Books on Thursday

I finished two books this week and both of them were ones that although they were not at the top of my list, still provided me with some interesting reading. 

I had placed a hold on Strangers at one of my libraries, but was pleasantly surprised to find it available at my second library, so I checked it out and started listening. Belle Burden’s memoir is a reasonably well-written and often compelling account about the one-sided collapse of a marriage. The early pandemic setting adds a claustrophobia to the story, and there’s no denying the emotional devastation of having a partner of twenty years abruptly decide he no longer wants the life you built together. Burden writes candidly about grief, confusion, humiliation, and the slow process of reclaiming herself after betrayal.

At the same time, this memoir is filled with red flags that made it difficult for me to completely lose myself in the narrative. The biggest one was Burden handing over complete financial control to her husband. I simply could not understand that choice at all, regardless of how much wealth and privilege she may have come from. Burden writes openly about how she chose not to know, and the book becomes a cautionary tale about dependence and the dangers of surrendering autonomy within a marriage.

Burden is honest about being raised in a wealthy socialite world, and while she can’t help the circumstances of her birth, I do think that wealth cushioned many of the practical and emotional circumstances of the divorce. There’s still real pain here, of course, but it’s impossible not to notice the safety nets available to her that many women would never have.

What stayed with me most, though, were the children. The unraveling of the marriage is sad, but the most heartbreaking aspect is the portrait of a father who seems anxious to walk away not only from his wife, but from his three children as well. That complete emotional abandonment lingers over the entire memoir. Her children ranged in age from 12-17 at the time their father abruptly discarded them, and they are now 17-22 years of age. I would be interested in reading their accounts of what this has felt like for them now that they are young adults.

Overall, this is an engaging and emotionally raw read, even if I sometimes found myself more frustrated than sympathetic. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy memoirs about marriage, identity, and reinvention after betrayal. Three and a half stars.

 

 

I also checked out Malibu Rising at the same time. I've only read one other book by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & the Six) and enjoyed it, so I thought this one might provide some entertainment. Malibu Rising is definitely a summer read: glossy, dramatic, emotionally engaging, and somewhat difficult to put down once the party gets started. While I wouldn’t call this great literature, it absolutely succeeds as a propulsive, entertaining novel for times when you want something lighter that still has enough heart and family drama to keep you turning the pages.

Set over the course of one chaotic night in 1983 Malibu, the novel follows the four famous Riva siblings as they prepare for (and endure) their legendary annual summer party. Reid does a wonderful job capturing the atmosphere of excess, celebrity culture, surfing, music, and sun-soaked California glamour. The setting feels cinematic in the best way, and it’s easy to imagine this story unfolding in slow-motion montages complete with crashing waves and Fleetwood Mac in the background.

What kept me reading most was the complicated relationship between the siblings themselves. Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit all carry wounds left by their famously absent father, Mick Riva, and the emotional fallout of their childhood gives the story more substance than the flashy party premise might initially suggests. I especially appreciated the sibling loyalty and the ways they tried, imperfectly, to protect one another.

That said, the novel occasionally leans a little too heavily into melodrama, and some of the secondary characters felt underdeveloped or conveniently sketched in. The frequent shifts into Mick’s backstory also slowed the momentum for me at times, even if they helped explain the family dynamics. By the end, some emotional revelations felt more predictable than profound.

Still, Reid undeniably knows how to craft a compulsively readable story. The pacing is sharp, the dialogue is lively, and the “one wild night that changes everything” structure works incredibly well. Even when the book veers toward soap opera territory, it remains entertaining throughout.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast-moving novel with memorable family dynamics, plenty of emotional turbulence, and a vivid Malibu backdrop. Not necessarily a deeply literary experience, but definitely a satisfying read when you’re in the mood for something immersive and fun. Three and a half stars. 

 

Now it's your turn to tell me what you're reading! 

 

Unraveled Wednesday: 5/20/26

I’m happy to join Kat and the Unravelers today with a completed Dream Hitchhiker, a bit more stitching on Justin's Hat 2.0, and even a new bonus project.

The Dream Hitchhiker yarn was a generous gift from a very special person, and I'm happy that I was able to knit it into something soft, warm, and enveloping. I will look forward to getting this out of my Armoire of Handknits ™ on the first chilly day of fall and wrapping its deliciousness around me. It was literally 100 degrees when I went outside to take some pictures, so I scurried back indoors for photos. This is the only modeled shot I'm taking until the temperatures are back in the 50 degree range. 

 

I'm very happy with the size of it (54 teeth) and I really like the three rows of yarnovers I did before casting off. This may be my favorite Hitchhiker so far. 

I've also started the raccoon on Justin's hat 2.0. I've only gotten the top half of his face done, but I am making forward progress. It's been really hot here for the past two days, but I have enjoyed sitting outside in the shade and stitching a bit until my hands get sticky.

On Sunday evening, Justin texted that he and Jess had a wedding cake tasting on Monday in the same town that Ryan lives in. It's not very often that all of us are in the same place at the same time, so John and I decided that we would also go to Ryan's on Monday afternoon so John could tend the garden and then we would all meet up and have dinner. That sounded like a fine plan to me, but I realized that I would be sitting at Ryan's for much of the afternoon without anything to knit! This was completely unacceptable to me, so I grabbed a couple of skeins of kitchen cotton, found my size 7 needle and cast on for a dishcloth. Dishcloths always used to be my emergency projects when we had the house in Elkton and I was away from my stash, and this one served the same purpose. I preordered some lovely rainbow yarn from Must Stash for a possible Christmas present for Ryan, so I may be working on dishcloths until it arrives in a few weeks.

I think I'll be moving my book reviews to Thursdays in the interest of having a little more blog fodder. I am really running out of things to post about but this way I can pretty much guarantee I'll be posting something on Wednesdays and Thursdays at least. 

What are you making on this sweltering hot day (it only supposed to be 98 here today) in May?

Bits and Pieces: May 2026

I've got a few things that I could post about but none of them are really enough for a whole post of their own. It's clearly time for a Bits and Pieces post. 

• I was driving by the river and saw this wonderful sight. I had to find a place to pull over and see if I could take a picture. Thankfully, I was successful. They're merganser ducks and I thought the 10 ducklings were adorable. I wonder how the one hitching a ride on mom's back got their position, but I bet all of the siblings will all be jockeying for that coveted place in future duckling parades. 

• I’m seriously considering this dress for Justin’s wedding in October. I’ve looked at what feels like hundreds of dresses everywhere from bridal salons to Goodwill and Marshalls, plus endless browsing on wedding-wear websites. I don’t want anything fussy: no ruffles, no bling, just a simple, comfortable, reasonably priced dress. Apparently, that’s a lot to ask for, but this one checks all the boxes. It even has pockets! The only drawback is that it’s made by a seamstress in Lithuania who sells through Etsy. You send her your measurements, and she custom makes the dress for you. She has excellent reviews and is currently running a 25% off sale that ends June 2. Since I haven’t found anything similar any closer than Lithuania, I’m thinking I should probably just take my measurements and place the order.

• Ryan made me a carrot cake for Mother’s Day, and after we all enjoyed some together, he sent me home with the leftovers. It’s been such a treat having a little slice of carrot cake after dinner this week, though sadly I finished the last piece on Thursday. There are no pictures because I was much more focused on eating it than photographing it. It was delicious, and probably tasted even better because Ryan made it for me.

• I've finished knitting the Dream Hitchhiker and it's blocking, but I'd like to get something else on the needles. I've thought about what I could make for Ryan for Christmas and I might knit a hat. I knit him a rainbow scarf by his request last year and I have yarn left over that would make a nice hat. Except ... someone stuffed it into my stash closet willy-nilly, so I'll have to do a somewhat thorough organization of the stash to find it. That might be a weekend project so I can do it right instead of just hunting for the yarn and then throwing everything back in.

 

 

• It’s such a pleasure to drive along the roads around here right now because the wild phlox is in bloom. I love seeing the flowers in their beautiful shades of purple, with a few that are almost white. I’ve cut some in previous years, but once brought indoors, the petals tend to drop quickly. I suppose that’s just nature’s way of reminding me to enjoy them while they’re blooming in their natural habitat.

Feel free to share any interesting things happening in your world, especially if they’re bringing you happiness. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Unraveled Wednesday: 5/13/26

I’m happy to join Kat and the Unravelers today with the Dream Hitchhiker, which is finally nearing completion. It’s been a busy week, so I haven’t had much time to knit, but I’ve finished all the teeth and completed one row of yarnovers. I’m experimenting with another row or two to see how I like the look. If I’m happy with them, I’ll cast off, block it, and tuck it away until fall. If not, it should be easy enough to rip back the yarnovers. Either way, I expect and hope to be finished by next week.

After that, it’ll be time to focus on the duplicate stitching for Justin’s hat. I may also need to think about casting on another project so I have something to actually knit, though at the moment I have no idea what that might be.

I did finish a book this week and it was a good one. The Book of Birds is nothing short of a marvel, part field guide, part poem, part work of art, and wholly a celebration of the fragile, astonishing lives that share our skies.

Robert Macfarlane’s words are wonderful, lyrical, precise, and full of reverence for the natural world. He doesn’t simply describe birds; he invites us into relationship with them, asking not just what they are, but who they are. Each entry feels alive with movement, sound, and story, expanding beyond observation into something more intimate and essential.

But the real magic happens when Jackie Morris’ illustrations join those words on the page. Her artwork is breathtaking, delicate yet vivid, grounded in close attention but infused with a kind of quiet enchantment. Together, text and image create an experience that feels almost sacred, as though you are being asked to slow down, look closer, and remember what wonder feels like.

As a reader in the U.S., I haven’t encountered many of these particular species in real life, but that didn’t diminish the experience, in fact, it deepened it. I welcomed the chance to learn about birds beyond my immediate landscape, to see the shared threads of fragility, resilience, and beauty that connect them all. The book subtly reminds us that conservation is not local, it’s global, and it begins with attention and care.

I was lucky enough to read an ARC, but this is absolutely a book I will be buying and returning to again and again. It’s not just something to read once; it’s something to pore over, to revisit, to treasure. A future classic, and a powerful reminder that we will not save what we do not love.

Thank you to Edelweiss and W.W. Norton & Co. for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on June 9, 2026. 

What are you making and reading on this Wednesday in mid-May? 

Friday Letters: The Obama Edition

Today I'm taking my virtual fountain pen in hand to write a few Friday letters. Stephen Colbert's Late Show is ending on May 21, and I will miss him, a lot. Barack Obama (another person I miss quite a bit) recently invited Colbert to his Presidential Center in Chicago, and Tuesday’s episode felt like a gift: two well-spoken, thoughtful, funny, humble men in conversation. It moved me to tears more than once, so it seemed only fitting to write them both a few Friday letters.

 

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Dear Obama,

Your Presidential Center is both amazing and inspiring, just like you. I didn't previously have any plans to visit Chicago, but I think this is a trip I need to make someday. The five-foot high letters, from your 2015 Selma Anniversary speech, wrapping around the outside of the building, provided the first opportunity for me to shed a few tears. 

“You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.”

Thank you for these words of hope,

Bonny, who is cautiously hopeful

======

Hey Obama, 

It's just me again. I want to applaud you for the diversity and variety of everything you've included on the 19 acre campus of your Presidential Center. The Museum, Forum, Home Court, branch of the Chicago Public Library, John Lewis Plaza, Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit and Vegetable Garden, a playground, the Great Lawn which includes a sledding hill, and so much more makes this a place that I could easily envision spending a week or more. There is truly something for everyone.

I think you may be right in predicting that Michelle's dresses will be very popular, but Bo and Sunny are pretty appealing, too. I wonder if yours is the only Presidential Library to include dogs' water bowls and chew toys?

I would love to see your Nobel prize as well,

Bonny, an admirer of you and much of your stuff

 

====== 

 

Dear Stephen and Obama,

I want to thank you for your recent show, tour of the Obama Presidential Center, and being yourselves. The questions, answers, humor, discussion about aliens, and wastepaper basketball were just what I needed. I have a feeling that shiny gold trophy you presented to Obama might become highly coveted, so I hope it’s being kept under close watch.

Thank you for everything you've both given us,

Bonny, an ardent admirer

======

Wishing you all a wonderful and hopeful weekend.  

Unraveled Wednesday: 5/6/26

I’m happy to join Kat and the Unravelers today with a slow start on some duplicate stitch animals and a close to completed Dream Hitchhiker.

I started the duplicate stitching with the deer and it went fairly well. I did discover that despite making a list and checking it twice, I had not ordered the black (or asphalt heather as Knitpicks calls it) used for eyes, nose, and outlining the ears. It should get here sometime this week, so then I'll use it to stitch the deer details.  

I started stitching the raccoon but it turned out I was mistakenly reading the badger chart. What you see above is me removing the badger stitches, being really careful not to clip any brown hat stitches. 

I accomplished that successfully and what you see above is the result of me  checking and rechecking multiple times and doing the first three stitches for the raccoon. I've stopped here, and will recheck several more times before I stitch any more on the raccoon.

But I've been using the time that I'm not duplicate stitching to knit on the Dream Hitchhiker. We've had quite a few cool days, so I welcome the warmth of it on my lap. It looks much the same, just a lot more teeth. I've got 54 teeth which is probably plenty. I've been debating how I want to finish it - bind off after the yo row, do a couple more plain garter stitch rows, or maybe even do those plain garter stitch rows in another color. I've got some of the same yarn in a light gray, but I can't decide if that would look weird or not. If you have any thoughts about the finish, I'd love to hear them. 

I'm reading an ARC, rereading Good People, and relistening to The Things We Never Say but haven't finished anything, so no book reviews this week.   

What are you making and reading this first Wednesday in May? 

Read With Us: Good People

 

If you’re in the mood for a novel that lingers and is quite discussable, I think our next Read With Us pick is worth your time.

Good People by Patmeena Sabit is the kind of story that invites you to look closer: at relationships, at choices, and at the stories we tell ourselves about being “good.” It opens in an unassuming way, but don’t be fooled; there’s an undercurrent here that builds into something deeply thought-provoking.

What makes this a great book for Read With Us? It’s layered without being inaccessible, emotional without being overdone, and full of those moments that make you pause and think, “What would I do in that situation?” The characters feel real, flawed, complicated, and impossible to fully judge, which means our discussion is bound to be lively.

Expect:

• Moral gray areas that spark debate
• Subtle tension that builds as you read
• Characters you may or may not agree with, but won’t forget

I'll keep this one spoiler-free for now, but come ready to unpack motivations, question assumptions, and maybe even challenge your own definition of what it means to be a “good person.”

Part of why this book is so good is that Patmeena Sabit is an Afghan American writer whose work is shaped by her own cross-cultural experience. Born in Kabul shortly after the Soviet invasion, she and her family fled to Pakistan as refugees before eventually settling in the United States, where she grew up in Virginia; she now lives in Toronto. Good People draws on themes of immigration, identity, and community, reflecting the complex intersections of cultures that have influenced her life and writing. 

The hardcover and audiobook versions have manageable hold queues at my libraries, so I hope that is also the case for you. I started listening to the audiobook, but decided that I also needed to read it with my eyes, so I bought the Kindle version for $13.99.  

Kym, Carole, and I will be talking about the book, giving additional information (but not too much!), and doing promotional posts throughout April and May. Discussion day for Good People is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 7:00 pm Eastern time, so mark your calendars. We'll ask questions on our blogs that day and then host the always educational and illuminating Zoom discussion.

I do hope you'll Read With Us, and I really hope you'll also Discuss With Us!

A Fun Form of Poetry

Poetry Month has looked a bit different on our blogs this year, but I’m still glad we’ve respected authors and their copyrights by not sharing full poems without permission. As National Poetry Month comes to a close, I wanted to share a poetic form that felt fun and new to me.

I recently attended a poetry workshop at the library focused on newer forms. While many were unfamiliar and arguably interesting, quite a few felt too odd for my taste. When something becomes barely readable, like the form that relied on diagrammed sentences, it starts to defeat the purpose of poetry. I was especially lost with “Substitute 7,” where every noun is replaced with one that appears seven entries later in the dictionary. But I digress.

Leila Chatti first introduced the idea of Cootie Catcher poetry in the February 2022 issue of Poetry magazine. In that piece, she includes a link to a printable version so you can fold your own Cootie Catcher and create your own poems. The following link adds some more details: Art Prompt Poem and the video below offers a good explanation:

I made one myself and filled it with random words and phrases pulled from the archives of my older blog posts, which was a fun exercise in its own right. I’m not sure the resulting poems are especially “poetic,” but I did enjoy the creative process.

 

Nostalgia

Moment of serendipity

Tinkered with over time

 

Patience

Her brain is completely scrambled

Presume to be hopeful 

I hope you read some kind of poetry you enjoy, or maybe even something that challenges you, today and every day!

 

Unraveled Wednesday: 4/29/26

I’m happy to join Kat and the Unravelers today with a completed hat for Justin. Now all that remains is the duplicate stitching of five animals. That should go quickly! ;-)

I was pleased that I was able to find all of my original notes from when I first knit this hat 13 years ago. It helped me with the counting and determination of where I should start with the duplicate stitching. Now all I need to do is thread my needle with "Doe" (the color at the bottom of the deer, which is actually a buck) and get going. I counted and marked the hat several times yesterday afternoon and once again last night, but just couldn't bring myself to start at night when my eyes were tired. I think this duplicate stitching might need to be done in morning light. But a journey of a bunch of duplicate stitches begins with a single one, which will likely be done a little later this morning. 

I finished two books this week. Allen Levi’s Theo of Golden is the kind of novel that feels intentionally gentle and almost parable-like in its structure and message. Centered on a mysterious stranger who quietly reshapes a small Southern town through acts of thoughtful generosity, the book leans heavily into themes of connection, creativity, and what it means to truly “see” another person.

What works best here is the episodic nature of the storytelling. As Theo returns the pencil portraits to their subjects, each interaction opens a small window into the lives of Golden’s residents. These vignettes are often touching and occasionally profound, capturing moments of regret, reconciliation, or quiet transformation. Allen Levi writes with a clear affection for humanity, and there’s an earnestness to the prose that will resonate with readers who enjoy reflective, heart-forward fiction.

That said, the novel’s strengths are also where it can feel a bit limited. The characters, while likable, sometimes come across more as vessels for ideas than fully fleshed-out people. Theo himself remains intentionally enigmatic, but the lack of deeper complexity left me wanting more substance beneath the symbolism. Additionally, the pacing can feel slow, especially if you’re looking for a more traditional narrative arc or rising tension.

Still, there’s something undeniably soothing about the book’s worldview. It asks readers to consider the quiet impact of kindness and the ways art and attention can restore dignity and connection. Even when it veers toward sentimentality, it does so with sincerity. Given the state of the world now, I can understand how so many readers feel comforted by books like this.

Overall, Theo of Golden is a thoughtful, quietly uplifting read, best suited for those who appreciate contemplative storytelling over plot-driven momentum. This was three and a half stars for me. 

 

A World Appears by Michael Pollan is an ambitious, wide-ranging exploration of one of the slipperiest subjects imaginable: consciousness itself. In true Pollan fashion, the book blends science, philosophy, personal reflection, and cultural inquiry into a narrative that is both accessible and intellectually curious. Only Michael could write a whole book about consciousness and end with this quote, "Because consciousness is the only means we have of knowing anything we can’t step outside it and take up a god-like perspective from which to render a final judgement. So where does that leave us? Exactly where we already were, wandering in the exitless labyrinth of consciousness."  

 

But Pollan excels at being a guide through this complex terrain. He translates dense neuroscientific debates and philosophical arguments into language that feels inviting rather than intimidating, and his curiosity is contagious. The sections that delve into competing theories of consciousness, particularly those that challenge strictly materialist views, are some of the most engaging. He also brings in unexpected perspectives, from plant intelligence to artificial intelligence, which keeps the scope feeling expansive.

At the same time, the book’s “panoptic” approach is both its strength and its limitation. Because Pollan casts such a wide net, some areas feel more like introductions than deep dives. Readers hoping for a more rigorous or conclusive argument may find themselves wanting more details. Pollan often seems more interested in opening questions than resolving them, but that's an approach I appreciated. I'm not sure that many questions can be resolved when writing about consciousness, but the author keeps readers interested by raising more questions.

Where the book truly shines is in its more reflective moments. Pollan’s ability to connect abstract ideas about consciousness to everyday human experience, what it means to feel, perceive, and exist, gives the book an emotional resonance that elevates it beyond a purely academic survey. His writing reminds you that this isn’t just a scientific puzzle; it’s the very texture of being alive.

Overall, A World Appears is a thought-provoking and engaging read that invites curiosity rather than closure, and Pollan's curiosity is almost always contagious. He may not provide definitive answers, but succeeds in making the mystery of consciousness feel richer, stranger, and more worth contemplating. A strong four-star read for anyone interested in the intersection of science, philosophy, and what it means to be human. This was four stars for me.

My apologies for my overly wordy book reviews. I'm going to have to work on writing shorter ones. What are you making and reading this final Wednesday in April?  

Sometimes Monday ...

 ... is a day for Cosmic Brownies.

I had a slightly traumatic morning yesterday. My BiL (lets call him Mark) needed to sign up for Medicare Parts A & B, but he is a bit of a hermit. No computer, no internet, no cell phone, and he views anything related to the government with skepticism and pessimism. I was going to use my laptop at my house because Mark doesn't have wifi, and he would be here with my my SiL, who would also be here using her cell phone to do whatever she could do. 

I'll spare you all of the painful details, but first we had to create a login.gov account, and that involved verification of his driver's license (which he hadn't brought along to my house, so my SiL had to drive back to his house to get it), a selfie, and his phone number. We had to do this six times before we were successful, then send my niece to his house to get a secret code from his landline. Once we finally managed to create this account, we were able to sign him up for Medicare in about 20 minutes, but the whole process took over 3.5 hours. Snarky comments from Mark and John didn't help at all, so my nerves were feeling quite jangled when we were finally done. Last week, my kids had been telling me about Cosmic Brownies, so I thought baking a batch of them might help take the edge off. Maybe not the healthiest of coping mechanisms, but a brownie could possibly help.

The brownies only took a few minutes to put together and 20 minutes to bake. 

 

 

Then I had to let them cool off before I made the ganache for the top.   

I poured the ganache over the top and waited for the whole thing to cool.

 

They are pretty good! I like dense, fudgy brownies, and the ganache takes them over the top. I've never had a Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie, so I can't really compare them, but I think one or two of these will definitely take the edge off. I will be freezing most of them for the instigators Ryan and Justin so they are not sitting around at my house. Two of them were enough for me (unless I find out that the frozen ones are even better). 

I wish you a delicious and frustration-free week.  

Friday Letters

 

Today I'm taking my virtual fountain pen in hand to write a few Friday letters. I've done something that might have been dumb but need to correct it, found something small that makes me happy, and written some haiku. 

======

So disappointing!

 

Dear Past Bonny,

Try to remember this saying when purchasing glasses, "Penny Wise, Pound Foolish". You had your eyes checked, got the prescription from the eye doc, and searched around for the best price online for your glasses. The last pair you got from the optometrist cost ~$800 (frameless with progressive Transition lenses) and since the old ones are breaking, you were anxious to find the same thing at a much better price. You finally settled on GlassesUSA, ordered what you hoped would be the perfect pair for $275, and waited for them to be delivered. What a disappointment you had on Saturday when they arrived, you tried them on, and found that everything was blurry. There was no way that they were even remotely acceptable, so you called to start the return and refund process. That will be a saga that goes on for a couple of weeks, but how best to proceed? Renew your Costco membership and look for glasses there? Try Walmart optical and see if they can produce a pair of glasses that work for a reasonable price? Or just suck it up and go back to the optician, get a pair that will be incredibly expensive, but will most likely be done right? Glasses are a tool that I use to see all day, everyday, and I can just hear my grandfather saying, "always buy the best tools you can afford". I think I have to heed his advice. 

Sincerely,

Present and Future Bonny

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Birds by Jane Werner Watson, pictures by Eloise Wilkin, published in 1958

To Whomever Might Need It,

I love sites where people ask about treasured childhood books they vaguely remember and other people give them possible titles or leads about what their childhood memory might be. Oftentimes, the people asking the questions have very few details other than maybe a rough guide to the plot and I always laugh when they say, "It had a red (or green or blue) cover". But what I really love is when commenters successfully identify the book. It doesn't always happen, but it gives me a little jolt of joy when it does. If this is something you might enjoy, check out @myoldbooks on Instagram. I've found several book that I enjoyed as a child!

From,  

A Lover of Childhood Books 

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Dear Phyllis (my SiL), 

Last Friday I sent you a limerick about your cataract surgery that I mistakenly thought was scheduled for that day. When you told me that your first surgery was really today, I felt compelled to write some haiku for the occasion. I kind of like them, and I hope you can see well enough to possibly enjoy them also. 

Soft clouds in her eyes,

Phyllis greets the morning blur.

Soon, sharp light returns.

Kind hands, steady light,
A veil lifts from Phyllis’ gaze.
World in crisp detail.

Brave Phyllis rests calm,
New clarity on its way.
Colors sing again.

Hoping you can see clearly now,

Bonny 

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I hope your weekend includes some good books and clear vision.

 

Unraveled Wednesday: 4/22/26

I don't think there is an official Unraveled Wednesday linkup while Kat is taking a break, but Wednesdays are my favorite blogging day, especially if I haven't had to do any any actual unraveling. I'm enjoying our cooler and more seasonable weather and have been knitting almost monogamously on Justin's hat.

I'd love to finish the hat soon(ish) and get started on duplicate stitching the animals while I'm feeling motivated. I only have a couple more rows until I start the decreases so the end isn't too far away.

I finished one book this week, and it was a good one. Thanks for the recommendation, Vera! Sex of the Midwest completely won me over in a way I didn’t quite expect. Going in, I was intrigued by the premise, a mysterious town-wide sex survey arriving in inboxes, but what unfolds is something much richer and more nuanced than that hook suggests. This is very much a novel-in-stories, following a wide cast of residents in Lanier, Indiana, each chapter offering a glimpse into a different life, a different struggle, a different quiet longing. The connections between characters are subtle but satisfying, creating a layered portrait of a community that feels hopefully authentic and deeply human.

It’s been compared to Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, one of my all-time favorite books, and I’ll admit I was a little skeptical. That’s a high bar for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well this measured up. Like Strout’s work, Sex of the Midwest captures the small, often unspoken moments that define people’s lives, and it does so with empathy and insight rather than judgment.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is how attached I became to these characters. Nearly every story left me wishing for just a little more time with them. I was genuinely sad to see each chapter end, and by the final pages, I realized I’ll miss many of these people, like the man waiting for his lung transplant after having covid, the aspiring writer behind the bar, the quietly simmering bureaucrat, and so many others.

It’s also worth noting that the title is a bit of a misnomer. Despite the provocative setup, this book has surprisingly little to do with sex itself (aside from one particularly enthusiastic survey respondent). Instead, it’s about connection, isolation, identity, and the strange ways people try to understand themselves and each other, especially in a post-pandemic world.

Thoughtful, quietly funny, and deeply compassionate, Sex of the Midwest is a beautifully constructed mosaic of small-town life. If you enjoy interconnected stories and character-driven fiction, this is absolutely worth your time. Four and a half stars rounded up because I may read it again in a short while; it ended way too soon.

What are you making and reading on this penultimate April Wednesday?

 

Sometimes Monday ...

 ... is a great day to Vote by Mail. 

 It's "just" the primary, but it's still important and I hope it actually gets counted!

Three (Book reviews) on Thursday

I read three books this week, so I decided to post all the reviews together today. Edited to add: It turns out that I actually finished four but didn't want to ruin the alliteration of Three on Thursday. 

The first is one that Sarah read last week, and I read the second one in an attempt to try and make more sense of the first. Abigail Thomas’s What Comes Next and How to Like It is a quiet, contemplative memoir that reads less like a traditional narrative and more like a collection of fleeting thoughts, small, intimate moments stitched together in a non-linear, almost stream-of-consciousness style. Comprised of short vignettes, the book moves through grief, friendship, aging, creativity, and the strange, often unanswerable question of how to keep going when life keeps taking.

Thomas’s prose is undeniably sharp and direct. There’s a spareness to her writing that I appreciated; she wastes no words, and many passages carry a kind of understated honesty. Her reflections on long-term friendship offer glimpses of something deep and sustaining, even when the rest of life feels uncertain or diminished.

That said, the fragmented structure, while stylistically interesting, made it difficult to fully engage. The vignettes often felt more like impressions than explorations, and I found myself wanting more depth and more cohesion. While there are moments of insight, they felt fleeting, and I struggled to come away feeling truly enlightened, moved, or even particularly educated, which are qualities I tend to look for in a memoir.

Ultimately, this is a book that seems more about sitting with life as it is rather than drawing meaning from it. For some readers, that may be enough. For me, it felt a bit too slight to leave a lasting impression.

I came to A Three Dog Life after reading What Comes Next and How to Like It, mostly hoping to better understand the events that shaped Abigail Thomas’s later reflections. In that sense, this book provided some helpful context. It fills in the emotional and practical realities behind the fragments of her more recent work.

This memoir centers on the aftermath of her husband’s traumatic brain injury, and the life Thomas builds in response to that devastating shift. While her signature style is still present, with brief sections and a somewhat impressionistic structure, it felt more cohesive here. Her emotions are written more clearly, and I was better able to follow the arc of her experience, from shock and guilt to a kind of fragile stability.

Thomas’s prose remains spare and direct, which works well for the subject matter. There are moments of genuine insight, particularly in how she grapples with what it means to remain connected to someone who is, in many ways, no longer the person you knew. I also appreciated that I did learn something from this memoir, about care giving, adaptation, and the ways people continue living after unimaginable disruption. That’s something I tend to look for in memoir, and this book delivered more of it than her later one.

Dogs, as the title suggests, play a central role here, not just as companions, but as emotional anchors. Thomas’s deep affection for them is evident, and they help shape the quieter, rebuilt life she describes. It’s striking, too, that despite everything, she manages to carve out a decent, even meaningful life.

Still, while I admired much of what this book was doing, it didn’t fully land for me on an emotional level. The distance created by the fragmented style sometimes kept me from feeling as immersed as I wanted to be. I gave it 3.5 stars, but couldn’t quite round up.

Maxim Loskutoff’s Old King is a quiet, unsettling novel that lingers in the spaces between men, between ideologies, and between the myth of the American frontier and its unraveling. Set against the rugged backdrop of Lincoln, Montana, the story follows Duane Oshun as he runs away from a divorce in Salt Lake City and stumbles into a logging community and the orbit of a reclusive neighbor, Ted Kaczynski, along with some other reclusive and stubborn men. There are few women in this book, and they are definitely secondary characters.

I’ve always had some degree of interest in Kaczynski, with my own connection to Lincoln through having a cabin there. That familiarity made this novel feel quite grounded. Loskutoff captures the place with an authenticity that’s hard to fake, the rhythms of the town, the isolation, the quiet tensions simmering beneath everyday interactions. Lincoln is more than just a setting; it’s a force that shapes these men and their choices.

What makes Old King particularly compelling is that it isn’t really about Kaczynski, at least not in the way one might expect. Instead, it’s about the intersection of several lives of along Stemple Pass Road, men who circle one another, sometimes barely aware of the impact they’re having. Their connections are loose, almost accidental, yet deeply consequential. Loskutoff explores how proximity alone can bind people together, for better or (more often) worse.

The author's portrayal of Kaczynski is especially fascinating, neither sensationalized nor excused, but rendered as one thread in a larger tapestry of disillusionment, masculinity, and environmental grief. The “Old King” itself, the ancient Douglas fir, stands as a powerful symbol of what’s being lost, and of the competing values that drive these men toward conflict.

This is not an easy or uplifting read. There’s a quiet inevitability to the tragedy that unfolds, and it’s striking how none of these men emerge unscathed. Their lives, shaped by isolation, stubbornness, and a kind of muted longing, seem destined to collide in ways that can only end badly. Still, Old King is a deeply rewarding novel, thoughtful, atmospheric, and sharply observant. It asks difficult questions about progress, connection, and the stories we tell ourselves about independence. Three and a half stars rounded up. 

Yesteryear is an ambitious, unsettling debut that’s at its best when it leans into its sharp social critique, even if it occasionally stumbles under the weight of its own ideas. 

The premise was irresistible to me: a carefully curated “tradwife” influencer suddenly forced to live the actual reality of early 19th-century life. Burke wastes no time stripping away Natalie’s glossy, performative existence and replacing it with something brutal, filthy, and deeply disorienting. The contrast between the Instagram fantasy and the physical toll of survival is vividly rendered, and often genuinely disturbing. There’s a visceral quality to these sections that kept me turning pages.

What worked well for me was how pointed the novel is about performance, of femininity, of faith, and of morality. Natalie’s confidence in her own superiority, built on a curated life and a rigid belief system, feels uncomfortably real. I actually know a woman very much like this; she professes to be deeply religious, but she has also openly expressed that her faith makes her better than others. That familiarity made Natalie less of a caricature and more of a recognizable and unsettling type. Burke clearly understands the psychology she’s writing about, and that lends the book a sharp, sometimes biting authenticity.

That said, the novel doesn’t always balance its themes as smoothly as it could. At times, the satire feels heavy-handed, and the story’s central mystery, what exactly is happening to Natalie, loses momentum as the book toggles between possibilities. I found myself much more invested in the idea of the story than in its eventual direction. I'll admit that I childishly wanted Natalie to get her comeuppance, but I'm not sure that happened. Parts felt rushed, particularly given how extreme Natalie’s transformation is meant to be.

Still, Yesteryear is a thought-provoking read, especially for anyone interested in the intersection of social media, gender roles, patriarchy, and belief. It’s sometimes uncomfortable and unafraid to ask questions, but sadly, it doesn't explore those questions in any depth.

 

Some different reading for me this week, but that's what keeps things interesting. What are you reading?