pickWhat to say? Well, 5⭐, there's that. And, the stories are assembled around the theme of having travelled to a place in which the characters are, to some degree, out of their comfort zone. Some find comfort, most don't. Many of the characters are neurotic, a few, perhaps, psychotic. Elis, The Summer Child, is the most misunderstood, his unbearable pessimism being rooted in the neglect he's suffered. The Garden of Eden has a Mapp & Lucia 👇🏼
“What is constantly changing is superior to what is static."
- The Hothouse
Settling in for a stormy night's read with Tove Jansson, a cheese plate and a glass of port, because apparently I've become a gouty old Brigadier 👴🏻
Musical accompaniment by Cocteau Twins and Kae Tempest.
Hoping your evening/morning/afternoon is just as hygge 😊
pickThe title of the 2nd story, The Summer Child, is darkly ironic, as the child in question, 11 year-old Elis Gräsbäck, is surely one of Edward Gorey's hapless children brought to literary life:
"You're very well informed about everything that's dying & miserable, aren't you, Elis?"
"I have to be," he answered seriously. "No one else cares."
There's something in this about childhood alienation, neglect & too-early exposure to apocalyptic news media.
“Maybe my passion is nothing special, but at least it's mine."
- An Eightieth Birthday
“I've lived quite a long time, which is to say I've been working for quite a long time, which is the same thing."
- An Eightieth Birthday
I love this quote, spoken by an elderly artist of a past and largely ignored generation, written by Tove in her 74th year, and feeling biographical. Is it weird that I can feel love and affection for a person I've "met" only through her writing?
I've triple-checked & definitely haven't read this book before, but I've also definitely read the first story, An Eightieth Birthday, and it's not in any other Jansson anthologies I've got. I can only assume in the 5 years since I bought it, I've picked it up and put it down again 🤷🏻♂️
To go with this random thought, a random photo of book, wine, peanut butter on cracker, & crumbs of Blue Shropshire cheese from the crackers which went before.
The amazing @Cinfhen has reached another milestone and she is generously doing a #surprisemegiveaway. Check out her post for more details!
Congratulations Cindy❣️🍾🍾🍾🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊
1. I can't point to just one, they all take me somewhere!
2. Puerto Rico, but I also love Washington DC.
3. So hard to choose! Scotland, Prague, Galapagos
4. Either is fine, but I love to drive and see all of the small towns and sights.
5. Ice cream!
#manicmonday
@JoScho
Travelling Light | 
The final "story", Correspondence, was rather special as it consists of the IRL letters to Tove of a 14 year-old Japanese fan, who Tove has to gently dissuade from spending her savings on a plane ticket to Finland. 3y