Magia d'inverno

This book has the best footnotes. A displaced hedgehog is a hedgehog that has been removed from its home against its will and not even had time to pack its toothbrush. And a bit later on, when we are so sad because squirrel is dead, the most comforting footnote I've ever read: In case the reader feels Leggi tutto

2020 is the 75th birthday of Moomintrolls! I read these all out of order. I'm not sure how much difference it makes. This probably isn't the best place to start, as most of the Moomin family is hibernating through winter, so you don't meet them or Snufkin. On the other hand, it has an amazing feel fo Leggi tutto

The human world is a huge mess that somehow survives the day. I don’t know how it happens, and I’m not sure that all our (un)concerted efforts to help it survive don’t just further complicate things and make that daily survival less and less possible. My attitude in these matters is generally that o Leggi tutto

Oh, the things that happen to you if you can't hibernate properly! Reread with my big kids in Scandinavian mid-winter. A delight to revisit after a decade!

When Moomintroll awakes from hibernation early he discovers a sunless, snow-covered world he had never even dreamed existed and I get what is definitely my favourite Moomins book so far. Simply magical.

'"When one's dead, then one's dead," said Too-Ticky kindly. "This squirrel will become earth all in his time. And still later on there'll grow trees from him, with new squirrels skipping about in them. Do you think that's so sad?" "Perhaps not," said Moomintroll.' Granted, I've only just finished rea Leggi tutto

All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured. Had the urge to reread this because it kept popping up to my bookstagram feed, so thanks, guys. It was even better than I remembered, and a perfect December read. (Same in 2020!)

“All was silent, nothing stirred, and slender stars were shining everywhere and twinkling in the ice. It was terribly cold.” Moomins go into a state of deep hibernation from November to April, until the ice melts and spring sunshine warms their fur – it has always been so, or was, until a particu Leggi tutto

Cynical comfort reading. Jansson's stories won't warm the depths of mid-winter, but may encourage you to accept that the frozen snowy dark is temporary and not entirely meritless if one remains open to its potential. People also. Most of them are irritating in some way or another, but it'll be okay. Leggi tutto

My last book of 2020, a year that has felt like a long hibernation. A year when more than ever I needed to meet someone like Tove Jansson. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet her in person because A) she's dead, B) she lives on an island in Finland, C) I'm rather shy, D) lockdown. I did get to meet m Leggi tutto