Today’s Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish asks us about the Top Ten Series I’ve Been Meaning to Start but Haven’t:

1. Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood (You know her for her Miss Fisher books, but she also has this series about baker Corinna Chapman, which my dad highly recommends.)
2. The Magicians by Lev Grossman (I started the first one once, but put it down. I own the third book and really should just start the series once more.)
3. Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff (A YA verse series my dad recommended to me seven years ago.)
4. Kopp Sisters by Amy Stewart (Another book I picked up and then had to return to the library before finishing. The third book in the series is due out this September.)
5. Goldie Vance by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams (This graphic novel series just released Vol. 2 last month.)
6. Kick Keswick by Marne Davis Kellogg (I think I have to go join the Alexandria library to get a copy of this one.)
7. The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg (I’ve read adult retellings and YA retellings; now it’s time for one for the middle grades.)
8. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (My Twitter feed has been very excited about this new series.)
9. Inspector Morse by Colin Dexter (Because I’ve loved the Inspector Lewis series.)
10. The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (I actually have the first book of this series in hand right now!)

How about you? What series do you enjoy? Which do you mean to pick up?

What you see there, folks, is a baby blanket that’s only slightly longer than it was the last time you saw it. Is that because I’ve been slacking off and not knitting when I should? Well, yes, somewhat. However, it’s also because I was knitting on it during jury duty and made a key mistake that became obvious when I looked at it and then I had to rip back to before where I’d been to fix it. So I’ll be doubling down over the next week in order to make some serious progress.

Just before snapping this shot, I finished Phillip Pullman’s The Ruby in the Smoke, the first in a historical mystery series I picked up at our local Little Free Library earlier this year. I had watched the BBC adaptation of at least part of the series when it came out a decade ago, didn’t realize it had been a book first, and then a couple years later happened upon the Maisie Dobbs books, which I mistakenly thought was the same thing. (I am not the only person on the internet to have made this error, by the way.) I also forgot the adaptation starred Billie Piper, whom I didn’t yet know from Dr. Who or Mansfield Park, until a librarian pal in my book group reminded me. The library has the dvds; I may borrow them at some point…

I also began David Arnold’s Kids of Appetite while on jury duty, but either my headspace in that setting was wrong for the book or the style didn’t lend itself to the situation. In either case, I hope to give it another shot this weekend.

I’m about to start Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan, a friend of my friend Sarah, in honor of Ramadan. It’s gotten a great reception, so I’m looking forward to this middle-grade novel.

None of the audio books currently in my collection appealed, so I downloaded Exit, Pursued by a Bear last night thinking it was The Bear and the Nightingale. I do not know if it’s the same bear (the titles smack of wanting to be picture books in a similar vein to Jon Klassen’s Hat books), but since they’re different authors and story lines, I’m pretty sure we’re talking two different bears. Anyway, I’ll probably delete Exit, Pursued by a Bear from my phone and see if something else is available. I should get The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher’s final book, within the next week or so.

How about you? What are you reading? Head over to Kat’s to see other folks’ books and knitting…

I just finished Labyrinth Lost tonight, so tomorrow holds the promise of a new book! Since there are holds on The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, it looks like that will be my next choice. I enjoyed Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Lin-Manuel Miranda reads the audiobook, if you want to listen) when I read it for the Cybils back in 2012, so quickly put in a hold request when the library got copies of his latest novel.

I worked on this baby hat while we watched the (disappointing, in my mind) Manchester by the Sea on Monday. I only have a couple more rows to knit before working the decreases. The mother-to-be cast it on for a friend’s baby like a decade ago and then left it a few rows in with me when she moved. With her first child due in less than a month, I want to be able to finish it for her so she can have helped knit something for her son.

Want to see what others are reading and knitting? Head over to As Kat Knits for more.

Today’s Armchair Book Expo topics cover diversity in the book industry and the always fun dinner party question. I thought I’d quickly tackle both:

Delving into Diversity: Book Expo sparked quite the controversy a couple years ago regarding diversity in books and authors. Where are we now? OR, let’s take a different direction and explore the diversity of the format of a book. Do we judge a book by its cover and/or content (e.g.,, audio, digital, graphic, etc.)? Or, combine the two topics and discuss diversity found in alternative content (e.g., representation in graphic novels). Get creative and maybe even controversial!

It’s obvious when you look at any article that gives statistics about the book industry that while we may have made progress in addressing issues relating to diversity, that we’ve got a long way to go. Book reviews in many major publications still cover more men than women and while an effort has been made to cover more #ownvoices authors, they are not represented at percentages remotely near what their populations merit. Partially this is due to who the gatekeepers are: publishers and reviewers often cover what they and their friends want to read, and if they’re predominantly middle-class white people, it is not surprising that that’s mostly what’s going to be put out or covered. So those businesses need to be more mindful in their hiring practices to address a lack of diversity at that base level in order to give a broader picture of the books that are out there.

That said, we as readers need to be better, too. I know personally that while I’ve been aware for a few years about the need to read more diversely that I’m inclined to over-inflate my success if I don’t actually check in on the numbers with some frequency. That’s partially why I’m trying to look at my statistics on a monthly basis this year, rather than waiting until the end of the year to reckon with my choices and feel bad about falling short of my expectations.

I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty. Reading is a personal choice and if you’re only interested in reading cozies set in the Cotswalds, then by all means do that. You’ll get no hate from me. But I live in a city that is half comprised of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds to mine, and it feels irresponsible for me to only read books about people who look or grew up like me. As is often said, books can be a mirror to let people see themselves reflected back in the greater world, but they can also be a window to let them peek in on the lives of others, much the way I do when walking around D.C. And in this new horror show of a country we’re living in this year, it feels imperative that I personally do better than I have been at meeting my neighbors, at least in the pages of books.

Dining with the Authors: Every year at Book Expo, children and adult authors are featured during breakfast. Who would you dream of enjoying a meal with? Would it be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or simply coffee? What would your meal be? What would you discuss?

I’m a little shy in real life, so the idea of spending hours with strangers is daunting, even if these strangers have given me characters who are part of me. So, first off, we’re meeting up for tea (or coffee or cocoa) and baked goods at some kind of coffeehouse because that takes the pressure off having to spend hours together. It makes it more casual, and we can all feel like it’s acceptable to run off after half an hour if we’re feeling panicky.

Second, my BFF Karen will be there, because I cannot imagine inviting authors to tea and having to explain to her afterwards that I didn’t ask her, as well.

Third, I’d ask Rainbow Rowell, because she’s funny in real life; Jo Rowling, because Harry Potter; and Roxane Gay, because while I haven’t read any of her books (which clearly I’d fix before asking her out on a friend date), I enjoyed the pieces she wrote for The Toast back in the day and her books are on my TBR list.

As to what we’d discuss, first I assume we’ll talk about politics, because that’s what every sane person I know does initially these days. And then I’d want to see what they’ve been reading and what I should request from the library. And maybe we can all gush about Wonder Woman, but after that I’ll need the conversation to go where it will. Or, maybe we’ll all run off on our own separate, introverted ways at that point…

Today’s Armchair Book Expo topic is about collaboration and listening:

The online book community has changed so much over the years. How do we keep up within our own book-sphere as well as within the community as a whole (i.e., libraries, bookstores, authors, publishers, etc.)?

Keeping up? What’s that?

Seriously, though, I’m not sure how much of a collaborator I am. I’m a participant, sure, a community member, but I’m not really sure if that’s really what this topic is asking.

However, much like on a college exam essay, if you don’t know the answer to the question asked, offer the answer to a question closely related that you do know!

So, how do I remain active in the online book community?

First, here on my blog: While I’ve been haphazard over the years about reviewing the books I read, I do try to share what I’m reading every couple weeks or so. After Ginny decided to retire from Yarn Along, Kat took up the mantle and has been bringing us Unraveled on Wednesdays. It’s a chance to check in on what everyone is knitting and reading and is where I stumbled across the Book Bingo game. I also share some of the bookish community things I get into here. And I’m remarkably grateful to my commenters from …

The blogging community at large: I use an RSS reader to pull in posts from a large number of blogs, and many of you are readers who like to share the books you’re into. Some of you have blogs specifically relating to books, others have a more general focus, and a few share links to news articles on topics like best books of a month or recommended summer reading or year-end best-of lists. (As a side note about how I’m not collaborating, I don’t really follow Bookstagram or BookTube accounts or listen to podcasts.) I always take note of titles that interest me and add them to my to-be-read list at …

Goodreads: I admit that while I’m not great at participating in the groups I belong to, I do log every single book I read there and keep an impossibly long list of what I’d like to do when I no longer have to work to support myself or sleep. Titles that I particularly want to read, I request from …

My local library: Washington, D.C., has a great library system with wonderful librarians at branches around the city. They have a huge collection (which I like to browse both online and in person through the stacks), a generous renewal policy, and a lot of events, ranging from sign language classes to knitting circles to author appearances. They also hold book groups both in person and on …

Twitter: The one I like best meets Wednesdays at noon with the hashtag #brownbagdc, and everyone is welcome to attend, even if you aren’t local. I also follow a number of authors and bookish accounts, which keep me up to date on new books, as well as overarching themes I should be aware of, such as the move from #WeNeedDiverseBooks to #OwnVoices, so as to make the bookish community a more inclusive, welcoming one. (Although I see plenty of drama there, so that may be more of a goal than an actuality.) Between Twitter and book blogs, I’ve gotten to take part in a number of …

Bookish Community Events, such as Armchair Book Expo. Other community events I’ve taken part in over the years include The Broke and the Bookish Top Ten Tuesday, Ninja Book Swap, Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge, the Cybils, Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon, the TBR Takedown, and Bout of Books.

And last, but only because I couldn’t make them flow with the rest of the post, would be my local bookstores. D.C. is home to five independent book shops (as well as a couple socially conscious restaurants that also sell books, at least two toy stores that sell kids’ books, and two new shops that hope to open later this year) and eight used bookstores. Each has its strength and helpful booksellers, and I’ve purchased from nearly all of them and attended events at many, including author signings and book launch parties. (Oh! and Little Free Libraries in a bunch of places around the city, which add literary serendipity to my life.)

This feels long and rambling, so my apologies for not being more concise…

Today is the first day of Armchair Book Expo (formerly Armchair BEA) and I’m excited to participate once again. I’ll be sharing book-related topics here and on Twitter over the next few days.

Read on to learn a little about me and my bookish life:

I am sprite. I live in Washington, D.C., with my partner Rudi and our three cats.

My favorite authors include Jasper Fforde, J.K. Rowling, Rainbow Rowell, Jane Austen, Barbara Kingsolver, Elizabeth Bishop, Brian Selznick, Madeleine L’Engle, and Kwame Alexander.

Currently, I’m reading Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science by Jeannine Atkins. Since I expect to finish it by the weekend (and since I finished two of the other books I’ve been reading), I’m starting a bunch of new things: Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree (I loved her Fly by Night back when it first came out), Zoraida Córdova’s Labyrinth Lost (a Cybils shortlisted title recommended by a local bookworm), and Kids of Appetite (which a book club member liked) by David Arnold (an author my parents liked). Also, I’m listening to Taraji P. Henson’s Around the Way Girl. On my needles is this Points of Light baby blanket, which I really need to get a move on, since our friends’ baby is due in just over a month. (Want to see others’ book-knitting combos? Visit As Kat Knits on Wednesdays for her Unraveled link-up.)

My summer plans include baseball games, Friday night concerts by the river, and lots of reading. I’ve got tickets to see Roxane Gay next month, my library’s summer reading program kicks off tomorrow, and Book Bingo began over the weekend. (It’s not too late to join in!)

Here’s my card:

Thanks for stopping by!