Wollmeise calls this color Captain Ahab, and I can see the colors of the sea and Captain Ahab's ship in it. I'll be unraveling, soaking, and winding it before I actually cast on. I'm still working on my Sparkly Hitch on the Move and will show you my progress next week.

My reading was up and down last week. I read a two-star book entitled Hedge by Jane Delury that I thought was going to be great, but it was not. It's about a garden historian named Maud who restores historically significant gardens, and for the first few chapters, this unique and interesting premise is explored as Maud works on an estate in the Hudson Valley. But the book quickly turned into a sort-of romance and endless wondering if Maud's new love interest has abused her daughter. 

A friend recommended The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments, so I gave it a try. It's written by a hospice nurse (apparently she's famous on Tik-Tok?) and the blurb stated that stated, "This extraordinary book helps dispel fear around death and dying". I did not find that to be the case but did think that the best thing about the book is that it illustrates how valuable and personal hospice care can be at a time when patients and families desperately need it. This was three stars for me. 

I lucked into getting Yellowface from the library. I was 65th on the waiting list, but when I was checking my holds, I got this notice that I had found a skip-the-line loan. I had never heard about this in Overdrive, but quickly took advantage of it. The loan is only for seven days so I made sure to listen to it so I wouldn't have to return it without knowing how it ended. It's an interesting story that raises the issues of plagiarism, privilege, diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, but I'm not sure they were examined thoroughly through protagonist June Hayward. This is the first book I've read by Kuang and I'm not entirely sure what she was trying to do. The writing seemed sophomoric and full of clichés. I don't know how June Hayward ever thought she was going to fool readers and publishers into thinking she was Asian, and she certainly wasn't able to fool anyone into thinking she was an above-average writer. I did agree with this quote from the book:

“But now, I see, author efforts have nothing to do with a book’s success. Bestsellers are chosen. Nothing you do matters. You just get to enjoy the perks along the way.”

I have let myself be fooled by blurbs and publishers' hype plenty of times. Yellowface is a much-hyped novel that is worth reading, but only because it raises questions and not because it provides any easy or thoughtful answers. I gave it three stars.

Lastly, I read a pre-publication copy of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore was married four times and through a series of letters she has written to an unknown recipient, we learn the story of those four marriages, what happened to her four husbands, and why she adopted a child, Camden. There are lots of twists, double-crosses, and secrets in this family drama, and it's not over until almost the very last page. I could have used a family tree to clarify who was who, and several of the plot points require some suspension of disbelief, but overall, The Heiress was a fun and entertaining read. Three and a half stars rounded up.

What are you making and reading this week?