Sometimes (when I remember to take a photo), Wednesdays are for sharing books and knitting projects as I yarn along with Ginny.

Campaign season is upon us in D.C., as it is for many of you, too. For me, this means lots of time spent at candidate forums and endorsement meetings, which require something to keep the hands occupied and the body awake.

So on September 1, I cast on a new pair of socks:

The yarn, which I wound on a camping trip last fall while sitting in front of a fire, is Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in Autumn Sky, and as with all of her colorful, stripey concoctions, I am in love. She just emailed to say that she’s updated her shop and I am trying very hard not to buy all.the.yarn.

On the reading front, we’ve got Alaya Dawn Johnson’s The Summer Prince, which I started earlier in the summer and which appears on my list of books to finish by next week. It’s sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian set in a future, matriarchal Brazil and focuses on a teen artist, June, and Enki, the titular character, whom we are informed in the prologue is elected to his position as consort with the understanding that he will be sacrificed after a year. It’s dark and, obviously, the further you get into a book with such a plot, the darker it’s going to get.

I’m also reading and enjoying quite a bit Chicks Dig Time Lords (edited by Lynn M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea), a slim collection of personal essays, interviews, and comics about the women of Doctor Who, be they academics, fans, writers, actresses, or artists. I am a recent’ish convert to the long-running sci-fi tv show (we’re closing in on the end of Amy and Rory’s tenure as companions, so no spoilers, please), but my interest in gender studies dates back at least a couple decades. While the whole “chick” thing rankles a bit, I do appreciate the various perspectives presented by nerdy women.

I’m tired and out of inspiration at the moment, so I’m stealing a Broke and Bookish Tuesday topic from a couple weeks back:

Ten Authors I Own The Most Books From

1. Carolyn Keene: Although they are all in my parents’ attic, the plurality award goes to my Nancy Drew collection, which was started by a gift from my mother when I was in 3rd grade. There are probably close to 20 books there (although I loaned one out once to a friend of a friend who lives on the West Coast and never got it back…)
2. L.M. Montgomery: I loved the Anne books and the first one was definitely a present. But I can remember using my saved allowance to buy copies of the subsequent books in the series and then the Emily books and either bought or received as gifts several of her other titles. Some of them are up in Connecticut still, so I can’t give you an exact count, but I’d guess somewhere around 14.
3. Jasper Fforde: I have every book he’s published thus far in the U.S., which according to Wikipedia now numbers at 12. I will continue to buy them, so at some point, he’ll overtake the Nancy Drew team.
4. William Shakespeare: He’s another one I can’t give you an accurate count for, since I buy them used for cheap, but I’m probably somewhere around 10 or so…
5. J.K. Rowling: Seven Harry Potters in English (and possibly one in French), plus the most recent Cormoran Strike novel. If we count household copies, we have duplicates of the last three HP novels and Rudi is in possession of at least three in foreign languages: two in German and one in Welsh.
6. Barbara Kingsolver: 7 or 8. I can’t quite remember how many short story/essay collections I have. One of my favorite authors.
7. Louisa May Alcott: My grandparents gave me a set of six of her books when I was a kid and I received a second copy of Eight Cousins as a prize in third grade. With Harry Potter and the Anne books, Little Women is the book I’ve re-read most during my life.
8. Laura Ingalls Wilder: I know I don’t have the full collection, since I’ve been picking them up over the years as I find them (having read the library’s copies as a kid), but I’d guess I’ve got six of the ten Little House books and then a collection of her newspaper columns.
9. C.S. Lewis: 6, although I’ve never read the final book in the Narnia series, since a friend told me doing so runs the risk of ruining all of them. Since she doesn’t mess around about that kind of stuff, and since I thought the quality had tapered off after the first three or so, I’ve taken her advice thus far.
10. Toni Morrison: 5 or 6. Many of these were read during college, so I don’t quite recall whether or not I’ve read (and thus own) all the titles I think I have.

How about you? Are there specific authors you collect and/or read above all others?

Wednesdays are for sharing books and knitting projects as I yarn along with Ginny.

As part of my August goals and for a competition in one of the Ravelry groups I belong to, I’m working on finishing up some socks-in-progress. I began the first sock of this pair last summer while watching The Avengers at Canal Park, worked on it as a take-along at events where I wanted easy, focus-free knitting (like concerts and ballgames and the like), and bound off at a showing of Lover Come Back (Rock Hudson and Doris Day play ad execs and hijinks ensue) down on the Mall in July. Sock #2 was cast on at the ballpark last night. I’ve got some bus time coming up soon, so I’m hoping these will be a good project for that when I’m not sleeping (and sometimes even when I am, as Rudi will attest).

I just finished a book last night, so I’m mulling over something new to read. I’m 29 pages into The Last Days of California, a coming-of-age story about a teen girl traveling with her family to the West Coast in time for the day their cult predicts will be the end of the world, and haven’t made up my mind yet. The other two are baseball stories: George Will’s is about growing up a Cubs fan. I’m not especially a fan of his (or his politics), but we used to see him and Tim Russert at games when the Nats played at RFK periodically and baseball is a force that unites even the most polar opposite of folks, so I thought I’d give it a shot after seeing him talk about on CBS Sunday Morning. And the other book is a mystery/detective story about a minor league player who starts investigating things for his fellow teammates. It sounded like it might have potential. I have some other books, should none of those stick, but these seemed like the most likely next candidates.

What are you reading and knitting these days?

Wednesdays are for sharing books and knitting projects as I yarn along with Ginny.

Color Affection 3 continues to grow. I’m nearing the end of the third section now, which then only leaves the solid base and binding off. We’re heading out to watch a biking-themed movie tomorrow night, so I hope to finish the stripes then, or maybe Friday evening. Either way, I think this one might be off the needles by this time next week.

Two new books this week. I bought The Cats of Tanglewood Forest last year for the Once Upon a Time readalong, put it on this year’s list, as well, and then didn’t start it until the first day of summer. But that’s ok. The illustrations are lush (as you can probably tell from the cover), but I’ll need a few more pages to determine how I feel about the story of cats turning a girl into a kitten (to save her life) using their version of magic.

Beauty Queens appeared on a number of best-of lists a couple years ago and I went hunting for it at the library last week, as I felt a stirring for a survivalist summer read. I started it earlier this evening and am already more than 150 pages into this satirical novel about teen beauty pageant contestants who survive a plane crash onto what they believe to be a deserted island. Their ambition, mettle, and talents are put to the test as they convert evening gowns into rainwater collectors, spear fish with curling irons (sharpened to a point with manicure sets), get to know each other (and themselves) a little better, and explore personal and societal expectations of what it means to be a teen girl.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic at The Broke and the Bookish is ten books I’d like to read this summer:

1. Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior: I know, I know. I haven’t read either of the last two Kingsolver novels I’ve bought. I will get past the first chapter this summer.
2. A.S. King’s Ask the Passengers: Also on last summer’s TBR list. It is in my possession from the library and just waiting my finishing up my current read-along on Saturday.
3. Eliot Schrefer’s Threatened: Also in my possession. I started it the night I got it … and despite enjoying what I read, I haven’t gone back to it. Soon…
4. Alaya Dawn Johnson’s The Summer Prince: It has summer in the title and takes place in (an alternate version of?) Brazil. Seems like good World Cup reading to me.
5. Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer: A summer-themed graphic novel.
6. Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm: Sequel! Comes out Thursday!
7. Rainbow Rowell’s Landline: Rainbow is one of those authors I will read anything by.
8. Nina LaCour’s The Disenchantments: Post-high school road trip. This screams summer reading.
9. Helene Wecker’s The Golem and the Jinni: I put this down earlier in the year and am eager to get back to it.
10. Jennifer E. Smith’s This Is What Happy Looks Like: A summer romance.

And more, I’m sure!

Let’s have a look-see at what I’m carrying around with me these days, shall we? You haven’t seen any of this before:

Yes, it is another Color Affection shawl in different colors from the last one. No, the previous one hasn’t been finished yet, but I’ve put it aside in favor of this one for the time being. Yes, I do think I might get tired of this pattern. No, it doesn’t really matter.

On the book front, what you see here are two books I’m reading for the Once upon a Time challenge. Wildwood is a contemporary middle-grade fantasy story written by the frontman for The Decemberists. Like his songs, Colin Meloy’s novel is chockablock full of words that would make Mr. Roget radiate with repletion. Yet the story, of a girl whose baby brother is stolen away by a murder of crows and who braves the untrespassed nearby forest armed only a backpack and her annoying classmate seeking to retrieve him, is fun and original and the dual narration doesn’t feel gratuitous. I’m about halfway through and look forward to finishing it this week.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a more traditional fairy tale. Our protagonist, a fat, 16-year-old, second-daughter princess, is married off to a stranger/king and then must move to his country via a jungle and desert journey during which time they are beset by brigands (eat you heart out, Meloy) all the while downplaying that she has God’s blessed gem living in her belly button. Oh, and there’s going to be a war. Okay, so maybe “traditional” was a bit of a stretch there earlier. But it’s compelling and I’m enjoying watching Elisa grow into the person she didn’t think herself capable of.

And on the audio front, I’ve finished with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I highly, highly recommend both in print and audio formats) and tonight started a re-listen to the first Harry Potter audiobook. I still wish I could track down the British version, read by Stephen Fry, but the American version is perfectly fine, although if I recall correctly, the narrator isn’t great with girl/women voices and should never have been given the go-ahead for his rendition of Hermione. I particularly like audio for re-“reads” and I’m finding that it’s a nice alternative to tv for late-night knitting.

Yarning along with Ginny.