The Coldest Night

Finished January 2

The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead

This novel is about a young man named Henry Childs. Henry and his mother Clemmie left their mountain home for the city of Charleston when he was young. Henry was athletic and liked nature. He began working at stables across the river after the owner met Clemmie at the veteran's hospital she worked at. 

Mercy, a girl a year older than him began coming to ride one of the horses in 1950, when she was in her senior year of high school. The two fall in love, but her wealthy family doesn't accept their relationship and despite their efforts, Henry finds himself alone. 

In his pain, he enlists and finds himself in Korea just as the battle for the Chosin Reservoir is starting, and the war scenes are brutally honest. In many ways, Henry is still a boy, but he finds himself taken under the wing of a man named Lew, also from Charleston, and the two stick together through the worst of it. 

We also see how Henry, broken in some ways, returns to Charleston, to find some things changed and some things the same as they were. He has trouble adjusting to civilian life, marked as he is by his wartime experiences. 

This is an emotional read, graphically violent at times, but so beautifully written that it captured me entirely. 

2024 Reading Wrap-Up

Well, 2024 has come to an end and I've put together my reading wrap-up. I had hoped to read 175 books and actually read 176, so I'm pretty pleased with that. In terms of pages read, I set a goal of 55,000 pages and read 56,924 pages, so a win there as well. 

I read primarily Fiction, 165 of the 176. 

Most were adult level books, with 8 being teen and 2 children's.

Translations: 8
2 Swedish
2 French
1 Japanese
1 Arabic
1 Norwegian
1 Italian

Setting 
8 took place in make-believe worlds
11 took place at least partly in Canada
93 took place at least partly in the United States
5 took place at least partly in Africa
3 took place at least partly in Australia/New Zealand
13 took place at least partly in Asia
4 took place at least partly in Latin America
60 took place at least partly in Europe

Where they were from
95 were from the library
71 I owned, of which 54 went on to new homes
2 were borrowed from family
7 were from Netgalley

Genre: This graph doesn't break them down exactly like I do, a few of what they call genre aren't genre, but an appeal element, like contemporary. I also don't know how they determined 'mystery,' 'thriller,' and 'crime.' Some books cross genres. 

My categories came up as:
Nonfiction: 11 total, with some in more than one category
1 Poetry
3 Essays
2 Travel
3 History
2 Science / Social Science
1 Arts and Crafts
6 Biography / Memoir

Fiction: 165 total, with some in more than one category
70 Mystery / Thriller
29 Historical
26 Fantasy

2 Science Fiction

1 Short Stories

59 Romance

2 Western

Pace:

                                          

Mood:

Authors by gender identity

31 Male

142 Female

3 had multiple authors including both genders

Format

1 Graphic Novel

3 Large Print

30 ebook

142 Print

Series: 63 were part of a series

Length:

The Crows of Pearblossom

Finished January 1

The Crows of Pearblossom by Aldous Huxley, illustrations by Barbara Cooney

This is the only children's story of Huxley to survive. He told stories to his niece, but after a fire most were lost. This one survived because the neighbours mentioned in the story had a copy of it. It was originally written in 1944, but the copy I read was from 1967.

I was visiting my mother-in-law and she had just received it from an order she'd placed. 

The crow mother lays an egg every day and later goes off to do her shopping. The egg is always gone when she returns and she can't figure it out until she returns early one day and sees a rattlesnake, who lives at the bottom of the tree she is nesting in, swallowing her egg. She is terribly upset and tells her partner when he returns, that she wants him to go down and kill the snake. 

Instead, he goes off to his friend Owl and they work out a plan, that goes off very well. with the snake immobilized and unable to eat any more of Mrs. Crow's eggs. 

January Reviews for the 18th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

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Illyrian Spring

Finished December 30

Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge

This novel came to me as part of a subscription from Mr. B's Emporium, a bookstore in Bath, England. It was originally written in 1935 and was a popular read at the time. 

The main character Grace Kilmichael is married with three adult children. Her husband Walter is a well-known economist. Before she was married, she studied art, and she gave it up when she married. Once the boys were grown and her daughter Linnet away at school, and her husband travelling a lot for work, she started up again, studying at the Slade, and spending some time in Paris with another artist Moru. She became a success, with her first important picture ending up at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. She's won awards. She's made sure not to inconvenience her family, working around their needs and expectations, and painting under her middle name as 'Grace Stanway,' to avoid drawing undue attention to the family. But she feels her successes have been belittled by her husband, with he and the children teasing her about her art. 

Lately Walter has been spending a lot of time with a female economist, Rose Barum, and extolling her intelligence and accomplishments. Even Linnet, who she had a close relationship up to recently, has been pushing her away, growing irritated at her suggestions, and spending less time at home. 

As the book starts Grace is leaving, planning a long getaway for herself, going first to Paris to see some galleries, then on to Venice to visit Tortello, and then for a long stay on the Dalmation coast in Croatia. She has put it about that she is visiting her mother in Antibes, and she has accepted a commission for drawings for American papers. She had not planned to paint, and had not brought her painting things, but she changes her mind and has her mother send her things to Venice after all. 

At Torcello she meets a young man who helps with a technical drawing she is doing for her son, and the two reconnect on a boat as she makes her way to Dalmatia. 

The novel is a telling of their journey, their art, their growing closeness, and how it affects their lives in significant ways. 

This is a lovely novel, in some ways of its times, but in others much ahead of them. I truly enjoyed it. 

The Twilight Garden

Finished December 30

The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams

This novel is about community, human connection, and the healing properties of nature. Winston lives with his partner Lewis in a house in London that shares a garden with its neighbour. For a long time the neighbouring house was empty, but a woman, Bernice and her young son Sebastian have bought the house, renovated it, and moved in. The shared garden is neglected, and Winston has primarily used it to sit outside in an old wooden chair, smoke and think. Bernice thinks his chair is in a dangerous state of disrepair, disapproves of his smoking and seems to look down upon him. He has dubbed her the Queen of Sheba. 

The Winston starts to get enveloped through his mailbox, addressed to the young man at Number 79, and they contain old pictures and clippings of the garden and the two women who made it a community haven, Maya and Alma. Winston has fond memories of his mother and her garden, and begins to get inspired to bring the neglected space back to life. As he does so, he connects with young Sebastian and eventually with Bernice as well. 

Winston quit his job in a bank that he didn't enjoy and as a stop-gap began working in the local corner shop, that Sal and Angela own. He has become part of their family and spends time with them. Lewis and he met while he was working in the bank and Lewis has gone up through the ranks. Lately, he has worked late, including weekends, and Winston feels more alone. He is also missing other relationships, and has been pulling himself away from other people, so the gardening provides not only solace, but also a different means of connecting with him. 

Bernice is divorced from a very controlling man, and she has also retreated into herself, with the exception of her son. She has always dreamed of having a home with a garden and feels possessive of the space, and also protective of Sebastian. The forced sharing of the space is something she fights against initially, and we see her gradually open herself to new relationships and experiences. 

As we learn the story of the garden and the people that created it, we also see the current community and how Lewis and Bernice open themselves up again to happiness. A very enjoyable read.