I am in the midst of my usual Sunday R & R (i.e. not getting dressed until the afternoon, and sitting in bed a lot) but this week I feel as though I have an excuse because it is FREEZING outside (and, I might add, inside) and there is snow on the ground. It is March 18th, what has happened, is the world insane etc etc (obviously yes is the answer to that last part).
I have a constant argument with my boyfriend that flares up every thirteen weeks or so about the definition of the seasons. I prefer the meterological seasons that correspond with ACTUAL WEATHER PATTERNS that say spring begins on March 1st (then summer on June 1st, autumn on September 1st, and winter on December 1st), whereas he prefers to go by the equinoxes and solstices because, I don't know, pagan? Annoyingly, in the case of this spring, I can only agree with his definition, and hope that Tuesday will genuinely bring the start of spring.
On that note, and with a great deal of hopefulness, here are my possible potential maybe reads for spring!
NW by Zadie Smith: Reading Zadie's books stresses me out because she hasn't written that many and I only discovered her last year and WAH. In order to chill the fuck out about this, I'm going to read another one of her books. That THAT, me.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: This book keeps popping up into my line of sight every so often, but I still don't really know what it's about? I'm going to remedy that in the near future.
Lamb by Christopher Moore: Is there a better time to read a book about Jesus (kinda...) than Easter? I think not.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami: I haven't read a book by Murakami all year, which is obviously ridiculous, so here is the remedy to that. I believe this is short stories, but I made this pile so long ago now that I can't say for sure. Regardless, it's Murakami so it basically has to be good, right?
Human Acts by Han Kang: I really enjoyed The Vegetarian last year, so hoping for similarly excellent things from this one by Kang. It gets bonus points for not being too heavy to carry round with me.
At Home by Bill Bryson: This one I cannot carry round with me, but I miss Bill so it seems like a good time to read At Home. At home, obviously.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: I have had this book for the longest time and I really need to read some of the classics that I always buy, so I guess I'll start with Edith. I have read none of her books ever, so this will either be a horrible slog or a pleasant surprise!
The Collected Stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle: I really prefer when he goes by T C Boyle... Anyway... I have had this on my shelves for approximately as long as I had Talk Talk, so seizing on the excellence that was that book, I'm going to tackle this one soon too. Short stories ftw, amiright?
The Nagano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami: As with Kang, I read one of Kawakami's books last year and it was very moving and lovely so I'm hoping for great things from this one too.
The Homemaker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher: It's a persephone book and therefore has to be good! The end.
Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer: I wish I knew how to quit JSF, but his prose keeps me coming back even when I am really not into his narrative. I'm hoping here he has perfected the latter, WE SHALL SEE.
And those are pretty much my plans. At my current rate of reading these will take about a month and a half, so it's not my whole spring, but still. It's a start.
Have you read any of these? And what are your thoughts on the start date of spring? You gotta tell me, but only if you agree with meeeeeee.
I'm with you, the first day of each quarter. You certainly can't do it by the weather and as for equinoxes etc, that's just a load of mumbo jumbo. Historically we are more likely to get snow in February and March than in the 'proper' winter months.
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