Owning Scars: My Newest Published Story

The online journal The Write Launch published my short story Owning Scars. It is available to read here. I am very pleased that they accepted this one and quite happy to see it in print. While on a hike with his sister, the main character in the story experiences flashbacks which he fears reveal a darker side to his personality, a side he does not remember existing. With the help of his sister, and the increasingly disturbing flashbacks, he comes face to face with the ghost of who he was and his harmful actions long since buried. Here is the beginning as presented by The Write Launch. Thanks for reading.

This is What I Read in 2022

2022 was a great year of reading! I am reading fewer books than I usually do but I intentionally slowed down to delve into each one a bit further. I have a great list below of my favourite books of the year, higher than it usually is: somehow I picked some outstanding reads. I am reading more nonfiction this year, and I started back on poetry collections towards the end of the year. I still concentrate on books in translation and have tried to branch out from my typical Eurocentric leanings. Again, a lot of short story collections so as to stay on top of the form. So, here is the wrap-up for the year: my favourites and the stats. Enjoy!

ALL THE BEST

Labatut, Benjamin. When We Cease to Understand the World. Translated by Adrian Nathan West. Pushkin Press, 2020.

Krasznahorkai, László. Chasing Homer. Translated by John Batki. New Directions, 2021.

Moya, Castellanos Horacio. Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador. Translated by Lee Klein. New Directions, 2007.

Kaffar, Jaroslav. Spaceman of Bohemia. Sceptre, 2017.

Riviere, Sam. Dead Souls. Weidenfeld& Nicolson, 2021.

Verghese, Abraham. Cutting for Stone. Random House, 2009.

Cruz, Alfonso. Kokoschkas Doll. Translated by Rahul Bery. MacLehose Press, 2021.

Melchor, Fernanda. Paradais. Translated by Sophie Hughes. Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2022.

Stefánsson, Jón Kalman. Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night. Translated by Philip Roughton. MacLehose Press, 2020.

Piñeiro, Claudia. Elena Knows. Translated by Frances Riddle. Charco Press, 2021.

Wolff, Lina. Carnality. Translated by Frank Perry. Other Press, 2022.

Mott, Jason. Hell of a Book. Dutton, 2021

Thomas, Michael. Man Gone Down. Black Cat, 2007.

Quin, Ann. Berg. And Other Stories, 2019.

Oshetsky, Claire. Chouette. ecco, 2021.

Piñeiro, Claudia. A Crack in the Void. Translated by Miranda France. Bitter Lemon Press, 2013.

Antunes, António Lobo. Until Stones Become Lighter Than Water. Translated by Jeff Love. Yale University Press, 2019.

AND ALL THE FUN STATS

88 books read in 2022 (I’m slowing down) ; 23065 pages

shortest book 82 pages, longest 624 pages

49 books in English translation; 39 written in English

81 different authors: 45 male, 35 female, 1 team

49 different translators: 20 male, 27 female, 2 mixed team

59 different countries represented: 10 from UK, 25 from USA, next highest was 5 from Argentina

32 different languages represented: English the most at 39 books, Spanish next with 14

56 publishers: And Other Stories best represented with 6 books

oldest book written in 1853 (Motley Stones by Adalbert Stifter) and most recent in 2022

51 novels, 18 short story collections, 15 nonfiction, 3 poetry, and 1 memoir

39 physical copies, 49 ebooks, a trend which continues but I am currently purchasing more physical copies

Madeira: Mountains and Waterfalls

Madeira is a wondrously mountainous island: challenging for driving and hiking. Most hikes have steep ascents and descents, not necessarily in that order. The majority of hikes are out and back with only a few loop routes, so a bus or taxi need to be arranged if one does not wish to make the repeat journey. We found the out and back walks thrilling as we never tired of the mountain views. To take a break from the climbs we did an occasional levada hike, which are primarily flat (but not always). The premier mountain hike on Madeira is the 14 km Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo and return hike. Lots of exposure and tunnels and outright fun!

And then there are the multitude of waterfalls! Absolutely beautiful. Most enjoyable were the Risco Waterfall hike and the 25 Springs, both of which start and finish near Rabaçal, at about 10 km.

Madeira: São Lourenço Peninsula

Finally getting around to a few more posts about our holiday visit to Madeira. After spending two rainy days keeping warm and dry, and playing Cribbage, in our very cool pod…

…we finally got some good weather with the sun barely poking out from behind the clouds. We made our way east to the peninsula for an 8 km hike, along with everyone else who had been holed up the past few days. It was a great introduction to Madeira hikes with a mix of rolling hills and sheer cliffs dropping off into the ocean. The trail was crowded and muddy but amazingly beautiful and fun to walk. There is a snack bar half way through but we bypassed this and finally made it to the fabulous endpoint just before a sprinkle started and muddied things up even more. On the way back, we took a tributary leading to a solitary beach and enjoyed a few snacks while we listened to the waves crashing upon shore. Don’t miss this wonderful hike when you visit Madeira!

Madeira: Trail to the Horizon

There is a great deal of wonderful hiking throughout Madeira. Trails in the mountains are steep and breathtaking and levada hiking is more calm and flat, but no less awesome. We were able to squeeze in five hikes while staying over Christmas and New Years. They were incredibly varied and offered unique challenges and views of the island. The hikes we walked were:

• São Lourenço Peninsula at 7.5 km

• Caldeirão Verde and Caldeirão do Inferno at 19.3 km

• Rabaçal: 25 Springs and Risco at 13 km

• Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo at 12 km

• Paul do Mar Loop at 17.5 km

Chouette

Chouette; Claire Oshetsky (USA): ECCO, 2021.

Towards the end of this incredible tale, the protagonist Tiny, is on a bus observing people outside her window and thinks, “…I can see them all out there being themselves, with no one in the world to tell them to be someone else instead.” This quote encapsulates this feminist story about motherhood, society’s push for conformity, as well as its active destruction of nonconformity, and the endless struggle for survival. Oshetsky presents a much dismissed view of motherhood, far from the ideal of bliss often placed on this role. Tiny is questioned at every turn in her mothering of her ‘nonconforming’ child and there are very few individuals who understand her or assist her along the way. The story is the battle she faces in honoring her child, honoring her own needs, and struggling to not become someone else. The story also plays with the intersection of humans and the wild world and this theme is a great accompaniment to the problems Tiny and her child face.

Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas

I first read this book when it was published in 2007 and was blown away by it. Unwisely, I sold it along with my entire book collection in 2019. During an unrelated book reading at the wonderful Hopscotch Reading Room in Berlin I found a used copy of the book and purchased it with no hesitation. I recently finished reading it and am still quite impressed with the writing and the story. In short, it is the story of a black man, married to a white woman with three children, on the verge of losing everything. It is an astute telling of how difficult it is to make it in America, especially considering the “myth of an integrated and racially normalised America” (quote from Dublin Literary Award 2009). The pain and frustration of the narrator is palpable and propels the narrative along at a brisk pace. I love Thomas’ writing style with internal monolog, flashbacks, links between history and the present, and the presentation of common suffering in American society. A great book I will keep on my shelves and read again in the future. Thank you Michael Thomas!

Alpe Adria Trail: Part 2

Sarah and I finished hiking our sections of the Alpe Adria a couple of weeks ago but the high I experienced lingers. While there were a few issues on the trail, mostly due to poor or inadequate markings, the trail was overwhelmingly a pleasure to experience. It is amazing that three countries can coordinate a cross-border trail with such efficiency. I know there are complaints out there, but with GPX we managed just fine and the trail goes through wonderful villages and towns, incredible scenery, and a good mix of wilderness and closer to home. I felt so at home on the trail, each step a pleasure, and I miss the daily exertion and reward of each daily grind. Overall, a wonderful way to spend two weeks. Only 25 stages to go if we want to walk the entire Alpe Adria. We do!

Alpe Adria Trail

We are four days into hiking Stages 20-31 of the Alpe Adria Trail. We started in Ossiach, Austria and are now in Trenta, Slovenia. The hiking has ranged from casual to challenging ascents and descents. But along the trails there are fantastic views and the effort is well worth it.

All Yours by Claudia Piñeiro

All Yours by Claudia Piñeiro; translated from the Spanish by Miranda France; Bitter Lemon Press.

I searched out this book based on how impressed I was with Piñeiro’s more recently translated Elena Knows. I do not usually read crime novels or thrillers but I really enjoyed her work so I wanted to give it a try and I am pleased that I did. Based on a husband’s ongoing infidelities, his wife Inés goes to great lengths to keep him safe and present in her life after an accident with his supposed lover. This fast-paced novel includes many twists and turns as Inés manipulates reality to fit her positive outlook of how her and Ernesto’s life will turn out. I like what the author was doing with the daughter Lali but I didn’t feel her story meshed with the adult’s shenanigans very well. Still, I enjoyed this dark and sometimes humorous story.