Skip to main content

Unravelled Wednesday and WAYRN - The one with the feelings

It's winter, it's cold, COVID cases are on the rise, and we are about to have the anniversary of lockdown 5 - a twelve day lockdown that started with the cancelling of the Australian Sheep and Wool show - my favourite weekend of the year (We got out of that for  8 days, and then went into a 77 day lockdown.) And I thought I had processed all that as well as I could. I must have, when I requested Delphi by Clare Pollard from NetGalley:

It is 2020 and in a time more turbulent than any of us could have ever imagined, a woman is attempting to write a book about prophecy in the ancient world.

Navigating the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachable, she becomes fixated on our many forms of divination and prediction: on oracles, tarot cards and tea leaves and the questions we have always asked as we scroll and click and rage against our fates.

But in doing so she fails to notice the future creeping into the heart of her own home. For despite our best intentions - our sacrifices and our bargains with the gods - time, certainty and, sometimes, those we love, can still slip away ...

This is not so much a novel as a diary of living through the first 2 years of COVID. The book is English and the main character has a son and a flaky husband, but it reflects the universality of the (middle class) COVID experience. It is a rather brilliant book, but has led me down a contemplative memory journey of a weird and disturbing time. COVID is not just a thing that is happening in this book , it is the plot - as far as this book has a plot. Don't read this if you don't want to re-immerse yourself in that  strangest of times.

I've been knitting two things at the same time, which always makes for slow seeming progress. The Sockhead hat has been a great project to take out-and-about with me, and I might even get it finished at the pub tonight. 

I've also made steady progress on my brioche jacket - but only knitting that at home has lead to limited time on it. I'm taking it away with me this weekend, so hopefully it is well enough established that I won't mess it up knitting in public.

And that's what I'm knitting and reading right now.  To read my all my book reviews, and to see everything I knit, you can find me on Ravelry as Sharondoubleknit and on GoodReads as Sharondblk. 

I'm joining in with Kat from As Kat Knits for Unravelled Wednesday and Kat from the Bookdate for It's Monday, What Are You Reading.  Thanks Kat and Kat for hosting these linkups.  






 

Labels:

Comments

  1. shelleyrae @ book'd out18 July, 2022

    Delphi sounds quite interesting, but probably because lockdown affected me very little though. I’m so frustrated at the way we have let things slide after doing so well initially. I had high hopes that Labor would be more pragmatic than the LNP but it seems not. In the meantime I’ll keep masking and avoiding crowds in what might be the vain hope I’ll avoid it.

    Wishing you a great reading week

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheriee Weichel19 July, 2022

    I agree with shelleyrae @ book'd out that Delphi does sound interesting. After reading your review I had to ask myself if I am ready to read a book with Covid as the central plot line. The answer is not yet. In order to get through the darkness of the last couple of years I started reading Terry Pratchet's discworld. I'm not ready for the real world, unless it's nonfiction, for now at least.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Linky Wednesday - the one with the pause

In meditation it's said that the pause between the in breath and the out breath is a gap, a space to rest. Well, I'm in that in-between space for reading, listening and knitting. This is a random photo of a highlight of my week - I filled up my lolly jar. These are just supermarket party mix. During the lockdowns, we sources a great pick-and-mix delivery service, but at some point they started sending from the UK, which is a bit silly. Rachey messaged me a new one she found, and I impulsed purchased a kilo of mixed lollies, and then she sent me a link to the biggest lolly shop in Melbourne, which also delivers sweets by the kilogram, so i think I'm sorted for the rest of the year!  In reading I've just finished  The Beckoning Lady   by Margery Allingham . It's the second last book in the Summer of Mystery, and I have to admit, having now read nine Margery Allingham books, that they are OK. I wouldn't have read them if they were not connected to this club, but on...
5 comments
Read more

Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises. 
7 comments
Read more

Unravelled Wednesday - the one where it's ordinary

This week I finished my first book for the  2025 When Are You Reading? Challenge , which was   The Silence of the Girls   by Pat Barker , which covered the pre 1200 time period. I loved it, it's a retelling of the siege of Troy from a feminist perspective. I haven't worked out what I'm reading for the 1200-1399 time period. Suggestions are welcome. I'm currently reading  Central Station by Lavie Tidhar , which is science fiction set in a future Tel-Aviv. It's good, but there are loads of characters and I'm not overly invested. Although at least I'm having no problems telling the characters apart, they are very district. I just don't overly care what happens to them.   I'm listening to a NetGalley review copy of  Mona Acts Out by Mischa Berlinski , which is the story of a woman unravelling. It's very different from Mischa's other books, but quite compelling. I'm not sure what's next, probably something from Kobo-Plus, perhaps Regrets...
6 comments
Read more