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.