The Weather Outside is FrightfulBut this book is so delightful...
With the first snowfall over the weekend, I got to thinking about reading. I always read a lot more in the winter. And the books I choose tend to be lighter and less serious. I read more thrillers and more fantasy and I choose fewer nonfiction and literary books. It isn't something that I consciously do, it just happens that way.
Sometimes a book can be like a mini vacation. I don't know if it is the laughter or the locale, but I always feel a little warmer when I read the hilarious south Florida thrillers by Carl Hiaasen, Dave Barry (yes that Dave Barry), and Tim Dorsey.
What do you like to read when the weather outside is frightful?
5 comments:
Sometimes, I confess, I go back to a few books I loved as a child, magical stories, often set in winter, that make perfect, cozy companions by the fireside. A particular favorite is "Moominvalley Midwinter," by Tove Jansson, now reprinted as "Moominland Midwinter." Moomintroll accidentally wakes up from his hibernation, and discovers a whole world of winter activity he never knew existed.
I also get very sentimental reading about England at this time of year. I've made three trips to England, all right after Christmas, when the streets and shops were decorated and the castles and cathedrals looked particularly lovely. Anything from "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte to "Underground London" by Stephen Smith (non-fiction about what's really underground in London and its surroundings) to "Notes from a Small Island" by Bill Bryson or Sting's autobiography "Broken Music" - all remind me of those wonderful trips.
I tend in the opposite direction from you, David. Winter is when I settle in with the "serious" 500 page novels. Mostly, I try to read the novels that made the "Best of the Year" lists. I'm embarrassed to say that it is also the time of year that I'm most likely to spend my money on a diet book that will mostly remain unexamined.
I have a few favorite Christmas stories that I re-read in December. Frogmorton is one of them, a story of the aristocratic Frog who invites his poor (ish) city friend Tortoise to stay at his country house. Last year I read the first Dark is Rising book, by Susan Cooper, and I intend to read Greenwitch this year. Finally, I always read the Nativity story from the book of Luke. What's funny is I hear the voice of Linus reading the story in A Charlie Brown Christmas!
I'll go along with Hiaasen, Barry, and Dorsey as great dark humor reads for the holiday season. I would also add Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel to the list, and Boo Humbug! by Rene Gutteridge. It's also the time for cozy holiday mysteries. Stop by the RS desk for ideas on the many holiday fiction and mysteries that just might get you in the mood. And if you can't get in the spirit of the season, at least you'll have had a good laugh.
D.W.-- are you from Chicago?
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