Book Review·Storybook | A Winter Recipe: "Wintering" September October preparation, November Transit

In winter, you're never more than a few steps from darkness. - Katherine May, "Wintering"

I especially like to lie in bed at night and look at the moon outside the window. If I meet the fifteenth of the lunar calendar, the moon will be round and big, passing through the swirling leaves. Although I cannot see the outline of the moon, it is bright and dazzling, and the moon will set later. , and can see twinkling stars among the swirling leaves. In Germany, the longest daytime in summer is after 10:30 in the evening, so when you can see the above scenes, it is often almost winter.

Winter is a strange season. I like it so much, however, it's cold, monotonous, frozen and has a sense of distance everywhere. Katherine May's Wintering is a book that can help a lot. She uses the word winter as a verb to tell us directly that everyone experiences winter in their lives and there is nothing to be afraid of. Learning to winter emotionally and to warm yourself when emotionally cold is what Katherine talks about in her book and what I have learned from counseling over the years.

Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year. Many people experience different degrees of winter blues in winter. In northern Europe or northern European countries, this kind of winter blues is quite common. The solution is artificial. of simulated daytime lights and more. The author focuses on such a season and lets readers know from different angles that whether it is people, animals or plants, they all have their own ways to spend the winter. Sometimes, people's mood enters winter, frozen and helpless. In fact, we forget to add a piece of clothing to ourselves, pour a cup of hot tea, take a hot bath, and read in the long dark night when the winter is cold. A favorite book or a short story, everything here can bring a touch of warmth like the spring breeze .

I was born in a snowy day. Although I have lived in several southern tropical cities, I still go all the way north, but the snow is getting less and less. Global warming, because of the heavy snow in our childhood memory that it is difficult to walk or slide, there are only a few in ten years, and the days of snow are getting later and later, and even the white Christmas is rare to see in January and February. Speaking of which, Germany is different from northern China. In the north, when the New Year is over in February, it is the beginning of spring. According to the solar terms, the beginning of spring is really the beginning of spring. Germany is indeed a lot later, and it only snows in February for two or three years in a row. It does give me more time to appreciate the colorfulness of autumn.

We often see in literature that life is likened to the four seasons, saying that childhood is spring, then young adults are summer, middle age is autumn, and finally entering old age is like entering a severe winter. I used to agree, but after reading this book, I disagree. Anyone's life can enter winter anytime, anywhere, and each of us will inevitably be wintering. Recently, in addition to reading a lot of horror stories and novels in the Halloween season, I just read some dark works, which are related to suicide, such as suicide. No matter how old or young, suicide will not be avoided because of different ages. Invade a sad mind. Therefore, learning wintering is particularly important.

I like how the book Wintering is structured - it's chapters by month. September is the beginning of the preface, October and November are the transition period from autumn to winter, and it has been written until March, and as mentioned above, the subtitle "SNOW" is included in the February chapter. This kind of structure makes me relax a lot, I can read one chapter a month, and I can have this book to accompany me through the long winter in March next year.

 All this life -- all this survival -- in the deepest cold. 
--Katherine May

Katherine May's writing is very beautiful. There are often golden sentences I like in the text. Many beautiful and inspiring sentences can stay in my mind, and it seems that the yellow leaves outside the window have more time to stay among the trees. . So interesting, a sentence is so beautiful and has so many effects.

I put this phrase "all this survival" in 👆 because the author mentioned in the chapters of September and October that many people think that in winter, when the leaves of plants fall, it is the months when animals hibernate and plants die. Undoubtedly, it has cast a dead color on winter. However, the fallen leaves at the roots of the "dead" plants are the best food for plants to sprout in spring, and more energy is stored to welcome another round of spring. If winter is not associated with death, then what a good poised to go!

The author writes that whenever I am at a low point in my life, I like to go all the way north. After all, we often apply ice to the wound after the injury, so why can't the emotional "injury" go all the way to the north and use the ice and snow to heal the wound? I love so much. The following 👇 excerpts some golden sentences in the chapters of September, October and November to share with readers-

 We must learn to invite the winter in.

In the moments of helplessness, I always seem to travel north. 

I love the revolutions that winter brings. 

Amid the transformation of winter - the unwelcome change - is an abundance of life.

The starkness of winter can reveal colours that we would otherwise miss. 

Life goes on, abundantly, in winter, and this is where changes are made that usher us into future glories.