Winter, and other things;

Oh, Winter. Trees are bare, skies are grey, my fingers are blue and my toes are icicles. What a glorious season...

As you can probably tell Winter is not my favourite time of year. I live in a warm climate and Winter often comes fast and without warning. Well, there is plenty of warning but I never take any notice. Winter has one redeeming quality: it provides the ideal atmosphere for reading, especially at night. You know the atmosphere: blankets, hot drink of choice (I often go with hot chocolate or green tea at night, coffee in the mornings), layers of clothing, a lamp, hot water bottles, fire, heaters etc. I haven't been able to enjoy that as of yet, due to exam preparation, exams and other things that took up my time but now I have six weeks off and can read till my heart is content. 

Usually I have lists for each season, and what I think would be good novels/plays/etc to read in different seasons but this year I've just thrown all plans out the window and it's worked out well for me so far. I do want to get to two books this Winter though, and post about them on here. I've been thinking of doing an Aeneid/the Divine Comedy comparison read for a while now. I haven't read the Aeneid before (I know) and from what I have read of the Divine Comedy, I think it would be a good piece to read before I start my new copy of the Divine Comedy. This year I've pretty much only been reading plays/essays/poetry from the Ancient World and the Aeneid is next on my list. As well as reading them I want to split the Aeneid into sections so I can review it in depth. In my copy there are ten books, so ten posts plus a final review of the Aeneid as a whole. I haven't worked out how I'm going to review the Divine Comedy, probably in three sections and then a final review. That should take me all Winter, and possibly a little longer due to other commitments. I am planning to start the Aeneid straight after I have finished Hippolytus by Euripides. So definitely in the next week. Alongside the Aeneid/Divine Comedy I plan to read various plays/novels/poetry to balance my reading. I don't want to burn myself out with epics! I'm not sure which novels I'll pick up but I have a few in mind. I'll just see where the wind takes me. 

Also, Austen in August, hosted by Adam, is coming up towards the end of Winter and I want to read at least one Austen novel for that. I read Persuasion, Emma (only one in August), Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey last year, but Sense and Sensibility was a failed read - I just couldn't get into it. I think this August I might read Mansfield Park but I wont be making any solid plans in case they don't work out. 

Hope you're all having a lovely reading season so far (Summer for my readers in the Northern Hemisphere - which is most of you I would think).