#Tan Twang Eng

[blurrymerzsblog]

"I tried not to think about it as I went about my days, and mostly I succeeded. But occasionally the memories still found their way in, through a sound I heard, a word someone uttered, or a smell I caught in the street."

—Tan Twan Eng, from The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon, 2011)

Photographer: @mintcolibri

[lilianeruyters]

Tan Twang Eng || The House of Doors

Booker Prize Longlist 2023 I was quite reluctant to read The House of Doors, I did not know whether a novel about a famous writer would interest me. I am glad I gave the novel a chance. It turned out to be as much about people around the famous writer as about him, it also gave voice to something that was never spoken about in his time and age. Main character in The House of Doors is not…

[chavalahh]

2024 Mid-Year Check-In/Freak-Out Tag

Video here: https://youtu.be/lmRFGLthWKY

Original Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag by Read Like Wildfire and Earl Grey Books Original Mid-Year Book Check-In Tag by Dane Reads and Harriet Rosie Favorite short story collection question cribbed from Russell at Ink and Paper Blog!

How many books read: 53

Best Book: --JOY COMES IN THE MORNING by Michael Rosen https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6549065581

Best Sequel: --BLADE OF DREAM by Daniel Abraham https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6195424759

Best Short Story Collection: --THE WITCH BLADE AND OTHER STORIES by Suzanne Feldman https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6272268096

Most-read genre: --Fiction

New release you want to read: --RELICS OF RUIN by Erin M. Evans https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125208193-relics-of-ruin --THE FAMILIAR by Leigh Bardugo https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133286777-the-familiar

Most anticipated release for second half of year: --LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE by Taffy Brodesser-Akner 7/9 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55777544-long-island-compromise --THE MERCY OF THE GODS by James S.A. Corey, 8/6 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201930181-the-mercy-of-gods --THE GODS BELOW by Andrea Stewart, 9/3 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62969719-the-gods-below --SONGS FOR THE BROKEN-HEARTED by Ayelet Tsabari, 9/10 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203956664-songs-for-the-brokenhearted --A DARK AND DROWNING TIDE by Alison Saft, 9/17 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174146852-a-dark-and-drowning-tide ---NIGHT OWLS by A.R. Vishny, 9/17 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/134039882-night-owls --THE REPUBLIC OF SALT by Ariel Kaplan, 10/22 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202470557-the-republic-of-salt --OUR DEADLY DESIGNS by Kalyn Josephson, 11/12 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200502380-our-deadly-designs --THE LOTUS EMPIRE by Tasha Suri, 11/12 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59558627-the-lotus-empire

Biggest disappointment: --DAY by Michael Cunningham https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6443465762 --Honorable mention: THE VASTER WILDS by Lauren Groff: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6485699511

Biggest surprise: --THE HOUSE OF DOORS by Tan Twang Eng https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6540685143 --Honorable mention: BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6484952237

Favorite new author: Jonathan Rosen --THE BEST MINDS https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/636636975 --THE TALMUD AND THE INTERNET https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6549063773

Newest fictional crush: adapted to Favorite Relationship in a book/series: --Gaunt and Ellwood from IN MEMORIAM by Alice Winn https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6327140524 --Honorable mention: Moishe and Chona from THE HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6469414455

Newest favorite character: --Rabbi Deborah from JOY COMES IN THE MORNING https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6549065581 --Honorable Mention; Bunny from MOBILITY by Lydia Kiesling https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6243413203

Book that made you cry: --IN MEMORIAM by Alice Winn https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6327140524 --JUDGMENT AT TOKYO by Gary J. Bass https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6335747134

Book that made you happy: --BOOKISH PEOPLE by Susan Coll https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6441447848 --WELL MET by Rachel Lee Rubin https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6412374347

Favorite review/booktube video: --2024 Short Stories Reviews: Recent Publications! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ia76cHVnU&t=1s

Best book to film adaptation you've seen this year: --"His Dark Materials" Season Three Rewatch: https://chavalah.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/his-dark-materials-season-three-when-innocence-turns-to-experience/ --Other 2024 adaptations I've enjoyed/been enjoying: "3 Body Problem" season one and "House of the Dragon" season two!

Most beautiful book cover bought/received this year: --RELICS OF RUIN by Erin M. Evans https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125208193-relics-of-ruin

What is your next big priority for your reading? Hope to return to Elizabeth Gaskell for Victober, trying Israeli author Eyal Kless for SciFi September, and Italian writer Silvia Avallone for Women in Translation Month! In July, I'm debating some fiction and nonfiction about the Rothschild women. --My last Elizabeth Gaskell video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlRg6rq1CV8

What has been your bookish highlight?: Choosing my #MaybeMidrash2024 reading list thanks to my #BookTubePrize octofinals ballot! Honorable mention: re-reading THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES last November: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3367418394 https://chavalah.wordpress.com/2023/11/22/the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-a-different-sort-of-hunger-games-experience/

What books do you need to read by the end of the year? --THE FAITHLESS by C.L. Clark https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59007314-the-faithless --ROMAN STORIES by Jhumpa Lahiri https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125077431-roman-stories

[winsteria]

“The mind forgets, but the heart will always remember. And what is the heart's memory but love itself?” — Tan Twang Eng

This was beautiful and painful at the same time! 🥺 I remembered this quote as soon as I read the last part! And gosh, I love this ❤️

dream a little, dream of me

Pairing: Stephen Strange x Reader

Summary: You're met with the realisation that in order to save the world you'll have to lose your own.

↳ or a nwh scene au where instead of Peter it's you that has to convince Stephen to erase you from everyone's mind, including his.

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: this one's sad, that's... that's your warning

Fissures lit up the New York sky line, bright violet tears in space and time itself. Menacing shadows were beginning to appear where the night gave way to the multiverse; translucent looming omens of what was to come should your reality be exposed to the threats of the multiverse.

Stephen's hands trembled as he attempted to keep reality from collapsing in on itself. Despite his best efforts, his magic proved to serve as little more than a needle threading through a piece of fabric that was being torn apart at the seams. The battle he was fighting was one he was bound to lose.

You watched on with an ailing heart. You, the catalyst of all this. The magnet that was currently pulling an army of multiversal threats towards a world unequipped to defend itself from them.

“They're starting to come through and I can't stop them.” Stephen's voice was brittle, strained by both his magic and his fear. His eyes caught your own only briefly. In Stephen's case, the eyes truly were the windows of the soul and what you'd seen in his had told you everything. The fight was over.

“Y/N,” his voice was pained. “You need to get somewhere safe. Go back to the Sanctum and find Wong. I'll hold them back as long as I can.”

“What? Strange, no–”

“Y/N, it's too late.”

“I'm not going to leave you here.”

“We're out of time!” His tone left no room for negotiation. But as your hurt manifested in an involuntary step back, his voice softened. “We're out of time.”

You desperately racked your mind for something, anything that could stop the onslaught of multiversal threats. The one plan of action you were left with was undesirable at best and unfathomable at worst But the thunderous rumble of the fracturing sky above you served as a reminder that there was no other alternative.

“What if you cast another spell?” you asked. The words caused your chest to ache, thining out the air in your lungs. “They're all coming here because of me. So make them forget, make everyone forget who I am.”

Stephen's eyes clouded as he realised the implications of your words.

“No.” His voice shook as he poured his focus back into patching the tears in the sky, either out of necessity or to ignore your proposal; you couldn't tell.

“But it would work,” you said plainly. You watched the inner conflict play out in Stephen's mind and the horror that accompanied his realisation. “Stephen, we don't have time to argue over this.”

You stepped closer, taking notice of how his hands trembled under the weight of the universe. He didn't look at you as he spoke.

“If I cast that spell, everyone who has ever known you, ever loved you, we–” He tried to swallow the last word back down but your widened eyes told him it was too late. “We would have no memory of you. It would be as if you never existed.”

You smiled, fighting off the tremble in your bottom lip. “I can work with that.”

“I can't,” Stephen answered quickly. He shook his head, the action weak and feeble. “Don't make me do this. Please, I'll figure something out just... just wait–” His hand fell slightly and the sky seemed to creek with the loss of support.

Your hand gently brushed his cheek and with your touch came the realisation of just how final the moment was. Forgetting you would be like forgetting how to breathe and a plea to reconsider, to just give him time, had already been formed in Stephen's mind. A thundering roar from above sounded and it seemed the universe itself was denying him that chance.

“I know what I have to do.” Your voice was strong, your certainty in the self-sacrifice you were about to make mirroring that of the heroes of old and in that moment Stephen hated you for it.

“I'm not ready to lose you,” he managed. “There's so much I still have to say.”

“Now's really not the time to get all sweet on me,” you said lowly as you brushed your thumb along his cheek.

“I thought I'd have more time.” His voice trembled as he spoke and you couldn't find anything else to say. “Come find me when this is all done.”

“And tell you what?” You smiled sadly. “Whatever I come up with is going to sound–”

“Strange?” Stephen raised a brow and the action paired uncomfortably with the tears in his eyes. He blinked them away and gently rested his head against your own. “I'll believe you.”

The sky groaned again above you. The patches began to disappear, stitching themselves back together. You glanced down and found the orange glow of Stephen's magic circling his wrist.

You took a step back, your skin already feeling barren and light where you'd lost his touch. You swallowed around the aching in your chest. The horror of witnessing the man you cared so deeply for stand before you with no knowledge of who you were was what pushed you to eventually leave his side.

“See you soon, doc.” You sealed your promise with a kiss to his cheek before your feet carried you away from him.

His eyes were clouded when he blinked them open, as if waking up from some prolonged dream. And the brief glimpse he caught of you as you slipped away was heavy with all the indifference of spotting a stranger.

Three Months Later

Life without the avenger title was something you welcomed surprisingly well. The sudden ability to walk down the street without any recognition was something you particularly enjoyed. No photos, no requests for autographs and no people yelling catchphrases you had no memory of ever spouting. There was also a lack of insults from people who viewed the avengers as glorified attack dogs or harsh comments from those who knew the ones you couldn't save.

It was a refreshing change.

As you rounded the street corner, you collided with a firm chest and the coffee you'd been holding was sent all over you and the unlucky stranger.

“I'm so sorry.”

Your head raised the moment your mind registered the sound of his voice and there he was. His eyes were as blue as you recalled, his hair neatly slicked back and his once prestige white button-up stained with coffee.

You'd rehearsed this a hundred times, every day since the moment you'd left him. Trying to build up your courage to face him again and explain it all but you could never find it in you to bite the bullet and do it. Even now as he stood before you, you found your mouth open but no words passed your lips. Not even so much as an apology for destroying his clothes.

Stephen waved his hand and the dark stain on both your clothes was gone, not drying as much as completely disappearing as if it had never touched the fabric to begin with.

“Do I know you?” Stephen asked suddenly. His head tilted inquisitively to the side and a single rebellious strand of hair fell loose and curled against his brow. You had to fight the urge to reach out and brush it back into place.

“N-no, sorry,” you managed upon realising that he was still, rather patiently, waiting for your answer. “I think you've confused me for someone else.”

“You just look–” Whatever he was going to say he decided against it and shook his head with a dismissive smile. “I'm sorry again.”

“It– it's fine.” You glanced at the cup in your hands and found it once again steaming with a fresh brew no thanks to Stephen's magic. You took a cautious sip. “How did you know I took my coffee with two sugars?”

“I don't know,” he answered honestly, sounding somewhat confused himself. But confidence quickly found its way back into his tone as a smirk and flirtatious wink accompanied his next words. “Call it intuition. I'm Stephen, by the way.”

You listened as he finished his introduction with all the reserved politeness one treated a stranger with. You smiled, silently praying the man before you didn't notice the sadness behind it as you told him your name.

“It's nice to meet you.”

Thank you for reading!

strange tag list: @bakerstreethound @evelynrosestuff

[expatesque]

FICTION RECS: The Bone Clocks (David Mitchell), The Life and Times (Jewel5 --fanfiction, but amazing), I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith), Girl Meets Boy (Ali Smith), The House of Mirth (Edith Wharton), Mambo in Chinatown (Jean Kwok), The Garden of Evening Mists (Tan Twang Eng), Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier) aaaand I can't think of anything else

oH and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Ah you’re a hero! Thanks so much! Anyone else have any fiction recs to give me a break from all this law, feel free to send them on!

[c-offeeandcocoa]

books read in 2016: the garden of evening mists by tan twang eng 

“For what is a person without memories? A ghost, trapped between worlds, without an identity, with no future, no past.”

[hatant]

There is the misconception that we have reached our destinations the moment we grow old, but it is not a well-accepted fact that we are still travelling towards those destinations, still beyond our reach even on the day we close our eyes for the first time.

Tan Twang Eng, 'The Gift of Rain'.

[whatstarteditall]

On a mountain above the clouds once lived a man who had been the gardener of the emperor of Japan.

The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twang Eng.

[hatant]

I'm reading Tan Twang Eng's 'The Gift of Rain', and it is genuinely one of the most beautifully written books I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

And it is trampling all over my emotions, in the most incredible way.