Greetings! It’s been a few weeks since you’ve seen any knitting in these here parts, since I went dark before the holidays as I was working on a Christmas present for my mom, who reads this blog. (Hi, Mum!)

As you can see here, I am still working on her Christmas present, despite this being the project (work or otherwise) that I most wanted to finish by year’s end. But the great thing about knitting is that it will be a great shawl when I do hand it over, hopefully the next time I see her — maybe next month? After all, it’s bigger than a babushka now!

I started a new book this evening, another Christmas romance. It’s overdue back at the Virginia library from which I borrowed it, but the 8 inches of snow we started the week with made it impossible to return it on Monday when I’d planned to, and then I had to get on a plane on Tuesday afternoon. So I figured if it was going to sit unread on my coffee table until I got back to town, it might as come with me and get read. Plus, I suppose I can always mail it back if need be.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what others are reading and crafting this first week of the new year!

The start to 2022 has been a little more distressing than we’d expected, which means that until I happened to check Twitter on Monday evening and discovered the Bout of Book Twitter chat going on, I’d neglected to see that we’d come back around to our thrice-a-year readalong.

I did follow up the Twitter chat by finishing two books — one in print and one audiobook — so whatever happens the rest of the week is icing on the cake.

Might you be interested in participating?

The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd, and runs through Sunday, January 9th, in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Come join us!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic at That Artsy Reader Girl’s Blog is Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the First Half of 2022:

1. Serendipity, edited by Marissa Meyer
2. An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn (the next book in the Veronica Speedwell series)
3. The Great Troll War by Jasper Fforde (at least one site says the final book in the Last Dragonslayer series will be published in May, although Fforde’s site says it has yet to be contracted for the U.S.)
4. The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith
5. The Maid by Nita Prose
6. Reclaim the Stars, edited by Zoraida Córdova
7. The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
8. Sense & Second-Degree Murder by Tirzah Price
9. The Emma Project by Sonali Dev
10. The Secret Princess by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz (Have you ever thought, “What if there was a mash-up of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess? Me neither! But I’m still excited to learn someone has!)

What new releases are you looking forward to in the next six months?

Getting closer…

Here are the books I finished in September and October:

The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett: I enjoyed listening to this first-in-a-new-series mystery that features Queen Elizabeth as our sleuth and her assistant personal secretary, Rozie, as her leg(wo)man. When a young pianist dies at Windsor Castle, apparently by suicide, HRH is not convinced and utilizes her young assistant to investigate. Turns out, she’s been solving mysteries since she was a child. The second book in the series came out late this year and I’m looking forward to listening to it.

A Lady’s Formula for Love by Elizabeth Everett: Lady Violet Hughes runs a public ladies’ institute, which is a front for a private women’s science club and laboratory. She’s also a brilliant chemist in her own right, currently looking into a scientific problem for the British government. When her life is threatened, her stepson organizes the most trustworthy bodyguard he knows, Arthur Kneland, to watch over her. But he may not have imagined the other type of chemistry that would bond the two of them. Solid feminist historical fiction romance. Recommended even if you don’t normally like all three of those descriptors.

Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price: In this reimagining of Austen’s most famous work, Lizzie aspires not to find a husband, but to be accepted as her father’s heir at his law office. After all, she routinely solves mysteries, but she never gets to take the credit. But now, she’s heard about a wealthy young man, Mr. Bingley, accused of murder and is in the process of getting him to let her help him — if only his current barrister, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, doesn’t prevent him from doing so. A really enjoyable reworking of the classic.

Class Act by Jerry Craft: In this companion middle-grade graphic novel to the award-winning New Kid, Craft centers his story on Jordan’s friend, Drew, who is now in seventh grade and his second year at the prep school where he and Jordan are some of the only Black kids enrolled. This year, they’ll deal with colorism, remaining friends with someone whose family has a lot of privilege, and the question about why all the Black kids hang out together, among others. Another beautiful story about aggressions and microaggressions.

Heist Society by Ally Carter: This is the first novel of a series about a master teen thief, who tried to leave the family business behind for high school, and her band of fellow young con artists, explosive experts, and grifters. In this story, she’s kicked out of school for a prank she didn’t commit only to learn that her dad has been similarly framed for an art heist — but his accusation comes from a terrorist, rather than an uptight headmaster. Will she and her friends be able to find who actually took the art and return it in time to save her father? Cute, if a little slow, given the number of characters who need to be introduced.

Donuts and Other Proclamations of Love by Jared Reck: It’s Oscar’s senior year, and since his grandfather refuses to let him drop out to help full time with their food truck, he’s hoping to coast by with his large block of culinary independent study and persuasive speech class. But his irritating class valedictorian, Lou, has other ideas when she brings him into her final Girl Scout project about food waste and literally dumps thousands of apples in the culinary lab for him to deal with. Will their friendship be as sweet as what he decides to do with the unwanted fruit from the school cafeteria? Adorable.

Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson and illustrated by Jenn St. Onge: In this graphic novel adaptation of the famous young sleuth, Nancy is summoned from River Heights by an anonymous note that hints that her mother’s death years before is more than just an accident. Now she’ll need to team up with her old friends, George, Bess, and Joe and Frank Hardy to solve that mystery, another that dates back to the same time as her mother’s, and some that are much more recent. Nancy Drew meets Veronica Mars. Highly enjoyable.

If I’m not going to finish reading any more books this year (and I’m not saying I won’t, but … ), I should at least finish sharing some of the books I did finish earlier. Here’s what I crossed off in July and August:

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala: The first book in a series focusing on a Filipina-American baker, who with her aunts and grandmother, run a restaurant. When her ex, a local food critic and the stepson of her aunts’ landlord, dies there, she and her aunts are the main suspects, meaning that she and her BFF, need to investigate. As with many debut cozies, there are a lot of characters, each of whom need to be introduced, which slows down the pacing, but Manansala seems to have some good instincts, so I could see reading the second book in the series now that we’ve met everyone.

Trouble Makes a Comeback by Stephanie Tromly: This is such a ridiculous, fun YA series that I devoured the second book in one sitting. It’s been months since Zoe heard from Digby, who hopped on a bus right after they kissed, off in pursuit of a clue to his kidnapped sister’s whereabouts. But now he’s back — and needing Zoe’s help, even though she’s tried to move on to some sense of normalcy, making some friends, dating the football quarterback, and holding down a part-time job. Her life is about to get decided un-normal once again.

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox: My parents both recommended this memoir from Fox, an actor and philanthropist, who talks about his Parkinson’s Disease and his generally upbeat approach to life — and how he’s worked hard to maintain the latter as the former progresses. Recommended.

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous: A middle-aged writer, in the wake of a divorce and joint custody of her beloved son, copes by doing what we all aspire to do — inventing an alternate persona. I mean, sure, hers is an octogenarian with a lovingly ascerbic wit who lives in a physically impossible fictional town and who attracts Twitter followers by the gazillions. But still. But in the midst of creating this alternate self, she also finds peace with her own life. (Bonus note for the audiobook: Lyle Lovett (who shares a birthplace with the Duchess) reads his own parts of the story.)

Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev: In the third of Dev’s The Rajes series, a modern quartet of novels that reimagine some of her favorite Austen novels, but featuring six Indian-American cousins, we focus on the eldest cousin, Yash, who is running for governor of California. After an assassination attempt which lands his bodyguard in a coma, Yash begins to have panic attacks. His sisters convince him to go and see their dear friend, India, who with her mother and sister, runs a yoga studio and is an expert at helping clients deal with mental health issues. Little do they know that he once long ago fell deeply in love with India, only to end up fake engaged to his own childhood friend. Way less soapy than I make it out to be.

Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: In the second book of this trilogy, we find our ragtag group of space force teens fleeing their own galactic police force, as well as the most feared alien in the galaxy, responsible for collapsing a sun against his own people — oh and the zombie aliens who took one of their own in the first installment. They’re captured by — and escape (except for Josh) — Kai’s sister. There’s romance and some odd time-space continuum questions and lots of melodrama — an I’m looking forward to seeing how it wraps up in the final book.

The Runaway Princess by Johan Troïanowski: In this translated graphic novel, Princess Robin decides she’s not especially interested in deportment or the royal goings-on and decides instead to set off on a trio of adventures, which bring her into contact with a quintet of brothers, kidnappers, pirates, and a witch, among others. But Robin is bright and funny and will win out in the end. A charmingly old-fashioned story for a modern audience.

For the past few years, I’ve taken part in The Broke and the Bookish Secret Santa (#TBTBSanta for shorthand), now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This year, my package came early and I put it aside as incentive to get through the hard days that were coming in December. Just before heading north, I opened it up:

Very exciting so far! We have a sparkly unicorn, stickers, fun socks, and two types of tea! Plus a bunch of packages to unwrap! And at least one of them will be a book!

Two of the packages were books — and one of those contained a trio of reads! That’s Casey McQuiston’s second novel, One Last Stop, and the first three novels in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series about what the Napoleonic Wars might have been like had there been a squadron of dragons involved. I’ve adored books by both these authors, so I’m so excited to read these in the new year! There’s also some stationery, more candy (mmm! Reese’s!), and a trio of eos lip balms.

Thank you, Bookish Momma! I love it all!

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