Well this has been an especially hard winter for us here in the Northland. The Polar Vortex has retreated but may very well return this week. The weather has left us battered and tired. Some of our cars couldn't handle it. Maybe your water pipes burst. Our muscles are tense from walking hunched up in the cold. Our backs are tired from shoveling. We walk gingerly over the ice, dreading a fall. The holidays are over, it is cold and dark. Time to get away-someplace warm, and sunny, with feet in the sand and a beverage in hand.
Do a Google search for "books set in warm climates" and you will get all kinds of hits. Lots of us can't get away so we become armchair travelers. I enjoy a book that immerses me in its location. I want heat, heat and more heat.One of my favorites for this is Ann Rice's 'The Witching Hour'.Anne Rice is from New Orleans and she does a perfect job of bringing the reader there. The humidity, the lush foliage, a decaying house in the Garden District. After reading this book I decided I would like to go to New Orleans. When I got there, I was not disappointed. It is just as she describes it.
For a more familiar story, I love the classic 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Harper Lee immediately puts you in that small town in Alabama during the Depression. It evokes childhood memories of playing hide-and-seek as dusk falls,or sitting on the porch into the evening, listening to the grown-ups talk over things you did not understand.
Any of M.M. Kaye's books set in India will take you to exotic places. Jimmy Buffet writes books set in the Islands. Isak Dinesen's 'Out of Africa' , both the book and the movie, if you crave a safari. 'The Descendants', book and movie, if Hawaii is more your thing.
So brew a cup of tea, take a hot shower, or better yet bath. Soothe those cold, aching muscles. It will all be over soon, and in the meantime, you can go wherever you want. Just stop at the library first.
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