A Guide to Cozy Winter Reading

Reading more books in the coming year is a good New Year's resultion, and a great way to relax after the holidays. It might even help cure the winter blues. So bundle up, head over to your local library and check out a few good reads.

Some of the lastest editions to our collection here at the Quitman Public Library are some excellent candidates for good winter reads:

The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo
The Pursuit of Murieta by Thomas D. Clagett
Always Remembered by Janella Mowery
Dark Prairie by John D. Nesbitt
Bad Day at Willow Creek by Ralph Cotton
Killer Poker by J. Johnstone
Savage Desert by L. Patten

Plus the new Divergent Series: Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant by Veronica Roth is in our collection now. I hear it's pretty popular.

And for some reason I find that winter weather is excellent for reading mysteries and classics, so if I had to suggest some good cold weather books from my own experience, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and The Murder of Roger Acroyd by Agatha Christie are a couple of the first titles that come to mind.

Obviously the winter reading experience is rather incomplete without a comfy chair by the window, a blanket and a hot beverage. The Quitman Public Library can provide the comfy chair by the window
(check out the sweet chairs in our reference section), but as for the blanket and beverage, you'll have to bring your own. Covered beverages are allowed, so you can bring in that cappucino.

For reading at home, hot chocolate or tea is the perfect companion
to a good book. I'll include a homemade hot chocolate recipe below
for just such purposes:

    Sara's hot chocolate recipe:
   
    One tablespoon of cacao
    Two teaspoons of sugar
    One teaspoon of honey
    A dash of cinnamon
    A splash of half and half
    Maybe throw in some marshmellows

    Combine all this in a mug and add some hot milk.
    It makes an individual serving. This is my own
    little recipe and I'm not really sure if the measurements
    are correct because I'm just guessing. Every time I make
    it I just use my own judgement. I like to live dangerously.

Anyway, whether you prefer the comraderie of reading among other readers at the library or the solitude of reading by yourself at home, don't forget to take in a few books over the rest of the
cold/rainy weather season. Chilly weather plus a good book can equal a pretty great affect on the imagination.

Sara de la Rosa



"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that is kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.'" ~Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass (perhaps another good winter read).