I love that in the afterword the author essentially admits that a germ of this book was in fact a crush on an arctic explorer, written for the enjoyment of friends who perhaps share the romantic obsession. I had already assumed as much while reading the narrative, so it was refreshing for her to not be coy or pretentious about this.

Great reminder to me as a would-be writer that a way into this (maybe the way into this?) is to unabashedly pursue an idea that interests me, and learn and write all I can about it. When the writer is interested in what they are writing about and having fun writing it, that intrigue and fun should come through to the reader. It worked in the case of this book for this reader, at least.

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Past Log Updates

2024-08-02 :

Picked this up yesterday and tried it out simply because it had the next closest due date of all my current library checkouts, would not be renewable. Spent a couple hours reading instead of doing other things, then stayed up past midnight reading until I got too sleepy to actually finish it.

Not world-shattering but has a little bit of everything, like the blurbs say, and it’s fun. Like a lighter, funnier, more romantic David Mitchell book? (Thinking Bone Clocks, Cloud Atlas, etc.)

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