I know, I know. I never finished February’s list. But March’s list is short, so let’s get these up, shall we, and then circle back to February’s longer list later this week.

I only finished two books last month:

The Grind: Inside Baseball’s Longest Season, by Barry Svrluga

I like to read at least one baseball book a year. At last fall’s National Book Festival, Sarah wanted to hear Washington Post sports columnist Barry Svrluga speak, so I tagged along and enjoyed his talk about following the Washington Nationals around to cover what is the world’s longest sports season. In your head, you might be saying, “But baseball is only played for six months.” You would be right … sort of. There are games for six months, nearly every day. In a modern regular season, there are 162 games, but that’s over the course of 183 days. That means a baseball player only gets a maximum of 21 days “off” over those six months, and even then they’re probably working out for part of each one or traveling. They report to spring training six weeks before the season, and modern players are expected to arrive at spring training in shape from the off-season. This book is a fleshed out collection of the columns that he wrote, each focusing how people within various parts of a baseball organization deal with it. Because that schedule doesn’t just affect the players on the roster. It affects the coaching staff, the administrative staff, the scouts, players in the minor leagues, and all of their families. And, according to the book, each and every one of those people is carrying the weight of it.

As a baseball fan for many years, I admit that I hadn’t thought about baseball in this way before — neither about how little time away from the job they get (if your job affords you the luxury of two consecutive days off in a week, think how grumpy and less productive you might become, no matter how much you love what you do, if suddenly you were expected to give nearly all of them up for six months at a time) or how much of the burden of that falls on support staff and family members.

The book is a fast read, only ten chapters in all, and it does feel like it came from a weekly newspaper series. That said, if you enjoy baseball or how any large organization becomes successful, I’d recommend picking it up.

Pages: 176. Library copy.

Death at Wentwater Court, by Carola Dunn

This cozy mystery, set in 1920s England, is the first (of 22, to date) in a series about Daisy Dalrymple, a journalist and the daughter of a late viscount. (In case you aren’t up on your titles, as I was not, a viscount is better than a baron, but not as good as a baron/count.)

At the outset of her first novel, Daisy has convinced a magazine editor that her unique combination of journalistic skills and aristocratic connections make her the ideal person to write a series of articles about the homes of the gentry. She has come from London out to Wentwater Court to interview and photograph Lord Wentwater and his estate. Upon arrival, she discovers that in addition to him and his wife (they were recently wed) and his four grown children, those in residence at the estate include his sister and her husband, the eldest son’s fiancee (and her brother, who was Daisy’s late brother’s best friend and is Daisy’s on-again, off-again admirer), and the gentleman friend of Lord Wentwater’s daughter.

It is this gentleman, a truly unpleasant fellow, who turns up the next morning dead, and Daisy is asked to take a few photos of where the man’s body was found. When she discovers an anomaly and reports it to the detective who has been asked to investigate, she is pressed into becoming his secretary during interviews and finds herself knee-deep into the investigation.

Let me say that the plot of the mystery is stretched a little thin at points and that the secondary characters are not especially fleshed out, but neither was what drew me into the story. Daisy is a plucky, but kind character, as is Alec, the Scotland Yard detective sent to the estate, and they both have interesting back stories I’d like to learn more about. They are characters with potential, and I can also see a potential for the mysteries themselves improving, too, as we get further into the series. If you like the Maisie Dobbs books or Lord Peter Wimsey series, I think Daisy will appeal to you, as well.

However, may I suggest that if you are interested in reading this series and in being surprised by plot twists that you not Google the character or the book, but simply request it from your library or book purveyor? A simple search of Daisy’s name gives away several plot points just in the descriptions on the first page of results, so if you want a spoiler-free reading experience, let my mistake be your guide.

Pages: 252. (I listened to the audio version, though.) Library copy.

I’ve had great fun doing the past two Ninja Book Swaps, and while I thought about sitting this one out, I decided that I’d enjoyed them too much to skip it. I sent a package off to Louise in Derbyshire and got one back from Kate in West Midlands, which I finally managed to collect from DHL this week after we had some difficulties getting it dropped off:

I didn’t even know that colored packing peanuts were a thing! Incidentally, Corey thought this was the best part of the package, since he loves packing peanuts. He tried to steal several of them!

Kate sent me two books I’ve been wanting to read from her personal collection: The Magicians, which I’ve been wanting to read since it first came out, and The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion, the latest novel by Fannie Flagg, who’s one of my favorite comfort-read authors.

She also sent me some shortbread cookies and a box of tea, which she, not being a tea drinker, picked up at her sister’s suggestion. I’m looking forward to late-night snacks while reading.

Finally, she sent me an ordinance map of Wolverhampton, where she lives. She did not reside there in 1901, however, but she included an awesome card guiding me around the map to find the spots where they would eventually build all the places she’d lived in.

Thank you, Kate, for such lovely gifts! I love them! And a hearty thank you to Bex, for organizing the swap! If you think this sounds like fun, I recommend signing up for the mailing list, which will get you reminders when the next round is coming up.

I’ll admit to being in a low place, which means I play more computer and phone games and watch inane or repeat television shows than do productive things like read or knit. I know some of what’s causing it and that time is just going to have to get me through the next couple weeks, which are likely to continue being hard. However, volleyball starts back up this coming week, sunset creeps later every day, and the ski season is over. I’ve sat outside several days this week and have gone on a couple bike rides. The garden is under way, and we’ll pick our baseball games for the year this weekend. Much like getting pulled under by a big wave at the ocean, I know that if I don’t panic about the sinking feeling, I’ll come out the other side a little battered, but not much worse for the experience.

That said, I did start a new book this week: Vaseem Khan’s The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra starts on the title character’s final day at work as a Mumbai police inspector before a medically recommended early retirement. It’s also the day he gets a letter from his uncle informing him he’s about to receive a bequest — a baby elephant. I’ve only reached the day after retirement, and already Chopra’s feeling a bit antsy. I don’t think retirement is going to suit him too well.

I’ve started carrying around, although haven’t yet started working on, the second sock of my Sock Madness pair. I cast on a random sock twice this month, once with too few stitches and now with too many, so clearly that yarn needs to go into time-out until it can decide it’s going to cooperate and fit a leg properly. Hopefully it will see sense and allow itself to be re-jiggered (60 stitches, maybe) before the next time I need some mindless knitting for a concert or meeting.

Yarning along with Ginny at Small Things.

Every spring, Carl hosts a reading event, Once Upon a Time.

This year marks the tenth year of the challenge, and I’m excited to participate once again. I’m even eager to review the books, which I’ve been remiss about the last couple years. I’ve found Quest the First is the best fit for me, so I’ll be reading five books that fit into the fantasy, fairy tale, folklore, or mythology genres.

While I reserve the right to change my mind about my choices or to add a secondary quest (which offer the options to read A Midsummer’s Night Dream or short stories, play games, or watch tv or movies within these genres), right now, these are the books I’m considering reading (you saw some of these the other day):

• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell: A Harry Potteresque school with a cast of characters that includes a chosen one, ghosts, and an evil nemesis, who may also be a vampire.
• Court of Fives by Kate Elliott: Apparently, it’s Little Women meets courtly fantasy. It got good buzz in my Twitter timeline when it came out. I’ve had it out from the library and it either needs to get read soon or go back to them.
• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: Another book I’ve had out from the library for ages. Sarah & I caught part of the author’s talk at last fall’s National Book Festival. I’m not sure if it’s my style (one of the main characters is a soldier), but I ought to at least read a few chapters to find out and return it if it’s not.
• Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan: A Newbery Honor book from this past year that features a magical harmonica. Do we really need to know any more?
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins: A lot of people have classified this one as horror (Jenn? What do you think? Is it overly intense?), so it might be an early exiter for me, but it features a library and a Zeus-like character
• Unnatural Creatures edited by Neil Gaiman: Short stories about magical creatures.

I’m noticing several of the books I’ve selected sound awfully intense, which hasn’t been my speed recently. Only time will tell whether I jettison all of the stressful reads in favor of some of the gentler fantasy I have on my shelves and my online queue (and in that list from the other day).

Have you read anything recently you’d recommend that falls into these categories?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke and the Bookish is the top ten books on my to-be-read list/pile:

1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell: One of the books I’d hoped to get to last fall, but that didn’t come my way until last month when it arrived as a birthday gift from Rudi’s mom (picked out by Rudi)
2. Truthwitch by Susan Dennard: The book that all of Twitter was talking about this fall. (Well, at least all of my bookish Twitter). She came to speak in the area last month and I splurged and bought myself a copy.
3. To Catch a Cheat by Varian Johnson: The other book I bought myself this year was Varian Johnson’s follow-up to The Great Greene Heist, which was a favorite of mine a couple years back. It hasn’t gotten as much buzz, but I’m not sure if that’s because several of the bookish people I would have expected to tout it are just reading female authors this year or on its own merit. I’m looking forward to find out, because I love a good caper book/show/film.
4. A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab: This is overdue to the library, where it has a dozen holds on it, so I need to finish it this week. But I’m not giving it back until I’m done. (My library aids in this bad civic behavior by not fining me for the first 30 days after the book is tardy.)
5. Big Magic: Creative Living beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert: I read and was underwhelmed by Eat, Pray, Love, but Gilbert’s last two books have had more critical acclaim than popular success, so I’m willing to give her nonfiction a shot. (But I’m also willing to ditch it after 50 pages if I don’t think it’s any better than her breakout book.)
6. Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin: I loved (if by loved one means was horrified by but could not stop talking about the content contained within) The Port Chicago 50 a couple years ago, and Sheinkin writes reliably outrageous books that are routinely shortlisted for the best book prizes in the nation.
7. Unnatural Creatures, edited by Neil Gaiman: Rudi gave this to me for Russian Christmas, and I’m looking forward to reading the fantastical short stories contained within this pleasantly chubby tome as part of the upcoming Once Upon a Time reading challenge.
8. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine: I started this collection of poetry last fall, but it got put aside for some reason. I’ll make it a priority to be the next poetry collection I finish.
9. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: It’s the last complete Austen book I haven’t read, and Karen and I have been planning to read it for months. I’m voting we get it on our calendars in ink this spring (pending her approval, of course).
10. The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan: I want to read more international fiction, so thought I’d start with some mysteries/detective novels set around the world. Plus, it features a baby elephant!

How about you? What are you hoping to read this spring?

This is just a quick post because, frankly, I’m starting to realize exactly what a mess I’ve left my knitting in in order to advance in Sock Madness. I have until midnight on Monday night to finish, but I’m not yet to the heel on sock #1. And apparently the heel is a challenge. And it’s toe-up, which means getting it off the needles is more time-consuming than toe down.

So, here’s my plan:

Tonight: Go to bed after I’ve finished my tea. Getting enough sleep to not fall asleep while knitting is crucial to the rest of the plan.
Tomorrow (Thursday): Get through the heel on sock #1.
Friday: Knit the entire leg of sock #1.

Saturday: Knit the foot and heel of sock #2.
Sunday: Knit the leg of sock #2.

This leaves Monday after work for overflow when that schedule proves unrealistic. It doesn’t sound bad right now, but I did want to do some things other than work and knit for the next few days, and I can’t afford to eat every meal out between now and then!

(That photo could look less awkward; there’s a ball of yarn in the toe (as well as my own toes) from where I moved through the skein to get to a more contrasty section.)

Anyway, I’m still listening to Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn while I knit, and I’ve been sneaking in the short chapters of The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett, one of the novellas my library picked for its Rush Hour Reads series, in microbursts on my commutes. I am enjoying and recommend both.