From the Depths of Winter

January truly is the longest month. The holiday decorations, except the outdoor lights, are put away for another year. Too cold and snowy to deal with the outdoor stuff, besides they are pretty so I still turn them on every night to drive away the dark.

Here's what has gotten me through the darkest part of the year.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, by Helene Hanff - a Christmas gift from my son (yes, it was on the list I shared with him!). I simply devoured this short book. Hanff, the author of 84 Charing Cross Road, visits London as part of the promotional campaign when 84 is released in the UK, and she is the ultimate tourist, visiting all the places she has read about and longed to visit her entire life. She is wined and dined, feted as a celebrity, and has the best time. A wonderful armchair trip to London in the 1970s.

The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara - continuing down the Civil War rabbit hole, I reread for the 3rd (or is it the 4th?) time this incredible novel about the Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara, father of historical novelist Jeffrey Shaara, focuses on Lee and Longstreet for the Confederate side of the story, and Burford and Chamberlain for the Union side. Even if you aren't a fan of war stories, this novel is worth reading just for the portrayal Shaara provides of the scholarly hero, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the language professor who ultimately rose to general in the U.S. Army. A truly admirable man.

Jeff Bridges (left) as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (right)

The introduction to the audio version that I listened to was by Jeffrey Shaara, who described visiting Gettysburg on a family vacation when he was young. His father was a struggling novelist and was starting to research Gettysburg as a possible novel topic. He spent many years researching and writing the novel. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1975 but was not a bestseller until the TV mini-series, titled Gettysburg, was broadcast in 1993. Sadly, Michael Shaara died in 1988 and so never knew that his masterpiece finally found its audience.

I am planning a Civil War battlefield tour before or after the JASNA AGM in Baltimore in October, and Gettysburg is top of the places I hope to visit. 

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer - I actually received my copy of this little book, courtesy of a GoodReads giveaway. Kimmerer is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass, which I loved. Serviceberry is basically an extension of many of the themes in Sweetgrass--the basic idea is that the plant world shares its gifts with the fauna of the world, and we humans need to learn (or relearn) how to share with each other and the world. There is room for everyone at the table, so we really don't need to hoard, grasp, and connive others in order to get more than what we need. 

In the spirit of sharing, I decided to donate my copy to one of the Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood with a note asking whoever takes it to read it and share it in turn. I noticed that it was gone from where I left it, so hopefully it will find many sympathetic readers out there.

Hope everyone is getting through all 1000 days of January with great reads!