We’re welcoming the month with very cold temps and icy conditions but luckily my husband and I worked from home. Granted all day yesterday I’ve been hearing the cracking and breaking of tree branches. We’ve lost some but luckily so far have avoided any major damages. I feel so bad for so many in our city who are without power or have a lot of damages. I remember the experience we had a couple of years ago when we were without power and water for a week!
Anyway, let’s move on to something a lot more fun to talk about – books! I am enjoying some perfect seasonal reading with The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights. This is a collection of short stories set in the winter, some at Christmas, which are all about ghosts and haunted places. I’ve read four of the stories and they are quite fun and a couple have made me shiver a bit.
I’m also reading The Blue Window by Suzanne Berne a recent fiction release about a woman trying to connect with her young adult son and her estranged mother. The first couple of chapters were a bit difficult to get into but I’m glad I kept going because I’m intrigued by the grandmother.
Two other books I’m reading are The Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli and Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. Both are new to me authors but authors which I’ve heard about quite a bit so it’s good to finally get to read them. I’m not quite sure yet how I feel about these books. I’d say about at least 70 pages into both and they are interesting but so far haven’t wowed me.
Finally I do have some poetry to keep me company. I’m reading Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light by Joy Harjo, which is a collection of her poems since the beginning of her writing career.
Here’s a snippet from her poem “Remember” :
“Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families, their histories, too.
Talk to them, listen to them.
They are alive poems.”
There’s this beautiful rhythm to the lines that if you were to read it aloud you would feel as if you are chanting.
I’m also reading A Happy Poem to End Every Day. I’ve made note of several favorite poems already but my absolute favorite from January was Travel by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I think I need to get a collection of Edna St. Vincent Millay poems because I know I’ve read a few and I just adore them.
While I’m not anywhere close to finishing any of these books I probably will be adding a new book soon and that’s the February mystery selection for my book group.
Hope you enjoy a cozy and warm weekend filled with good reads.
Iliana, glad you guys were able to work from home. The ice storm wasn’t quite as bad in Kerrville, though the outlying areas were hit with a lot apparently. We saw pictures from Austin on the news and also ones that friends and family sent us. As you say, lots of cracking and breaking of limbs. Hope we through this type of storm for the rest of this winter. I’m ready for spring!
We have friends in the Hill Country, and they’ve had terrible tree damage from the storm. I remember that sound of cracking branches under the weight of ice (or heavy, wet snow) from when we lived in Nebraska. This year’s weather has been pretty nasty everywhere. We also have friends in the Sacramento area and they say that their area has lost so many 100-year-old trees from their wind storms last month. Sigh. It’s always something, isn’t it?
Speaking of being without power or water, Rod & I just attended a local seminar about what to do in case of a big earthquake, tsunami, or lengthy power outage. We are on a major fault line (Cascadia) here and we’re due for a big quake. Pretty scary to think of what that would entail, but we’re trying to be proactive and get emergency supplies and “Go Bags” in place, just in case…
Thanks for sharing the snippet from Joy Harjo’s poem. Lovely. I need to get back to reading more poetry!
Hope you have a good weekend, Iliana!
Somehow I missed hearing that there has been ice in Central and North Texas. It makes things difficult. We don’t have a lot of experience dealing with icy conditions. I’m glad that you are able to be at home and stay warm.
Is it just coincidence that I ordered a copy of A Happy Poem to End Every Day and that I also have this book? If so, it’s a happy one.
Have a great weekend, Iliana! 😀
I’m glad you and your husband work from home, Iliana. The storms sound scary with the power outage and other stuff and I hope you guys stay warm and safe. The Haunting Season sounds like a good read so I’ll have to check it out.
I’m glad you didn’t lose power. We lost power for about a week once also due to a bad storm and it was during the cold months so luckily we had my parents house to stay at in the meantime. Enjoy your books, I like the poetry snippet you shared and The Haunting Season sounds great. Stay warm!