I remember my mother saying that February wasn’t good for anything except reading a book. I’ve adopted that same philosophy, but expanded it to include January and March. Gloomy winter days and cold dark nights are especially conducive to knocking titles off my To Be Read list and moving them to my Books Read notebook.

I’ve been listing books since 2004. There are enough pages in my notebook to keep recording titles until 2059. I’ll be 100 years old. I like to plan ahead.

2017 has gotten off to a brisk start. Here’s what has been on the bookshelf in January:

• The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gains — their love story and their rise to fame. They have somehow stayed humble and appreciative. Inspiring.
• Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry — the first of Berry’s “Port Williams” series of stories. Wendell didn’t know it would turn into a series when he wrote this. I’m glad he kept going.
• Watch For the Light: Readings for Advent — this compilation of readings continued into January. It was nice to extend Christmas through Epiphany.
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte — somehow I made it through sixteen years of education without reading this book. I listened to the free audio version by LibriVox, complete with Elizabeth Klett’s English accent.
• The Art of Slow Writing by Louise De Salvo — I’m a slow writer. Now I know it’s an art.
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows — purely for fun. So delightful. I wanna go to Guernsey.
• Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry — my heart just swelled typing this title. Oh Wendell. I wish you could come over for dinner and talk about Troy and Mattie and Burley. And, of course, Jayber.

Happy winter reading!