I spent most of December madly crocheting stuffed animals and then recovering from said madness. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. I had a numb spot on my thumb for weeks from crocheting with such intensity. But the animals turned out adorable and all the children who received one were immediately in love.
So it was worth it and I will probably repeat the task as often as necessary. The real problem was I could not listen to audiobooks while making animals (I’ve found pumpkins lend well to audiobooks, however). I had to studiously follow the directions and couldn’t keep the story straight and crochet at the same time. So instead I watched the BBC versions of Jane Austen novels.
And I loved it.
But my book list is short this month. Just five books.
Blame it on the animals. ;)
Not The Girls You’re Looking For by Aminah Mae Safi – 4 stars. This book was so much fun. I loved the perfect enneagram Eight protagonist, the cultural content, and the honest to goodness characters. It would have been five stars if the there had been less teen sex..yup I’m a prude. I’ll read it and love the book in the end, but stars come off if I wouldn’t be able to give a disclaimer-free rec to a little sister.
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny – 4 stars. I loved being back in an Inspector Gamache story. But I guessed two key points in the plot way ahead of time and I can’t decide if I like that or not.
Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan – 4 stars. this one was fun glimpse into the life of a short girl cast as a munchkin in a rendition of the Wizard of Oz. It reminded me of Dimples because of the every-body-positive message.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder – I read this aloud with my kids and they love it. Even my three year old begs to have a chapter read before bed. I was pleasantly surprised at how much extra learning is possible in one read aloud. They learned about sugar maples, curing meat, making butter, and winters before electricity…and lots more.
Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount – This was a fun book to look through. Lots of lovely illustrations and book recommendations. I also officially want to visit every library mentioned. The only thing I didn’t like was not being sure if a book would be ‘for me’ or not. There’s nothing like a good book-describer (like Anne Bogel – she was quoted in this book!) to know for sure.
What have you read and loved recently?
Erika Shirk 