1.28.26 #ToveWinter26 The last story, Taking Leave (from the island) is bittersweet & lovely for its depiction of aging (nerves, forgoing certain tasks), orderly packing & even flying a kite. It's a fitting end to the collection, which I came to enjoy & warm to thanks to TJ's love of solitude & sea.
1.27.26 #ToveWinter26 I confess to skipping most of the epistolary stuff until lovely "Correspondence" fan mail from 13 y.o. Tokyo girl Tamiko to "Jansson san." Tamiko sends TJ haiku & gift, TJ sends a gift (and picture of the island!), and Tamiko writes her last letter on the day her mother dies. 💔
1.26.26 #ToveWinter26 Travelling Light is just my thing, too: Adult TJ goes on a ship trip (& asked for solitude) but has a chatty TMI cabinmate. The word "peace" pops up at least 2x in the translation; she has none. People tell her all, it wears her out. I understand her & I just love this story.👍❤️
1.24.26 #ToveWinter26. The Squirrel is longish & it's just my thing, an island story involving solitude, coexisting with a sailor of a squirrel, using Madeira to mark the passage of time, and descending into winter. I always value, even crave, solitude & silence... The Squirrel hit perfectly.
1.20.26 #ToveWinter26. The Boat and Me is a real beauty: the 12-year-old narrator plans a semi-illicit 24-hr jaunt in a rowboat. She preps all possible, then rows and rows -- including into a moonlit path on the water -- but, well, encounters a certain problem... I love the north's early a.m. light.
1.19.26 #ToveWinter26. The Spinster Who Had An Idea may be my fav story so far: a summer boarder/guest works on creative projects with varying results. Fancy cement steps that go awry. But then the narrator loves some pictures, finding them very beautiful (and apparently admirable) but not Art.
1.18.26 #ToveWinter26. I'm behind because of cat care and, honestly, having little to say about the story "Jeremiah" tracking the narrator's interactions with a visiting geologist with whom she lacks a common language. Things get more interesting when a third party shows up and a final gift is made.
1.15.26 #ToveWinter26. High Water is another summer story; there's a hot spell, bad weather, and a different take on flotsam and jetsam. With brief mentions of many things -- fishing, Old Charlie (not so nice, I guess), and parental art -- what I enjoy most is the narrator's appreciation for storms.
1.14.26 #ToveWinter26. Flotsam and Jetsom is also summer: a boat ride with Daddy. I learned to be careful with painters, that motors always conk out, and about ocean ethics, meaning, well, flotsam & jetsam people might want. There are rules for this, outlined by our young narrator. Oddly enjoyable.
1.13.26 #ToveWinter26. "Albert" is another summer story, another with the narrator making kid opinions clear: she's 359 days younger than her friend Albert, mostly his age. She shouts. Says he's cruel. A traumatic incident redeems & she admits he's done right. Kids, boat ride, just-right ending.
Tove Jansson’s A Winter Book, a pencil and a cup of coffee on a marbled table
Reading A Winter Book by #ToveJansson with @lizoksbooks.bsky.social. The book features enchanting pictures from Jansson’s life, including her childhood.
#ToveWinter26
A photo from a winter long past (2017?) taken from inside my house and showing trees -- evergreens and bare deciduous trees -- laden with fresh snow. Perhaps I'm posting this because, as I write in January 2026, we have nearly no snow left on the ground after rain and rather warm temperatures so the yard looks rather sad.
1.11.26 #ToveWinter26. I think "Annie" is the longest story thus far, about 7 pages. Annie's a Plato-loving (temporarily?) housekeeper (I guess) who entertains lovers & sometimes has a nice relationship with the narrator. There's lots of childhood details, even clandestine fruit picking.
File photo
circa 01.06.2026: The evening sky as seen from just inside the deck. The sky is partially cloudy and mostly gray with a bit of pinkness. There are leafless deciduous trees along the skyline as well as a rather sad pine.
1.10.26 #ToveWinter26. "Flying" is another puzzling story that includes Poppolino: this time Helsinki's sky fills with flying people thanks to what appears to be either the narrator's lucid dreaming or invented stories about dreams. These TJ stories are far more chaotic than her summer volume! ❓
It’s almost like they scheduled this for #ToveWinter26, @lizoksbooks.bsky.social!
1.6.26. Yet another snow picture showing last night's fresh accumulation: there's about an inch of snow here on our deck. Lots of snow fell through slats, below, to the veranda, where Edwina spends so many of her warm summer hours. The forecast for the next 24 hours includes a bit more snow, perhaps mixed with blends of water's various liquid and frozen forms. Meaning: Who knows!? Somehow fitting for the odd horrors in Jansson's stories...
1.6.26 #ToveWinter26. "German Measles" involves, yes, German measles, a caged animal named Poppolino (no species spoilers!), and spying on parents through a hole. This very short story ends with a lovely morale boost. I'm starting to find interesting logic in these winter stories...
1.4.26 photo of Edwina, a snowshoe cat with a brown and white coat, is lying in her bed on a blanket (pink, blue, orange, white, and crimson) in my nap room, where I read my daily Winter Book stories by Tove Jansson. Edwina likes quiet (and gets very nervous about loud noises) so understands this story, "Snow," very well, particularly because she often looks out the window to watch snow fall during storms.
1.4.26 #ToveWinter26. "Snow" is about one of my favorite things: the quietness of snowstorms. I too, love the way snow falls, piling up until you're snowed in. Like yesterday's story, this one, too, notes a feeling of safety. As well mystical & loud things that happen when the snow falls. ❄️
1.3.26 photo of a dark winter sky, with wolf moon doubled because of window glass and/or perhaps even moving my hand. Taken through my office window.
1.3.26 #ToveWinter26. The Dark, which I found a bit puzzling (almost cubist!) but still rather satisfying as it swirls from a Russian church to an ice rink to the waxworks to fires to safe places, including perhaps the safest of all. But watch out for pile carpet.
Wolf moon(s) this evening.
1.2.26 winter photo of deer tracks in fresh snow in my front yard.
1.2.26 #ToveWinter26: Parties, a simultaneously hyperreal and almost surreal story about what it's like when there are parties in the house. I got a bit stuck on Daddy's balalaika because I have one (tho can't play it)! Love the angles on improv, friendship, and even pickled herring.
1.1.26, Day 1 of Tove Jansson's A Winter Book. A light coating of fresh snow on a wooden deck outside our kitchen. There are small spots of sun on the snow.
1.1.26 #ToveWinter26: The Stone, a lovely, fairly indescribable story in which the narrator finds some kind of big silvery stone. I love the combo of wonder & an obvious reference.
The book's translators, from Swedish: Silvester Mazzarella, David McDuff, and Kingsley Hart.🙏
Winter today; our deck.
While staring out the window at falling snow, thinking of #ToveWinter26, I happened to see a fox running through neighbors' yards. What a perfect day to start Tove Jansson's "A Winter Book"! ❄️📖
Feel free to join me & @petipaw.bsky.social if you have a copy. Or even read TJ's "Summer Book" instead!🌞
Happy Boxing Day! This autumn, @petipaw.bsky.social & I decided to read Tove Jansson's "A Winter Book" in Jan. 2026. Please join us! This will be very low-key: read what & when you like. I'll start Jan 1, read 1 story a day & post a bit. ❄️📖 #ToveWinter26
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Winte...
