How George Martin spends his time, Swedish fiction translated this year, Remarkably Bright Creatures

Dire wolves are now "de-extinct"

Hello and happy Easter 🥙!

Photo source: https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2025/04/08/d-day-comes-early/

I started the year very strongly with an unusual reading pace of two books per week. I knew it wouldn’t be sustainable, and I usually get distracted in spring, starting with March or about when we change the clocks. But I prodded along despite all that.

Easter week is here, though, and the chaotic vibes have caught up with me.

Why is there a photo of George R. R. Martin holding a dire wolf in The Grapevine? I hear you ask. Between my Instagram being hammered with images and videos of Katy Perry self-indulgently floating in zero gravity for three minutes, along with all the memes and outraged posts related to it, and the news that dire wolves have been assembled in a lab, I believe George Martin posing with them sums up this week for me.

It has been 13 years since he was supposed to deliver the last of the Game of Thrones tomes, and if this is not procrastination at its finest, I don’t know what is!

George Martin called The Winds of Winter “the curse of my life” in a recent interview with Time Magazine. He said he is tired of being asked constantly what he does with his time. He explained that while he makes progress, other commitments—like HBO show deadlines, video game writing, and business ventures—often divert his attention. Despite fan criticism, Martin insists these pursuits do not meaningfully detract from his writing time. He notes he’s written “hundreds of pages” during the pandemic and is “three-quarters of the way done.”

Meanwhile, he didn’t miss the chance and made the time to pose with the dire wolves that came into being just a few weeks ago.

Last week, the Game of Thrones author made headlines for posing with a real-life direwolf, the extinct Ice Age species making a comeback thanks to developments in biotech. Martin, who features the wolves heavily in his A Song of Fire and Ice series, was immediately mocked by fans on social media who joked about his progress on the franchise's long-anticipated penultimate book: "We got real dire wolves before Winds of Winter."

EW

The Swedishness of Fredrik Backman

Photo source: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/bath/fredrik-backman-bath/

While we’re all waiting for the release of Fredrik Backman’s newest novel, My Friends (expected May 6th), he’s gone through some of the newest Swedish novels to appear in the English language this year. What drew me to his list was how he described contemporary Swedish fiction (that is not crime):

From Nordic fairy tales and Viking folk stories to Astrid Lindgren’s “Pippi Longstocking” and Scandi-noir, “everything is character-driven,” he said. “They’re all about people’s relationships and emotions and growth.”

The New Yorker

If that’s the case, I am all for it!

Here are Fredrik’s recommendations, via The New Yorker:

Four Swedish novels to be translated into English this year

The Colony by Annika Norlin: A woman seeking escape from city life joins a remote Swedish community, where her arrival unsettles the group’s delicate social balance and prompts a profound exploration of belonging.

When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén: In this heartfelt story about ageing, grief, and family, an elderly man coping with his wife’s decline and his own mortality tries to reconnect with his estranged son. As a side note, I am coming across a lot of book titles with birds as a theme.

The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri: Three sisters of mixed Swedish-Tunisian heritage navigate rivalry, identity, and separation over three decades, each forging her own path across different continents.

Hope and Destiny by Niklas Natt och Dag: This sweeping historical novel set in thirteenth-century Sweden depicts the power struggles, betrayals, and romances that shaped the nation’s early identity.

Currently Reading

I came across this book in my Internet wanderings and liked the cover, title, and synopsis. That's a pretty hefty win for the marketing of this book!

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is a heartfelt and whimsical debut novel that explores themes of grief, connection, and healing through an unlikely friendship between Tova Sullivan, a widowed aquarium cleaner, and Marcellus, a highly intelligent and curmudgeonly giant Pacific octopus.

Set in the fictional town of Sowell Bay, Washington, the story follows Tova as she seeks solace after her husband's loss and her son's mysterious disappearance decades earlier. Marcellus, whose witty inner monologue provides much of the novel’s charm, gradually becomes involved in unravelling the truth behind Tova’s son’s fate, using his unique perspective and intelligence to help her find closure.

Shelby Van Pelt, originally from the Pacific Northwest and now living near Chicago, crafted this as her first novel. Her writing is praised for its warmth, humour, and nuanced portrayal of complex emotions like loss, ageing, and loneliness.

I am not even halfway through, but every time I mention to someone that I am reading a novel from the perspective of an octopus, it sounds so quirky that people’s ears perk up immediately. It’s just so endearing, you can’t stay uninterested.

Reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Critics and readers alike commend the novel’s emotional resonance, engaging character development, and Marcellus's unique voice. It was nominated for multiple Goodreads Choice Awards and holds an impressive average rating of 4.41/5 from over half a million readers, cementing its status as a modern favourite in contemporary fiction.