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The 1st day of winter
“How can those who do not garden, who have no lot in the great fraternity of those who watch the changing year as it affects the earth and its growth, how can they keep warm their hearts in winter?”
Francis King
The solstice occurred this morning, specifically at 3:02 A.M. here in the Denver metro area, thus marking the return of winter.
Winter, the dreariest of the seasons, is the time of year when the weak sunlight provides little warmth and the bare branches of trees look like cold skeletal fingers clawing at the low, grey clouds scudding overhead. The days are short, the nights are long and the outside world is eerily still and quiet. As you can see, I am not a fan of this season.
One of the bloggers I follow, Ann Althouse, calls the 15 days before and the 15 days after the winter solstice the “dark month”. By her reckoning, this year the dark month started on Dec 6th and ends on Jan 5th. After that the world begins to brighten.
I have a different method of reckoning. I label the time period from 30 days before the winter solstice to the 30 days after as “deep winter”. So, by my reckoning, this year “deep” winter goes from November 21st to January 20th. After that we move into what I call “mid-winter”.
(Conversely, I call the 30 days before and the 30 days after the summer solstice “high summer”, when the sunlight is at its brightest and the days are the longest of the year).
I think this desire to mark the beginning and end to the darkest period of the year is harkens back to our ancient ancestors, who created impressive celestial calendars in order to track when the sun would begin its northern ascent once again. Stonehenge and Chaco Canyon (to name a couple) were designed and built to mark when the solstices and equinoxes occurred. For the ancients, these events had both practical and spiritual meanings.
For modern humans, who mark time by the month, day, hour and minute instead of by the seasons, the winter solstice has lost such powerful importance. But even today the solstice still denotes a turning point for us. Over the past six months the days have been growing ever shorter. But now that we’ve passed the solstice, the days gradually lengthen until they reach their zenith on June 21st, 2021.
This change will be imperceptible at first, but as “deep” winter slowly rolls over into mid-winter, the shift will become ever more obvious and the darkest part of the year will become once again but a memory.
Well, at least until the next winter solstice.
“the summer chair
Jack Kerouac
rocking by itself
in the blizzard”
Book review: Peace Talks & Battleground (Harry Dresden novels #16 & # 17)
I’m going to review Jim Butcher’s “Peace Talks” and “Battle Ground” together, because they are basically one book broken into two halves. This is unusual for Mr. Butcher, as all of his other Dresden books have been stand alone novels. Apparently, after a six year hiatus, the author had so much to say he couldn’t put it all into one book.
I am a big fan of the Dresden stories, and these books are no exception. Generally speaking these are both fun and entertaining reads.
BUUTTT, in my opinion, neither one is among the top 10 of the Dresdenverse novels (these two are books 16 & 17 in the series). There is just something off about these two books, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It still features the wisecracking wizard from Chicago and all his fascinating friends, allies and enemies, but the spark that filled the earlier novels for whatever reason just seems to be missing.
Peace Talks is primarily exposition to setup Battle Ground, and thus is somewhat slow going. Battle Ground, on the other hand is almost all action scenes, and to be honest, after awhile it gets boring and repetitive. It reminded me of the lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan near the end of Revenge of the Sith: it just goes on and on and on, and starts to become tedious.
It is my understanding that Mr. Butcher’s life has gone through a lot of upheaval since he last published a Dresden novel (Skin Game) in 2014. Divorce, new marriage, kid grew up and he had a house built that apparently turned into an ordeal. Perhaps, with all that going on, he just burned out on writing his Dresden novels.
Or perhaps the issue is me. Ever have a craving for something that you can’t satisfy immediately? Say it’s a restaurant that you used to visit a lot, but for whatever reason you just can’t get to right now. In your mind you remember it as the best food you ever ate. Months go by and your craving gets worse, while the memory of how awesome the food was gets more intense. Finally, you are able to go to said restaurant. Whereupon you discover that while the food is very good, it’s just not quite amazing as your fickle mind remembered. Is that what happened to me with these two books? I don’t know.
I’m still looking forward to the next Dresden novel, as long as it doesn’t take another 6 years to arrive. If you are a fan of Harry Dresden, Peace Talks and Battle Ground are worth reading. Just be aware that there’s a possibility that they might not meet your expectations.
If you haven’t ever read a Dresden novel and you love fantasy novels, then I recommend you rush out and pick up Fool Moon, the first in the Dresden series. Excellent book!
Posted in Book Reviews, Books
Tagged Battle Ground, Book review, Harry Dresden, Peace Talks
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