North to the Future: An Offline Adventure Through the Changing Wilds of Alaska by Ben Weissenbach
Young journalist Ben Weissenbach, when not scrolling on his phone, is fascinated by Alaska. At 20, he spent the summer of 2019 with climate scientist and adventurer Roman Dial trekking across the eastern Brooks Range. During another trip to Alaska he experienced an Arctic winter fortnight on Kenji Yohikawa’s off-grid cabin near Fairbanks, tending to his reindeer. Ben also flew over part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with glaciologist Matt Nolan, occasionally dealing with smoke-filled skies.
The longest section of the book is about a hiking and pack rafting expedition in the Western Brooks Range in 2021, led by Roman Dial, studying the spread of spruce trees in the Arctic. Many adventures and misadventures are described, including encounters with wolves and grizzly bears, along with his struggle as to simply be present in the amazing expanse of Alaska. I very much enjoy the combination of real-life adventure, travel, science, and memoir, and look forward to reading what he’s up to next.
Another welcome cozy holiday mystery by Andrews, in the much-loved Meg Langslow series. Meg and her family live near Caerphilly, Virginia, and her parents and other relatives live nearby. Meg’s mother has a large extended family who are descending on Caerphilly the weekend before Christmas for two family weddings. Cousins Lexy and Emily are both getting married at Trinity Episcopal Church and have receptions planned for the lovely Caerphilly Inn. But this is definitely not a double wedding. The cousins have different styles and color schemes and won’t even agree to share a room at the inn to display their wedding gifts. Emily has also chosen a bridesmaid who used to date Lexy’s fiancé. Unfortunately, Meg is hosting some of the wedding party at her house, and they are being rude to both her mother and her favorite cousin, Rose Noire.
Meg’s husband and grandfather keep the kids amused at the local zoo, including zoo sleepovers, but even the kids are arguing with each other, over an upcoming holiday musical. When Meg finds a dead body with a connection to both wedding parties, she has to work fast to make sure the weddings can proceed as planned. I liked the connection to the first book in the series: Murder, With Peacocks, where Meg is the maid of honor for three summer weddings and has to arrange many of the details, such as getting the brides to select their wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses. I always enjoy this series, and especially appreciate the humor and Meg’s large, lovably quirky family. Enjoy!
How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz, PhD
I finished reading this book the first week of January, during our coldest stretch of winter so far. I’ve tried to get outside for more seasonal activities this winter, as I wasn’t looking forward to the dark and cold. We’ve had a few snows, but not enough to shovel, or to sled, snowshoe, or cross-country ski. The author grew up in New Jersey, then went south to Atlanta for college, where she studied psychology.
Wanting to study winter mindsets, she headed to the University of Tromso, in northern Norway, where winter is embraced, even during the long polar night. She has since spent time in winter in Finland, Amsterdam, Iceland, the Hebrides off the northwest coast of Scotland, Yamagata, Japan, and Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada. Being active outdoors in winter is covered, as is being cozy indoors, exemplified by the Scandinavian concept of hygge. She learned that a positive winter mindset can help, along with the right clothing and footwear, local winter-themed activities and festivals to attend, but also infrastructure such as heated sidewalks, lighted ski trails, plowed bike lanes and streets. For coziness, candles, fires, heated patios with blankets, saunas, hot baths, and for outdoors, even winter swimming. The author also discusses climate change and how that’s affecting cities and regions that embrace winter. I live in the Midwest and observed less snow overall and fewer days for activities like sledding and snowshoeing. If you don’t live in a snowy area, the author encourages winter tourism, which is promoted by the Twin Cities in Minnesota and in Edmonton, Alberta.
This is an engaging, worthwhile read. I don’t know if it’s changed my winter mindset, but I have been appreciating winter skies and scenery more, and find that going for a walk on a chilly day can be invigorating and pleasant, but am still avoiding outdoor activities on very cold days or nights. I did learn that sandhill cranes are still migrating south in early January; perhaps I haven’t been outside enough in past years to hear their distinctive calls. I have also enjoyed more evenings with a group of LED candles adding ambience, even while doing a little garden planning for spring.
This is not your typical light and fluffy Christmas romance. It’s very heartfelt holiday novel, even a bit of a tearjerker, and very hard to put down. The author has been through some loss and her writing here is richer and deeper than her popular Moose Springs, Alaska trilogy, beginning with The Tourist Attraction.
In northern Idaho, recently divorced rancher Sienna Naples is embarrassed when her friend Jess places an ad in the local paper: Husband for Hire, with excellent medical benefits. She kept her family’s large ranch in the mountains in the divorce, but has only a mule, a horse, two donkeys and her older dog Barley to care for a herd of 63 cattle. She can certainly use help on the ranch, but not another husband. Then Jess says they’ve sent an applicant to meet her at the local coffee shop. When Sienna meets Montanan Guy, he’s most interested in the medical benefits the ad mentioned, as his little girl, Emma, has some serious health issues. When Sienna meets the adorable 4-year-old Emma, and her dog Barley falls hard for her, she is stunned to find herself offering a marriage of convenience.
Guy does chores on the ranch when not working construction in town. Christmas is a big deal in Caney Falls, and he’s helping build an enormous walk-through snow globe. The three of them have a magical time enjoying it, though Emma wants to be just like the other kids.
Sienna’s ex, Micah, will be no reader’s favorite character, but he’s a surprisingly complex one. Micah even helps out when Sienna’s elderly father, who has dementia, takes a turn for the worse. This slow-burn romance is joyful, briefly funny, heartwarming, and occasionally achingly sad. I found this to be a compelling and memorable read. Robyn Carr is a good readalike.
The dedication for this book is to Dan dos Santos, the painter of the striking book jacket art featuring Mercy, holding a fancy and very unusual lyre. Mercy, a shape shifter, is still hurting and usually has a headache resulting from the events in Soul Taken. I read Soul Taken in 2022 but only remember Italy and a very strong and wicked vampire.
Mercy’s half-brother Gary, also the son of Coyote, shows up on a snowy night and can’t talk or write. Mercy and Adam, her werewolf husband, head to a ranch in rural Montana where Gary was working. They encounter a mammoth blizzard, caused by Ymir, a frost giant. At a lodge nearby they find most of a wedding party and some more supernatural beings. The lyre, or perhaps a harp, must be found. Also, the wedding needs to happen as scheduled, on the winter solstice by the nearby hot spring. The groom is still a couple of states away due to the blizzard.
Mercy investigates, Adam tries to protect her, and a silver spider gets involved along with Jack, a ghost. This is not the Mercy Thompson book to start with, but if you’re already acquainted with Mercy and the Tri-Cities werewolves, it may be hard to put down.
Book Girl & Little Bear 