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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Here’s what I hope my weekend includes:

• Get some sleep. I think I’m fighting off the cold that’s going around the office. Also, drink a lot of orange juice and tea.
• Procure quarters.
• Do laundry.
• Go for a coffeeneuring bike ride.
• Meet Sarah for Crafty Bastards (the big annual craft fair)
• Write the Virtual Advent announcement post.
• Read.
• Finish my socks.
• Watch a movie.
• See what survived tonight’s frost/freeze at the garden. (I stopped on the way to work this morning and picked all the remaining tomatoes, peppers, and ground cherries.)
• Send out my Christmas party invitation.
• Clear off my desk and the coffee table.
• Bake a cake. (This one, above all the others, is contingent on not getting sick.)

How about you? What do you hope to do this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The new bikeshare company Rudi works for had their official launch party tonight. There was food and drink, trivia, speeches, a balloon artist, and a general feeling of merriment among attendees. Plus, everyone raved to me about how great Rudi is, which is always nice to hear.

2. For the first time in ages, we went out for a meal at a restaurant. An Irish pub has opened under the yarn store around the corner from us, so we went to check them out. The fish and chips were tasty (as was Rudi’s entree), the assumption was that I’d want cream with my tea (as opposed to lemon), the bread pudding we split for dessert was ginormous, and the service was good. We’ll be back.

3. Arriving home from a long bike ride two minutes before the rain moved in.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately? (Hit up Carole to see other people’s Three on Thursday posts.)

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.

On Monday, Rudi and I had the opportunity to see Last Flag Flying, starring Steve Carell (Larry “Doc” Summers), Laurence Fishburn (Mueller), and Bryan Cranston (Sal) and directed by Richard Linklater.

In the film, set in 2003, Doc seeks out two former Vietnam buddies in what initially seems like an offbeat desire to reconnect, but which turns out to be a request to accompany him to Arlington National Cemetery, where his son is due to be buried after being killed in Iraq. Sal is a disreputable character owns a dive bar in Norfolk, while Mueller has become a responsible preacher and family man. After some initial reluctance on Mueller’s part, they agree (in part because Doc served time for an event they were all responsible for in Vietnam) and the three set off on what becomes a rather epic road trip filled with moments of humor, of truth, of sorrow, and of reckoning. They are eventually joined for a time by a young Marine who served with Doc’s son, but he is clearly peripheral to their story.

Carell plays a resigned, downtrodden guy who is clearly appreciative of his former friends’ company. He plays the character straight, which is usually when I appreciate his acting ability more, while Cranston is given the ability to be more off the rails with his character’s portrayal, but is given the most room for emotional growth. Fishburn’s character tries to offer insight.

Being released in time for Veterans Day and set during the Christmas season, the film ends with an emotionally poignant payoff (bring tissues), which allows you to leave the movie not immediately realizing the rather trite way in which the story has been wrapped up. But that’s ultimately not really the point. Instead, the film highlights the tight brotherhood of military service through the ages, the good and bad sides of military propaganda (at least when it comes to explaining wartime deaths to loved ones), and male friendship, while still questioning what the reasons for war really are. Rudi and I both recommend it (and the soundtrack).

My understanding is that the film draws on the same characters featured in the 1973 film The Last Detail, which I’ve never seen. From a quick reading of the summary of that film, it sounds like while they feature two of the characters and involve a key event, the circumstances given for that event are drastically different this time around, so I would probably view them as separate entities, rather than this as a sequel.

Election Day has arrived. Many of you have the opportunity to head the the polls to vote for local officials. After the dumpster fire we’ve had politically the past 365-plus days, it might be tempting to stay home, since what does it matter anyhow? They’re going to do what they’re going to do and there’s nothing that can be done, some might think. Please don’t do that. Please get out and vote, no matter how inconvenient or insignificant it may seem.

It’s easy to see how voting for members of Congress or governor is important, but what about for state representatives or town selectmen or local sheriffs or comptrollers? Do they really matter? Can’t we just skip voting in those elections?

In a time when the federal government isn’t doing its job properly, those people become even more important. They’re providing checks and balances to our national leaders. They’re setting the tone for what’s important to local communities, be it standing up to ICE raids on local immigrants, suing for environmental protections, legislating gun restrictions, or putting money aside for local arts programs or after school programs. The federal government is no longer looking out for everyday citizens, so state and local governments have to step up and do it. So the people in those offices are crucial to protecting not only your community but the rest of the communities around the country.

Discouragement and hopelessness can spread like a fire. People in it for themselves, as they seem to be at the national level, can make it seem like your one voice is screaming into a hurricane. And that’s what they want you to think. They want you to stay home. They want you to feel like there’s nothing you can do to stand up to them and their power. As Luna Lovegood says to Harry Potter, “If I were You-Know-Who, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else; because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.” You and your fellow voters aren’t alone. You and your local elected officials can be a threat to the powers-that-be. Because hope and optimism and kindness spread, too, if just a little more quietly.

So please go to the polls. Support the people who’ll protect the most vulnerable amongst us. If there’s only one person running for an office and they’re a jerk, write someone else in. There is nearly always that option, even if it’s not immediately apparent.

Vote today. Speak truth to power with your ballot. Stand up and be counted because there are always those who can’t who are relying on you to speak on their behalf. Be the change you want to see and the citizen you want others to be.