#The Mountains Sing

[litandlifequotes]

A part of our history has been erased, together with the lives of countless people. We’re forbidden to talk about events that relate to past mistakes or the wrong doing of those in power, for they give themselves the right to rewrite history. But you’re old enough to know that history will write itself in people’s memories, and as long as those memories live on, we can have faith that we can do better.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

[reverie-quotes]

“Try to forgive and forget, Ngọc,” said Grandma. “If you bear grudges, you’re the one who’ll have to bear the burden of sorrow.”

— Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, The Mountains Sing

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The Mountains Sing: A Novel

By Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai.

Design by Mumtaz Mustafa.

[letsrilakkusu-blog]

Favorite recent reads - Part 2

Finishing off my list of favorite books read in the past two years!

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Breasts and Eggs is a two-part novel with a woman named Natsu as the center. The first part focuses on a summer when she is visited in Tokyo by her older sister, who is looking to get a breast enhancement procedure done, and her niece, who for reasons unknown has stopped speaking. The second part takes place years later as Natsu contemplates her options to pursue motherhood as she grows older without a partner.

I was profoundly impacted by this story and its discussions of identity, as a woman, as a mother, as a child. One of the characters holds the view that giving birth to a child is essentially an act of violence against them, because the child never asked to be born and you cannot guarantee that it will live a safe, happy, healthy life. While extreme, this tapped into my concerns about bringing a child into the world in its current state, and it strengthened my resolve that a child is a blessing to you as a parent. The child owes you nothing because you wanted to have them, and you should be doing everything in your power to make them feel happy and loved.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

I always thought of myself as more of a contemporary fiction reader, but The Mountains Sing opened my eyes to the beauty and intrigue of historical fiction as well. This epic tale spans three generations of the Tran family as they navigate life in Vietnam through various harrowing historical events, such as the Land Reform, the Great Famine during the Japanese occupation, and the separation of the North and South and the resulting Vietnam War. Each generation of the family experiences loss, suffering, and sacrifice of unimaginable scale, but they continue to endure and build themselves back up each time with inspiring grit and grace. The importance of family, forgiveness (for others, and yourself), and staying true to your values were heavily instilled in me. The prose is beautiful, poetic, and paints a picture of Vietnam that I never knew, and I gained a greater understanding of the history of this embattled country that was never taught to me. Also, it had me craving pho the entire time I was reading it.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I saw The Mountains Sing often being compared to Pachinko, which was published a few years earlier, so I decided to make this my next read and it confirmed that I do in fact love sweeping historical sagas. The central character is Sunja, but the story starts in 1910 with her parents and follows the family all the way to 1989 with Sunja's grandson. I was aware of the atrocities that the Japanese committed against Koreans both in Korea and in Japan, but seeing it laid out on a more detailed, personal level was eye-opening and devastating. As pointed out by Sunja's mother, a woman's lot is to suffer, and so do all the women of Pachinko. They work endlessly and sacrifice everything for a better future for their children, and despite that, things don't always work out the way they wish. But it is the strength and resilience of these woman in the face of adversity that keeps the family marching forward, its flame never extinguished no matter how hard the winds may blow.

As a side note, the television series adaptation by Apple TV+ was ambitious and really well done. It took a lot of liberties with the plot but kept the important points, and the way it tells the story with parallel timelines is very interesting and effective. I live for Steve Sanghyun Noh as Isak, and I look forward to the seasons to follow.

Bonus: Greatest disappointments

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - Predictable, painfully awkward, and preachy. I read it because it was in like every book club and receiving all kinds of hype but it was a huge letdown.

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki - I was excited to read Ruth Ozeki's newest novel after loving A Tale for the Time Being so much, but this wasn't it. The premise was interesting but it felt really long and a little too meta, and Benny wasn't a very likeable main character even though I know it's not really his fault.

[rusannadoll]

hello mr. lyrebird!!

[ecoharbor]

📍Müllerstiege Apartment, Hallstatt, Austria 🇦🇹

[soracities]

Marina Tsvetaeva, excerpt from Poem of the Mountain, Selected Poems (trans. Elaine Feinstein, with Valentina Coe) [ID'd]

[adventuresofalgy]

The warm September air was full of tantalising aromas, which combined to create an intoxicating perfume that nothing bottled by a human could ever hope to reproduce.

Algy flew over to a small rock where some late heather was still blooming, and took a big, deep breath. He could smell the heather, and the bog myrtle too, but strongest of all in the autumn sunshine was the fragrance of the wild thyme.

Algy just couldn't help himself. He opened his beak as wide as he could and started to sing one of the most famous and popular of the Scottish/Irish folk songs, which is so well known that at any concert in the Celtic countries where it is performed, the entire audience invariably join in. All together now…

Will ye go lassie, go? And we'll all go together To pluck wild mountain thyme All around the blooming heather Will ye go lassie, go?

[This is the chorus of the traditional Scottish and Irish folk song known as Wild mountain thyme or Will ye go, lassie, go? which was made famous world wide by recordings from the mid 20th century onward, but whose origins go back in both Scotland and Ireland to previous centuries.]

There are many recorded versions of this song by people both famous and unknown, but Algy hopes you will enjoy this one, which builds up to quite a climax from a quiet opening. This is an Irish version, but the singing, the instruments, and the scenery in the video would not be very much different here in Scotland:

Footnote for those interested, from Wikipedia:

"Wild Mountain Thyme" (also known as "Purple Heather" and "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?") is a Scottish/Irish folk song. The lyrics and melody are a variant of the song "The Braes of Balquhither" by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774–1810) and Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith (1780–1829), but were adapted by Belfast musician Francis McPeake (1885–1971) into "Wild Mountain Thyme" and first recorded by his family in the 1950s. While Francis McPeake holds the copyright to the song, it is generally believed that rather than writing the song, he arranged an existing travelling folk version and popularised the song as his father's. Tannahill's original song, first published in Robert Archibald Smith's Scottish Minstrel (1821–24), is about the hills (braes) around Balquhidder near Lochearnhead. Tannahill collected and adapted traditional songs, and "The Braes of Balquhither" may have been based on the traditional song "The Braes o' Bowhether".

[scumvillainess]

also imo, if shen qingqiu were to ever become a parent (not that he would want to), he would definitely be the type of parent who would say “okay, and what happened to the other %?” any time his kid got less than a perfect score in school.

he would also be the type of parent who would say “does it look like i care about how so and so chooses to parent their child? you’re my kid, i only care about you!” in response to their kid saying “but so and so’s parents let them do this!” in an argument.

[ilovefredjones]

the frozen ii ending makes me soooooo angry like the whole POINT of frozen i was that elsa learned that she could rule arendelle with her powers and with anna by her side!!! literally in the bway musical she sings ‘i know i’ll never see that sunny day / when this trial is finally through / and it can just be me and you’ like. elsa WANTS to stay with anna

and they try and explain this somewhat in into the unknown, with the ‘who knows deep down i’m not where i’m meant to be’ but. WHY isn’t she where she’s meant to be. all of the first film was her learning that she belonged in arendelle and her powers/herself wasn’t something to be afraid of. why isn’t she meant to be with her family? with her sister who’s been desperate to reconnect with her? why doesn’t she belong where people readily love her and accept her and want the best for her?

and then, what about anna? there is no mention of her wanting/being ready to be queen in either two films. we don’t even see the offer on screen; we don’t get the sisters’ quiet, vulnerable conversation where elsa admits to wanting to live with the rest of the nature spirits and anna offers to take her place as queen. we don’t see anna begging elsa to stay in the forest because she can rule if elsa’s happier there. we never see their dialogue. it’s just so sudden. is anna once again just going along with what her sister wants? is elsa isolating herself all over again? we just don’t know. they both seem happy, but there’s barely any indication that it’ll lead up to that point.

it just makes no sense for either of their arcs, or their previous wants/needs. if they were meant to stay together, why separate them again? they just got each other back. and now they’re alone again.

[trainwreckgenerator]

I hope you die; I hope we all die

[starsm00n]

You ever get hit with that feeling after you read/ watch a rom-com and you’re just sat there, knowing that it isn’t real and love like that only exists in fantasies.

[reverie-quotes]

If I had a wish, I would want nothing fancy, just a normal day when all of us could be together as a family; a day where we could just cook, eat, talk, and laugh. I wondered how many people around the world were having such a normal day and didn’t know how special and sacred it was.

— Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, The Mountains Sing

[jennyfromthebes]

2004-05-26 at Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco CA, taped by Timotah40

I'm really fond of basically every show from the span between WSABH and The Sunset Tree, setlists from that timeframe are pretty consistently fantastic and this one's no exception. This The Mess Inside is honestly a definitive version of the song for me - I've heard and loved full-band and solo performances of it alike, but this one really stands out to me.

The Mountain Goats collection on the Live Music Archive has 450+ live recordings and spans from 1992 to present day! Live Tapes Tuesday is a weekly post aiming to bring attention to the diligent taping efforts of the tMG community by spotlighting a different tape every week. // What’s the Live Music Archive?

[riderart]

Magnetic

[astrodances]

He slowly trailed after her, glancing up at the sky as the sun was leaving and the Northern Lights were starting to be visible again. One of his favorite things about the Yukon (besides the gold, of course) was the Lights. They were beautiful and breath-taking and awe-inspiring… ...and as he looked up at Goldie, who’d finally reached the top of the hill, Scrooge saw how the Borealis shone around her head and made her look like she was glowing. He blushed and looked away just as Goldie turned around to look back at him.

Breath-taking indeed 💛💚❤️🩵🌌

Third Klondike drawing for @lettheladylead's running in circles, this one from chapter 5 and from Scrooge's POV this time, and my favorite of the bunch. The opportunity to draw the aurora and this setting (and Goldie of course) made this an instant must-draw.

Thank you for the beautiful moment here, and for the continued inspiration carro! 💛💛💛✨