"Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop" by Hwang Bo-Reum

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop (Feb. 20, 2024/US edition) by Hwang Bo-Reum.
   Shanna Tan, translator.

< This is a standalone novel.>

<I own the UK edition, published 26 Oct 2023.>

She did what was expected: went to university, married a decent man and got a respectable, permanent job. Then it all fell apart. Lee Yeongju left her career, divorced her husband and quit talking to her increasingly judgmental mother. Yeongju opens a bookshop in quaint Hyunam-dong, a [fictional] neighborhood of Seoul. She’s figuring out what it is to be an entrepreneur, a business owner. It’s not easy going; she thinks she may only be open for two years. She hires a lonely barista, Kim Minjun, who’s questioning his life path. Yeongju’s coffee beans come from Jimi, unhappily married coffee roaster and owner of Goat Beans. Jungsuh knits and crochets and orders coffee every few hours so as not to be a bother. “Mincheol’s mother,” Jeon Heejoo, is pressuring her son to be more engaged in life, but Mincheol seems dispassionate about everything. Hyun Seungwoo is a regular company employee who’s become known for his expertise in writing, and Yeongju captivates him. They all have disappointments of the past and/or present. The bookshop is a hub where they can find acceptance of themselves while basking in the restorative power of books.
        The novel surprised me by not having a significant plot. There’s also a lack of character development. This quietly philosophical novel, translated from Korean, reflects upon living a meaningful life, addresses the meaning of work and considers what is happiness and community. It highlights reading, of course, not in the bestsellers, but in finding the lesser-known stories. I do not love it, but I appreciate its reflective and sentimental charm. It is serene, as noticed with lines like, “Over small sips of coffee, they made small talk; conversations that stayed in the moment, words that need not be remembered for a long time” (p. 132). This is totally a bookshop I’d want to visit, though, apologies to Minjun, I don’t drink coffee.

"Hither & Nigh" by Ellen Potter

Hither & Nigh (Oct. 18, 2022) by Ellen Potter.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Welcome to the Last Chance Club, a place where Mr. Luther Boot will give magic lessons. To refuse them will mean expulsion from school. The students in this club are an assorted group. There’s Nell Batista: criminal truancy, skipping school to gamble in Washington Square Park (a chess hustler). Then there’s Annika Rapp, her former best friend and a beautiful bully, Crud (Carmen) Butterbank, who’s built like a linebacker and is rumored to be violent, and The Viking (whose name is Tom Gunnerson), a rich kid prone to stealing (and Mr. Boot despises him, for some reason). Nell isn’t falling for the magic bit. She’s got city kid smarts, and she has little imagination. The imaginative one was her brother, River, who disappeared three years ago. Nell has accepted that magic exists by the time she’s forced through a Wicket into the Nigh by an Imp. The Nigh is “a vast place. New York City is only a tiny part of it.” The Nigh is created from the imaginations of Human children. The Folk can do none of this magic, and they’re governed by the Minister, who’s simultaneously tiny and terrifying. It’s the Minister who has Human children abducted and brought to the Nigh. River is there, somewhere. The Nigh is a lot like NYC but different. Magicians ride astride, not horses, but giant dogs or dogges (DOH-eggs). Statues, like Bethesda, can talk. And there’s a Statue of Liberty, but it’s a man with no crown holding a television remote control. Nell’s life has been topsy-turvy since her brother went missing. How can she make sense of a world that’s topsy-turvy with enchantment? If she makes enough sense of it, can she find River and save him?

            Where there’s a parallel NYC, there will be middle-grade domestic, fantasy adventure where magic and mystery alight and chopsticks can be calibrated to work within a highly charged Oomphalos. Right? In the case of Potter’s story, yes. The fantastical details are a boon for fantasy readers. There’s a strong foundation with distinct character development, the writing employs solid world-building and middle-school snark and, even when it comes to magic, learning must occur. While Nell cues as Latinx, the other characters appear to default to Caucasian. A novel that I found to be a fast read, readers learn right away that magic isn’t only for the good kids.

            Note 1: An Oomphalos ”is a place where energy converges and makes magic not only possible, but probable.” (p. 69)

            Note 2: Zoophenloft layers are “a coping mechanism, so that we can get on with our lives after unpleasant events.” (p. 123)

            Note 3: “A Wicket is a way in to the Nigh. And a way out of it.” (p. 194)

            Note 4: A skrill is squirrel-like. It’s like a long-bodied weasel with a flat, short face like a pug. Dusty blue in color. Tiller is a skrill, and he understands English. When he talks, one feels the words, for they’re not spoken aloud. (pp. 190, 193)

            Note 5: An Imp is always a boy. “They’re creatures neither dead nor alive. They live in an in-between place, alone, hungry for the company of other children.” Imps can be cruel and want to steal children for fun, for entertainment, to prove that they can or for profit. (pp. 185, 233)

            Note 6: Mrs. Nerriberry is good Folk. She is a friend to Pilliwiggins, Noodgers, Fletchers and Auguries (Fates). No one is a friend to Sewer Mahambas (will eat you and therefore kill you), Boggedy Cats (will also kill you) and other nightmare creatures of the Ramble.

"I Guess I Live Here Now" by Claire Ahn

I Guess I Live Here Now (May 24, 2022) by Claire Ahn.

<This is a standalone novel.>

After a minor transgression (in her eyes), Melody Solmi Lee is stunned to hear that she and her mom are leaving New York City to join her dad in Seoul, like, right now! She barely has time to say goodbye to Sophia Taye, her best friend, before she’s flying First Class (how?). Melody is resentful and homesick. But she soon finds herself trying to settle into her family’s luxurious apartment, while being set up on blind dates, gaining rich friends at her fancy international school, struggling through AP courses when she’s not entirely fluent in Korean herself (Honors Korean, for real?), and comparing Seoul to NYC and constantly finding it wanting. It takes a new friend calling her out on her judgmental attitude to really begin seeing that she isn’t being fair to her new home and some of the people around her. Thanks to her new friends, her eyes are opened to amazing food, trendsetting fashion and design that she loves but was unfamiliar with (hanoks). It doesn’t hurt that her dad has a black card and a personal driver, and there’s a cute boy named Wonjae in her new friend group. There are cracks, too, in the strained relationship that her dad has with his parents and in his treatment of her (to Koreans, strictness is the norm, but not so for one who grew up in America) and in the secrets her mom’s been keeping from her. Melody has a plan to return to NYC. All she needs to do is make the final round for a prestigious design internship and then have the best interview to be the overall choice. Oh, and she has to come out of all of her ultra difficult midterms with straight-As. That’s it. Ha.

            Reading this YA novel, in which a fully Americanized teenager is sent “home” to Korea, is fresh and fun. Melody (also called Solmi, which is her Korean name) is 16 years old, so there are believable teenager vibes, but readers also watch Melody’s journey of self-discovery and her up-and-down emotions, like in the doldrums of uprooting all you’ve known and the ups of young love. This story basks in the glow of Seoul’s neon lights and dazzles every bit as much as the hottest artists and actors in K-pop and K-dramas. While Melody’s umbrage is understandable, it doesn’t mean that I always liked her character, but with a steady plot, family drama, the discomfort of moving forward in a new place and the adventure of misadventures, it kept my interest overall. It’s entertaining and the Seoul backdrop is well-done. The transcultural themes are important, and I now want to go eat too much Korean food!

Bailey

Bailey rocking TMNT socks in 2016

R.I.P. Bailey (5/05/2012 - 1/15/2024)

Early this week, we said goodbye to another member of our furry family. Bailey was my local brother and sister-in-law’s golden retriever, but, as with Ellie, Lexi before her and Cinnamon now, he’s really a family dog.

Bailey was the epitome of the most loyal companion. He’d follow my brother to the ends of the Earth, if my brother was so inclined to travel. He enjoyed getting good pets and, if you weren’t vigilant, you might notice he’d already drooled in your lap while hoping for people food. He loved going for rides.

One of my favorite lines is the time my cousin, Megan, a veterinarian, stated, “I just want to braid Bailey’s butt hairs.” When I reminisced with her about this via text this week, she responded, “His butt hair was pretty beautiful.” LOL!

Bailey is dearly missed, especially by my brother and sister-in-law. I have a human nephew, but Bailey was my first nephew, my doggy nephew. He left this mortal coil only three-and-a-half months after Ellie. It looks like Grandpa Dick has another Heaven-side doggy companion to take walks with!

Thank you to the veterinarian who eased Bailey peacefully out of this world with my brother and sister-in-law by his side.

P.S. As my parents welcomed Cinnamon the Friday after Ellie left us, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew welcomed Gus the Friday after Bailey left (meaning today)!

"A Curse for True Love" by Stephanie Garber

A Curse for True Love (Oct. 24, 2023) by Stephanie Garber.

<This is the final novel in a trilogy.>

She used to dream of being a princess with a happy ending. Instead, Evangeline Fox has no recent memories. Prince Apollo Acadian says he’s her husband; she’ll have to take his word for it. So, she’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a glorious castle in the magical Magnificent North, but life isn’t happy. She is determined to remember what she’s forgotten. Apollo is hunting Jacks, but is having no luck catching him. When Evangeline Fox’s life is endangered once, twice, multiple times (“How is it that every day someone tries to kill you?” --Jacks), it’s a too-handsome-to-be-human Jacks who saves her. He tells her to call him Archer. When she realizes Archer is Jacks, she can’t believe he’s the murderous monster Apollo says he is (though there really is a vampire). Will things become clear if she reawakens her memories? Or is she just one rose gold-haired Little Fox caught between two rakish villains wondering if love is strong enough in a battle for her happily ever after?

            With this tale, the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy closes. It is a sweeping fantasy, gilded in the glitter of fairy tales, the fog of lost memories, the heartrending pain of heartbreak and the frothy feeling of love. There are frills, but there is danger, too.  Did I love the trilogy? No, but it captured my attention overall. I will admit that Evangeline still got on my nerves, but I steadily ignored that. The story started off slow for me, as I was over 100 pages in before I felt that the story picked up speed. The near-ending paints a somewhat ghastly picture in one’s imagination, but finishes with a romantic flair light as gossamer.

            Book One: Once Upon a Broken Heart

            Book Two: The Ballad of Never After

2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge

<Thanks to downthebookjar.com for this idea.>

This is the first Reading Challenge that I’ve created for myself. I can already see it becoming an annual challenge. I don’t expect I’ll keep all the same tiles in subsequent years, so if you have different tile ideas, please leave a comment.

            I want to take this challenge a step further and, like my Positive Page-turner’s Challenges (most recent post HERE), I will donate money to a fund at my local church. While I know I won’t fulfill each of the 12 tiles in the first month, I’m using it as my foundation.

            12 tiles x $12/tile = $144 maximum if I complete the entire sheet in January of 2024. Each month that I don’t fulfill my challenge in full, the amount to be donated will decrease in $12 increments. So, this gives me incentive to finish the 2024 Reading Challenge sooner rather than later. I will allow individual books to fulfill multiple tiles if qualified and will post my progress to hold myself accountable.

            What challenges or goals or New Year’s resolutions have you set for yourself this year?

Happy 2024!

Photo by Jill Wellington via Pexels

Happy New Year!

Maybe you’re ready to put 2023 behind you, perhaps you don’t care one way or the other, but welcome to 2024! The world is a lot these days. For anyone reading this who’s going through trauma of any kind, dealing with any sort of upheaval, feeling like they’re on an emotional rollercoaster that’s in a continual free fall, I am sorry. I don’t know your circumstances, dear reader, but I want to encourage you all to move mountains, even if that entails crafting a tiny paper mountain and blowing it off your table. I’m sending you all strength and endurance for the long road and the short road, too. If you are in need of healing, I pray healing comes your way (and do feel free to leave a comment if you’d like a prayer sent up for yourself or someone else). Know that you have worth and are amazingly, uniquely YOU! Have a wondrous year ahead and be a light unto others, for you never know when you’ll be the light in someone’s darkness.

            Love and hugs, Lisa.