Hibernating, burrowing, hunkering in - that’s what we’ve been focused on during these liminal weeks between the years. The climate this winter has been more than kind - until yesterday when the first snow and ice of the season rained down upon us, we have been graced with dry sidewalks and more than unusually mild temperatures. Still, it’s felt like a time to be quiet, to gather stores in for lean times ahead. Nature sends us so many messages if we only will listen. From deep within ourselves comes the desire to slow down, be still, restore strength and energy. Life often prevents us from heeding this call, or we shove it aside in favor of productivity and sociability and the busy-ness that passes for accomplishment.
The Sunday Salon (Monday edition): Best Books
It’s that time again - the annual Best of the Year Lists. 2015 was the first year I’ve used Goodreads to catalog, rate, and track my reading, which makes compiling my Best Books list a little more interesting than in past years, when I’ve simply perused the pages of my reading journal for those entries I’ve starred as favorites.
My personal criteria for a Best Book classification? One that captures my emotional interest; one that has appealing, believable, fully developed characters; one with an interesting plot or story line; one that makes me feel “writerly” (to quote my friend Melissa- in other words, a book that makes me itch to get to my own pen and paper and start writing myself). The final requirement, and probably the most important one, is that it must be a book I can imagine myself re-reading, either in a year, five years, or even 10. Even as was writing this list, I felt the urge to go downstairs to my shelves and grab each one of these to re-read.
The Spirit of the Thing
It seems to me there is a definite lack of Christmas/Holiday spirit around these parts.
And this year, it’s not just me - the perpetual Grinch who clamps her hands over her ears as soon as the radio stations go “all carols all the time.” It’s evident from the decreased amount of outdoor decorations in our community and in the surrounding neighborhoods to the weary social media posts and blog essays, people are having a hard time getting into the spirit of this thing we call Christmas.
The Sunday Salon: The Challenge Year
About 20 years ago I started keeping track of the books I read in a book journal, usually a 5x7 hardcover lined notebook. It wasn’t a particularly elegant system - I simply listed the title and author of the book, using a separate page for each month. If the book was a particular favorite, I might jot an asterisk beside it; if it was the second (or third or fourth!) time I’d read it, I would note that too. At the end of each month, I totaled the number of books read during that time, and at the end of the year, I skimmed through the year’s reading and made a “favorites” list.
The Sunday Salon: Washing Ashore
One can’t help noticing the irony of it, here in this season where cards and carols proclaim “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men,” that acts of violence and terror seem to abound both far and near. As fear, intolerance, and hatred breed a global culture of paranoia and hate, it’s sometimes difficult if not impossible to find the spirit of our Christian holiday.
This week I’ve been immersed in the latest installment of Louise Penny’s Three Pines series, books I love for many reasons, but perhaps mostly for the way they transport me to this place in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, this village nestled deep in a valley, marked by three tall pine trees that signify it as safe haven, a sanctuary.
Oh, do I need a Sanctuary.