Review of The Housemaid by Freida Mcfadden

 I'm a librarian and despite what many people might think this does not involve much reading. 

This summer however me and some coworkers are presenting three new books each for an audience of predominantly older women. Since I have to go through the work of finding, getting, reading and forming an opinion on these books I might as well post it here as well. With the added bonus that I can be brutally honest here. 

The plot

After ten years in prison Millie is finally free. Unfortunately she's unemployed and living in her car. And with her criminal record getting a job is hard. But she at long last does manage to get work as a housekeeper for the wealthy Winchester family. Even better it provides both a salary and room, so says yes despite it being slightly unnerving. 

It doesn't get less worrying when on the first day the Gardner Enzo warns her about danger but he doesn't speak English so she isn't sure what exactly he means. 

Inside the pristine house from the interview has, in just a week, turned into a pigsty and when she gets to her cramped attic room she realize that the door only locks from the outside. 

And that sets the tone for her employment. Nina Winchester is inconsistent, acting like they are the best of friends on moment and the threaten to fire her the next. Berating her for not completing jobs she hasn't been asked to do. Calls in a panic and asks to pick up kid from school even if other parent takes kid to karate lessons acts as if never asked. And being jealous if Millie so much as talks with her husband Andrew.

For Millie it's a nightmare as she slowly realize that Nina is not just "a bit temperamental" like her husband says but that something is seriously wrong. But she can't leave because leaving means being homeless and worse her probation is dependent on her having a job and home. So even when she comes down to Nina throwing dishes on the floor, lying about her daughters allergies or when Millie suspects she is violent. She still has to stay.

My thoughts

I want to preface this by saying that it's not a bad book (at least not in the first 100 pages which is all I read). Millie is sympathetic and her being stuck in a bad situation where she is powerless with an inconsistent, gas-lighting boss. The slowly dread and uncertainty is well written. 

Mostly I just don't like it, I don't particularly like this kind of thrillers. I don't like People being stuck in bad situations and not doing anything they can to get out of it. Don't get me wrong I understand Millie's choices there literally isn't any better option for her. That's most of the reason I'm not throwing the book away in annoyance. But with every chapter I know something bad is going to happen I just don't know what or how bad and that feeling of uncertainty and helplessness isn't something I'm looking for (I have plenty of that already).

That being said there are some less subjective critiques as well. I don't like the way it villainizes mental illness if I was to attempt to diagnose her I'd say less evil more narcissist and depressed. Even so Millie looking trough her medicine kind of crosses a line. 

Also one of the "weird" things Nina does is being jealous of her husband. She don't want them to talk or even be in the same room. This is considered weird because Andrew is so obviously in love with her.

 But at the same time Millie constantly thinks about how hot he is and clearly wouldn't mind becoming the new Mrs Winchester. Similar thought is expressed by side characters so it's not like Nina doesn't have any reason for it.

As for Millie a part from knowing that she spent several years in prison we don't really know anything about her. Not what she was in prison for or where she is from and though its possible that this is revealed later in the book in the parts I read there's nothing. This feels like a missed opportunity. The slow reveal of her past, what she did and why could have been an interesting second plot point.

I said that Millie is stuck and forced to work there but that doesn't mean that she can't do anything. While the threat of homelessness is real the problem of her parole could be lessened. In a meeting with her parole officer she lies and say that it's fine. This serves no purpose the rules of the parole states that she has to have a place to live and a job. Side thought: is this accurate to real life because thinking about it it seams unreasonable. Anyway she has to have a job, no one said she has to like it and explaining the situation might give her some leniency if she has to leave.   

All in all for someone who likes thrillers this would probably be a good fit but its not for me.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Housemaid.

Knitting a bolero

I have a dress I really like and want to wear. My problem is that it has short sleeves so I can't wear it unless I have a sweater no top which defeats the purpose or it's quite warm outside and the ac isn't on. That means basically never. But rather than admitting defeat and leaving it in the back of my closet for ever I decided that a bolero would be the answer to my plight. My original plan for this was to find a store that had one and try it on together with the dress and see if I liked it as much as I thought I would. I was however thwarted in this endeavor as I after some googling realized that the only store that had one in the style I wanted was Shein and that is not an option I'm willing to consider. So I decided that the only solution was to make one myself.

Now I have a bit of a confession to make. While I'm a quite good knitter I can't actually read knitting patterns. I usually take one look at them decide I don't know what any of it means and then go on to creating my own pattern. So far that's been fine, I would have made my own alterations anyway and I like problem solving. But that does mean that I can't write a proper pattern for what I did and I'm instead forced to simply write a description of it.

The pattern itself turned out to be quiet easy but I'm not sure a beginner would understand explanation of it. Also the stitch and row count is based on my measurements and this yarn specifically, so alter as needed.

Some pinteresting and thinking later and I had a plan.

If I were to simply make a tube going from one arm to the next with slits for the torso and neck. It should function as a bolero and achieve the look I want. But since a straight line is boring I decided to spice it up with some dramatic bishops sleeves (it's my favorite sleeve type but I had to do some googling to find out what they were actually called). 

Tools and materials

5 skeins of Merino wool yarn 50g and 175 meter. It's soft but not very warm which is fine since its meant to be used during the summer.

3,5 knitting needles, for the cuffs I used a double sided set.

But mostly I used my interchangeable circular set it gives lots of options but it does have a habit of unscrewing while you knit.  

Row counter, mine is cheap plastic and kind of bad, they only go to a hundred but finding any three digit ones is hard. I also only have one because my cat chewed on the other. 

Row markers, useful when you need to make sure both sides are identical. But you can use paperclips and pen and paper. 

Try one 

15 rows with 40 stitches for the cuffs using ribbing to make then stretchy. That then gets doubled twice widening to 160 stitches and becomes a smooth knit. This turned out to be far too wide and it stretched the cuff in a way I didn't like. It also took a long time to make each row. So picking up my other yarn ball I started over keeping the old part for comparison.

Try two

I still used 40 ribbed stitches for the cuffs but now for 20 rows. This is then doubled to 80 stitches. 

Row 30. This try was better than the first but not quite as wide as I wanted. So at I added another 20 stitches or adding one for every four stitches.

This was enough so then I just kept going. and I've now spent most evenings this month knitting on my couch while watching Critical role season 2.

Row 90 and the first ball of yarn is gone. Since at this point I was only halfway on my upper arm I estimate I will need 4 balls in total for this. Since I'd only bought two I'll have to buy more. I had assumed I would have to but it's easy to get more and I have overestimated the amount of yarn needed for a project before.  

Row 150 and since the sleeve now reaches my armpit it's done. Which means it's time for the first slit. So rather than continuing round I simply turned and start goes back and forth. It's a bit tricky going from a circle to a flat but it's manageable if you use several knitting needles. I should have included a picture but honestly black knitting in a badly lit room makes for terrible photos.

Row 165 and it's now halfway up my shoulder and I divide it again making a gap in the middle for my neck. I continuing in the front with my existing yarn and add another ball of yarn to knit the back. While knitting the front I did reduce the width a bit, the idea is to show a sliver of skin between the neckline and the bottom of the bolero. I'm not sure if the reduction made much difference but I didn't want to redo anything so it stayed.

Row 195 (205 for the back) and I've reached the middle. I did a few rows of purled stitches in the middle partly for decoration and partly to keep it from rolling up. Then having reached the middle I did everything again but backwards. I have been using a row counter for this project so the easiest thing was to simply start counting down instead of up and looking up in my notes what I'd done where. 

Sigh, 30 rows left and I'm out of yarn again. So close.

16 rows left and I'm working on the second cuff. Only to realize this is meant to be ribbed and I've not done that. So I'm unraveling the last four rows and redoing them. I kind of feel like it's too late and I should stop for the evening but at the same time I'm so close and want to get it done today. Which is how I've done things before often to terrible results.

And it's done. All that's left is weaving in the ends and removing the row markers.

But that's for tomorrow.

Results

It's cute. The pattern definitely worked and I'm considering making more. Maybe I'll do a colored one or with different sleeves. Merino wool is very soft and this is smooth so wearing it directly against skin isn't a problem. The sleeves being that wide does pose a bit of a problem making it hard to wear a jacket on top but that's a problem with several of my sweaters as well. I think the only solution is to sew a wide sleeved jacket but that's a project for another time.

Taking the picture for this I really wanted to do the Hamlet pose but unfortunately I don't have a skull anymore since Mischka knocked it of the shelve and broke it. 

More and more I have come to realize that doing something myself is the easiest way to get what I want. It also wasn't that expensive and the cost ended up roughly the same as if I'd bought it, which is a moot point since there wasn't any in this style anyway.

As an extra benefit it doubles as a scarf and the sleeves are wide enough that I could use them as pockets at least for small and light things.

Review of The three lives of Alix st Pierre by Natasha Lester

I'm a librarian and despite what many people might think this does not involve much reading. 

This summer however me and some coworkers are presenting three new books each for an audience of predominantly older women. Since I have to go through the work of finding, getting, reading and forming an opinion on these books I might as well post it here as well. With the added bonus that I can be brutally honest here. 

The plot

It's 1947 in Paris and Alix is back to start her new job for the then relatively unknown Christian Dior. She got her start writing for fashion magazines in Paris but had to shift focus during the war when move to USA where she grew up. Back in Paris and again working with fashion she ruminates about the differences, Paris bears the scars of war and rationing and she herself has changed by the part she played in the war working for the secret service.

Her first job for Dior is to make sure journalists actually show up for the fashion show. This is Made harder by it being held a week after everyone else and after all the international reporters has left. But by reviving old contacts and using knowledge and tricks she learned as a spy she manages to make some headway. This does mean repeatably running into one Antony March. He's a reporter for the New York journal and son of the newspapers owner. He is also antagonistic and seemingly knows more than says, asking question about not only her but also Bobby, her fiance who died during the war. His death weighs heavy on her conciseness because it her plans, her lying informant that lured them into a trap.

Reminded of the deaths she decides to find the informant and get revenge for Bobby and the other eight that died that day. Until a note is left on her desk in telling her to leave Paris. There is only one explanation the informant who's name she doesn't know knows her. And she must figure out who he is and who to trust in a city where everyone has secrets.

My thoughts

I don't really care about fashion but there are little hints about the thing that happened. Something that she did during the war. Something she still feels guilty about. The hints that there might be spies does carry me through the early part. Until it becomes clear that it will probably be the majority of the plot. 

So plot-wise it's fine, at least for the first hundred pages that I read, but the dialog is clunky. Actually all the text... none of it flows like I want. This makes it hard to get to know her and it's the same with location descriptions. Though all of this might just be because I read a bad translation. 

Alix also repeatably makes some pretty wild leaps of logic that always seems to pan out, but really shouldn't. case in point: someone has stolen and released some fashion drawings Anthony remarks that people one has helped are more likely to betray you (are they though?) and Alix just immediately knows who it is. That's not how you do detective work. 

If you have read it, What did you think? If not the it can be bought here Three lives.

The state of the blog 2024

This post is mostly just a general update of things that will happen this autumn that will have an impact on this blog one way or the other. That is assuming I have any regular readers who would care. 

Adsense

I have started the process to get adds on this blog. Since before there are affiliate links to amazon on some posts but no one has clicked on anything, as far as I can tell. Therefore I'm trying a different way namely ads. I don't know how annoying they will be and if I don't like it I'll just remove them again. So far I have applied and the blog is being reviewed. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Studies

This spring I applied to several universities with the plan to spend the next two years getting a master degree. If I got in that would also mean taking a time of from work. The result of this is that there's a lot of things waiting on this. Form the small things like weather or not to by new work shoes or if I should save money or invest it like I usually do.

But also just the stress of not knowing what my life will look like three months from now. Along the little voice in the back of my head reminding me that I might not even get accepted. In that case I'll have to have an awkward conversation with my boss. There's been a lot of preparations for me leaving and getting replacements and letting them know what things they need to do. My leaving has been publicly announced to my coworkers. So for months they have been asking how it's going and I'll have to say that I don't know because the schools hasn't announced that yet.  I have been worrying weather or not I got accepted. My coworkers are all very encouraging and they all assured me that of course I would, but this doesn't actually help with my anxiety at all. 

So yeah its been a lot but now they have finally announced who is admitted and I (after an hour waiting to even log in to the website, not nerve wracking at all) got accepted to my second choice. Which is an online course in Uppsala. 

What this means for the blog is that after august I don't know how busy I'll be and won't know how much time I'll have to write. I won't need to commute every day but also I can't write during downtime at work. The question is also if I'll even have time to read or do other projects. More pressing is if I after reading course literature and writing papers all day will feel like reading fiction and writing posts about it. But only time will tell. In any case I have posts scheduled for some time.  

On a more personal note while I would have preferred to study on campus it is a good test. For some years now I have aspired to FIRE(Financial independence retire early). Basically you save money, invest it, stop working and do whatever you want living of the dividends. In my case I would probably write. But being an introvert and homebody I worry that if I were to retire I would just stay home all day. I worry that I would never talk to anyone and get lonely. But it's equally possible that once I'm no longer forced to interact with people for work I'll have more time and energy to spend with the people I like. These two years of studies would aptly test that. If in the next years I barely see anyone then I will need to rethink my retirement plans. If I join a writers group, meet my sister for lunch etc then I might do better than I thought. But only time will tell. 

Sorry about the anxiety but it helps to write it out. Anyway the long and short of it is that I don't know how much or little I'll write in the coming years but hopefully this blog wont die like the last one did.

Review of Nobody's fool by Daniel Simons & Christopher Chabris

 I'm a librarian and despite what many people might think this does not involve much reading. 

This summer however me and some coworkers are presenting three new books each for an audience of predominantly older women. Since I have to go through the work of finding, getting, reading and forming an opinion on these books I might as well post it here as well. With the added bonus that I can be brutally honest here. 

First up

Nobody's fool

It's a nonfiction book written by two psychology professors about the aspects of human psychology that makes us vulnerable to con artists, misinformation and other influences. With each chapter taking up different vulnerabilities.

Like how peoples first instinct when given a piece of information is to assume it is true. (I find myself doing this even when I know the person isn't trustworthy.) Doubly so when it agrees with our worldview. Or comes from a trusted source.

We tend to focus on the information we have and draw conclusions from that, most never considers questioning what information was left out. It made me think of clickbait headlines like "10 habits of successful people" without comparing them to the habits of the people who aren't successful.

We tend to focus on the information we have and draw conclusions from that, most never considers questioning what information was left out. Why? Because they save us time and energy and most of the time they work. It's the times they don't that's the problem. We all make predictions of the future. Using models allows us to act faster and we based these on our experiences. Problem arise when we stop questioning information just because it agrees with our prediction. 

It also contains how tips for how to avoid these traps. Questions to ask yourself when encountering new information.

My thoughts

The tone is quite considerate and non judgmental, pointing out that people who are deceived are not necessarily stupid. Clever people are instead much better at coming up with reasons and justifications for why they are right. Even when confronted by evidence. I didn't have time to read more than hundred pages since its for work and I have other things I need to do but I quite like it and wouldn't mind finish it in my free time.

If you have read it, What did you think? If not the it can be bought here Nobody's fool

My lamp or why I spent a saturday sitting on the floor

When I moved into my current apartment I got more space, more rooms and suddenly found myself needing more ceiling lamps. With over 3 meter ceilings I felt I needed something big and one with no visible bulbs because it gives me a headache to look at them. 

I originally bought one that was fine and hung it I'm my living room with the plan to move it to the bedroom when I found something better. Which finally after living here for almost six months I have. And yes this does mean that for six months I had no lamp in my bedroom except for the small one on the bedside table.

The one I finally found had black metal bands and as you can see in the picture also visible light bulbs. This is partially because I forgot but the light caused headache has been less of a problem in this apartment think its because they are higher up. Also I have a plan for that.

Step one repairs

There's nuts and bolts holding the rings together. As I carried it home I heard the soft sound of one falling off and disappearing forever. Looking closer I realized it was not the only one and that another nut were missing with several being loose. Of course the missing ones weren't the same size and so I had to go buy two packets because you can't just buy two nuts. At least screwing them on was the work of seconds. 

Step two basic functionality

I installed a new cable because of how the electrical outlets sits in my apartment. First measuring from the outlet to the lamp 1.9 meters and shortened the cable to fit because the only one they had in the store was three meters. This was all went fairly quickly mostly because I had already done something similar to two other lamps when I moved in. I also needed light bulbs and decided to splurge a bit and bought light bulbs that lets you change the brightness and color using a remote.

Step three Decorations

And now we come to the fun bit. Since the moment I saw it I had a plan, using the metal as a foundation and cower it in ivy or something similar with the aim of making something cottage core/witchy. Unfortunately real plants was out of the question I'm not using a ladder every time I need water my plants not to mention the weight. So fake plants it is. I'm usually opposed to this because up close they tend to look bad and I associate them with dustiness. But it's a ceiling lamp so no one is ever going to look at it close. I did consider making my own it but fake Ivy is too easy to get and none of the pictures I found of diy-ivy looked any better (most looked worse). 

I also considered adding hanging butterflies or little glass birds and I might still do that but that's for later. This lamp does give me the alternative to change the with the seasons but with high ceilings that's is quite an undertaking. So maybe just a summer and Christmas theme. But again that is a thought for another time for now I'll just make sure it's all easily removable.

Because the exposed bulbs are a problem (also ugly) I decided to make some lampshades for them and going with the plant theme made them to look like flowers. I did a test of the method for these a few weeks ago and you can read about it this post, it has some more detailed instructions.

But to sum it up I cut out petals of crepe paper. Painted them partially pink and glued them it to a metal wire. This time I made it in an L shape. Wrapping the longer piece in paper and painting it green. And then wrapping the whole thing around the lamp. 

I first did one to make sure my plan worked. I didn't want to make three just to realize something was wrong. But it was fine and I went ahead and made the rest. 

With that done I went ahead and wrapped it in my fake vines. It was fiddly and it turned out I had bought more than I needed. But the excess found its home around my bathroom mirror.

Step four Hanging

Hanging it wasn't hard per say and since I had cut the cable correctly it worked fine. But it is unnerving being that high up. Standing on a tall and not quite straight ladder. Looking down and thinking that if I fall I will likely break something. This is one of the reasons I'll probably not change the theme of it with every season. I did however end up redoing most of the vines since what looked even when lying on the floor wasn't when hanging in place.  

At this point it was after 3 and I had been doing this since 8 most of it sitting on the floor hunched over. So I seriously considered just hanging the old lamp in the bedroom without adjusting its cable. But I know if I don't do it now it will annoy me for months until I deal with it. So i did the adult thing and fixed it now.

Results

You can tell the vines are fake, the bottom of it is quite far down so you can get fairly close to it. But I'm hoping people aren't going to look too closely and after a few days I do find it less noticeable.  

The flower shades are actually more of a problem since they make the light pinkish and somewhat muted. I'll keep them for now and maybe exchange them for white or yellow ones later.

But all in all not too bad, it mostly looked like I imagined it would which isn't always the case. But most importantly I now  after having lived here for half a year finally has a ceiling lamp in my bedroom.

Review of The Scum Villain's Self-saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu part two

Readers be warned this review contains spoilers for the first book and also doesn't make much sense without it so go read my review of part one and maybe the book before reading this. 

 Plot

The scum villain is back in this part two of the series.

It starts about a year after the end of the first book Shen Quingqui has spent the last three years mourning his student Lou Binghe (who Shen stabbed before pushing him into the demon realm during a competition) but also enjoying his freedom from the system. 

Shen and others sect leaders are having a meeting (this is truly the most thrilling of settings) when a  messenger arrives. They are told about a city being completely isolated except one man managed to escape explained that there is a plague in the city before dying. Since then various sects has sent in healers to try and help but no one has come out again. Shen, Liu Quigge and Mu Quingfang decides to go to a city in order to investigate the plague and hopefully curing it. However once they have snuck in Shen discovered that it is in fact not a plague but rather caused by demons. While chasing a demon he instead runs into Lou who is back from the demon realm. Except he is two years earlier than in the original novel and his proximity is turning the system back online (it makes sense if you've read the first one). He has in fact been back for some time and has become the premiere apprentice to Huan Hua Palace and rumors abound about what really happened at the competition. Many are quick to point fingers at Shen (not undeserved) since clearly Lou is not dead like Shen said. As accusations pile up from demons and Huan hua palace apprentices alike and an old flame of Shens show up and things are looking dark. 

My thoughts

Unsurprisingly my thoughts are mostly the same as the last one. Shens frustration with the system are still funny and the plot is interesting and exiting. There is a thing though the Chinese original was a web series when they divided them into books it got odd. I noticed this in the first novel too after the climax of the competition the story should have ended instead there is another chapter of Shen finding mushrooms and a snake person. the same happens in this where Shen dies (he gets better) which should have been a cliffhanger ending but instead happens in the middle of the book.

Last book it was clear that while Shen saw Lou through the lens of what he would one day do and was unaware of Lous affection for him which were obvious to the reader, now it's different. I honestly don't know what Lou is thinking. Shen is convinced Lou hates him and is angry and is going to do all the horrible things he did in the original work, specifically the things Lou did to him. The system on the other hand claims Lou is merely annoyed And I honestly don't know what he's thinking does he love him, hate him? Lou is obsessed though sometimes he feels more hurt and confused. If it's not clear this is a good thing I prefer my books to not be predictable.

And finally after much ado he has realize what we have all known. That the longer it goes the less help  he'll have of his knowledge of the original work. Shen's not the sharpest when it comes to interpersonal relationships and is of course horrified to realize Lou is no longer a peak masculine stereotype. Wondering what the fans will think about the harem of 300 ladies not happening and Lou having feelings for his teacher, obsessive and necrophilic though they may be.

All in all I'm definitely going to continue reading the series but I might not post about the rest. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Scum villain.