Thursday, January 5, 2012

Embrace Winter #1: Read Good Books

How would we get through winter without good books to read? I have such delightful childhood memories of spending the entire day after Christmas reading new books. What bliss to lay on the floor and read and read and read.

I keep a list throughout the year of each book I've read and it is always fun to look back and see what I've covered in a year. I would love to be completely methodical and choose 12 novels, 12 non-fictions, 12 of this or that. While I do make a list of books that I would like to read in the coming year, part of the joy of reading for me is to go where my fancy leads me and order books at whim from the library.

Here are some ideas for enjoying books this winter:

Read books about winter. Jane Brocket suggests 10 books to read by the fire in winter:
The Box of Delights by John Masefield
The Rat-a-Tat Mystery by Enid Blyton
Little Women by L. M. Alcott
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
The Long Winter by L. I. Wilder
The Peppermint Pig by Nina Bawden
Five Go Adventuring Again by Enid Blyton
A Little Princess by F. H. Burnett
The Mystery of the Secret Room by Enid Blyton

Order a new magazine to enjoy throughout the year

Join a book club or start one!

Read aloud to a friend, spouse, child, group, elderly person

Write your own book or memoir!

Spend hours at the library

Sit in a chair with a stack of books next to you and look through them all

Check out library cookbooks with winter foods

Go to a bookstore and make a list of books you would love to read

Exchange book reading lists with a friend

Go to the library every week in winter

Cook foods mentioned in your favorite stories

Listen to books on tape and do something with your hands (knitting, painting, etc.)

Set aside a bookshelf just for the books you want to read in the coming weeks

Pick a reading chair and make a habit of sitting there to read, adding a candle, a flower, a cup of tea

Start an Amazon wishlist

Mail a favorite book to a friend who would enjoy it



Tomorrow I hope to post the books I've read in 2011......

1 comment:

Lovella ♥ said...

What a great list and suggestions! I love books too and find that I stash them for future reads when there is nothing else that takes my attention.
I loved reading as a teenager too and would also love a day where I would sit as long as my mom would allow and read through an entire book in one sitting.
I have a vacation booked..and am already buying my books for those uninterrupted days. Bliss!