Today’s Top Ten Tuesday invites us to consider our favorite books that inspire a love of travel:

1. Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence: Our trip to France took us to Provence — Aix and Avignon — in large part because of this book and how much it made me laugh.
2. L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables: One of these days I’m going to Prince Edward Island and it will be largely because of this series (and the charm of raidergirl3, of course).
3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: Similarly, I long to see the moors of Yorkshire simply because of this book.
4. Heidi Heilig’s The Girl from Everywhere: It didn’t kindle an interest in seeing Hawaii (that would be Buffy Saint Marie’s appearances on Sesame Street when I was a kid), but it underscored it.
5. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares: I can’t remember everywhere they went, but the Greek islands stand out (and then was reinforced by the film adaptation).
6. Gayle Forman’s Just One Day: That whole bop around Europe thing is so appealing.
7. Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes: Ditto.
8. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: It might be the romance, but boarding school in Paris has never sounded so good.
9. The Magician by Michael Scott: In the second book of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, they end up in Paris in the catacombs, which sounds really cool, particularly if you don’t encounter monsters in them.
10. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods: Hiking does not especially appeal to me, but Bryson mixes history, humor, and hubris so well in his works — but particularly this one about the Appalachian Trail — that it nearly makes want reconsider. (But not quite.)

There are others of course (Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books and the Great Plain states, for instance), but these were the first ten I thought of. How about you? Have you read books that particularly made you want to travel?

Here are the four books I read back in February:

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor works in an office where she does her job diligently, if unimaginatively, says the wrong things (which are exactly what she’s thinking), doesn’t go out at night or on the weekend, and doesn’t have friends. Until one night when she wins tickets to a concert at the office and, fearing someone will ask her how it was, she goes and sees the man of her dreams. She understands, then, that it was destiny that brought her there and that she must apply herself to meeting the man (the singer of the local warm-up band) and to explaining they are meant for one another. (Her mother has long declared that Eleanor must wait until she finds a man of refinement worthy of their attention, and she’s eager to connive her way into this relationship through their weekly torturous phone calls.) This unlikely event kicks off a journey of self-improvement and self-discovery for Eleanor, opening her up to the possibilities that come from awkward interactions with the kindly new IT guy, Raymond, whom she’s walking next to on the way to the bus when they see a man pass out in the street.

The story, told partially through email, texts, and other ephemera, is set at a deliberate pace, but is ultimately full of heart. The first part of the book irritated me with its slowness, but I came to appreciate it as time went on and as I gained more insight into Eleanor’s character. After all, plot and character growth in our own lives is also uneven, with setbacks countering progress and days of wheel-spinning interspersed among steps toward full self-realization. Highly recommended.

Pages: 327. Library copy.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer, by Leigh Bardugo

In this young adult take on the story of how Diana, princess of the Amazons, becomes Wonder Woman, hero of the Western world, Diana sees a boat explode off the coast of Themyscira and sees a young woman struggling to survive. She rescues her to find she is a teenager, like herself, but she is far from home (New York) and there is a penalty among Diana’s people for bringing humans into her world. Before Diana can decide how to proceed, her fellow Amazons start falling ill and Diana learns from the island’s Muse that the girl, Alia Keralis, is responsible, being a descendent of Helen of Troy and, thus, destined to bring war, turmoil, and death in her wake. The Muse suggests that Diana should let the girl die to right the situation among the Amazons, but Diana decides there must be another way. There is, but it won’t be easy and it will involve a surprise trip to New York City and some new friends along the way.

I thought this was a well-told, multi-layered story with developed characters and a fast plot, particularly in the latter half. When I got to the end, I was glad I owned it because I felt I’d missed a lot of the background, particularly with regards to Greek mythology and that a re-read would earn me additional information. This is the first of the D.C. Icons series, each of which is written by a different author and which reveal the teen versions of D.C. Comics’ most beloved superheroes.

Pages: 364. Personal copy.

Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz

Editor Susan Ryeland has her weekend planned: she’s got her favorite reading snacks and drinks, a weekend away from her boyfriend, and the latest manuscript of her most famous author, mystery novelist Alan Conway. But this is no relating of a delightful weekend, because Susan warns us at the outset that reading this manuscript brought her nothing but woe and changed her life forever. And with that, we are deposited into the story, what is meant to be the final book in the series about a detective, Atticus Pünd, who bears a close resemblance to Hercules Poirot. In that story, the aging detective is brought to a small English village to solve the death of a young woman’s soon-to-be mother-in-law. Characters are introduced, the plot is twisted, other deaths occur. And, because we all understand how English mysteries work, we wait for the famous detective to explain to the otherwise competent police inspector the who’s and why’s. Except … that doesn’t happen.

It turns out that the final few chapters of the manuscript are missing. Susan goes into the office on Monday expecting to find there’s been a copying mix-up, but soon learns that’s not the case. Oh, and to make it worse, Alan Conway has killed himself over the weekend.

Susan is nothing if not meticulous, though, and will act as her own sort of detective to track down the end of her writer’s final work. The pages must be somewhere, after all… But where?

I liked this book, which I listened to (and which had different readers for Conway’s novel and Susan’s story), well enough, but it was clear that Horowitz thought himself cleverer than I did. The book kept referencing the tv show Midsomer Murder, which Horowitz wrote scripts for, which seemed particularly gauche. I’d guessed the ending of Susan’s story, but not the reasoning and found the book’s motives were less compelling than the ones I’d expected. (Lest you think I’m tooting my own horn, my mother and I compared notes and we’d both expected the same plot. Plot twists are certainly in keeping with mysteries, but you’re supposed to feel that the author has given superlative hints all along that after the twist is revealed make you think how clever they are to have done so, not to think, “Really?! That’s what you’re going with?!”

That said, the story was certainly compelling and lots of people really liked it. I just would have liked my version better.

Pages: 502. Library (audiobook via Overdrive).

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, by Sun-mi Hwang (Translated by Chi-Young Kim)

After seeing a chicken in the yard with chicks, Sprout the laying hen loses interest in her primary function — and in life in general. If she cannot raise a chick from one of her eggs, what point is there to going on? She tries to escape (assuming freedom from her coop is all that’s missing from her path to motherhood), is rescued from a weasel by a lame mallard duck and her own will to live, and ultimately takes on the role of foster mother to a duck whose own mother was killed by the weasel. The book raises questions of individuality vs. group expectations, personal freedom, motherhood, sacrifice, and, ultimately, following your dream.

I’ve seen this South Korean fable (which I picked up to read during the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang) compared to Charlotte’s Web in a variety of places, and the D.C. Library has catalogued it as a children’s book. However, I’d argue the better comparison is to Animal Farm, since both are short novellas with adult themes. A child could read The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, but then I read Animal Farm when I was in elementary school. I understood the basic themes, but probably missed some of the nuance and I assume the same would be true here.

Apparently there’s an anime version of the book. I found the book rather grim, but some people like that, preferring their reading to follow the contours of real life. I’m just not one of them.

Pages: 134. Library.

Total Pages: 1327

I spent several hours outside this evening watching the D.C.’s Pride Parade. Let me share some of it with you:

Let’s have a parade!

The military being allowed to march the parade still makes me so happy:

There were young participants (this is the larger DCPS group; there were also individual elementary schools, as well as school bands, dance groups, and clubs):

And there were old participants (these are all retirees on this bus):

There were even canine participants:

There were great signs (I missed snapping the one that read, “I’m the trans teacher I never had,” and didn’t get a great shot of the one that said, “Jesus had two dads and he turned out fine!”):

There were tutus and tiaras, leather and lace, and feathers and flowers (I did not snap photos of bare skin, but there was a certain amount of that, too):

The great thing about our parade is how many people want to be in it. I watched for more than two hours and there was probably still an hour’s worth of floats and marchers lined up waiting for their cue to begin when I had to head home. In addition to groups that you might expect to see — support groups, clubs, and nonprofits specifically aimed at the target crowd — you also get local and national businesses, embassies, politicians (both elected officials and those seeking votes), churches, and community groups.

It’s a very welcoming event. And this year, maybe a touch defiant, too.

There were rainbows as far as the eye could see.

And candy, beads, and confetti:

(In case you were wondering, the street sweepers are the final participants in the parade.)

Rudi and I decided that the way to start the weekend was with a viewing of Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the documentary about Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. We’re biased fans of his, but the film was incredibly moving and will help remind you of all the good in the world. If it’s playing at any movie theaters near you, I highly recommend seeing it.

The weekend is looking stormy (it seems to be a trend), which may affect some of my plans, but I’ll play it by ear. If my ears are working, here’s what they might hear:

• Festivals: There are two neighborhood festivals tomorrow, as well as the Pride Parade. Pride will go on regardless of the rain; I’ll have to see if the festivals will, too.
• Books: Politics & Prose is having its quarterly member sale and I have some gifts I need to buy. Rudi wants to go, too, so that might mean a trip for pizza afterwards!
• Award shows: The Tonys are Sunday evening. It’s the only award show I actually like watching. And that’s even when I don’t have a vested interest in the outcome. (By vested, please understand I mean have seen a single nominated play and would like it to win all the awards.)
• Knitting: But I’ll still be knitting through them.
• The library: Stuff to return. Hopefully after finishing one more book.
• The farmers market: We’re out of eggs and I hear cherries may be available. I’m also hoping for fava beans, but have no basis for that hope.
• Gardening: Rudi and I haven’t been since Monday and we’ve had sun, so I’m hopeful there will be more peas and strawberries. I’d like to get some planting and weeding done, but it might need to wait until another day if there are thunderstorms.
• Cat supplies: We’re getting low on litter and wet food, and the cats will definitely like me more if I don’t run out of the latter and I will like them more if I don’t run out of the latter.
• My desk: I hear rumors it’s under that pile of papers over there.
• Laundry.
• Nail polish: I stripped my nails earlier in the week, so they could have a couple days of air.
• Vacation planning: I’d like to figure out a couple beach trips and some time to visit with friends.
• Swimming: But only if there’s not a thunderstorm, which the forecast keeps telling me is increasingly likely to occur all weekend.
• Writing: I have a couple blog posts rattling around in my head. I’d like to let them out.

Huh. That’s a surprisingly long list.

I hope your weekend weather is more conducive to outdoor activities than mine is looking to be. What do you have planned?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I had a work meeting down on the Mall this week. We ended up by Constitution Garden, where there was a mama duck and four ducklings paddling about.

2. Despite their saying only the top three volleyball teams would advance to the playoffs, my league let all four of us in, thanks to two of us being tied. We’ll take it!

3. I don’t like hockey. I do, however, like people who like hockey. And I like seeing our locals get to proud of something on the national stage. And, being a fan of a different sport, I know the dejection of losing and the elation of winning in big games. Thousands and thousands of hockey fans have packed local bars, parks, and streets for watch parties this week and tonight they got to watch their Capitals clinch the Stanley Cup, and I couldn’t be happier for them.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Because I was having a mopey weekend, I did not finish knitting my sock. However, as you can see, I’m past the heel turn, so it’s all fast knitting from here. I’m going to an author talk tomorrow, so hope to be able to bang out several inches then. Then it’ll just be a question of whether I start something new before the Tour de France knit along or work on something unfinished. We have a trip during that time, so there will definitely need to be some portable projects.

On the reading front, I’m nearly done with The Hazel Wood (so close I can practically taste the ending — as it will include some perilous acts, I probably won’t want to taste it, though). It is excellent, and I recommend it to all who love YA fantasy novels. Murder at Brightwell was the mystery I took with me to New York; light paperbacks travel well. Plus, rain was predicted and I thought my book might get wet, so better it be something I owned, rather than a library book. In the ears, I’ve had the second Lady Sherlock novel by Sherry Thomas, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, going and I am enjoying it immensely so far.

Finally, I need to return to Little Fires Everywhere, which is overdue and which has a very long wait list resenting my cavalier approach to deadlines. I plan to give it back to the library this weekend.

If you’d like to see what other people are reading and knitting, head over to As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.