This is the hard part of winter for me.  Happy Winter starts right after Thanksgiving and stays happy all the way through New Years.  Then Blah Winter moves in.  It’s dreary, cloudy, cold, and snowy.  I need some strategies for staying happy during Blah Winter (that don’t include a tropical island).

My mom used to say that February wasn’t good for anything except for reading a good book.  She would break her usual busy routine in February and spend a few afternoons on the couch with a novel.

I’m more of a non-fiction girl myself.  Almost all the books on my shelves and Kindle are Christian Living/Spiritual Growth/Memoire/Theology.  Maybe it’s because I’ve read a few poorly written novels that fiction doesn’t excite me.  I’m ready to change all that.  February isn’t good for much of anything except for reading a good novel, that’s what I say.

But I need help.  I want a big book with hundreds of pages.  I want beautiful writing that makes me copy parts in my journal.  I want a story that’s compelling, uplifting and inspiring.  I want characters that are so real I think about them all day.  I want to be so swept up that I stay awake past 9:00 p.m. for one more chapter.  I want to cry.  And laugh. I don’t care if it is on the current best seller list, or if it was written a century or two ago.  I don’t want fluff,  predictable storylines or shallow characters.  I don’t want a lot of sex and violence and vulgar language.

I want to remember February 2015 as the month I read a great story.

Am I asking too much?  Is my dream novel out there somewhere?  Help me please!  I’m asking for suggestions!