Unraveled Wednesday: 10/22/25

I’m happily joining Kat and the Unravelers today, with what I hope is almost the end of the rainbow scarf.

I haven't yet tired of knitting rainbows but I do want to finish the scarf so I'm ready to start Justin's Christmas present. He's a little more difficult to knit for but I had what I hope might be a good idea - slippers. I've made him a gazillion hats and he wears size 13 boots, so socks are quite an undertaking. I found a slipper pattern that I think will work and have even ordered yarn that will be here later this week. If Justin ends up not wearing them, maybe Nugget and the kitten can sleep in them. 

I read several books this week but I'm saving a couple of them for a post I have planned for Friday. In the meantime, here is a slightly strange yet interesting book that I also read. Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo is one of those quietly unusual novels that sneaks up on you with its tenderness. I picked it up from my library’s shelves without quite knowing what to expect, and I ended up genuinely touched by its mix of fable-like wonder and small-town realism.

The story follows Gabriel Fisher, an orphan born extraordinarily large (eighteen pounds and twenty-seven inches at birth) whose life unfolds somewhere between myth and Midwest. Raised first by an older brother and later by strict Amish grandparents who try to hide him from the world, Gabriel’s journey is both physically and spiritually outsized. When a high school coach discovers him working in the fields, his secret life bursts into the open, setting off a series of events that test faith, love, and community.

Rindo writes beautifully about rural Wisconsin and the complex, sometimes claustrophobic ties of family and belief. There’s a quiet moral weight to the story, a sense that kindness and cruelty coexist in the same hearts. I especially appreciated how the novel balanced magical realism with grounded emotional truth.

That said, the pacing felt uneven at times, and a few plot turns veered toward the sentimental or predictable. Still, Gabriel himself is such a memorable character, both gentle and formidable, that I found myself thinking about him long after finishing.

A strange, heartfelt, and reflective novel about belonging and difference, Life, and Death, and Giants earns 3.5 stars from me. It may not be perfect, but it certainly has heart.

 

What are you making and reading this week?