New Year, New Stuff

With the New Year there are a slew of new books, movies, albums, and TV shows to look forward to. So here’s a brief list of some of the media I’m waiting for…

Books…

• Kata Basis by R.F. Kuang
• The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
• When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
• The Capital of Dreams by Heather O’Neill
• Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcette

Albums…

• Eusexua by FKA Twigs (January 24)
• Hurry Up Tomorrow by The Weeknd (January 31)
• Club Shy Room 2 by Shygirl (February 14)
• Jupiter by Nao (February 21)
• The Right Person Will Say by Lana Del Rey (May 21)

So, that covers it for now. As always, this list will change as more information becomes available later in the year. What are you looking forward to in 2025?

We're Back & Some House Keeping

 

Hello. I know it’s been a while. Our Thoughts Precisely went on hiatus in December and, honestly, I needed the time away from the internet and from reviewing. And then, I ended up extending my break, since the state where I live has gone through a series of destructive wildfires. (I wasn't in the evacuation zone, but the there have been red flag warnings for wind in my area.) But, I digress. I, honestly, didn’t do too much reading in the conventional sense, a couple of novels but mostly a variety of essays and columns ranging in subject from science to history, think pieces, personal essays, and reviews from publications like Reactor Magazine (formerly Tor.com). And, during that time, I really got to thinking about the ways I wanted to engage with the book community and social media going forward.

Some housekeeping…

I’m not quitting the blog, but I have decided to scale back on the number of posts. For a few years now, I’ve maintained the schedule of posting three times a week (typically Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). But, going into 2025, I likely won’t have a consistent schedule like that anymore. It takes time to maintain, and I’ve reached the conclusion: I don’t want to spend that much time on it anymore, besides the fact that some books I just want to enjoy rather than making decision with “blog content” in mind.

Content wise, nothing much is changing. Music will likely be condensed into Music Mondays and “What I’ve Been Listening To,” rather than individual albums having dedicated posts. For Short Stories, I may or may not do more with the miscellaneous (from around the web) section; we’ll see.

Other than that, I have no blogging resolutions, and I’m just going to go with the flow for 2025.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's officially 2025, and we hope everyone has a marvelous day. We're not back to blogging just, so we'll see everyone later this month!

Break Notice

We usually have posts planned for December, but, unfortunately, not this year. So, we’re starting our annual break from the blog early. We hope everyone has a great holiday, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. See you all in 2025. Happy reading!

Short Stories: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke illustrated by Victoria Sawdon

I'm taking a brief break from the usual format of Short Stories, to take a look at the new Susanna Clarke story, The Wood a Midwinter, illustrated by Victoria Sawdon.

Title: The Wood at Midwinter
Series: n/a
Author/Illustrator: Susanna Clarke; Victoria Sawdon
Source/Format: Purchased; Hardcover
More Details: Fantasy; Short Story
Publisher/Publication Date: Bloomsbury Publishing; October 20, 2024

Goodreads 

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the Strange universe.

"A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really."

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees - and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods. One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst - and the path of her life is changed forever.

As my Short Story intro above says, I’m taking a break from the typical format to look at Susanna Clarke’s short story, The Wood at Midwinter, illustrated by Victoria Sawdon. I was very excited to pick this one up, considering how much I adored Piranesi—and I’m slowly working my way through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norwell, which has, so far, been as entertaining as I’d hoped. But, I digress, this post is about The Wood at Midwinter.

A woman, Merowdis, sits in a forest at midwinter, which was, now that I think about it, very fairy tale-esque of her. She talks to animals, to the bugs, and even to the trees; her loyal animals and, as the title suggests, the wood at midwinter. It’s a conversation between all of them, wherein she laments about her life, what she doesn’t wish to do, and admits to what she desperately wants to have and hold—regardless of the consequences and what she might have to give up to have it. And in a story with a setting like this one, with a quietly magical atmosphere, anything was possible.

The Wood at Midwinter is short but still a delightful little story with an enigmatic character and a wintery backdrop, which featured a nice visual aspect accompanying the prose with Sawdon’s illustrations.