No photo today, but I’ve got several things with me in Connecticut for the holiday weekend. The pumpkin socks did not get finished, but I think I can wrap them up while watching the parade in the morning if I don’t doze off too many times. I also brought my purple and green shawl, which just needs the edging applied. And I brought a skein of yarn for socks and one for a hat, depending on what I feel like starting next. I have a skein of yarn for a hat somewhere at home that I remember buying at Sheep & Wool two (three?) years ago that I really want to knit, but I’ve torn apart the stash twice hunting for it without success.

On the reading front, I brought three books north with me: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, The Unbreakable Code, and A Most Extraordinary Pursuit, so I’m set whether I want middle grade, YA, or an adult mystery.

Head over to Kat’s blog to see what else folks are reading and knitting.

There are nine books to write about for June, so I’m going with the easier option of a Coffeeneuring ride, especially since Rudi posted those photos for me.

Coffeeneuring Ride #3: Shop Made in DC (1330 19th St., N.W.) and Shaw (Watha T. Daniels) Library (1630 7th St., N.W.)

Saturday, Oct. 21; 4.7 miles

Hot chocolate, cardamom kouign amann

If you’re going to talk about the revitalization of D.C.’s branch libraries, it’s impossible to have that discussion without highlighting the one in the Shaw neighborhood. This happens to be my current secondary library branch, the one I’m most easily able to get to on my way home from work. (more…)

No, in case you were paying attention, you did not miss posts on rides #2 or #3. Because ride #2 was to my regular library, I didn’t think to take photos inside, so I want to go back and get some to show it off properly. And I had a good portion of the post for ride #3 done when I realized that I wanted to include shots that are on Rudi’s phone (and he’s sleeping).

So, we’re skipping ahead to ride #4:

Coffeeneuring Ride #4: A Baked Joint (440 K St., N.W.) and Rosedale Library (1701 Gales St., N.E.)

Saturday, Oct. 28; 11.63 miles

Hot chocolate, brownie-chocolate chip cookie bar (more…)

I put this off last Saturday (and, you know, for months and months now), because it was too much work. Time to suck it up…

A Study in Scarlet Women, by Sherry Thomas

As you might guess from the title, this is a retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story. In this version, Lady Charlotte Holmes, cast out by her family after being caught in flagrante delicto with a married man. Mind you, she was only caught because she was the one to raise the alarm, hoping to free herself both from her troublesome family and the virginity they are so eager to protect. But after her father and sister fall under suspicion for killing the man’s mother, Charlotte must find a way to make the nom de plume, Sherlock, she uses in correspondence with the police work in real life in a society prejudiced against women to clear the family she still loves. I can think of at least four series in which Sherlock has been remained as a woman, and this is probably the strongest of the bunch, so if you’re only looking for one, pick this one (although I recommend them all.)

Pages: 323. Library copy.
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Obviously this is not one of my better shots, but I just don’t feel like pulling everything back out and setting it up again, so it is what it is.

And what it is is every print book I have out from the library that I’ve started. Two are adult books (A Most Extraordinary Pursuit and Exit West), two are YA (Saints and Misfits and The Reader), and three are middle-grade novels (The Lotterys Plus One, Me and Marvin Gardens, and The Unbreakable Code). On my phone, I’m about halfway through the audio of The Secret History of Wonder Woman. I’m in a bit of a reading funk and keep starting new things in the hopes that it will be the one to grab me, but so far no dice. Mind you, this is only about half of what I have out from the library right now. I need a vacation to get through everything.

Sock #2 of Little Pumpkins is into the gusset decreases, so progress should get faster now that I’m only dealing with one set of cables, rather than four, and have a lot more stockinette. I never understand why some people prefer toe-up socks: all the easy stuff is at the beginning and you’re stuck with lots of detail work the further along you get. Maybe only one more week. But I keep saying that, so clearly it’s meaningless.

You can visit Kat’s blog for links to more Unraveled Wednesday posts.

May was my least productive reading month so far this year, when I only finished two books, but I loved both of them, so I think I must have been savoring them.

(I’m skipping April’s reviews for the moment because it’s late and there are a bajillion books to cover that month…)

The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas

This fantastic YA novel from debut author Angie Thomas follows 16-year-old Starr in the aftermath of a police shooting. She’d been at a party and caught a ride home with an old friend from the neighborhood, Khalid, when they’re pulled over by a cop. In details that will surprise no one who’s followed the news over the past few years, the officer overreacts and shoots, and suddenly Khalid is dead and Starr is the only witness. In the weeks that follow, she has to deal with questions from everyone: Had he had a gun in the car, as the officer claimed? (He hadn’t; it had been a hairbrush.) Was Khalid in the local gang? Was he running drugs? Did Starr really even know Khalid anymore, after all, since her parents have her and her brothers in a fancy private school across town now? Did any of that matter, when he hadn’t, in fact, been doing anything wrong when he was shoots? Starr (who saw her other childhood best friend die in front of her in a drive-by shooting as a kid) is under tremendous pressure from the gang members, from the police, from the neighborhood, from her friends to do one thing or another. And in the end, she and her family — and everyone she comes into contact with — will have to live with her actions.

(A note on that “U” in the title for others, like me, who wondered: The title is a direct reference to a Tupac quote in which he explains that “Thug Life” is an acronym for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fuck Everyone,” talking about how racism is a self-fulfilling story of hatred.)

This is a remarkably strong novel, with well-rounded characters, both White and Black, both police and civilian. The action is well-paced, and it will surprise no one who’s read the book that it’s in the process of being turned into a movie. I highly, highly recommend this for all of us well-intentioned White people.

Pages: 450

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, by Kory Stamper

Word by Word comes from a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster who tells you everything you ever wanted to know and a lot of things you didn’t even know you wanted to know about dictionaries, how they get made, their role in society, and their history. You’ll learn about who makes a good dictionary employee (if you like chatting with your coworkers, don’t answer that help wanted ad), all the interesting stuff at the front of the dictionary that no one ever reads (the punctuation in an entry actually means highly specific things), how dictionaries walk that line between being prescriptive and denotive (they’re aiming for the latter, but we keep trying to make them the former), and how new entries make it into the dictionary, among a massive variety of other fascinating things relating to language.

If you have a word lover in your life, this would make an excellent gift. I rarely say this about non-fiction, but I would even re-read this one. (Oh, and if you’re on Twitter, may I recommend that you follow @merriamwebster? They do a great job of trolling the president (who clearly does not love words) and will keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in the news with their trending look-ups.)

Pages: 301

Book stats:
2 books
751 pages
2 print
2 library copies
1 fiction, 1 non-fiction
Diverse main character(s): 1
Audience: 1 adult, 1 YA

Author stats:
2 women
Own voices: 1
Country of residence: American