As always, I’m terrible at writing about the books I read. But let’s take a first stab at getting caught up before the end of the year:

An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn (review found here)

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

Rosaline, the bi single mum of a precocious daughter and amateur baker, has been selected to take part in a Great British Bake-Off-style reality show. As with every reality show, everyone taking part ticks off a single, obvious box (gay, grandmother, homemaker, entrepreneur, student, etc.). But as Rosaline starts to get to know her fellow contestants behind the scenes, she finds deeper connections — including possible romance — first with a well-spoken, driven architect and later with a kind electrician. Will she find her true love or her showstopper first? Or will she struggle both on the show and in her personal life, continuing a trend that disappoints her doctor parents to no end.

Perfect for fans of GBBO or other cooking shows. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

Paper. Library copy. Pages: 435

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

In this delightful tale of the power of friendship and generosity, the villagers in a downtrodden hamlet are suspicious of everything: Outsiders. Dragons. Learning. Reading. Each other.

Except at the orphanage, where a small group of children and their older caretakers make ends meet, barely, but where love — and books — abound.

Then, one day one of the orphans disappears. While this does bring the townspeople together a little bit, it mostly unites them behind the prejudice their mayor holds toward the Ogress who lives on the village outskirts, who has, unbeknownst to them all, been helping every single one of them make ends meet with the bounty that she grows and bakes.

Will small-mindedness, distrust, self-interest, and hatred win out?

At some point in the very near future, Kelly Barnhill is going to join my very short list of authors whose books I just buy, rather than borrow from the library. Highly recommended for all.

Paper. Library copy. Pages: 400

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

A man loses something precious and then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for that misstep by trying to reunite things with their people. When he dies, he tasks Laura, the young woman who’s kept house for him, to carry on his work. A woman, Eunice, heads to a job interview, finds a charm, gets the position, and lands herself a BFF. The book slips back and forth through time, alternating between Laura and Eunice’s stories, but inching forward to their inevitable meeting.

The book was too ambitious and didn’t fully pull off its periodic forays into otherworldliness. But other than that it was a pleasant enough way to pass the time while doing dishes. I did have to speed up the reader to 1.5 times her desired cadence to keep from gnashing my teeth.

Audio. Library copy. Pages: 278

Today was not as productive as I had hoped it would be, but I’m feeling much better tonight than I did last night. Plus, tomorrow and Sunday are new days. Here’s what I’m going to try to get to this weekend:

• Play volleyball
• Drop off Toys for Tots
• Pick up toilet bowl cleaner
• Finish a book that can’t be renewed
• Make a pie (may bail on this one, but I’ll go take the pie dough out of the freezer just to be safe)
• See a friend
• Clean the kitchen
• Switch the rugs (I’m confident not doing this today saved us from the predicted 3″ of rain)
• Send a couple cards
• Do laundry, particularly the pile of handknit socks in the bathroom

How about you? What are you hoping your weekend includes?

Also, soliciting thoughts on this year’s Virtual Advent Tour. Do we want to do it again? More specifically, do you want to write posts? I’ll be making a decision by next weekend, so feel free to chime in with thoughts any time this week.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. We needed at least one other female teammate to show up this week for us to participate in playoffs, and we got two!

2. Monday, we went for a drive out to the countryside to a cafe that used to come to the farmers market. I’ve dreamed of their smoothie bowls in the last two years since they stopped coming, and reality did not disappoint.

3. We aren’t out of the woods yet when it comes to the election, but it certainly wasn’t the slaughter that many predicted.

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

My camera on the phone is still on the fritz, which means I’m using Rudi’s mom’s old phone and then sharing the photo with my phone and then putting the photo someplace I can use it. Which is a lot and mostly means I’m not taking a lot of photos just to take them right now.

But I thought I’d tell you that I’ve gotten to the heel of the first of a pair of Christmas socks, knit out of West Yorkshire Spinners’ Signature 4 ply in Candy Cane, a red, white, and green stripey yarn. It makes me happy to see it, and I’m excited to see what an industrial Blue-Faced Leicester yarn will be like to wear.

On the reading front, I have several books that are suddenly overdue at the library, so I’m trying to quickly plow through them. First up is Sarah Maas’ oft-banned A Court of Roses and Thorns, which one of my teammates recommended. In the ears, I’m back to Jane Pek’s The Verifiers.

Check out what others are crafting and reading at As Kat Knits.

While we’re probably still days away from certainty, the early returns suggest we have reason to be cautiously optimistic about this year’s midterm election.

Thank you to the younger voters, who turned out this year and whose votes leaned more progressive.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share series we’d like to catch up with, start, or finish. I thought I’d share ten series that I’m interested in beginning:

1. Fractured Fables by Alix E. Harrow
2. The Scholomance by Naomi Novik
3. Brontë Sisters Mystery by Bella Ellis
4. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
5. Autumn by Ali Smith
6. The Moomins by Tove Jansson
7. The Christmas Chronicles by Jeff Guinn
8. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landry
9. Mycroft Holmes and Sherlock by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
10. Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

How about you? Are there series you’d like to read that you haven’t gotten to yet?