Unraveled Wednesday: 2/14/24

I'm joining Kat and fellow Unravelers for this Valentine's Day Unraveled Wednesday with a wonderful new project. 

It's Sarah's wonderful pattern, Hydrophily (Ravelry link) I chose a lovely gray BFL and a six skein gradient that ranges from pink to deep purple. I plan on doing five "lobes" in each color, and I've just finished the first one in the third color, so only 19 more to go. Each repeat consists of 14 rows, and there have been several times that I've said to myself, "Just 14 more rows!" It really is an addictive pattern, and each time I do the Lotus Cluster Stitch at the end, I marvel that Sarah could have come up with an idea as lovely as this and then figured out how to knit it. Thanks, Sarah!

I finished two books this week. The publisher's blurb calls I've Tried Being Nice "a collection of humorous essays about a lifelong people pleaser", and while I found this to be true, it's also a lot more. Ann Leary is the author of several novels but she is also a great storyteller. Some of the essays in this collection are about trying hard to be a people-pleaser, something that I think many women can see in themselves, but at least one of them is concerned with that lightbulb moment when you realize you have no interest in pleasing a particular person. Ann Leary recounts her adventures with being far-sighted and having one-sided hearing loss that resulted in her blaring "Love Shack" in the grocery store and also her interactions with bats. I don't like bats at all but I could laugh at Leary's essay because the bats were not in my house, or on my pajamas. Some of the essays are more poignant, like the one entitled "Three Drinks Short".

The only book I've read by Ann Leary is The Good House and I found it both enjoyable and poignant. I've Tried Being Nice is funny, poignant, honest, and full of great stories told well. Thank you to Edelweiss and Marysue Rucci Books for providing me with a copy. This book will be published on June 4, 2024

I can't give you a simple reason why I requested Real Americans from Netgalley. The cover was interesting, I haven't read anything by Rachel Khong, but I am a big fan of multi-generational novels. This one spans three generations of a Chinese-American family beginning with Mei, her daughter Lily, and Lily's son Nick. The book is divided into parts with each one centered on a different protagonist. I'll admit that there were times that I felt a bit confused and wondered what had gone on in the intervening years, but it all comes together in Mei's section at the end. There were some aspects concerned with science (science fiction?) that I found distracting but the overall story was an intriguing one. The author writes in simplistic yet descriptive prose that is a pleasure to read. I was especially interested in Khong's idea of making decisions for your children, and what can happen even when you have only good intentions.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on April 30, 2024.

What are you making and reading this week?