Hi all. I hope everyone has had a good week. I’m away this weekend reffing a tennis tournament of 14 and 18-year-olds a couple hours north of where we live. It’s pretty exhausting since it goes 10+ hours a day, so I won’t be home until Sunday evening.
Meanwhile my husband is home gardening with the dogs. Here is timid Willow in the wagon doing her part. But what is going on there? Lol. And where is Stella?
It’s hard to believe we’re at the very end of April now. Has spring sprung where you are? We might hit 70 degrees today, but it sure has been windy. I’m completely wind-blown. It’s true that you need so much chapstick in this part of the world, lol.
Meanwhile a bit earlier this month the shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize was announced and here above are the six novels that made the cut. The prize honors the best in historical fiction each year and is open to novels written in English that were first published in the UK, Ireland, or the Commonwealth during the preceding year (so it’s not American). Just briefly here are when/where the finalists are set: The Heart in Winter — Butte, Montana in 1891; The Mare — during and after WWII; The Book of Days — during the reign of Henry VIII in 1546; Glorious Exploits — In 412 BC after Athens’s invasion of Syracuse; The Land in Winter — during the Great Freeze that was the winter of 1962-3 in rural England; and The Safekeep — rural Holland, fifteen years after the end of WWII. It seems The Safekeep has made various prize lists this year but will it win? Stay tuned for when the winner is announced on June 12.
And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of novels I finished lately.
We Do Not Part by Han Kang / Hogarth / 272 pages / 2025
3.7 stars. Holy smokes this novel has a lot of pain in it … in the present and in the past and here, there, and everywhere. Is it in the top 10 of all time? It unloads a decimation. And maybe now was not a good time to listen to the audiobook of it after my own loss as I drove back and forth from the city. What was I thinking? I just didn’t want to lose my place in line to try the writing of this Nobel Prize Literature winner. And I thought it would be a story about a friendship.
And it is a story of two friends Kyungha and Inseon who gets injured after accidentally cutting her hand and is in the hospital and asks Kyungha to go to her house on Jeju Island to find and save her pet bird. Both women are not doing well … Kyungha, who lives near Seoul, suffers from migraines and is having nightmares … and the first part of the novel is of her traveling to Jeju and getting in a snowstorm there and trying to save the bird. Some of it is hard to know what is real or part of a dream. And it’s a bit confusing, but snow images are nicely descriptive.
Then the latter half of the novel is more about the brutal massacre that happened on Jeju Island by military forces in 1948-49 and how Inseon’s family was affected by that. It’s more straightforward in its telling than the first part and really lays down a whopper of the brutality … the executions, mass graves, and inability to find remains. The harshness and pain is certainly palpable. And it seems personal and very specific.
I’m sure it’s good the author explores and excoriates this awful event in history, but it might not have been my time for it. Still the writing in areas is visceral and illuminating. I first read about the Jeju Island massacre in Lisa See’s novel The Island of the Sea Women, which is also quite intense with the trauma. I liked the story about the sea women. Have you read that one?
Beartooth by Callan Wink / Spiegel & Grau / 256 pages / 2025
3.5 stars. I know some were pretty high on this novel, but I was expecting more from this story about two brothers in their 20s who are living in a rundown house near the Beartooth Mountains of Montana. Their father died not long ago and they are still messed up about that, and their hippie-ish mother who left them early on has returned. The boys are pretty rough around the edges and are in need of more funds — they’re hunters and loggers looking for a way to make money due to the house having some debt.
Then they meet this dude called the Scott who’s with a girl he calls his daughter … apparently he wears a kilt and once killed a young thief pointblank — and he wants the brothers to do something illegal for him. He wants them to get a secret haul of elk antlers out of Yellowstone National Park, which they end up using a raft for to transport along the river. You’ll have to see what happens … it takes a turn of sorts. And late in the plot it introduces another element that seemed a bit odd or out of place. Maybe the story sort of petered out a bit for me. The momentum of the book goes a bit up and down, but my favorite parts were the action in Yellowstone.
That’s all for now. I think I will save chatting about Charlotte McConagh’s novel Wild Dark Shore, which I just finished, for next time. I’m still thinking it over and need to grab a breath of air after its ending.
What about you — have you read any of these books and if so, what did you think?
I liked the Han Kang book more than you did, I think.
Review here: https://maefood.blogspot.com/2025/03/two-good-books.html
have a good week!
mae
Hi Mae, yeah I think you did like the Kang book more than me. Maybe it was just too much for me during this time of loss. Thx for your review. Enjoy your spring weather.
Han Kang is quite an amazing writer. I read and enjoyed “The Vegetarian.” I also read “The Island of Sea Women” back in 2019 and awarded it a rare five-star rating. Here’s a link to my review: https://www.thenatureofthings.blog/2019/06/the-island-of-sea-women-by-lisa-see.html.
Hi Dorothy, it’s good to know you liked Kang’s novel Vegetarian. I might try her again. And I too liked the Lisa See novel … though my favorite parts were about the women divers … the parts about the two friends and the massacre on Jeju were very dark and sad. Lisa See’s books are pretty much always good reads. Thanks for the link to your review.
I haven’t read any of those books, though Han Kang is an author I really want to check out. And that’s such a cute picture of Willow! Dogs are the best. 😀
Thanks Lark. I would likely try out another of Kang’s books. But her books can be sort of dark I think. Whereas Willow is pretty much lightness, lol. She’s a happy dog. Enjoy your week.
I like the picture of Willow in the cart. So cute. Dogs it seems to me like to sit in these contraptions and it’s why every dog should have a dog bed.
The Book of Days sounds interesting because Henry VIII and the Tudor era has fascinated me since I was a teenager and watched the BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Dorothy Tutin was remarkable as Ann Boleyn.
Ha Kathy, you’re right. The dogs especially love their dog beds and we have them in many rooms in the house, lol. Willow is a bit afraid of getting into the wagon but she beared it for the photo.
I think you might have to check out The Book of Days for us. Sounds like you are a bit of a Henry VIII expert along with his wives. I only know of him a little from one of the Hilary Mantel books and from Shakespeare. I might have to check out the BBC series, thanks!
Nice to see that Willow is lending a helping paw with the gardening while you’re away. 😉 No, spring hasn’t really sprung here, at least not to my standards. We’re still just barely in the 50s and it’s overcast and gloomy. But… it’s not raining, so I won’t complain! And, one of the nice things about living on the coast is that I rarely need lipbalm. I used it a lot when we were in Sisters & Bend, where it was very dry. My favorite balm is Aquaphor, which works wonders!
I love the cover art for The Book of Days (Francesca Kay). It looks a bit like Still Life (Sarah Winman). I’m not sure if Han Kang’s book is for me. It sounds like a tough read. Hmm. Not sure about Beartooth, either.
Enjoy your tennis reffing and have a good week!
Hi Lesley, thanks, I’m glad to be done with the reffing and I’m back home now resting up after those long days. It went well though. Knock on wood.
I hope you see the sun soon. We are getting it a bit more now which is so nice. I don’t think I’ve heard of Aquaphor or seen it but I will look for it, thanks! The dry windy conditions here always make lip balm so mandatory.
That’s interesting you mention the cover art for The Book of Days — I see what you mean — it is a bit like Winman’s novel. Both of these books I reviewed this time weren’t two that I really cared a lot for, which surprised me a bit. Still I have read some good ones this year. Enjoy your week too. Happy reading.
I was thinking that I’d like the Kang book but then I read what it was about and realized it would be a nope. Willow is a beauty! I’ve wanted raised garden beds for a while but haven’t gotten them yet. I hope whatever you plant does great!
Thanks Vicki, yes the raised beds are sort of nice to have. These two are the only ones on the property like that so we are trying them out this year. Maybe putting herbs or some kind of vegetables there. Willow is having some fun in the wagon.
The Kang novel wasn’t really for me this time. Too bad. Have a great week.
Willow looks cute doing her part in the gardening. Where’s Stella, I wonder. I liked We Do Not Part more than you did; it left me in a daze because I happened to read it when it was still snowing and cold, so it felt very atmospheric; at the same time, I liked the touch? of the supernatural in it. I thought it was well done. The ending hooked me big time! I have Beartooth in my queue, but want to get to Twist first. I’m reading The Unworthy, and boy, is it weird! But great weird! I hope it keeps the momentum going. I also read Wild Dark Shore and it was one of my two 5* reads of the year so far, and I don’t typically award 5*, so there’s that! Kudos to you for reading these books because they pack quite a wallop in terms of grief, violence, and suffering. They were heavy for me, so I can only imagine how you felt while reading them. Anyway, happy reffing, gardening, and reading this upcoming week!
Hi Carmen, yeah maybe it was the timing of these novels — both Kang’s and Beartooth didn’t really appeal to me as much as I thought they would. But my mind has been sort of fried and sad for the past month. I just looked up The Unworthy. I hadn’t heard of it. Wow I look forward to hearing what you think of it after, looks a doozy. I recently finished Wild Dark Shore and thought it was entertaining and liked the setting but still had some quibbles, still it was fast. I will write a review of it soon. The Scrapbook by Heather Clark (coming in June) is pretty good. Spring is busy here but the reffing is done and I’m back home so I need to get organized again. Have a great week too. Happy reading.
That sounds like an exhausting weekend — I hope it’s rewarding!
Hi Joy, thanks. It was exhausting. Luckily I’m back home now resting up. I guess I like giving back to the kids and the sport, so in that way it is rewarding … though some of the kids get crazy competitive and don’t always act so well.
Enjoy your week.
You know I love a photo with a dog in it, but I miss Stella.
I was looking into Kevin Barry and realized that he wrote a book I am interested in, Night Boat to Tangier. Maybe I would like The Heart in Winter. I look forward to your thoughts on Wild Dark Shore.
Hi Tracy, thanks, Yeah I’ll have to get Stella back in the next dog photo. She is our golden girl.
I have yet to read Kevin Barry and I’m also curious a bit of Night Boat to Tangier. I will get to him sometime. Wild Dark Shore … is a bit of a twisty tale towards the end … sort of a (crazy) thriller if you like those sorts. I will write a review soon.
Enjoy your week.
I am generally one for books set in Yellowstone, but I will pass on Beartooth, I think. I will also pass on We Will Not Part—it’s not the right time for me to be reading about pain being inflicted egregiously on others. I can’t seem to get into any novels published right now—light novels make me feel like I’m ignoring important things going on, and heavy novels weigh me down even further. I am only content to read older novels, it seems.
We picked our first peppers from our garden yesterday.
Wow Deb, you already have things in your garden for picking? That’s amazing. We haven’t even put ours in the ground yet, lol. But we have planted seeds in trays in our sun room. Not sure they’re doing too great. But will plant mid-May.
Neither of these books were as appealing as I had hoped — and maybe it’s my headspace now. So I can understand that you’re having trouble finding novels that work right now. Older novels might be the right ticket for me as well. Thx for the tip. Have a great week.
Too bad your books this week weren’t more successful for you. I am currently reading Everything is Tuberculosis and it’s really good.
We’ve only had in the upper 50s here over the past week and even got a little rain; as you know, that’s unusual for SoCal in April!
Hi Helen, that’s a bit gloomy weather for April. I’ll be going back to SoCal for about 5 days in May for a celebration for my Dad … hope it’s nice.
Yeah these books didn’t do it for me. I’m glad you’re enjoying the John Green book. I need to find out more about it. I have read one of his. Have a great week.
Hope you get some breaks in between refereeing! That does sound tiring! Willow looks like a cheerful helper, haha! I’m addicted to chapstick! I have it all over the house and in all of my purses. Bear Tooth sounds like an interesting read. It’s been cold and rainy here. I’ve been doing puzzles. Hope you have a wonderful week!
Hi Rachel, ha funny to hear you are addicted to chapstick. I think I am too. I use it many times a day. I also use eyedrops a lot for dryness & allergies too.
Too bad you’ve been cold & rainy there. It’s been up & down here. We had 75 degrees then the next day it snowed! Crazy. Keep going with the puzzles. Luckily I’m back home now. The reffing job was exhausting but it came off successfully. These books could’ve been better. Have a good week too.
The author of The Safekeep is appearing at Melbourne Writers Festival next weekend. Unfortunately, the session clashes with another one that I have already bought tickets for so I am disappointed I can’t go!
Hope you enjoy your weekend reffing and that you recover quickly!
Have a great week!
Hi Marg, that’s too bad you are missing The Safekeep author. There’s an outside chance I might hear the author at the Sun Valley, Idaho writer’s conference in July … but we will see if I can get in there. It sold out in minutes. My sister has us on the wait list now, lol. I’m envious you live in or near Melbourne — seems such a great city. I have not been to Australia yet.
I’m resting up after reffing the weekend, thanks. Enjoy your week too.
Aw your dog in the wheelbarrow is adorable!! And that is a long day!
The Land in Winter sounds really interesting. I am going to have to look that up!
Thanks Erin, our Willow is a funny dog but she’s up for almost anything, lol. I’m back home resting now after that weekend. The hours were too long!
I’m a bit curious of The Land in Winter too … it sounds bitterly cold. I can probably only read that in summer, ha. Have a great week.
Willow in the wagon is wonderful! She works about as well as my dog!
Coincidently, I am reading a novel set in Butte, MT just after WWI (Work Song by Ivan Doig), so I may have to look into The Heart in Winter. The other books also sound great, especially The Book of Days (my wheelhouse) and Glorious Exploits (anything ancient hooks me).
Hope reffing the tennis for teens was a fun gig.