more new books

 A little while back, Bookshop (an online site that helps support indie bookstores) had a deal where if you ordered on that day, you got free shipping, and if you bought $100, a few weeks in the future you'd get a special tote bag (I presume they had to have them printed up. I hope they're not being shipped to them/shipped out UPS though....)

I had a little spare cash because my mom helped me pay for my car repairs, as she'd done the same for my brother some months back, and I had a few books I'd been wanting to get.

they came yesterday

Top to bottom: Murder by the Book is one of those "British Crime Library" books that I love a lot. I have tons of these and have read a bunch, only found two real clinkers in the lot, which is saying something given that most of these are 70-90 years old and were written at a time when there was MUCH more writing for mass consumption. This one is a series of short stories - that's another largely vanished thing; short fiction stories, especially mystery stories, appearing in magazines. "The Strand" was a British magazine well known for this: I think some of the Sherlock Holmes stories first appeared there. I like short mystery stories; some nights all the energy I have to read is something short.

The second book is "A Night To Remember." Yes, about the Titanic. Yes, it was top of mind after the stupid submersible thing. I had seen the movie by the same title some years back and found it interesting (I have never seen more than bits and pieces of the 1997 fictionalized Titanic movie; "A Night To Remember" is a more accurate account). Someone recommended it to me and I decided i wanted to read it

The Daughter of Dr. Moreau is one of those fantasy/magical realism books. I am getting into this genre more recently - I think it's the escape, and the idea that at least some of them portray a world better than ours (again a shoutout to Becky Chambers' "Monk and Robot" series, which I highly recommend as good hopeful books that show an interesting world)

The Rise and Fall of North American Indians is because I've long been interested in the prehistory/early Indigenous history of the US, going back to grade school when we learned about the Moundbuilders (which even then were accepted as 'this was an early group of Native people' instead of the much older "oh they were lost and wandering tribes of Israel" - apparently from a time when people believed no Indigenous people could create anything complex, and we now know differently. Or, well, most of us do, "Ancient Aliens" notwithstanding). I HOPE this book isn't dated but I realized when I took it out of the box and read the title it might be - though 2003 is the earliest publication date I see listed. We'll see. 

52 Weeks of Scarves is really more shawls than scarves, and some of them are quite complex. There's a mix of lace and colorwork and a couple mosaic stitch pieces. I haven't really looked at this book very thoroughly yet. 

The last book - Knitting the Neighborhood - is the one I wanted most. It's an (official!) series of knitting patterns related to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. (Official in that apparently his estate authorized it). There are four or five adult-sized versions of the famous cardigan (with varying levels of complexity). They all zip but there are instructions for doing a button band instead, which is what I prefer even if it's not "authentic." There is a kid sweater and a baby sweater and onesie. There are a few toys, including a Trolley pillow that's very cute and I'd consider making if I felt like doing that kind of thing. There are also puppets - X the Owl is my favorite of them, but there is also a Daniel. 

And there are blankets. Some are intarsia but then there are two that are all knit/purl (or rather: stockinette and reverse garter) so it works two of his iconic sayings in: one blanket says "Won't You Be My Neighbor" and the other says "I Like You Just The Way You Are" and I admit even though I absolutely do NOT need another blanket project.....well, if I happen to have 1200 or so yards of bulky weight somewhere in my stash, I might consider making that second one. Because who doesn't need a blanket like that?