An end of week recap

“To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale

If the chocophiles among you thought last week’s edition of WUTW had covered every possible chocolatey happening, you’ll be pleased I’m sure to discover that February is the worldwide Celebration of Chocolate Month. Take Your Child to the Library Day and Freelance Writers Appreciation Week are both being marked internationally today, too, while here in the UK, National Storytelling Week begins on Sunday. It is also Prešeren Day in Slovenia, an occasion when the nation honours its beloved poet France Prešeren (1800–1849), whose works are regarded as cornerstones of Slovene literature. Busy, busy, busy…

Additionally, since it is now Humpback Whale Awareness Month – a globally recognised celebration devoted to honouring and protecting these magnificent creatures – it is clearly time for another blue‑waved wind‑up, sprayed with oceanic hues and steeped in marine‑themed reading. Thalassophobes look away now because we’re going deepest blue. 🐳

There are a fair few noteworthy birthdays occurring this weekend: Today for instance includes English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic Charles Dickens (1812), American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867), American writer and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Sinclair Lewis (1885), Cameroonian feminist and author Therese Kuoh Moukouri (1938), American author of science fiction, fantasy and literary fiction Karen Joy Fowler (1950), British gothic fiction writer Patrick McGrath (1950), French writer Christine Angot (1959), Indian writer Durjoy Datta (1987) and Spanish writer Noemí Casquet (1992). Then on Sunday: English writer and polymath John Ruskin (1819), French novelist Jules Verne (1828), American author Kate Chopin (1850), Latvian writer Andrievs Niedra (1871), American poet and short-story writer Elizabeth Bishop (1911), German-American poet Lisel Mueller (1924), American Beat writer Neal Cassady (1926), American author Rebecca Wells (1953), American writer of legal thrillers John Grisham (1955) and British writer Rachel Cusk (1967).

As ever, this is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on the 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 opinions and 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.

* A Moomin Tale of a Fiery Tail *

My latest addition to the Moomin shelf in the Tove Trove library is Comet in Moominland, the second book in the original series, published in 1946. This year its 80th anniversary is being celebrated by Moominites around the world – this is my contribution. >> Discover: Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson >>

Please don’t forget there is now a dedicated index page for everything Tove, making it easier to find all the relevant posts. You can access it from the main menu at the top of every Book Jotter page. >> Tove Trove Main Index >>. Plenty more will be happening with this project over the coming months! 🎩👜

* Reading Wales Is on the Way *

The best news I’ve heard this week is that Karen at BookerTalk is preparing to launch Reading Wales mark nine on 1^st March. There are all manner of exciting developments for 2026, but most importantly, co-hosting the event this year will be Kathryn Eastman from Nut Press – a lady with a Welsh father and an enormous love for squirrels of all shades, who is currently based in South Wales. Plans are afoot for “a buddy read of two books, one fiction and one non-fiction”, namely: Glass Houses by Francesca Reece and Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams. (You can read my thoughts on the latter right here.) To get involved, all you need do, says Karen, is “read a book [of any genre] written by an author from Wales” between the 1^st and the 31^st of next month, then share your reviews on your blogs or other platforms of choice. For all the gen on taking part in the event, please head over to Reading Wales Month 2026 — The Countdown Begins to scrutinize the details. And don’t forget to tag your social media posts with #ReadingWales26.

* Begorrathon is Back *

Reading Ireland Month (aka #begorrathon26) returns for the twelfth time in March, and Irish literature exponent extraordinaire Cathy Brown at 746 Books would be delighted if you joined her in reading and posting about Irish books, writers and culture in general. She has plenty of exciting plans up her green sleeves for those who intend to participate. For instance, there is a theme this year of ‘then and now’, inspired by “the release of a new book in which contemporary writers respond to Maeve Brennan’s work”. She says she will “be spending the month exploring echoes and themes across both modern and classic Irish literature”, tracing “the threads that connect writers across decades, and she intends to “review books that examine the interplay between past and present.” To add to this, there will be a book giveaway on St. Patrick’s Day, and a lovely new graphic is available for you to use in your posts. To get involved in the challenge (which runs from 1^st to 31^st March), please do a joyful jig over to Reading Ireland Month 2026 is on the way! for all you need to know about #readingirelandmonth26.

* Two for the Road *

Other new or ongoing reading challenges include (1) the annual Febookary Reading Challenge 2026 with Cat from The Strawberry Post and (2) the European Reading Challenge 2026 hosted by Gilion Dumas at Rose City Reader.

* Blogs from the Basement * 

I bring a Chile pair of books into the light this week: (1) Firstly, we venture back to March 2019, when Juli of A Universe in Words gave a firm thumbs‑up to travel journalist Sarah Baxter’s Literary Places, a bookish journey to seek significant literary locations and a work in which the author “paints vivid pictures with her words, her experience as a travel writer clearly shining through.” A “wide variety of places are covered”, says Juli: Paris, the Yorkshire Moors and Monroeville or Hanging Rock (for obvious reasons), but also destinations such as “Chile, inspired by Isabelle Allende’s The House of Spirits” and Arundhati Roy’s Kerala. “Baxter’s writing is charming and simple”, and the book, we are told, would make an ideal gift for anyone seeking “literary inspiration for their next holiday”. Catch a plane, boat or train immediately and head to Review: ‘Literary Places’ by Sarah Baxter, Illustrated by Amy Grimes for more. (2) On to Judith McKinnon’s February 2021 review of A Long Petal of the Sea by the wonderful Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende, which, Judith says, gave her much “insight” into the history and background of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The “story of Victor Dalmau, a medic on the Republican (Communist) side”, who “learns so much in the harsh reality of battlefield surgery and makes a name for himself by restarting a young soldier’s heart who has been left for dead.” The author “deals with some big themes in her book”, such as “displacement, nationhood, the effects of war, family issues and so on” but, she says, “it is also a [sensitively written] love story”. Please read her full critique at Book Review: A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende to find out why Judith couldn’t “help falling in love a little with the characters” herself. 

* Lit Crit Blogflash * 

This is where I share my favourite pieces of writing from around the blogosphere. There are a great many talented people producing high-quality book features and reviews, which makes it difficult to pick only two – both posted in recent weeks:

I Am Agatha by Nancy Foley – Julia Kastner describes forthcoming title, I Am Agatha by Nancy Foley as the story of a “solitary aging painter [raging] against the slow loss of her [female] partner to dementia” in what she says is a “spare, feeling first novel.” Loosely based on the life of Canadian-American abstract painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004) – known for her minimalist style and abstract expressionism – this is a woman “wrestling” with “grief, love, and creation, [with only] the help of a loyal 13-year-old neighbor, a trusty pickup truck, and a couple of shovels.” She is a “brash” and determined character but, nevertheless, “the end of Alice’s life will be one of her greatest struggles.” Please do read the full review at Pages of Julia to find out why this is “an arresting, darkly funny, and heartrending consideration of life, love, and endings.”

Review: The Shark House by Sara Ackerman – Set in Hawaii, Sara Ackerman’s latest historical novel centres on Dr. Minnow Gray – “a marine biologist who is asked to investigate a series of shark attacks on the Big Island” – as she works to “determine what type of shark [was responsible]” and how future incidents might be prevented. In her thoughtful review of The Shark House, book blogger and cat enthusiast Deb (aka CurlyGeek) of The Book Stop notes that “Gray isn’t just a shark expert, she also has a feel for nature that most people lack.” Determined to avoid “a massive shark hunt” by locals anxious to safeguard the tourist economy (“even though the shark at fault might be long gone”), Minnow, aided by a friend who lives on the island, sets out to uncover the truth behind the attacks. Deb praises the evocative Hawaiian setting and the fascinating insights into marine biology, though she found the romantic subplot less compelling and felt the pacing occasionally “dragged.” Even so, she “appreciate[s] Minnow’s emotional journey”, particularly the revelations about her past, and ultimately encourages “you to give it a try.”

* 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, here are a selection of interesting snippets: 

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Readers’ Favorite: Song of Belonging – “This complex, multigenerational novel featuring magical realism and a bit of romance [is] a well-crafted, gripping, and powerful story of deep grief, discovery, healing, belonging […] to the past and future, to our ancestors, and to the natural world.” Michelle St. Romain’s Song of Belonging comes “highly recommended.”

Smithsonian Magazine: Fervent Fans of ‘Moby-Dick’ Flock to This Massachusetts City to Read the Book Cover to Cover – “Once the whaling capital of the world, New Bedford remembers Herman Melville’s literary masterpiece [Moby-Dick or, The Whale] with an annual reading marathon”. 

The AU Review 🦘: Book Review: Honeyeater examines the detritus of our collective memories in an eerie Australian gothic – Honeyeater, the second novel by Brisbane‑based illustrator and writer Kathleen Jennings, is a dark fantasy exploring the “making of local legends” in a subtropical town being reclaimed by the natural world. 

A double Daphne if you please:
Official Daphne du Maurier Website: Night Bird Press, Daphne du Maurier and the House of Dreams – Louisa Amelia Albani, the artist and owner of Night Bird Press, has produced a striking “pamphlet about Daphne du Maurier, which will be available from 7^th February 2026” (today!). House of Dreams: Daphne du Maurier’s Menabilly is timed to appear on the 100^th anniversary of du Maurier first setting out to find Menabilly, a historic estate on the south coast of Cornwall, on the Gribben peninsula, after first discovering it in her teens. She became its tenant and restorer from 1943 to 1969, and it was the inspiration behind Menabilly, the house in her famous Gothic novel, Rebecca (1938).
A Narrative Of Their Own: Short Story Salon – In Kate Jones’ latest essay introducing short story collections, she discusses The Doll: Short Stories (2011), which Daphne du Maurier penned in her late teens and early twenties. 

Lit Mag News: The Beautiful Dance of Literary Translation – “Translation makes me rediscover language”, says Bergita Bugarija in this piece about “a recent translation slam” and translated literature in general.

Electric Literature: 15 Translated Novels You Should Read This Winter and Spring – “The first half of 2026 is shaping up to be a particularly strong season for translated fiction.” Swedish freelance writer Linnea Gradin introduces works from Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Moldova, Ecuador and elsewhere.

The London Magazine: In Conversation with Rob Doyle – Jamie Cameron chats to Irish author Rob Doyle about Cameo, the life story of invented Irish novelist Ren Duka – a book described by Benjamin Myers as “provocative, transgressive [and] grimly hilarious”.

Passa Porta: Sons, Mothers, and the Frozen South – On 5^th February “Welsh author Carys Davies, winner of the Ondaatje Prize 2025, came to Passa Porta to give a lecture entitled ‘Sons, Mothers, and the Frozen South’. It was a brilliant and moving reflection on how real life finds its way into fiction, on the writing of her new novel, and on how writing about the past also allows us to question the present.”

BBC Culture: ‘It still has the ability to shock’: Why ‘masterpiece’ Wuthering Heights is so misunderstood – “Ever since [Wuthering Heights] was published in the mid-19th Century, Emily Brontë’s tale of passionate love and ruthless revenge has captivated fans and confounded critics in equal measure”, writes Molly Gorman.

The Telegraph (via Archive Today): The 10 Agatha Christie novels you haven’t read, but should – “There are plenty of underrated Christie books to equal the marquee titles, including one of the author’s very own favourites”, says Jake Kerridge.

The Monthly: Heed the sheep: Reading Halldór Laxness – “Catching up on the feral black humour of the Icelandic Nobel laureate’s classic tale of a man who only believes in himself and his flock.” Canadian writer and book critic Beejay Silcox on Halldór Laxness’s 1934 classic novel Independent People.

Vogue: 🫎 The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant Will Make You Believe in Literature Again – “You can’t really ‘discover’ Mavis Gallant; you can only join the ranks of people who will rhapsodize, almost delirious, about her once they’ve read her short stories”. Chloe Schama “[invites] you into the fold” in this review of The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant – a Canadian writer who spent much of her life and career in France.

CrimeReads: Crime and the City: Osaka – A tour [with Paul French] of the Japanese port city with a big tradition of detective fiction.

The Australian (via Archive Today): 🦘 Why I didn’t boycott Adelaide Writers’ Week – “Poet and doctor Peter Goldsworthy explains why he didn’t boycott the Adelaide Writers’ Festival, an event he once chaired.”

Chicago Review of Books: Interview with an Editor: Adam al-Sirgany from SFWP – “If you’re looking at small presses for your book and have dreamed of having your work read around the world,” says Rachel León, “be sure to check out Santa Fe Writers Project.” She talks to Adam al-Sirgany about SFWP – “an independent press that has been around for twenty-seven years [and] offers global book distribution by the Independent Publishers Group.”

Counter Craft: Why Literature Needs a Punk Rock Mindset – “The Washington Post shutting down its books coverage is a reminder that we have to do it ourselves”, says Lincoln Michel. It’s time for readers to get in touch with their inner punk rockers! You may also like to read Ron Charles’ recent piece about losing his job at The Washington Post after 20 years: I’ve Been Laid Off. I’m Not Done.

Literary Review of Canada: 🫎 A Vast Expanse – “The final novel from Marie-Claire Blais”, the Québécoise writer and longtime partner of American author and painter Mary Meigs (1917-2002), “asks readers to marvel at the force of her prose, coming on clause after clause”, says Sophia Ohler. Together by the Sea (translated by Katia Grubisic) was “completed before her death in 2021”. 

Historical Novel Society: When Secrets Bloom (Blood of Kings, Heart of Shadows) – Over at Alluring Creations, fellow blogger Patricia Furstenberg’s “immersive” new book is gaining attention in all the right places. In a recent review, Williamaye Jones describes When Secrets Bloom – a tale “set in Kronstadt (modern-day Braşov), Transylvania, in 1463” – as likely to “appeal to readers drawn to dark, character-driven medieval fiction that centers on women’s agency”.

Publishers Weekly: Brazil Is What I Am: PW Talks with Marcello Quintanilha – “A disastrous fishing trip in 1950s Guanabara Bay tests the bond between friends in the Brazilian cartoonist’s The Lights of Niterói.”

The Nation (via Archive Today): Nobody Knows The Bluest Eye – In an excerpt adapted from On Morrison, an exploration of the work of US novelist and editor Toni Morrison, Namwali Serpell suggests the Nobel Laureate’s debut, The Bluest Eye, “might be her most misunderstood.”

The Conversation: 🦘 I found Australian cult The Family’s left-behind library. Here’s what their books reveal – Caitlin Burns read the books that helped shape The Family, the cult founded by an Australian yoga teacher in the 1960s – when Western societies were newly fascinated by the East.

Literary Review: Life, Work & Adoration – She “adopted a male name, wrote at extraordinary speed and lived much of her life in public view.” In her review of Fiona Sampson’s new biography, Becoming George: The Invention of George Sand, Lucasta Miller asks the question: “Does the legend of Sand’s life obscure her achievement, or is it inseparable from her work?”

The Ink-Stained Desk: The State of Modern Horror: A Critical Look. – In her latest thematic essay C M Reid reflects on the changes that have happened in horror literature in recent years and asks why horror fiction sales have exploded.

The Public Domain Review: Typing for Love or Money: The Hidden Women’s Labor behind Modern Literary Masterpieces – “Taking dictation, revising manuscripts, typing copies, literary amanuenses often labour for little compensation and even less recognition. Christine Jacobson explores the neglected efforts of women like Theodora Bosanquet, Véra Nabokov, and Valerie Eliot, who — through their work as typists, editors, and champions — had a profound impact on modern literature.”

Dandelion Chandelier: Fresh Ink: February 2026 – “February is when the publishing year stops clearing its throat”, says Pamela Thomas-Graham. In this month’s edition she shares “the most compelling new books publishing in February 2026, organized by genre.” The title featured here is Saoirse, a debut mystery novel by Dublin-dweller Charleen Hurtubise set between the USA and Ireland about a woman who runs from her traumatic past and the secrets she carries to survive.

Connotations: February 2026 – Daniel Deronda at 150: Love Sacred and Profane – “George Eliot’s last novel, Daniel Deronda, was first published in eight instalments from February to September 1876,” writes Francesca Pierini. The “150th anniversary of its publication falls at a time that makes an equanimous and detached revisiting of its themes even more problematic”, not least, she argues, because of the “thorniness of some of its core themes”. 

Scroll.in: Sunday book pick: In the 1940 novella ‘The Invention of Morel’, a premonition of digital memories – Argentine writer Adolfo Bioy Casares wrote the novella [The Invention of Morel] in Spanish, which was later translated into English by Ruth LC Simms in 1964. Sayari Debnath asks, “is it magical realism, speculative fiction, or is it a work of fantasy? Or perhaps a long, inventive thought on scientific progress and the ensuing psychological chaos?”

Quill & Quire: 🫎 2026 Spring Preview: Nonfiction – The digital magazine of the Canadian book trade “presents the [non-fiction] titles [its editorial staff are] most excited about this spring.

Shereads: Tayari Jones on Kin, Questions that Shape Her Stories and Books She Loves – Christelle Lujan sat down with American “award-winning author Tayari Jones” to discuss her latest novel, Kin – a “magical” historical novel about two lifelong friends whose worlds converge after many years apart in the face of a devastating tragedy.

The Gem: 🦘 Notes from Michelle de Kretser’s Theory and Practise – “On literature’s moral responsibility and having your own thoughts…” GM shares some of the notes she made while reading Theory & Practice by Australian novelist Michelle de Kretser.

Afrocritik: Kwani? To Qwani: The Layers of 21st Century Literary Time in Kenya – Njugi writes: “Kenyan letters have travelled from the raptures of a Kwani? generation into a documentation age shaped by literary journals, self-publishing reimagining how literature meets the public, and eventually a new cohort of writers emerges around Qwani, looking to secure a continuity.”

Financial Times (via Archive Today): I opened a bookshop. It was the best, worst thing I’ve ever done – “Chloe Fox shares the hopes and heartache of fulfilling a life-long dream”.

“Mostly Books” by Marcie Geffner: 🦘 Book Review: ‘Body Friend’ by Katherine Brabon – Set in Melbourne, Katherine Brabon’s Body Friend is an “elegant literary tale” that follows a woman living with complex health issues, exploring how a “shared experience of chronic pain sparks friendships” and reshapes her sense of connection and self.

The Telegraph (via Archive Today): Is ‘fairy smut’ dumbing down literature? – “The genre is booming, but critics worry that its reliance on recycled tropes and feverish prose is cheapening popular culture.”

The MIT Press Reader: Daydreamers and Sleepwalkers: Crossing the Borderlands of the Unconscious – “Scientists, novelists, and philosophers have spent centuries studying the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness. Each descent only deepens the mystery.” This is an article adapted from the anthology The Unconscious: A Cultural History from Hippocrates to Philip K. Dick and Beyond by Antonio Melechi, a writer and academic from West Yorkshire.

The Broken Compass: Russell Hoban: inside the mystery of language – Mathew Lyons celebrates “the profound mischiefs and magic of [Russell Hoban’s] work”. His experience, he says, “is that readers are constantly discovering the wonders of his work for the first time”, in fact he’s “had a couple of conversations about Turtle Diary with people in recent months – and if [he] can speed that process along for anyone [else he] would be happy indeed.”

L’Orient Today: Venus Khoury-Ghata, the poetic voice between two shores has gone silent – “Awarded the Grand Prix de poésie from the Académie française in 2009 and then the Goncourt Prize for poetry in 2011 for her entire body of work, the Lebanese-French writer established herself as one of the great voices of contemporary poetry.”

The New York Times (via Archive Today): What’s With That Voice People Use When Reciting Poetry? – According to Gregory Cowles: “It’s been described as embarrassing, clichéd or “unhelpful singsong.” Many poets dislike it too, but it’s a style they’ve learned from each other.”

Literary Hub: What’s the Word for… Forgetting Words? – “‘Lately I have been losing words”, says literary journalist and memoirist Mira Ptacin. Here, she examines the unsettling possibility that she may be “grappling with perimenopausal aphasia.”

BBC News: Steamy twist for quirky new book club – “Forget cosy cafes and bookshop back rooms: in one West Yorkshire town, readers have been pulling on their swimsuits and diving into a steamy sauna to discuss their latest read.” Alex Moss and Nicola Rees meet members of the iglu book club.

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FINALLY >>

If there is something you would particularly like to see in 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.

>> See my monthly digest at the Book Jotter Journal on Substack. >>

Categories: Winding Up the Week

Tags: #begorrathon26, #Dewithon26, #readingirelandmonth26, #ReadingWales26, Agnes Martin, Charleen Hurtubise, Dewithon 2026, Emily Brontë, France Prešeren, Herman Melville, Humpback Whale Awareness Month, Isabel Allende, Katherine Brabon, Marie-Claire Blais, Michelle St. Romain, Moomins, Nancy Foley, National Storytelling Week, Prešeren Day, Reading Ireland Month 2026, Reading Wales Month 2026, Sara Ackerman, Sarah Baxter, Tove Jansson, Tove Trove