Books and Other Things

Yesterday turned out to be a busy day. It started as just the day Mom was to go back to the surgeon for final clearance. Then we decided we should go to Costco after, since it's right near the office. And once you're that far up, you're nearer to Trader Joe's than we usually get (it's only an hour away, but we just don't go that way that often). Then the doctor's office called last week to say they wouldn't have an X-ray tech in the office (again, sigh), so we'd need to get her X-rays done ahead of the appointment. At that point, I decided to take the day off work so I didn't have to fret about making up the time.

I slept until 8, thank you eye mask, and we left the house at 9:30. The X-rays were easy enough, and left us with enough time to get lunch and go through the car wash before the doctor. I went to get my knitting out of the car when we got there, and realized I had left it in the restaurant! Yikes, bad knitter. I left Mom at the doctor's and went back (fortunately, not far away) and got it again. After she got out, we did Costco, I ran into TJ's, we stopped for lottery tickets and to pick up library books, and finally got home around 4. Long day! When I was knitting last night during the Bruins game, I realized it was the fourth spot I'd been knitting in during the day--that has to be a new personal record. 

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Thank you all for the supportive comments on my recent post about needing some quiet; it really helps to feel less alone. I am trying to make more plans to get myself out of the house; even if I'm spending time with others, rather than alone, it will still be a good break. I belong to a Facebook group for women in my area, started last year I think, for when people are looking for someone to join them doing something, whether it's a show, a new restaurant, or just a walk on the beach. I proposed a coffee (and knitting, for me) meetup tomorrow morning, so that will be a nice change. 

And there's nothing to keep me from sitting in my car for half an hour afterward, just being quiet, before I go home.

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Engie wrote about the books she had out of the library right now, and I have my own little stack, so I thought I would share that.

The top one, The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, is the only non-library book; KJ Charles was on a recent, very enjoyable author talk with three other authors I like, Martha Wells, T Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon), and Malka Older, so I figured it was about time I read one of hers! She mentioned this one on BlueSky, I thought it sounds good, and while it isn't available direct in the US yet, the bookstore Blackwell's in the UK will ship it, and that was easy to do. I look forward to reading it.

Next down is Where Peace Is Lost, which my friend Mary Ellen recommended--she knows my tastes pretty well, so that's promising!

I think I heard about The Only Purple House in Town on BlueSky as well--I follow a few authors there, and so other authors tend to pop up in their conversations. This one sounds like a good found-family story.

Next up (or, rather, down), speaking of T Kingfisher, here's What Feasts At Night, the sequel to What Moves the Dead. That one wasn't my favorite of hers, hence going to the library for this one instead of buying it, but I did enjoy the first and have heard good things about the second.

Finishing off with two non-fictions, rare for me. As a former English major with a soft spot for the man, Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature sounds interesting--we'll see if it grabs me all the way through. And you can guess why Hot and Bothered: What No One Tells You About Menopause and How to Feel Like Yourself Again got my attention, unfortunately. 

I have one advance copy ready to read: Hamlet is Not OK, by RA Spratt, which caught my eye due to my, again, English-major-Shakespeare-lover history. I'll report back on that once I read it.

I'm waiting on just two holds right now:

• The remarkable retirement of Edna Fisher, by E.M. Anderson (the library lists it as Older women -- Fiction, and Dragons -- Fiction, if you want to know why)
• The new Kate DeCamillo, Ferris, which sounds cute.

Finally, I have a list of books I want to get from the next-nearest library system, which is bigger than my nearest one, but requires me to go in once a year to "renew" my reciprocal borrowing privileges. Kind of annoying, but hey, I'll do it for the books! I'm hoping to get up there next Saturday. And then, there will be more books! So many books! Bring on the books!

I might be a little giddy about the long weekend (Monday is a holiday). Ahh, yessss....