As you can see, I’ve been knitting! I have at least one and a half more repeats of the pattern, I think, before I decrease for the toe. But I’m definitely nearly there!

I recently finished both print and audiobooks, so technically I’m less in the midst of reading Stacey Lee’s The Downstairs Girl and more that I’m about to start it. Set in Atlanta in the late 1800s, the novel focuses on an Asian American teen who works as a lady’s maid by day and an anonymous advice columnist by night.

Head to As Kat Knits to see what else folks are working their way through.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl is a freebie, but I’m tired enough that I’m having trouble coming up with my own topic. So I’m going to riff off Jana’s topic and give you ten authors I’ve read whose next book I’m looking forward to:

1. Sherry Thomas — Luckily, I only have to wait until October for the next Lady Sherlock novel.
2. Robert Galbraith — Similarly, the next Cormoran Strike novel is also due out this fall.
3. Virginia Kantra — I just finished (and adored) Meg and Jo, and at the end the first chapter of Beth and Amy was included. She answered a question on Goodreads that says she’s hoping it will be published later this year, but who knows…
4. Deanna Raybourn — Sure, the latest Veronica Speedwell only just came out this winter, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look forward to where the story goes next.
5. Kate Racculia — I loved Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts and am looking forward to what this author brings out next. Luckily, I can explore her two earlier novels while I wait.
6. Jason Reynolds — I haven’t read everything in his back catalog, but this week brought the news that he has a novel for adults coming out in 2022. He’s such a prolific writer, though, that’s probably half a dozen releases from now.
7. Maia Chance — I love The Discreet Retrieval Agency mystery series and look forward to whenever the next one appears.
8. Sonali Dev — This one is my fault. Her latest book in The Rajes series came out this spring; I just haven’t had a chance to access is yet.
9. Elizabeth Acevedo — Similarly, Clap When You Land also came out this spring, and I just haven’t gotten to it yet .
10. Jasper Fforde — His latest book is already out in the U.K., but won’t reach the U.S. until the fall. I’m looking forward to it already!

How about you? Which author can you not wait to read the next book from?

Look! I finished my Smock Madness gusset, so now I just have to knit a foot! Simple! It’s practically a full sock! (Well, maybe not. I wear size 11 shoes, so the foot is just as long as the leg. But still! More than halfway on the second sock!)

I shared with you last night my audiobooks, so tonight I figured I’d show you what I’m reading in print: Virginia Kantra’s Meg & Jo, a modern retelling of Little Women.

In this version, Marmee runs a goat farm in North Carolina. Mr. March is a former army chaplain who now runs support groups for returning soldiers. Meg is a former bank loan manager who now stays home with her toddlers, Daisy and D.J., while her husband John works at a car dealership for the Laurences.

Jo is in New York City, where she’s anonymously writing a food blog and making ends meet with a job as a prep cook in Chef Bhaer’s restaurant after having been downsized from her newspaper job.

But when Marmee gets sick, her two eldest children are going to have to take hard looks at what’s most important to them.

I’m halfway through and really enjoying it so far. All the key scenes are there, but altered, but our heroes remain themselves even though they communicate via text instead of post box in the hedge. But as we all know, the first half of Little Women is the easy part, so I’m steeling myself for a weepy weekend ahead.

Want to see what others are reading and crafting? Head over to As Kat Knits for her weekly Unraveled roundup.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic at That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the top ten book events or festivals we’d love to attend someday.

Who knew back when Jana set this topic that we’d all still be wishing to go anywhere?

Anyway, mine are all real:

1. BookExpo (I used to take part in a virtual version — Armchair BEA.)
2. Hay Festival (I have been to Hay on Wye on a normal day; I can’t begin to imagine it during a festival.)
3. Edinburgh International Book Festival (Scotland is on my list of places to visit, and this event coincides with the Edinburgh Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival.)
4. The Fforde Fiesta (The intermittent festival celebrating Jasper Fforde’s works held in Swindon, the real-world home of the fictitious Thursday Next.)
5. Shakespeare in the Park (this seems the easiest one to cross off my list once we’re allowed to gather in groups again)
6. YallFest/YallWest (I partook of YallStayHomeFest this spring and loved it.)
7. International Quidditch World Cup (Because don’t you just wonder…?)
8. Utah Shakespeare Festival (Oregon’s would also be great.)
9. Miami Book Fair (It’s the oldest book festival in the U.S. apparently. Who knew?)
10. The Youth Media Awards (Presented annually at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting, this breakfast is where you hear who’s won the biggest and most prestigious prizes in children’s and young adult literature. I went to several Midwinter meetings, but never managed to get to the YMA breakfast.)

How about you? Are there real-world or fictitious book events you’d like to be able to visit?

The unraveling is mostly only in my reading. In Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, the main character suddenly starts experiencing years of her life in non-chronological fashion. In Livingston Girls by Briana Morgan (thanks, Jenn!), Rose’s new all-girls school turns out to be a little … witchier … than she expected. In Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez, Sal accidentally brings his dead mother back to life for a little while for a festive meal. And in Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed, Jamie and Maya are trying to figure out what their relationship is during the final, frantic days of a crucial local election.

On the sock front, I have turned a heel! Now I just need to pick up the stitches and we can start flying toe-ward! I’m looking forward to taking something off the needles finally!

Head over to As Kat Knits for more of what folks are crafting and reading.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is top ten books that make me smile:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
2. Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus
3. Landline by Rainbow Rowell
4. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
5. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
6. Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence
7. A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman
8. Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
9. A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
10. Nicola Yoon’s The Sun Is Also a Star

I’m a sucker for a happy ending and these ten all deliver in one way or another.

How about you? What books make you smile?