Midwinter Night’s Read
I think of literature and books around Christmas time. Despite lacking the reading speed to be a voracious reader as they say, I nonetheless associate the holiday season with both giving and getting books. (and hence shopping for them.)
Iceland has a deeply held tradition of jolabockaflod, or book flood, wherein books are given on Christmas Eve and read deep into the night before bed. So despite having no Icelandic blood (that I know of) the connection between the holiday and books gives me something in common with the Nordic nation.
Winter as a hole, not merely Christmas seems the ideal reader-oriented time. Fall as well, but moreso winter I dare say. And while my latest novel, The Rubble and the Shakespeare does not specifically mention Christmas, it is set during winter, which I think adds to the creative notion of putting on a play. We are compelled to look more inward during the chill of the seaaon, and find our greatest connection to our imaginations. My story would have worked in any season, but winter, in a crumbling city brought out the natural human instinct, (as I have seen it), to create.
So if you feel as I do, download my novel, light a fire if you have a fireplace, and join your new friends in a winter surge of creativity. Just go to My Books and follow the purchase links.
- Posted in: Miscellany
Ty Unglebower 