An end of week recap

“I think that the popular notion of the writer as a person hiding away in a garret, unable to face reality, is probably perfectly true.”
– Shirley Jackson (born 14^th December 1916)

This is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming publications, see what folk have on their nightstands and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings.

CHATTERBOOKS >>

If you are planning a reading event, challenge, competition, or anything else likely to be of interest to the book blogging community and its followers, please let me know. I will happily share your news here with the fabulous array of bibliowonks who read this weekly wind up.

* Go Gentle Into That Good Challenge *

If you fancy taking on a fresh challenge in the New Year, but would rather the tasks involved weren’t overly-complicated or too demanding of your time, I recommend you stroll over to Silvia Cachia’s place where, with the assistance of her good friend Janakay of “You Might as Well Read”, she is preparing to launch The Gentle Challenge – 2025. To fulfil requirements and complete the challenge, you need only follow Silvia’s simple list of suggested categories – with appealing titles such as ‘Home Sweet Home’ and ‘A Trip Down Memory Lane’ – and if it helps, you can include books you are reading concurrently for other events. Please peruse the straightforward rules at The gentle challenge, a challenge to inspire fun and comfort reads, then snuggle into your favourite armchair and prepare to read.

* Wish Jane Austen a Happy Quartermillennial *

Plans to celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th birthday next year continue apace. I first mentioned Bronwyn’s plans for a year-long Reading Jane Austen 2025 challenge at This Reading Life in WUTW #383; then a few weeks later I drew readers’ attention to The Classics Club becoming involved in the festivities (WUTW #389). There is now fresh news to share. According to Meet our Guest Hosts for #ReadingAusten2025, Brona will kick off the extravaganza on the 1^st to 31^st January with Read Sense and Sensibility – that is, of course, in addition to “promoting a variety of Austen related events on her own blog.” Meredith from Dolce Bellezza steps in as a guest host from 1^st to 31^st March with Read Pride and Prejudice; Mary of Bibliographic Manifestations takes over from 1^st to 30^th May to present Read Mansfield Park and so the list continues in this vein until all six novels have been covered. In the most recent post relating to the event, In Review…Sense & Sensibility, The Classics Club have mined their database for pre-existing features to share, starting with Austen’s first novel from 1811. Please be sure to read through these highlights from previous years and follow the above links to learn how you can get involved with all that is happening.

* Almost Overlooked *

I have a small offering of hitherto unwound posts, which I shall describe here as fallen fruit, perfectly ripe and ready for consumption in mid-December. (1) It was still September when Linda Hill decided she “couldn’t resist accepting [cold climate specialist] Nancy Campbell’s latest book, Nature Tales for Winter Nights” for review at Linda’s Book Bag. A “slim volume” bursting with “evocative, interesting and entertaining writing from diary extracts, through letters and factual pieces to poetry and prose,” this “wonderful book” includes pieces by celebrated names such as Charlotte Brontë and Shakespeare, alongside more modern authors like nature-writer Marchelle Farrell. What’s more, says Linda, it contains “beautiful illustrations” to accompany the text and is a “cornucopia of seasonal writing,” making it the “perfect gift” for any book lover. Head over to Nature Tales for Winter Nights Edited by Nancy Campbell for the full appraisal. (2) If historical novels set in Berlin’s Weimar Republic are your thing, I would strongly suggest you take a look at Hayley The Lotus Eater’s Circus of Mirrors by Julie Owen Moylan post from early September. She was “blown away by this story” of two impoverished sisters “living in a makeshift shelter,” one of whom takes a job as a “cigarette girl” at a notoriously “seedy cabaret club called Babylon Circus.” With distinct flavours of Cabaret, Julie’s Circus of Mirrors is “easily one of the best [books Hayley has] read this year” and probably the author’s finest work to date.

* Irresistible Items *

Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on my bookdar last week. I generally make a point of tweeting/x-ing (not to mention tooting and bsky-ing) a few favourite finds (or adding them to my Facebook group page), but in case you missed anything, there follows a selection of interesting snippets: 

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The Asian Age: Book Review | A fusion of Malayalam and English tones – “This story [Maria Just Maria by Sandhya Mary] of a girl in a psychiatric hospital explores the tricks memory plays on the human mind,” finds Malati Mathur. 

The Irish Times: Sally Rooney: When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis? – The Irish author and screenwriter Sally Rooney says: “Capitalism is driving the destruction of our planet. We have to think outside – and against – the framework of our current political system.”

The Arts Fuse: Book Review: Yiddish Writer Celia Dropkin’s Rediscovered “Desires” — Yiddishe Erotics – In her review of Desires (originally published in 1934), Debra Cash tells us that Russian-born American Yiddish poet, writer and artist Celia Dropkin “wrote not only of romantic love – a topic deemed quite suitable to women writers – but also of lust, anger, abasement, and violence.”

The New Statesman: Why the novel matters – Deborah Levy believes “we read and write fiction because it asks impossible questions and leads us boldly into the unknown.”

The Observer: Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo review – a playful tale of interspecies affection – “The Finnish novelist’s reissued debut [Troll], about a man who rescues and cares for a troll, still feels fresh and bright 20 years on,” says John Self.

The Bookseller: Roddy Doyle announced as chair of judges for the Booker Prize 2025 – “Irish author Roddy Doyle has become the first Booker Prize winner to chair the judging panel for the prize.”

Humanities: Beatrix Potter’s Quiet Rebellion – “The writer’s tales for children helped her claim the independence she longed for,” finds Hannah Stamler.

The Paris Review: Hanif Kureishi, The Art of Fiction No. 265 – British Pakistani writer, Hanif Kureishi, tells Hari Kunzru: “When I was in hospital in Rome, having the experience of being a paralyzed man nearly dead, my only excitement was in the thought that I could write some of this shit down.”

World Literature Today: World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2024 – “It’s time to celebrate another year of translations, and there’s plenty to celebrate,” says Michelle Johnson in her summation of outstanding translations through 2024.

The Common Reader: How I learned to love literary criticism. – Henry Oliver considers the question: “What makes secondary literature worth reading for the common reader?”

The Conversation: Haruki Murakami and the challenge of translating Japanese’s many words for ‘I’ – Murakami’s new novel The City and its Uncertain Walls gives its two narrators different words for “I” in Japanese – a nuance that is difficult to translate to English,” explains Gitte Marianne Hansen.

Seize the Press: A Secret Third Thing: a review of Exordia by Seth Dickinson from Jake Casella Brookins – Seth Dickinson’s new science fiction cum horror novel, Exordia, “understands the perils of both hope and despair, and doesn’t give in to—or abandon—either one.”

Brittle Paper: 100 Notable African Books of 2024 – Ainehi Edoro presents a list of 100 outstanding African books published over the previous twelve months.

A Reading Life: Issue 97: The insecurities that try to ruin my reading life – In her ‘newsletter for book people who have lost their way,’ Petya K. Grady externalizes her “shame so that [she] can overcome it.”

The Dial: On Nietzsche Mountain – “They don’t go to Nietzsche to reflect on or question themselves, but to confirm their beliefs.” Tania Roettger attends an annual gathering in the Swiss Alps to celebrate the life and work of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

The Nation: How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse – Elias Rodriques talks with Canadian poet and writer Dionne Brand “about her recent book, Salvage, which looks at how the classic texts of Anglo-American fiction helped abet the crimes of capitalism, colonialism, and more.”

Asymptote: Moving in Circles: On Celebration by Damir Karakaš – “An existential dilemma carries Damir Karakaš’s slim, engrossing [historical novel] Celebration, translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursać,” writes Robert Allen Papinchak. It is, he says, “an astonishing read reminiscent of Boris Pasternak, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Maylis De Kerangal.”

The Lamp: The One Hundred Pages Strategy – Matthew Walther on “how to read one hundred pages every day.”

Africa is a Country: Reading List: Dotun Ayobade – The author of Queens of Afrobeat asks: “What can the lives of the women behind Afrobeat tell us about creativity, resistance, and the interplay of power and pleasure in 1970s Nigeria?”

CrimeReads: Martin Edwards Revisits E.C.R. Lorac’s 1946 Opus, The Theft of the Iron Dogs – “Lorac’s newly reissued work [The Theft of the Iron Dogs] features a strong sense of place and evocative atmospherics.”

The Nation: Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle – In his review of Peter Schjeldahl’s The Art of Dying Writings, 2019-2022, Zachary Fine observes: “His art criticism fixated on the narcissism of the entire enterprise. But over six decades, his work proved that a critic could be an artist too.”

Portuguese American Journal: Maria Teresa Horta named one of the 100 most influential women in the world – “Portuguese writer and journalist Maria Teresa Horta, 87, was listed by the British public broadcaster BBC, as one of the ‘100 most influential and inspiring women in the world’” (see BBC 100 Women 2024).

LARB: From the Pudong Airport to Tiananmen Square – Novelist Rebecca F. Kuang reviews two titles: Lai Wen’s Tiananmen Square and Juli Min’s Shanghailanders.

Smithsonian Magazine: The Best Books of 2024 – “As the year draws to a close, with all its new books stretched out before us, Smithsonian magazine’s editors and writers have clear favorites. Whether you’re doing some holiday shopping or looking for your own next read, consider [their] thoughtfully curated lists.”

Frontline: My language is my homeland, motherland, my memory, and my protest too: Geetanjali Shree – The “International Booker winner [talks to Varsha Tiwary about] how language becomes an act of resistance and identity in her latest novel [Our City That Year], translated by Daisy Rockwell.”

The MIT Press: Kafka’s Screwball Tragedy: Investigations of a Philosophical Dog – In this excerpt from How to Research Like a Dog: Kafka’s New Science, Aaron Schuster writes: “‘Investigations of a Dog’ is a funny and deeply philosophical tale of a lone, maladjusted dog who defies scientific dogma and pioneers an original research program in pursuit of the mysteries of his self and his world.”

Buenos Aires Herald: Novel’s sales surge after Argentina VP calls it ‘porn’ – “Dolores Reyes’ [feminist fantasy] Eartheater is one of several books distributed in Buenos Aires’ public schools that Victoria Villarruel accuses of ‘sexualizing children’.”

The Dallas Morning News: ‘Giant Love’ examines the Texas-size impact of ‘Giant’ novel and film – Joyce Sáenz Harris finds the “1950s cultural phenomenon [Giant Love] still resonates, thanks to Edna Ferber’s writing and James Dean’s mystique.”

Nippon.com: Abe Kōbō: An Avant-Garde Writer for a Time of Turmoil – Japanese author Abe Kōbō “won acclaim for a rich body of avant-garde novels and other works, characterized by their imaginative force. In the centenary year of his birth, his literature retains a universal appeal,” says Toba Kōji.

Harper’s Bazaar: Where Would We Be Without Nikki Giovanni? – “The late poet and thinker spent over half a century in the public eye with her unabashed writing, her fiery, funny speeches, and her careful inquiries of other thinkers,” recalls Kaitlyn Greenidge.

The Yale Review: In Search of Zabihollah Mansouri – “Was Iran’s most famous translator secretly its most prolific author?” Amir Ahmadi Arian assesses his work.

Granta: In Conversation – “Olivia Laing and Jamaica Kincaid discuss the political significance of the garden.”

Le Nouvel Obs: Jacques Roubaud, of Oulipo, excused on account of death, by Oulipo – “‘JR’, Jacques Roubaud, writer, poet and mathematician, died at the age of 92 on December 5. He was a pillar of the Oulipo literary group, which pays tribute to him here.”

The Rumpus: The First Book: Holiday Gift Guide – “This holiday season, give a gift of a debut-authored book. [Here] you’ll find collections of poems gathered among fiction and memoir.”

Mid Theory Collective: History Uncapitalized: A Review of Joseph Andras’s ‘Faraway the Southern Sky’ – “This is not just a story about a man called Nguyễn, or a man called Andras who researched his movements in Paris in the years 1917-23, but a story about you, about your relation to revolutionary action, both past and present.” Matthew Beeber reviews Faraway the Southern Sky.

9News: ‘Generous’ award-winning novelist killed in crash metres from her Perth home – Dr Brenda Walker, 67, was tragically killed when she was hit by a car near her home in Perth, Australia.

AP: Science fiction author Ted Chiang wins PEN/Malamud Award for short story writing – Short story writer Ted Chiang is only the second science fiction writer to win the PEN/Malamud Award, a lifetime achievement award for short fiction.

TNR: Was Fat Is a Feminist Issue Liberating? Or Weight-Loss Propaganda? – “Susie Orbach’s 1978 book [Fat Is a Feminist Issue] is a fascinating snapshot of diet and physical culture in a very different era,” says Natalia Mehlman Petrzela.

The Public Domain Review: Strange Gods Charles Fort’s Book of the Damned (1919) – “Rains of blood and frogs, mysterious disappearances, baffling objects in the sky: these were the anomalies that fascinated Charles Fort in his Book of the Damned.” In this adapted excerpt from Joshua Blu Buhs’ Think to New Worlds: The Cultural History of Charles Fort and His Followers, we discover why one reviewer wrote of Fort’s work: “For every five people who read this book, four will go insane.”

The Coachella Review: A History of My Enthusiasms, or Use Everything by Jamie Harrison – Montana-based novelist, Jamie Harrison, discusses the complicated relationship she has with her work.

The Atavist Magazine: The Good Traitor – “The Nazis feared journalist Carl von Ossietzky so much they sent him to a concentration camp. Could winning the Nobel Peace Prize save his life?” asks Kate McQueen.

Woman of Letters: You can’t write another Middlemarch – “A form comes into the world because it’s suited to what people at a given time and place need to say, and eventually, that time passes, and new forms must come into being.” Naomi Kanakia explains why she believes comparisons should not be made between Vikram Seth’s historical novel, A Suitable Boy, and certain classics of the 19^th century.

The San Francisco Standard: Dave Eggers just opened a library of books written entirely by children – American writer, editor and publisher Dave Eggers has opened a library of books written entirely by 6 to 18-year-olds.

ABC Books: New Helen Garner book The Season uses football to create a tender portrait of youthful masculinity – The acclaimed Australian author returns with The Season, a memoir in which she turns her razor-sharp writer’s eye to her 16-year-old grandson’s footy team. 

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FINALLY >>

If there is something you would particularly like to see on Winding Up the Week or if you have any suggestions, questions, or comments for Book Jotter in general, please drop me a line or comment below. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I wish you a week bountiful in books and rich in reading.

NB In this feature, ‘winding up’ refers to the act of concluding something and should not be confused with the British expression: ‘wind-up’ – an age-old pastime of ‘winding-up’ friends and family by teasing or playing pranks on them. If you would like to know more about this expression, there is an excellent description on Urban Dictionary.

Categories: Winding Up the Week

Tags: #ReadingAusten2025, Jane Austen, Juli Min, Julie Owen Moylan, María Alejandra Barrios Vélez, Nancy Campbell, Reading Jane Austen 2025, Sandhya Mary, Seth Dickinson, Shirley Jackson, The Gentle Challenge 2025