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: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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20 Books of Summer 2025

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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
  

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20 Books of Summer 2025

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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!

The Upside Down River (2000) by Jean-Claude Mourlevat #ParisInJuly2025

 

🚣 While searching for an audiobook of Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil - an essay by Jean-Claude Izzo - I've planned to read for #ParisInJuly2025 (it's a satisfying essay to read, by the way), I came across this audiobook by another Jean-Claude - a middle-grade fantasy story. And it turned out to be a gem, I loved it! The Upside Down River is a two-parts story. The one I listened to is the first, which is subtitled: Tomek's Journey. 

🚣 Tomek is a seventeen year old orphan boy who runs a store that sells everything. By everything, it means everything you can name. One day, a girl of his age came to the store, buying some barley sugar. When the girl asked for a drop of water from river Qjar, Tomek realized three things: one, that his store doesn't sell everything after all; two, that he's actually been bored for a long time, and longed for an adventure; and three, that he's fallen in love with the girl, whom he didn't have chance to ask the name.

🚣 From an old man whom he always calls grandfather, Tomek learned more about river Qjar - it's a magical river; an upside down river that runs from sea, up to the mountain. And drinking a drop of water for that river is believed to make the person immortal. Tomek was intrigued, he wanted to meet the girl, whom he knew would be on the quest of river Qjar, and he also wanted to bring the old grandfather a drop of its water. So, off he went for his journey one fine day. And what a journey and adventure it would proof to be, and what interesting characters he would meet on the way! My favorite is Marie, a widow who travels with her cart and a donkey that farts a lot :)). He met her just at the edge of Forest of Oblivion, inside which one would forget everything that happened before entering, but right after leaving, the memory would return. Not mentioning the colony of huge bears that lived in the forest, and who were blind, but had sharp hearing. Marie was a good travel company, and it's she who give Tomek encouragement to go on his journey.

🚣 But the most exciting of all, is perhaps when Tomek finally met Hannah - the girl who bought barley sugar - and they'd go together to the river Qjar. But not before Tomek went into a sort of comma after smelling a poisonous big blue flower, and got rescued by a group of farmers; and several others strange adventures. But would Tomek and Hannah succeeded to find the river Qjar? And would they get the drops of water from it, up on the summit of the mountain, to bring home? Hannah wanted to save her most beloved bird, I forgot to mention. 

🚣 All in all, it's a short read, but packed with fun adventures. Jean-Claude Mourlevat is, surely, a great fairy tale, fable and fantasy books writer! I might perhaps get to read (or listen) the second part of this book someday (Hannah's Journey), but for now, it's my last read for #ParisInJuly2025, and a very satisfying one to wrap it up! Thank you for Emma for hosting it this year. Au revoir!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2025

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

The Martian (2011) by Andy Weir #20BooksofSummer2025

🗼 Science fiction is never my cup-of-tea, but from time to time I would read one that's interested me. I have bought a copy of The Martian solely because I have watched the movie - and quite liked it. Now I read it for year 2011 of my A Century of Books project. And it's not disappointing!

🗼 The story was told from Mark Watney's perspective. He's one of six NASA astronauts who were sent to Mars to collect samples. Each of them has unique expertise, and Mark's are botanist and engineer. One day during their works, a severe dust storm occurred, caused them to frantically returned to the hub, but Watney. He was injured, and since the other crew couldn't found his location, and thought him dead, in the crucial moment, they left Mars without him. But Mark Watney wasn't dead - he's alive and uninjured! For now at least, but how would he survive in Mars, alone, with limited quantity of food and supplies, and - with the communication tools dead thanks to the storm - without a way to communicate to Earth that he's alive?

🗼 And so, the heroic, relentless, and grueling efforts of Mark Watney to survive begins, the essence of this remarkable book. His ingenuity - farming potato in Mars, for instance - and his MacGyver-ish capability of quick thinking and assembly stuffs from limited equipment are wonderful. But most of all, is his determination to never quit. I think his huge courage helps - when one is not hampered by the scare of death, one could think more clearly, and decision making in every step would be much easier. That's my opinion , at least. I admired how Watney is always able to decide the next most crucial task he has to tackle first, after an assessment post incident. There are a lot of things to do, but he's never daunted by this. One thing at a time, is always his approach. The possibility of death is so huge, but he doggedly thinks and works to survive - at least for the present. 

 🗼 The Martian is not only a science fiction, with tons of scientific and technical jargons which, though I only understand perhaps 20% of it, still was entertaining. But the message behind Mark Watney's struggle of surviving is the most important element of this book: the beauty of humanity at work. The save-Mark-Watney project turned out to be, not only national, but international, interest. Though I doubt it will happen in reality, but I was really touched by this united warm humanity showed all over the world. This made the book awesome - not mentioning the dry and sarcastic humour showed by Watney; kudos to Andy Weir to draw the character so deeply!

🗼 Even when I don't really care much for science fiction, there's a priceless lesson to be drawn from this book: how to not succumb to desperation. Everytime I were in desperation, I'd remember Watney's attitude. He'd go from swearing, whining, then quickly to his optimist self once more. Like in this scene, right after something goes awry:

"Just once I'd like something to go as planned, ya know?...."

But then 3 sentence later...

"Okay, enough self-pity. I'm not doomed. Things will just be harder than planned."

I'm not doomed. Things will just be harder than planned - would be my future magic sentence to self control!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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20 Books of Summer 2025

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Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil (2003) by Jean-Claude Izzo #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

🧄 This short book is an essay written by Jean-Claude Izzo, a native Marseilles poet and writer. The main theme of the essay are his love of Marseilles - its sea, its cuisine, its people and culture; and the subject that made him famous: Mediterranean Noir. Izzo wrote three noir novels of the Marseilles Trilogy: Total Chaos (Total Khéops), Chourmo, and Solea. 

🧄 You would get how Izzo loved and was proud of his Marseilles from what he wrote in this essay. I loved how he described the view of the sea from uphill; but especially how he described the food! He titled this essay garlic, mint, and sweet basil not for no reason. To Izzo, the three ingredients symbolized the simple unpretentious dishes you'll love in Marseilles: "I like to feel Marseilles pulsating beneath my tounge." Family atmosphere in restaurant is what Izzo looked forward to. He talked a lot about fish and vegetables, Boullabaise, pizza on the sea, and bread rubbed in garlic.

🧄 Izzo loved garlic and talked a lot about it! First girl he kissed smelled of garlic, one summer, when he's 15 years old. Garlic reigned supreme in Izzo's kitchen, because:

"Garlic welcome all the flavors."

"Nothing goes better with garlic than wine. Preferably red wine."

"[It's] like the intoxication of first kisses."

🧄 Imagine reading about mouthwatering food in the poetic beauty that poets usually writes. That's what this essay is about. Of course Izzo talked about mint and sweet basil too. Can you imagine mint as a love potion? Well, reading what Izzo wrote will change how you see mint. "Spread mints around you. Breath in those peppery smell, and you'll add 1001 nights to your dreams."  And do you know that basil frighten away insects? Putting it on your kitchen's window sill, will keep the insects away. But will that make you house full of basil's fragrant? Well, believe Izzo when he said: "An excess of basil is like an excess of love, (it) will not damage the heart." He's a sweet dear, wasn't he?

🧄 This essay might be light and and short, but I guarantee, you'll want to go to Marseilles right away! A tip from Izzo: The best time to arrive in Marseilles is by sea, in the morning, in certain sunshine. Because Marseilles plays with perspective. And remember to visit the markets when you're there, because it's in the markets where Izzo had found "the wonders of the world" - "Here's where you'd find basis of taste... Pleasure of the day - the happiness of living in the south." What a refreshing read this had been for me - loved every single sentence in this little essay! - and what a perfect read for #ParisInJuly!

Read for:

Paris in July 2025

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Greengage Summer (1958) by Rumer Godden #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

💚 The titular greengage summer is the summer when five siblings were staying at Hotel Les Oeilletes in a French seaside village. The story is narrated by Cecil Grey (13 y.o.), girl number two. The rest of the siblings are Joss, the eldest girl of 16; Hester (third girl); and the Littles, Will and Vicky. But wait, are they holidaying to France unchaperoned? Initially, their widowed mother took them there to see the Battlefield of France, however she got very ill on the way, and collapsed right upon arrival at the hotel. The proprietress, Mademoiselle Zizi almost let the family away - what hotel would receive a very ill woman with five children anyway? - but her charming and mysterious lover Monsieur Elliot interfered, and rescued them. He put Mrs. Grey into hospital, and the children are staying under his care.

💚 Without their mother's care, Joss and Cecil turned to womanhood, faster than any would expect. Especially Joss, she turned to be a very attractive woman, and this brought the children, previously left alone and unnoticed, to be under limelight. I loved all the children, from Hester who's always honest, to Will with his fashion aficionado. Even Vicky, who has the least role in the story - I loved how she's always hanging out in the kitchen with the old cook (and who always supplies hot news to her siblings!).

💚 At first, it seems like a perfect holiday for the siblings - loitering leisurely around the orchard, among greengage trees, picking and eating the fruits, and be free. But of course it's not that. I knew instantly that Elliot wouldn't have received them without reason, there's a catch somewhere. The children were drawn to Elliot instantly, and also with few of the other residents. Monsieur Armand the painter is my favorite! However, little by little they noticed strange, inexplicable things, mostly concerning Elliot. You'll be wondering all the time, whether he is a good man (he really took care of the children) who was misunderstood, or a genius villain hiding his crime behind his kindness? 

💚 I won't reveal further of the plot, because what happens next is the key to enjoy this book. In short, it is, unexpectedly, a rather intense coming-of-age story with a hint of mystery and a sinister plot twist at the end. It was an evocative reading, not the lazy one you'd enjoy during summer holiday - but definitely a perfect one for #ParisinJuly; it celebrates the glorious summer of a French seaside village!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
 

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Paris in July 2025

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma