Apparently what I’ve done with my extra hour of time tonight is to spend it knitting and listening to Christmas music. Quietly, of course, because Rudi shouldn’t have to have dreams of sugar plums dancing in his head quite this early.

Honestly, it’s not so much that I’ve been craving Christmas carols, but it’s an effort to get a handle on the holidays this year. The past couple years, holiday tasks I enjoy have started slipping through my fingers, leaving me feeling stressed. I thought if I got a bigger jump on some of them, I might be able to better appreciate the process and the month of December. Plus, my library lets you download three songs a week for free to keep and I get more options for my annual Christmas cd if I get twenty songs for free. So I started listening a couple weeks ago and have been spending a few hours each week auditioning music, as it were. The music ranges from good to bad, from traditional to modern, and from instrumental to pop. Plus, it includes a range of international singers I might not encounter otherwise. I mean, sure, I’m probably not likely to include a German lullaby version of “Rudolph,” but you never know. As my dad will tell you, I sometimes find some pretty weird songs.

Right now, it’s Jessie James Decker’s “Baby! It’s Christmas” that’s playing. It’s the last song on her album and the only one that will get a second listen. But I probably wouldn’t give it great odds unless it really grows on me with that next play later in the month.

Oh, and speaking of Christmas, I’ll open up signups for the Virtual Advent Tour on the 15th.

With a rainy weekend ahead of us, here’s the book and knitting I’ll be prioritizing:

That’s this year’s Halloween sock and Barbara Kingsolver’s new book, Unsheltered, which I just picked up at the library tonight. She is one of my favorite storytellers, so I expect the book to speed by.

Have you been to Kat’s for more reading and knitting updates?

A catch-up post:

Testing the Ice: A True Story about Jackie Robinson, by Sharon Robinson, with illustrations by Kadir Nelson

In this charming historical picture book, baseball great Jackie Robinson’s daughter, Sharon, shares her memories of growing up in Connecticut and ice skating on the pond by her house the first winter she lived there. Internationally acclaimed illustrator Kadir Nelson provides nostalgia-tinged drawings for the book that help to immerse you in the story. This was the Connecticut title on the NYPL’s Read Across America: Young Readers’ Edition list from this spring. And as I’d never known that Jackie Robinson had retired to Connecticut, the book served the dual purpose of amusing and informing.

Pages: 40. Library copy.

Brick by Brick, by Charles R. Smith, Jr., with illustrations by Flyod Cooper

Written in verse that gets a little sing-song-y, the picture book has beautiful illustrations demonstrating the who and how of the construction of the White House. I hadn’t known that slave labor had contributed to the building of the White House until a few years ago, so I recommend it to everyone so they aren’t equally surprised by this overlooked piece of information. This was the D.C. title on that Read Across America list.

Pages: 32. Library copy.

Goldie Vance: Vol. 1, by Hope Larson, with illustrations by Brittney Williams

In this historical fiction comic collection, savvy 16-year-old Goldie Vance lives in a Florida hotel with her father, who is its manager. While her job is technically to park the guests’ cars, she also spends a lot of time shadowing the in-house detective, hoping to find a case to crack. With the help of her best friends, Rob and Cheryl, and Diane, the girl from the record shop, on whom she has a crush, Goldie manages to get into plenty of hijinks, but also to solve some pretty outlandish 1960s crimes, including the case of the stolen necklace. A charming addition to the MG/YA teen sleuth genre featuring a diverse cast and an intersectional title character.

Pages: 112. Personal copy.

A Treacherous Curse, by Deanna Raybourn

In the third book in the Veronica Speedwell series, Veronica must solve the mystery of the disappearance of a wealthy Egyptologist’s lead archaeologist — who just happens to be Stoker’s ex-partner and the man who ran off with his wife, leaving him for dead, years ago. When the man goes missing from his dig with a valuable but “cursed” diadem, Stoker is the lead suspect, and Veronica will stop at nothing to clear her friend’s name — and to impress her estranged father. We know no man is a match for Veronica, but can she beat Anubis, who’s been sighted wandering the nighttime streets of London intent on exacting revenge for the diadem’s theft, to finding the man? A well-paced sleuthing series set in Victorian England, iconoclastic Veronica Speedwell is a joy to read.

Pages: 308. Library copy.

Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman

This collection of stories about the Norse gods and goddesses are original Gaiman takes on classic Scandinavian mythology. Covering their complete timeline, from origin stories to Ragnorak, when the time of the gods and goddesses in Asgard is said to come to an end, each story both stands on its own and interlocks with what has come before and what is yet to come. Thanks to the Marvel films, and supplemented by Gaiman’s accent reading his own work, listening to the book was an enjoyable experience, with the ability to envision many of the characters as portrayed by their cinematic counterparts. I didn’t know a lot about Norse mythology outside of what’s referenced in the Marvel films and didn’t fully follow all that’s included in the movies, so these tales felt both familiar and illuminating, which is exactly what one would hope for in a modern collection of mythology. Highly recommended.

Pages: 304. Library audiobook.

Total Pages for May: 796

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic asked which Bookstores/Libraries I’ve Always Wanted To Visit (in no particular order):

1. Shakespeare & Co. in Paris (France’s most famous English-language bookstore)
2. The Book Barn in Niantic, Connecticut (I’ve driven past this used bookstore many times over the years, but somehow never stopped in. I have been to a different, unrelated used Book Barn in Amity, which may explain the oversight.)
3. Bart’s Books in Ojai, California (it’s mostly outside)
4. Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis (a kids’ bookstore)
5. Kitchen Arts & Letters (NYC cookbook shop)
6. John K. King Used & Rare Books in Detroit
7. Left Bank Books in St. Louis
8. The Last Bookstore in L.A. (it looks like a museum)
9. Murder by the Book in Houston (mysteries!)
10. Parnassus Bookshop in Nashville (one of the more famous indies, because it’s co-owned by Ann Patchett)

I dozed off with my knitting in my lap and just want to go to bed now, so instead of books and yarny stories today, you’re getting a photo of a new sculpture we saw on Saturday.

I like it.

While adapted works rarely live up to the originals, I still enjoy checking them out. Here are ten I’m looking forward to across several media:

1. The Hate U Give film is based on a book by Angie Thomas that I loved.
2. Dumplin’ is coming out sometime on Netflix and is based on a Julie Murphy novel, with original songs by Dolly Parton and Jennifer Aniston playing the mom.
3. I haven’t seen any of the three previous films of the same name, but I’m still looking forward to the Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper version of A Star Is Born.
4. I read today that there’s a Greatest Showman tribute album coming out next month. It’s a great soundtrack and I always find one or two songs that transcend the original in cover albums.
5. I still haven’t seen the Cormoran Strike series made by the BBC last year from the Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) novels. It’s on sale at Target, though, so I should see if it’s coming to a Redbox or if one of the other nearby library systems has it.
6. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is going to feature Misty Copeland and Helen Mirren, so I am there. Plus, you know I’m a sucker for a Christmas film.
7. A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston is an adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights that came out a few years ago, but the Renée Ahdieh adaptation came in first, and I didn’t want to read two so close together, so put this one off.
8. I’m curious about the impending publication of Marilla of Green Gables, a prequel of sorts to Anne, by Sarah McCoy.
9. The House with the Clock in Its Walls looks a little spooky, but only a little bit, so Rudi and I are going to try to catch it this month.
10. Mary Poppins Returns. I mean I was always going to see it, but add in a cameo by Dick Van Dyke and a lead role for Lin-Manuel Miranda and I’ll queue up for it.

How about you? Do you enjoy adaptations? Are there any you’re looking forward to?