The Healing Season of Pottery (2023) by Yeon Somin #WITMonth #20BooksofSummer2025

🏺 My first interest of this book was pottery. I always admire people who are passionate about something - either hobby or career; and you rarely read about pottery. Add "healing" with that, and an image of a cat sitting near the potteries - well, it sold me instantly! And I think it would be a good choice for this year's #WITMonth. A feel-good story with a tinge of slow-burning romance, set in an Asian country.

🏺 Jungmin has just quitted her job as broadcasting writer, and is now living as a recluse at her apartment in Chestnut Burr Village (what a name for a village!). After days of holing-up, without ever once going out, Jungmin suddenly emerged. She wanted to find a cafe, but stumbled instead upon a quiet pottery studio. The owner invited her in, and what with a cup of coffee and fresh smell of clay, Jungmin felt calm and composed for the very first time after a long while. And so, it's not a wonder that Jungmin started to learn about pottery.

🏺 As the story unfurls, we get to know more of the other members of Soyo Workshop, and most importantly what Jungmin had had experienced to shape her like that. I loved the interaction of the owner, Johee, and the other members: Jihye, Gisik, Jun, and Hyoseok. They all had a troubled past, and were struggling to build a future. Working the pottery wheel seems to be what everyone needs to shake off the past, while shaping a way to better future. In short, pottery was portrait here, not only as a hobby or pastime, but a way to embrace life.

“Whether it’s pottery or life, it takes more than one attempt for them to come out right. And all that effort makes the end product more valuable, too.”

🏺 As is in most Japanese feel-good novel, the pace is quite slow. I enjoyed it every time they work on the pottery; I could almost see the end products. It's pretty satisfying when they sold out all the vases, dishes, and bowls during a bazaar. And I agree, that a handmade pottery product, no matter how imperfect it was, is a perfect gift to someone who means a lot to us - it's private and unique; especially when the dish or vase had been made with that person always on the maker's mind.

🏺 As a feel-good novel, this is actually a bit dark. What Jungmin had experienced is deeper than what I had thought at first); it's a layered psychological problems that I think need more than pottery to heal. But on the whole, it's a slow-paced heartwarming read. I loved the end!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983) by Beverly Cleary #20BooksofSummer2025

✍🏼 Leigh Botts's favorite writer in the world is a children books' author, Boyd Henshaw. Since Leigh was in second grade, he has been writing letters to "Dear Mr. Henshaw". At first because of his teacher's assignment, but then he keeps writing because his mother told him too. Being a famous writer, you would think that Henshaw would ignore these childish letters; one in particular containing a list of questions that Leigh made Henshaw answer. But funnily, Henshaw wrote back with his list of questions for Leigh to answer. And composing these serial letters containing the answers are how Henshaw taught Leigh to be a good writer.

✍🏼 Leigh's parents were divorced, and he lives with his mother who can barely support for both of them. His father is a delivery-truck driver who's always on the road (the reason why his wife divorced him), and his support checks often came late. Leigh misses him, and is always waiting for his father's calls (that are almost always late too). The one thing that helps Leigh is writing a diary, as encouraged by his favorite author Mr. Henshaw. And through this diary, and occasional letters to Mr. Henshaw, Leigh grew up towards adolescent, slowly realizing that his dreams of normal life of a family might never came true, and that he could actually be a writer someday!

✍🏼 All in all, it is a heartwarming epistolary novella, with a lovely main character. I loved how Mr. Henshaw, though we knew nothing of him, and his writings to Leigh were never actually revealed, has become the lighthouse of Leigh's otherwise bleak existence. Through his silence, rather than over-indulgence, Mr. Henshaw has built in Leigh, courage, resilient, and self confident. He was what Leigh's father lacked of, continual presence and guidance. Thanks to his suggestion of writing a diary, Leigh could pour out his frustration and disappointments into writing, and with that, he also sharpens his skills to be a writer.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
  

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: AUGUST #AgathaChristieSS25

Our two stories for August seem to be a mixed theme. There's one engrossing murder mystery for the Tuesday Night Club (Miss Marple) to solve, and another, a delightful - apparently - non mystery story.

THE BLOOD STAINED PAVEMENT

(A Miss Marple story)

 
The Tuesday Night club listen to Joyce's story when she accidentally painted drops of blood on the pavement during a holiday, which she was told to be a warning that a death will occur within 24 hours. Soon after a woman drowns. Joyce was shocked, but Miss Marple is not one to believe in coincidences...

The story was published in the Royal Magazine in the UK in 1928 and in the US, under the revised title Drip! Drip! later that year. It was then included in the 1932 collection of The Thirteen Problems.

THE MANHOOD OF EDWARD ROBINSON

(A non detective story)

A young man wins the lottery, buys a car, meets a beautiful woman and accidentally steals a necklace.
The story was inspired by Agatha's Christie's love with her own car and the thrill and freedom of driving. It was first published in the UK collection The Listerdale Mystery in 1934 and then in 1971 it appeared in the US collection The Golden Ball and Other Stories.

While it's not promising any mystery, it still sounds like a delicious story to read!