Winter Reading.

Is reading seasonal? There's the summer holiday read, but is there spring, autumn and winter reads too?

"Woman at Beach Reading" Marie Fox               "Woman Reading in a Forest" Gyula Benczur

Summer and Autumn.....

"Woman Reading" Tavik Simon
Spring, you can tell by the peonies on the table.
It is warm enough to have the window open, but not warm enough to have a summer dress on.......











and winter.

"Woman Reading on a Settee"
William Churchill

Trying to catch that winter sun.






We are well into autumn now with the prospect of winter upon us. Thoughts of snuggling up with a book (or a movie) are wonderful.
So...three winter books from me:

The Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe, also a movie.
This is a lovely winter book because it places you so well into that snowy, wintry environment, you can almost hear the crunch of snow under foot and feel the warmth of the collar of the fur coat on your face. One of the wonderful things about winter is the promise of an eventual summer. This book shows the bleakness of a prospect of an eternal winter. Always winter, never Christmas. The cover says it all though, spring does come and the White Witch is defeated.

The Remains of the Day, also a superb movie.
The story of Mr Stevens, the old-school butler at Darlington Hall, recalling his life and his relationship with Miss Kenton, the house keeper. After serving Lord Darlington for many decades, the estate is purchased in 1950 by an American , Mr Farrady. It is a story of duty, loyalty, memory and loss. It's about the winter of life, the passage of time and eras that are no more
I must confess, this book sits by my bedside still as yet unfinished.

Wanting.
A Tasmanian book, by a Tasmanian author. I love Richard Flanagan, but he's no lightweight summer read that's for sure. This book tells the story of the young Tasmanian aboriginal girl, Mathinna, adopted by Lady Jane Franklin in the 1840's. But it is the interweaving of the story of Sir John Franklin's disappearance in an Arctic expedition with the failing of the marriage of Charles and Catherine Dickens that is chilling and heartbreaking. It's a cold and crushing book, but one that you can't forget.