A Review of My 2023 in Posts and Books

So much seemed ‘stuck’ at the beginning of 2023. I read a lot of books in 2022 but was struggling in early 2023 to read much and with nothing happening for months, awful coughs and trying to keep positive the house would sell by packing more and more boxes. The initial uplift at the end of 2022 with my first short story published drifted away. I had fun reviewing the year in books but nothing was moving for my novel.

A Year in Books and Festive Greetings

My main focus on trying to sell the family house was well thwarted by a sudden Truss led Conservative attempt to challenge economic good sense and the banks interest rates, The banks won. I lost. And many other ordinary people have too.

For 2023 I seem to have been wading through long novels but I would certainly recommend ’The Overstory’ by Richard Powers. I tried a shorter novel by him by borrowing ’Bewilderment ‘from our local library. This too had an environmental theme but was mainly focused on the relationship between father and an autistic son. The son wanted to draw and record animals that were extinct or on the brink of extinction. The novel begins with spending time in the wilderness together.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/bewilderment/richard-powers/9781529115253

I will certainly say The Overstory is the War and Peace of environmental writing and worthy of the Pullitzer Prize. It begins with what appears to be a collection of short stories about different characters and the trees that have influenced their lives in some ways. There is a chestnut tree which had not succumbed to the great blight in the States. And of course we have chestnut trees galore at Navasola. Also, the mulberry tree which helps links the migration story of Chinese Americans. All of these characters finally come together through the old forests they wish to protect. I love trees and the forests too but this did deepen my perspective of the consciousness of trees and the challenges of environmental activism.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/23/the-overstory-by-richard-powers-review

Although my novel seemed ‘stuck’ on the publisher’s list I had my short story about a Christmas tree published in the Bridge House Evergreen anthology.

The Evergreen trees of Navasola and the Evergreen short story anthology.

Maybe it was going to Mexico for the wedding of Joe and Ana Gabriella but afterwards all began to flow again. Or meeting up with likeminded people at Woodbrooke for a Quaker Universalist Conference.

Mexican Flora and Fauna with my Lumix

On returning the publishers were ready to publish my novel but first we try some blog posts of Part 1. This refocused my brain too and I did create some audio versions. I found this useful in a last attempt to get the story flowing well.

I enjoyed Denzil’s Nature challenges but could not keep up as much as I would have liked and had to link ideas. The butterfly challenge fitted into the Navaselva blog posts and the character pf Pasha, the two tailed Pasha.

Navaselva meets Navasola – Butterflies – Denzil’s Nature Challenge

And finally in August we sold the house. And then became emotional about this and our dearly loved apple tree. I was losing the ‘nest’ /home I had created over 30 years ago.

Apple Trees and Loss

For another key book of my year I really enjoyed Eli Shafak’s Island of the Missing Trees. The story of love across a difficult divide in Cyprus and the beautiful and wise perspective of the fig tree that is born again in the UK but has to be buried each winter.

Then there was more sorting and some final author proof reads and yes there it was a book in the hand. My own book in my hand.

Finally, a book in the hand! Or a bee- eater or two in a wild rose bush.

Let’s hope 2024 will bring some peace for us all and very much so for those suffering from the terror of conflict. Meanwhile we drift on with the nature crisis, continuing carbon emissions and hope that we will elect the kind of people into government who will have the wisdom to put into practice the measures needed at every level and help us all to understand the changes needed. We have the solutions and just need the political will and co-operation.

I would say the main theme of my novel is finding new ways to co-operate and coexist. We all are interdependent and need each other and each and every species

For 2024 my novel will need to get a lot of reviews too. So please if you can read Navaselva do try a review which can be short on Amazon but also on W H Smiths, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble. Amazon do well by creating the images and links as shown in this post. Oh well…

Thank you Opher for kick starting a review on Amazon even while moving house . My favourite book of Opher’s is Ebola in the Garden of Eden, written well before the pandemic and very contemporary future vision.

A very Happy 2024 to everyone in the blogging world and friends and family. Thanks for all the support. For us 2024 needs to be a year of consolidation now and then hopefully the sequel to Navaselva. It is ready as I had to make a decision, add in a human narrator and then divide almost in two for a each novel to be about 80.000 words.

Memory Museums in London and Christmas is coming.

The Natural History Museum was one of my favourite haunts as a child. And a group of us would go there on our own from age 9 or 10 . Those were the days when youngsters could do this and were welcome. All the museums in South Kensington, London were free admission then and are now. However when my children were young there was quite a high entrance fee so I missed exploring this amazing museum with them.

December 2023 and the queues to get were long but I sat on the tube and managed to book a ticket online free. This meant I did not have to join the queue. The building is beautiful outside and in. I love some of the well placed blue bricks and lots of stonework sculpture. I missed the opportunity to do some close ups and it got dark quite quickly.

The great blue whale and the crowds inside the great entrance hall.

As a child this hall would have a great dinosaur skeleton. It really did fill the space. Now it is as if the whale is flying above you.

As a child the great blue whale was in the mammal hall. And was always worth a wander. Yet again this is an area being refurbished. With my children we enjoyed the interactive being human part of the mammal area.

With the light failing on a short December day at times it seemed dark and quite different to the memories of light pouring into this hall and its galleries of bones and so many stuffed animals.

As a mad dog lover I always used to go and find the famous stuffed greyhound Mick the Millar. Now he did not look that great to be honest and it was intriguing seeing a lifeless but real animal. And there were plenty. This time I found a few albatrosses and shearwaters. It is hard to show their wingspan but it was impressive.

Stuffing birds like these must be quite an art.

I found myself intrigued by the displays of some of the early naturalists and collectors. Some stories to be told here and a reminder of ‘ The Signature of All Things’ set first about Joseph Banks and Cook’s time and then a story of a woman who almost understands how evolution works through her study of mosses.

Below early fossil hunting and other discoverers.

I must write the poem about the day I touched the Iguanodon’s teeth. And then had to queue to wash my hands. Memories of covid! And no gel on me anymore. I wonder how many touched the teeth and it was great to be invited to do so.

There is so much to take in and see here and I have no doubt my love of animals and nature was fostered here in my childhood. Now we have so many more documentaries and photographs to help but also less biodiversity. The Natural History Museum did ensure comment was made on this. In the mineral section there was this kind of information about the amount of mining needed to create ‘greener’ cars and electricity. How sustainable will this be?

8 tonnes of copper needed for each megawatt of electricity

Recycling minerals to reduce mining

it will taked double the amount of yearly global mined cobalt to replace all of UK cars with electric ones and 75% plus global lithium

And the beauty of shining rocks

Of course the museum has quite a collection of already extinct animals and dinosaur bones.

I think the Great Auk

Some treasures from the sea and the dinosaur bird – archaeoptrix

My time in London was well spent with friends, family and the annual Bridge House Publishing event for their seasonal anthology of short stories. It was a chance to meet up with my writing mentor Debz Hobbs Wyatt. She too can hold the book for the first time. Christmas magic!

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Navaselva, The Call of the Wild Valley is now available on Amazon within a day in the UK and also Waterstones, Barnes and Noble and from the publishers.

Wishing everyone a very festive season.