{"id":2239,"date":"2019-12-05T00:35:49","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T00:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=2239"},"modified":"2024-08-05T17:23:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T17:23:42","slug":"winter-books","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/the-words-december-2019\/winter-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Whisper"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ash Ma ’21<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Book<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

December wind is lurking in the corner. The campus is covered by a thin layer of snow, soft and fragile. Hot chocolate runs out faster than usual, but the English department lounge never runs out of the warm small talk and light-hearted laughter. Books, a commonly brought up topic by our dear students and staff, are also immersed in the winter vibe. So here is a question for y\u2019all: What is your favorite winter book? How do you define a winter book? If nothing comes up off the top of your head, check out others\u2019 responses below and get inspired! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our department chair, Andrea Kaston Tange, was microwaving a homemade noodle dish in the lounge, so I luckily was able to talk with her. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWinter books? That\u2019s a great question! Can it be something I\u2019m currently reading?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor sure.\u201d I took out my notepad and got ready to jot down her words.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/span>The Book of Delights<\/span><\/i> by Ross Gay, and he is coming to campus in February.\u201d Andrea was excited, \u201cThe book is a collection of short lyric essays, discussing something that is emotionally hard, things that are difficult to talk about. It reminds me of the pleasure of celebrating the ordinary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt must be a comfort in this weather.\u201d I was intrigued by its genre. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuch a relief!\u201d Andrea praised. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another day, I caught Professor Matt Burgess off guard while he was standing by the printer, trying to print class materials.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Into<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s do<\/span> Dublin Murder Squad Series<\/span><\/i>,\u201d after a five-minute closing-eye meditation he finally made his choice, \u201cBy Tana French. And \u2018Dublin\u2019 not \u2018doubling.\u2019\u201d  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy do you like it? Is it an easy read?\u201d I asked while correcting my spelling.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause this is the exact series of books that excuses you from leaving the house.\u201d Professor Burgess gave his definition and walked away. When he set his foot out of the workroom he turned around, \u201cYou distracted me long enough to forget my errand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He absolutely has a point here \u2014 I mean, who wants to be away from the cozy warm house at the year-end? Although the murders in the book might give you even more of a chill… <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then put Laura Berglund \u201920, one of our Senior Co-Editors at The Words<\/em>, on the spot. She replied by saying, \u201cHmm\u2026 it’s hard to choose just one.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cName as many as you want,\u201d I said. Later, I received her answer via email. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"One<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn general, I like to dig into longer books over breaks. I’ve read <\/span>One Hundred Years of Solitude<\/span><\/i> by Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez and <\/span>David Copperfield<\/span><\/i> by Charles Dickens. Both books were great for reading a few pages each day, and their mysteriousness and drama definitely have a cold, dark winter vibe. It can also be a really fun way to bond and stay in touch with friends \u2014 which was definitely my experience with <\/span>David Copperfield<\/span><\/i>. For any Copperfield heads out there, for years a friend and I have included \u2018Steerforth you\u2019re the guiding star of my existence\u2019 in our collection of go-to salutations. And there’s even a BBC adaptation starring a young Daniel Radcliffe and Maggie Smith!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can tell how excited she is from this detailed and sincere reply, right? I\u2019ve tried to push through <\/span>One Hundred Years of Solitude<\/span><\/i>, but that has been a failure. Maybe this winter break is a wonderful time for me to re-challenge myself. Thanks for reminding me of the literary giants on my must-read list, Laura! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our sweetest department coordinator Jan Beebe also replied to my email, but she wasn\u2019t able to choose between three books as her favorite. That\u2019s totally legit since there are SO MANY GOOD BOOKS in the world! Jan\u2019s winter books are <\/span>Nightingale <\/span><\/i>by Kristin Hannah, <\/span>All the Light We Cannot See<\/span><\/i> by Anthony Doerr, and <\/span>The Goldfinch<\/span><\/i> by Donna Tartt. She has fond memories with all three books of being wrapped up in a blanket or in front of the fire enjoying the journeys that each book took her on.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling inspired? Want to accumulate reading experiences in this drowsy weather? Grab a book from the reading room shelves and make yourself a cup of hot chocolate here in the English department. Do it today!   <\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ash Ma ’21 December wind is lurking in the corner. The campus is covered by a thin layer of snow, soft and fragile. Hot chocolate runs out faster than usual, but the English department lounge never runs out of the warm small talk and light-hearted laughter. Books, a commonly brought up topic by our […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":2274,"parent":2221,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2239","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2239"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7549,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2239\/revisions\/7549"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}