"The emergency shelves are stocked with staples, the freezer is full, the fruit closet has its jams and jellies and relishes. So when the furnace begins to purr, we are settled in. Books laid aside for winter appear on the cobbler's bench. I favor books like Edwin Way Teale's North with the Spring for January days. Mr. Teale evokes spring perfectly and his poetic strong prose is a joy. And although Mr. Teale is a naturalist, he never talks down to a lay reader. He teaches a great deal, but in a casual easy way.
Autumn Across America, a companion volume, is another favorite. This is the time too for books such as Bruce Catton's A Stillness at Appomattox, or James Gould Cozzens' By Love Possessed. There are few interruptions on a snowy day so you can give yourself over to a long book and not be jumping up every few minutes when someone comes to the door.
This winter, I plan to re-read Shakespeare, taking time to savor the majestic sweep and eternal beauty of the lines. I often wonder what it would be like to come suddenly upon Shakespeare after growing up. What an experience that would be.
I also like to re-read Peter Fleming's Brazilian Adventure, one of the most delightful books I know of and not widely known, unfortunately. Wuthering Heights is a February kind of book and fits a stormy February day. Every third winter, I pick up The Forsyte Saga and it never disappoints me. Jill, of course, reads Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors again, although she almost knows it by heart now. She also reads parts of Cothren's Ancient History of Woodbury, but this has to be in small doses for the print is so fine and the pages so yellow that a headache is inevitable.
Katherine Mansfield fits any season but the Letter and Journals are particularly fine now, for her translucent prose brightens any day. Books that take to reading aloud are scares. There is Thurber. And there is Thurber. Otherwise we find an occasional gem such as The 101 Dalmatians. I had trouble reading that however, as I laughed so hard I cried and then I could not see the words.
A good book, a cup of very hot tea, a fire burning well, ... and let the wind blow!
(From the Winter chapters of Stillmeadow Sampler by Gladys Taber)
Do you have favorite books you re-read each winter? I confess I haven't read any of the ones she mentions, but perhaps it's time I broadened my horizons. Favorite re-reads of mine in winter are the Little House books... and the Miss Read books.
I don't think I do anymore! I used to, years ago. Of course, there is Gladys and her chapters for each month; I do like to follow along with those. During Lent and Advent I read books which have meditations, but not otherwise, I guess. Hmm.
ReplyDeleteI don't re-read them every year, but maybe every two to three years, and depending on whether I can find any new books that take my fancy, which doesn't happen very often...I'm a bit hard to please :))
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