Friday Finishes – February 24, 2023

I missed talking about books on Wednesday so you get some bonus content today as I have a finished knitted object and some finished reads to talk about.

First up, I finished the Dragonstone Socks. Design is by Sammilyn and yarn is Lanitium Ex Machina’s Basic Sock in the color Slumber. These are Game of Thrones themed and are filled with lots of details – squishy, deep cables and an interesting arch architecture heel. The cables are no joke! Whew – they are a bit tedious to work but the texture really is worth it in the end. This pattern ony has one size (basically women’s medium) and is a bit loosely written – it assumes you have some knowledge of sock construction – so I wouldn’t recommend it for a beginner but if you love cables, this is one for you!

Next up, I finished two books this week. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson, is a nonfiction book that explores the author’s thoughts (she is a Black female journalist here in the US, writing mostly for the New York Times) on race relations here in America. The book is a difficult read in the sense that it points out many problems in our current race relations, their past history in how America developed as a country, and how they affect everyone in this country every single day. Particularly poignant are the author’s own experiences as a person of color trying to live a good live here in the US. It’s hard enough being female in many careers and social interactions, adding the component of being Black just makes it that much harder. There are a lot of hard truths in this one, particularly around the 2016 Presidential election, and a LOT of food for thought about the color of our skin affects our interactions with each other, whether we consciously recognize that or not. The writing is exceptional and I feel like this book should be required reading for… well… pretty much anyone, but particularly those of us who are white.

As a lighter read, I zoomed through Alice Hoffman’s The Story Sisters. Hoffman is a favorite author of mine and I’m trying to read my way through her back catalog. As always, her stories combine tales of family dynamics and a hint of magical realism. The three Story sisters could almost pass as triplets but they each have a very different path to walk in their lives. Hoffman writes their stories which intertwine, diverge and return to each other over the course of their lives. Elv, the eldest, lives with one foot in a dark fantasy world, filled with the powers of a dark queen, trolls and things that inhabit the darkest hours of night. Meg is the sensible middle sister, bookish and organized, who helps hold the sisters and the family together. Claire is the idealist, who adores Elv and wants to do what is right until the moment comes when she realizes she’s made the most wrong decision of her life. Filled with lovely prose and great character development, I thoroughly enjoyed following the sisters as they grew up and had to forge their own unique paths in life. A solid addition to Hoffman’s catalog.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!