Dodge City

Hi Bookworms. I hope all is well. Have you become used to the time changes where you are? We didn’t have a time change here, but it still feels a bit unusual. It doesn’t start getting light till around 8:30 a.m. and instead of being in the Mountain Time Zone as we usually are with Denver, we are now in the Central Time Zone with places like Chicago. Vancouver on Canadian’s West Coast is now in Denver’s Mountain Time. Check this time zone map to see how crazy it’s getting, lol. 

Meanwhile this pretty buck visited us this past week. He’s a mule deer with a black tip on his tail. He came right past the window. He was by himself. Usually we see a lot of does and fawns, so seeing this rare bigger dude was a real treat. He had great dignity about him and wasn’t scared and didn’t run off. The other deer typically try to get the seed from the bird feeders, but he just passed by them … and seemed too cool for that. 

In book news this past week I have a few items of note. First you probably saw that the Booker Prize was awarded to British author M. John Harrison for his post-apocalyptic novel The End of Everything. At 81, Harrison is the oldest author to ever win the award — surpassing Margaret Atwood who won the award at age 79 in 2019 for her novel The Testaments. I think it surprised a lot of people since Marlon James or Douglas Stuart were sort of favored to win.

Apparently Harrison is a well-known science-fiction author. I didn’t know of his works, but his latest book that won seems to be either loved or hated by those on Goodreads; it has an average rating of 2.91, which has gone up a bit from 2.85 since it won. I might try the novel sometime as it’s listed at a mere 208 pages. But do we really want to know about the End of Everything? It sounds bleak, but Judge Chairperson Mary Beard described it as “a book that turns you upside down, raises a wry smile – and surprisingly, given the subject matter, leaves you with a twinge of optimism.” We will see about that.

As for the second book news item, I about fell out of my chair to hear that Oprah had chosen Mary Lawson’s new novel Solace in Winter for her Book Club pick for November. (Thanks to JoAnn for telling me.) Oh my! This quiet little  Canadian author who slowly turns out small gems is now an Oprah pick?  Mary Lawson’s been longlisted twice for the Booker Prize in 2006 for her novel The Other Side of the Bride and in 2021 for A Town Called Solace, but now at 80-years-old she’s hit the big time being an Oprah Book Club pick, lol.

I watched Oprah’s entire interview with Mary Lawson and found out new things about her. That her family had a summer cottage in Northern Ontario, which she loved growing up and that’s why she writes about that area. And that she makes up her stories from characters she sees and imagines and they drive where the plot goes. Check out her interview here.

Another book news item: it appears that Edith Wharton’s 1920 classic The Age of Innocence is once again being made for the screen. This time Netflix, which has had big success with turning Steinbeck’s 1952 classic East of Eden into a popular TV series, is going for an eight-episode series with The Age of Innocence in mid-February. You might remember the Martin Scorsese film of it from 1993, which was a doozy with stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day Lewis. But I don’t know the young actors who will be in the new series — perhaps no huge draw like Florence Pugh in East of Eden … but still Wharton fans should gear up. And perhaps a reread is in order. I gather the other Wharton-inspired series The Buccaneers is still running on AppleTV+, but I have not seen it. Perhaps it seems geared toward a younger audience.  

So there you go. Now I will leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately.

Etna by Paul Yoon / Scribner / 208 pages / 2026

4.25+ stars. This sparse and humane novel pretty much blew me out of the water. It’s about a bomb-sniffing, combat-trained dog who’s headed on a journey, trying to find his way home after an undisclosed horrific war. You find out this dog is a shepherd mix, who once lived on a farm before being conscripted by a woman named Soojin to work for the American war effort. Soojin is the rare human who can talk to dogs and read their thoughts and she’s the one who names him Etna, after the volcano in Italy. She drops off Etna with a military unit but says she hopes they will see each other again after the war is over.  

Years later, post-war, you find Etna is still an agile, strong, and smart dog, but he has heavy scars on his body (and mental trauma) from all his war service. All Etna wants now is to head home to see if his farm on the coast is still there. So one day he embarks on his journey by himself. I won’t say anymore because you must journey with Etna yourself. You must see whom he meets and what lies ahead. There will be both good and hardships on the road, scary things too. But you will be with Etna every step of the way … as if he were your own dog and you needed him to get back home.

This novel is unique in that it is sparsely told and narrated by Etna, the dog … and usually I wouldn’t go near a novel that a human wrote to be narrated by a dog … but this novel is a rare exception. And for those, squeamish about animals-being-hurt stories … there are hardships here I won’t deny it’s not easy … but I think you can handle it … for Etna’s sake I hope you do. It is a bit harsh but also a moving, powerful story.  

I will read more of Paul Yoon’s backlist next year. Thanks to him for making this an animal story. 

Dodge City by Patrick deWitt / Ecco / 251 pages / 2026 

3.75 stars. Sometimes Canadian author Patrick deWitt’s novels are quiet. Sometimes you might wish more happened in them … but his characters — who often find transformations — are sly, and deWitt’s dry wit and charm make me laugh. This novel is case in point. 

It’s 1967 and Leland Clarke is sort of freaked out when he receives his draft notice for the Vietnam War. He’s been a college student at UCLA with a girlfriend Cal, but he’s recently been expelled for a fight. That’s when the draft gets him. He tries to see if he can get out of it — but a lawyer tells him he’s stuck unless he’s medically incapacitated. So Lee takes off on a road trip to tell each of his family members his intention on what he plans to do regarding the draft. 

His parents are divorced, so he visits his Dad in his hometown of Concrete, Washington, and his mother in Billings, Montana … then his estranged brother Harry in Minnesota, and eventually his sister in New York City. They’re all quirky and nutty and have advice for Lee about his plans. Lee is a bit of a mellow guy … who loves his girlfriend Cal … and his life before in California. He’s miffed the draft has interrupted his life and he does not want to go and kill others in a foreign country.  

But as he goes to visit his family members, they all have their own crazy problems, and he has his hands full with them and what he faces. DeWitt is dynamite with the dialogue, and I enjoyed the novel on audio narrated by Micky Shiloah. You’ll want to see what direction Lee takes as he goes about his journey. He’s a quiet kind of good guy, and I feel like I’ll miss Leland Clarke now that he’s at the end of his road.

I want to read more of deWitt’s backlist in the new year. I didn’t care as much for his 2023 novel The Librarianist but I think there are other hidden gems awaiting. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these authors and what did you think?