I thought I’d write a bit about the books I have set aside to read. There are actually a LOT of those, scattered on bookshelves throughout the house. It’s like knitting: lots of things cast on, not too many yet finished! (Knitters call these UFOs: Unfinished Objects.)

The top of the stack is always my current read, in this case, Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. I’ve written a lot about her Ruth Galloway series. This is a stand-alone mystery and kind of a ghost story, too, and I am enjoying it!

The next in the stack is Becoming Duchess Goldblatt which was a birthday present from friends. It’s part imaginary, part not, and it sounds like a lot of fun!

Next is Portable Magic, A History of Books and Their Readers by Emma Smith. I wrote about this a while ago. It’s a book you can pick up any time and read a chapter or two.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro is one I’ve started. It takes place in early Britain and will be worth finishing.

The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne is a huge biography of this beloved author. I’ve assigned this book to the Twelves Days of Christmas, and I look forward to it.

Next is Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. I so enjoyed Goodbye Without Leaving that I bought this a while ago. Should be good!

Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga is a non-fiction book about systemic racism and abuse in one First Nations area in Canada. I bought this at Mermaid Tales, our favorite bookshop in Tofino, BC.

And at the bottom of the pile is a lovely book by the artist Emily Carr, The Book of Small, also purchased in Tofino.

But the new Louise Penny just landed in my Kindle, and I bet I’ll go there after finishing Stranger Diaries. We watched the first two episodes of Three Pines on Amazon Prime last night and found it quite good. Gamache looks much as I imagined him, and the rest are pretty close as well. I guess it made an impact, as all my dreams last night were set in Three Pines!