I’m doing the Bout of Books again this week and it’s not too late if you want to sign up!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, January 7th, and runs through Sunday, January 13th, in whatever time zone you are in.

Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 24 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

– From the Bout of Books team

My goal for the challenge is to read every day, to finish An American Marriage and Dear Mrs. Bird, and to share my top ten reads from 2018.

So far, I’m about two-thirds of the way done with Dear Mrs. Bird, which I’m enjoying quite a bit and stuck in the first chapter of An American Marriage because bad things are going to happen and I’m not feeling up to it.

Monday’s challenge was to introduce yourself in six words:

How about this?

Would love to read for work.

Today’s challenge is to host a literary dinner party for five of your favorite characters.

Who do you invite and what food do you serve?

1. Jo March
2. Thursday Next (who will likely already know everyone else)
3. Hermione Granger
4. Charlotte Holmes
5. Petrova Fossil

And I’ll serve breakfast for supper — waffles, I think, or crepes, in case someone (I’m leaning toward Hermione) really wants vegetables with her dinner. And ice cream sundaes, of course!

I’ve only got half of this week’s unraveling here, having not knit a stitch in a week. I will put a pair of socks on the needles tomorrow and will pull out a project that’s further along to work on until I am feeling like working on the shawl I showed you last week.

I am delighted to report though, that I am enjoying the latest Lady Sherlock novel, The Hollow of Fear, tremendously. Charlotte is currently masquerading as Sherrinford Holmes, brother to the fictional Sherlock, whom she also portrays in the series, hoping to figure out how the estranged wife of her dearest friend, Lord Ashcroft Ingram, ended up dead in his ice house. Sherrinford cuts a far more dandified figure than Sherlock, who is too much an invalid to see anyone in person, relying on intermediaries to relate his revelations to those seeking his expertise.

Next up will be An American Marriage and Children of Blood and Bone, both of which were due back to the library today. The latter has a far shorter wait list to take it out again, should I decide to be an upright library user and return them immediately. (We have a 30 day grace period before fines kick in…)

I finished listening to the last of Cornelia Funke’s When Santa Fell to Earth last night. I should listen to the last few chapters of American Street so I can stop having to borrow and reborrow it. It’s stressful, though, so I tend to be inclined to leave it until it’s too late to listen to what remains before it expires from my phone… After that, I’m thinking The Lido, which I understand makes you feel good about life.

Head over to As Kat Knits to learn what everyone else is reading and knitting.

The Broke and the Bookish came out of retirement briefly to conduct their annual Secret Santa book swap earlier this month.

My package came from Lea of Lea Out West. She lives in Lake Tahoe, but her brother lives here in D.C. and surprisingly close by!

It didn’t strike me as unusual that both cats were interested in the box Lea sent. They’re big fans of boxes of any kind. But what I didn’t realize was that Lea had included presents for Jeremiah and Corey. I’d barely gotten the box open to pull things out when Corey hopped up, rooted around inside quickly, and ran off with this squirrel tail:

Jeremiah was not to be left out, but he is older and knew he should wait patiently for me to share a present with him. He got toast.

I’m not sure they shared willingly, but they did each steal the other toy to make sure they got to experience both.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Lea was my cats’ favorite person that night. It shouldn’t surprise me, since this is the great Christmas card she sent:

But it was not just the cats who got presents. I got some as well!

I’ll be honest. Lea’s package arrived the week before Christmas, and it was kind of a crappy week for me. I was PMSing, the apartment had flooded, my Christmas preparations were not humming along in the way that it felt like they should for someone with no day job to distract them from getting stuff done, and I was in the emotional and mental place one might expect to result from that combination. So I used the package as a daily pick-me-up. Every day I opened a gift or two, and every time I did, the world felt a little bit more right.

I have four new books to read and have already started in on the Christmas-themed one. I’m saving the other three as treats to read this winter (okay, the new Lady Sherlock may only wait until New Year’s Day — I can’t wait to start it!). I have new nail polish in sparkly confetti and purples, which will be the festive manicure I give myself on New Year’s Day while watching the parade. There is a fancy tea to drink late at night when I should be sleeping (like now). There are bookmarks (already in use!), notepads, sparkly pens, stickers, and bags to tuck into purses to hold pens, pads, and knitting needles (the last of those may not have been in Lea’s plan, but they’re just the right size!).

It really is a great package, don’t you think? Thank you so much to Lea for making me a box that I (and the cats) loved and to Jamie and Jana for running the swap again. I had a lot of fun shopping for my swap partner (Megan of The Hungry Bookworm) and got so much enjoyment out of opening each present Lea sent.

As I mentioned yesterday, Riverby Books, one of D.C.’s longtime used bookshops, is closing at the end of the year.

It has long been a favorite haunt of mine when over on on Capitol Hill, and I decided that I wanted to make one final pilgrimage before it was no more.

D.C.’s used bookstores each have their own unique feel. Capitol Hill Books is literally piled high with books. (They sit on the window sills, countertops, and in the bathroom, and used to be piled on the stairs until, I assume, the fire marshal shot that down.) Second Story Books in Dupont Circle has more of a storefront feel, with wide aisles and fluorescent lights. Wall of Books up Georgia Avenue is similar, but takes it further, being a bigger space, but it also is more a bookstore of the people, rather than of the collectors, so there’s less highbrow work and a broader selection. Idle Time in Adams Morgan has more ephemera (paintings and postcards), while Riverby fits into the upscale but laid back category, with a classy main floor (lots of wood, a couple wingback chairs, and a corner where you could brew yourself a cuppa to drink while browsing) aimed at adult bibliophiles and a cozier, more casual basement filled with kids books and a few overflow grown-up sections.

For the holidays, they’d assembled book bundles — trios of books relating to a theme, such as classics or movie fodder or titles based on Shakespeare quotations. This one was my favorite:

And did I come home with anything new, you ask?

As you can see, I had some luck finding an assortment of reading material. There are three books of poetry, including a local anthology; a classic; a middle-grade caper I’ve been meaning to read; three Christmas items (two dvd collections and one novella); and two books on language, including one by Bill Bryson. And with the closing sale discount, it all came out to less than $2.50 per item. Quite a good haul, if I do say so myself.

What you see here is the start of a new shawlette. It’s a pretty blue and a soft yarn and I’m hoping the pattern works with it. I’m knitting it on larger needles than I usually work with, so I’m hoping the sections will fly by.

I finished Winter Stroll tonight, staying up after everyone else went to bed to read by the Christmas tree. It was fine, and I will definitely finish the trilogy up next Christmas, but it wasn’t anything amazing. Winning Her Holiday Love is the other Christmas book I brought up with me and I imagine it will be a quick read. I mean, we’re going home tomorrow, so it won’t be done before I leave Connecticut, but definitely by the end of the weekend. I started listening to Cornelia Funke’s When Santa Claus Fell to Earth when we were driving up and figure I’ll finish it on the drive home. It’s not a long kid’s book, so the audiobook is only a couple hours.

This is the final Wednesday of the year, so you should head over to As Kat Knits to see what everyone else is reading and crafting.

It was a hectic week, which means not much knitting got accomplished. Nothing old is done. Nothing new is started. Tomorrow I vow to do one or the other.

I’ve done better on the reading front. I read the first chapter of The Muse of Nightmares, which is dark (duh!) and kind of maybe don’t want to read it right now. I was able to renew it, so maybe I’ll put it aside and try again next week. I have plenty of other paper books to choose from, including Glad Tidings, two holiday romance novellas which have been perfectly adequate bathroom reading but seem unlikely to advance beyond that. I think I’ll finish The Wolves of Willoughby Chase next, provided I can lay hands on it quickly. Otherwise, Christmas Caramel Murder, Christmas at Eagle Pond, and Ghosts of Greenglass House are the leading contenders to read next.

I’m listening to Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which she reads, and I now feel like I have a wise girlfriend keeping me company while I wash the dishes at night. I also have Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery out on audio, which is by the same author who wrote The Bookshop on the Corner, which was fine, but nothing particularly special. I’ve listened to the first few chapters, because a lot of people seem to really think it’s sweet, but I’m not sure I’m invested enough after the first few chapters to keep going. There’s probably another half hour before we learn what the driving force of this book’s plot is going to be (there’s been almost 45 minutes of set-up so far), so I suppose I’ll give it that much. Otherwise, I’ll probably just return to hanging out with Michelle.