One advantage of the pandemic was the near cessation of the sometimes harried coming and going and getting and spending of my heretofore adult life. Home more often, I turned to books for entertainment, enlightenment, companionship, and sheer pleasure. On the recommendation of friend, I ordered Wintering for my Kindle and have referred to one thing or another in it on a near daily basis since late December. It’s that good.
Here’s the review on Amazon.
“A year and a half into a worldwide pandemic that showed no end in sight was wearing me down. As “the season” approached, I found myself floundering about for a way to express what I was feeling AND offer suggestions on how to embrace a dark, cold winter made even more secluded and solitary than usual. When I came across a review of Wintering, I immediately bought three copies, a Kindle version for yours truly and hard copies for friends who speak the same language.
“Originally, I was attracted by its name and premise. Wintering is more than surviving a cold, sometimes brutally brumal, season of the year when the days are short and the trees are bare. It’s a time of year both humans and animals experience. The latter do it much better than we; they prepare ahead of time and accept it as a season of inactivity and hibernation that offers transformation. We, on the other hand, are often caught off guard by plunging temperatures, icy roads, and solitary pursuits.
“But Kathryn May shows the reader another way of looking at wintering. She describes it as a time of going inward, of using introspection, solitude, self-care, and hygge to weather the season of doubt, angst, disillusionment, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), chaos, loss…..and all the other negative emotions. She cooks, adds fairy lights and candles, explores nature, plunges into icy water, visits the sauna, reads…and eventually leaves her job at a university.
“What I like best about Wintering is the beautiful way Kathryn May uses language to describe what so many feel at what (I/they) hope is the tail end of the pandemic. Plus, I always love a book in which I learn something, and in Wintering, I learned not only new vocabulary words but also more about history, books, animals, insects, different cultures, and festivals—to name a few. Because of May, I finally understand Stonehenge and know what dormice are.
“Wintering is a book I’ll return to again and again, especially when I need reminding that life is not linear, but cyclical and ever changing
Gossip and Solitude 