Reviews & Views: Chilling with books on a snowy evening

Happy New Year — though as I write this, it’s cold, icy, and treacherous to walk even to the car, and we’re cooped up inside. As our spirits waver and our resolve to keep resolutions falters, why not embrace some reads to match our January weather in its bracing message of toughing things out, as befits a New Englander?

First up: “Frostlines: A Journey Through Entangled Lives and Landscapes in a Warming Arctic” by Neil Shea (Ecco). How can you resist a book about living with a wolf pack in Canada’s Great White North, or traveling with Indigenous peoples to understand the impact of a changing climate? Shea does this and more with his gripping account of ranging this land and realizing how rich and different its regions are. As Canada seems to resonate with our imagination this time of year, “Fireflies in Winter” by Eleanor Shearer (Berkley) is a fantastic novel about two women of color in 1800s Nova Scotia searching for lost family, a home, and a future in a bleak yet beautiful landscape. For younger readers, “Into the Wilderness” by Haven Iverson, illustrated by August Zhang (Roaring Brook, ages 3-7), is an inspiring picture book of one child’s annual family hiking trips and their growing sense of independence, navigation, and appreciation of how precious those experiences can be.

Embracing this weather is easier when you have a plan, as suggested by Erin Niimi Longhurst in “The Pleasures of Wintering” (Chronicle), a lovely book full of rituals and traditions.

Getting out will do you much better than staying in your pajamas all day, so why not seize on our proximity to so many historical America 250th birthday sites of interest? “Boston 1776: A Rogue Tour of Revolution City” by J.D. Dickey (Diversion) is a wonderfully illustrated and researched neighborhood-based guide to history. For a modern-day view, “Bernie For Burlington: The Rise of the People’s Politician” by Dan Chiasson (Knopf) is a long read but worth it. A Burlington local focuses on the relationship between Sanders and the author’s hometown with illustrations and insights into the man and his adopted city — a great political biography, a defense of Democratic Socialism, and full of Green Mountain State lore.

“5-Ingredient Mediterranean Cookbook: Amazing Healthy Quick-Fix Meals” by Editors of the Harvard Common Press (Harvard Common Press) is a cookbook I can’t wait to get. When the weather outside makes a fresh local dish impossible, it’s lovely to turn to an easy fix for a delicious meal.

“A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out” by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Yas Imamura (Random), is a terrific account of the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on the Indonesian archipelago, which blanketed the world in ash. Another classic children’s book inspired by a cataclysmic natural event is “The Twenty-One Balloons” by William Pène du Bois (Puffin Books), a steampunk tale of an adventurer who lands on Krakatoa in search of treasure, only to find it blowing up. This is a great read-aloud with many cliffhangers, which long ago won the Newbery and made generations of children long to travel by balloon.

“Weathering Change: Seeking Peace Amid Life’s Tough Transitions” by Courtney Ellis (IVP) is a way to improve life by noting the bellwether changes that creep up on us, sometimes without warning. I find my small community helpful at these times, and “Good Friends: Bonds That Change Us and the World” by Priya Vulchi (Legacy Lit) shows us how important a friend can be, for both players on either side of need. “Nightfaring: In Search of the Disappearing Darkness” by Megan Eaves-Egenes (Grand Central) reminds us that the absence of light is not always bad, especially for the environment and creatures that flourish in the dark. 

I often watch the squirrels in my back garden make the best of things no matter the weather. These brave beasties shine in “Squirrel: How a Backyard Forager Shapes Our World” by Nancy Castaldo (Island). “I Know How to Draw an Owl” by Hilary Horder Hippely, illustrated by Matt James (Holiday), is a picture book that conveys another message of resilience. A young girl’s sketch of an owl draws a teacher’s attention for its keenly observed beauty. How did Belle capture it? She doesn’t want to confess that she lives in her mother’s car and every night an owl’s hooting comforts her and others. What can adults do to help in these circumstances? I turned to “Hidden Talent: How to Employ Refugees, the Formerly Incarcerated & People With Disabilities” by David DeLong (Longstone Press), one of Acton’s most thoughtful writers. It is an inspiring and practical guide to assisting some of our forgotten or persecuted neighbors.

For a purely entertaining break, I recommend Susie Dent’s “Guilty By Definition” (Sourcebooks Landmark), a witty mystery by one of the world’s foremost lexicographers of English, the first in a welcome series. Also, try reading a classic Agatha Christie, “The Seven Dials Mystery,” and watch the new adaptation on Netflix. If you don’t relish Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Cheltenham, you can watch the old “Mystery!” production from the ’80s on PBS Passport with Sir John Gielgud as Lord Cheltenham (gender swap) and debate their respective strengths.