Are you SAD?

Or are you just ignoring your winter instincts? Plus, my Weekly What

This morning, as I scraped myself out of bed, I wondered why it has felt so hard to get up and going lately. Never one to pop out of bed with a song, motivation, especially in the morning, is nevertheless more challenging than usual.

Am I lazy?

Depressed?

Ahh, silly me, it’s ✨winter✨

That magical time of year when we don’t see the sun for days on end, full darkness encroaches by late afternoon, and it hurts my face to go outside!

I’ve finally recognized that every year around this time I start feeling “lazy”. Once spring hits I’ll get a fresh burst of energy and life will return to color (both literally and figuratively.) What I experience would likely be considered within the purview of seasonal affective disorder.

But you know what?

I reject that.

I don’t think the way I experience the winter months is disordered.

I think it’s a symptom of ignoring my biological instincts which insist the winter months are a time to slow down, rest, go to bed early and get more sleep. Wind down the day during the early evening hours when the sun sets. To stay inside where it’s warm and cozy, preferably accompanied by a hearty stack of books and maybe a fire, if we’re lucky.

I am meant to partake in a human form of hibernation, not ignore all of my instincts and soldier on as our non-stop world requires. My personal physiology is not the problem; the gap between what my body is asking for and what the world requires is the disorder.

I’m not sure of a solution here, but naming the problem is the first step, eh? In the meantime, I’ll be over here lighting candles, layering on blankets, and drinking copious amounts of tea as often as possible in an effort to ward off the cold of winter.

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Tell me:

• Do you have any winter routines/tips that help ease the seasonal side effects?

• How many days ‘til spring?

• Anything, let’s chat!

What I’m…

Reading

• I’ll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman. I have been a Kauffman fan since I read The Gunners in early 2019. Each of her stories are different, but all do a great job of exploring interpersonal dynamics among characters you can’t help but care for. I’ll Come to You is a slice of life family drama set over the course of a year beginning and ending at Christmas. I couldn’t help but gobble this up in a single day. If you enjoy Anne Tyler this one’s for you! Bookshop | LibroFM

• Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett. Haslett’s Mothers and Sons released last week; I’ve seen enough good buzz to add it to my library holds. I’ve not read any of his books before, but Imagine Me Gone caught my eye. When the library listing compared it to Joyce Maynard’s Count the Ways (which I LOVED) I decided to give it a read. Published in 2016 this Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist is a family saga exploring the generational reverberations of mental illness. It took me a little bit to really sink into this story, but by the end I was captivated. Bookshop | LibroFM

• The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison. Complimentary review copy provided by publisher. A story of a 70 year marriage beginning in the 1950s and up to present day set primarily on a small island off the coast of Washington state chronicling the ups and downs, heartache, love, evolution, and compromise shaping a lifelong partnership. It reminded me a bit of The Notebook. This is the second book I’ve read from Evison, the first being Again and Again, and I really enjoyed this story a lot more than the first. Evison’s style is not my favorite, it’s a little heavy handed with a lot of direct telling, though I think he’s a talented storyteller. Nevertheless I love a family drama and these two main characters really wormed their way into my heart. Bookshop | LibroFM

Listening

• The Favorites by Layne Fargo. Published this week, this modern Wuthering Heights retelling set in the world of ice dancing is undoubtedly the first big buzzy book of 2025. Structured as a present day documentary telling the story of a pop culture sports scandal primarily set in the aughts is gripping. Ambition, obsession, fame, passion, the rise and fall of celebrity, and the costs of it all. I haven’t cared this much about a sport since Carrie Soto is Back. Plot driven and frothy, the full cast audio is absolutely the way to go if you read this one! Bookshop | LibroFM

• Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show by Bethany Joy Lenz. I never watched One Tree Hill despite being the target audience for it, but I can’t resist a cult story and Lenz’ account of being an up and coming actress in the aughts while part of a high control religious based group is exactly what I hoped it would be. Bookshop | LibroFM

• Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey. Publishing 2/4, this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling from the author of The Snow Child. I saw a reader friend rave about this one and noted the Alaskan wilderness setting and was sold. I started it immediately on audio, the only format I had access to, and I think I would have had a better reading experience if I had waited for print. This reminded me how important circumstances are to reading experience. Bookshop | LibroFM

• Book Talk, Etc.: A Chat with Nadia from The Storygraph. As a fan of both Book Talk, Etc. and The Storygraph I loved listening to this chat about the behind the scenes of my favorite book app.

Watching

• The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga (Netflix). Hooooow am I not seeing more people watching this?! This three part series from the people that brought us such docu-gems as Tiger King and Wild Wild Country is quite possibly one of the most bizarre stories I’ve ever consumed. The truth really is stranger than fiction here and each episode somehow manages to get stranger and stranger. Elvis impersonators, black market organ trafficking, self-published crime novels, politics, message boards, conspiracy, a potential presidential assassination and more; this is a must watch.

• Silo, Season 2 (Apple TV). This is a really great sci-fi thriller/dystopian series based on Hugh Howey’s trilogy. I read the first two books, haven’t got around to the third, but I will! The first two seasons cover the first book of the trilogy, Wool, if you’d like to read before you watch!

Eating & Drinking

• Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup in the Instant Pot. I’ve made this before and it’s a super quick and delicious meatless meal. I like to add in a can of drained and rinsed beans. Also I don’t bother with frying the tortilla strips, though I’m sure that would be super delish! We just top with some crushed tortilla chips along with some cheese, sour cream, and pico de gallo.

• Instant Pot Chicken and Noodles was another quick, comforting meal this week. I added in 12 oz of frozen mixed veggies (green beans, carrots, corn, peas), a half a teaspoon each of onion powder and garlic powder, and an extra half cup of liquid, and it was a good one-pot meal! I served it with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese on top, I also think it would be good with some shredded cheese mixed in.

• I just made another batch of baked oatmeal

• Drinking Trader Joe’s Winter Wake Up tea on repeat

Links + Loves

• Like a good, patriotic American, I’m treating my sads with consumer goods. This week I purchased a second mug warmer for afternoon/evening tea purposes. I already shared the one I’ve used for years for my morning coffee. And I bought a new heated throw blanket as my old one gave up with much of winter still ahead.

• Diffusing Winter Wonderland and Snowflakes & Spruce on repeat. Both are cozy woodsy blends from Eden’s Garden perfect for this snowy January weather.

• Flannel sheets have officially hit the bed. A little treat I save for the coldest and darkest parts of winter.

• On a Mission From God: Inside the Movement to Redirect Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Private Religious Schools (ProPublica). This has been a real problem in Ohio and the blueprint is expanding to other (Republican controlled) states. It’s state sanctioned money laundering at the expense of public education, prove me wrong.

• Do you need 291 more books to add to your TBR?! No? Well, enjoy perusing Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025 anyway! Even I, of the perennially overflowing TBR, found plenty of exciting books in this roundup featuring big names like Emily Henry as well as small press releases unlikely to organically hit your radar anytime soon.

• As we sit on the precipice of another Trump administration, this time surely laden with even more darkness and corruption, I appreciated The Way of Water: On the Quiet Power of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Activism (Lit Hub). “There is a limit to what one person can do. In 2008, Le Guin was asked what gave her hope for the future. She answered, “The age, and the vastness, and the vast complexity of the earth and all its creatures. No matter how we try to cut it down to our size, we’ll fail; and in our failure lies our hope.””

• This insightful piece from

  Petya K. Grady
  is worth your attention: Reading in the Age of Digital Abundance.

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