Hello hello, and welcome to Episode 103 of Life On the Brink!
As we approach Christmas day, we're entering into that season where the cold (and sometimes rain) draw us indoors and the need for cozy hobbies becomes more and more apparent. What's more cozy than curling up on the couch with a mug of tea and the perfect wintry book? Sometimes the right book finds you at just the right time and creates a magical space where the hours can pass by as you're drawn into a beautiful story. Today I hope to help create just that!
In this episode I'm sharing my cozy reading recommendations for winter and the Christmas season. I've included both fiction and nonfiction, and every book on this list is heartwarming and comforting and perfect for this December and beyond.
Plus, this week's Little Joy is magical musical moment, and I'm sharing my all-time favorite holiday movie soundtrack.
For the complete show notes, click here!
For full transcript, click here!
Site: lifeonthebrink.live
Social: @anna_on_the_keys
Hello hello, and welcome to Episode 103 of Life On the Brink!
As we approach Christmas day, we're entering into that season where the cold (and sometimes rain) draw us indoors and the need for cozy hobbies becomes more and more apparent. What's more cozy than curling up on the couch with a mug of tea and the perfect wintry book? Sometimes the right book finds you at just the right time and creates a magical space where the hours can pass by as you're drawn into a beautiful story. Today I hope to help create just that!
In this episode I'm sharing my cozy reading recommendations for winter and the Christmas season. I've included both fiction and nonfiction, and every book on this list is heartwarming and comforting and perfect for this December and beyond.
Plus, this week's Little Joy is magical musical moment, and I'm sharing my all-time favorite holiday movie soundtrack.
For the complete show notes, click here!
For full transcript, click here!
Site: lifeonthebrink.live
Social: @anna_on_the_keys
Welcome to Life on the brink, a lovely little place filled with inspiration and creativity that is dedicated to enjoying life one day at a time. I'm Ana, and together, we're exploring the beautiful things in this world that fascinate us. And often discovering something new. Hello, my friend, welcome to episode 103 of life on the brink of you having a very nice morning or evening or whenever you're listening to this, it's morning for me. And it's fortunately a really clear blue sky day, but quite cold. It's been getting very chilly. And today's episode is about something that is just perfect for those really chilly days, even the rainy ones we've have had some rain this week as well. We're talking about books, I tend to share a lot about books in the spring and in the fall and sometimes in the summer. But I kind of neglect the winter probably just because winter arrives in the middle of Christmas time. And I don't always have a plan for reading. Especially since with the new year. It begins a new reading goal for me. And so sometimes it's a little more disjointed and I ended up just sort of starting fresh at the beginning of the year. But over the past few years I have collected some really really nice Christmassy and wintery books that are simple to read, comforting some fiction, some nonfiction, and so I wanted to share some of them with you today. This week, I have finally finished the Christmas decorations that I have right now. The tree is fully decorated. And I've gotten my Christmas tea set and I got a nice green flannel tablecloth for the table. And yeah, it looks fully cozy and Christmassy last night I was just sitting in the living room after it was probably around 530. So you know, totally dark outside. And Josh was on the couch with me and I just looked around I said It's so cozy in here. And the only thing that will make it more so as we do have a fireplace but we haven't used it yet. Because the inspector told us when we bought this house that it definitely needs to be swept like chimney sweep swept. And I know nothing about chimneys or chimney sweeps. And so I need to find a good one in the area to sweep the chimney so that hopefully we can have some some fire it is wood burning. So I don't know this is all new to me. But like how cozy and picturesque would that be? So before we jump into this list today, I'll invite you to join me by making a cup of tea or something nice and warming. I have made hot chocolate twice in the past week. It's gone pretty well. I haven't really been measuring just been going off of taste and so it's gone pretty well. But now I have I've kind of been enjoying Kim a meal in a way that I never have before. I don't know if that's just the pregnancy talking. But I bought a box of Twinings chamomile, honey and vanilla. And it's so nice because it's caffeine free, I don't have to think about the caffeine. And I love the vanilla with it. So it's been my my little light tea sometimes in the morning, but you know, obviously mostly in the evening, but it's yummy. So whatever it is that you like, or maybe your hot coffee. I have had some nice coffee this week as well. It's just been a good week for hot drinks, honestly. And today we got to get extra cozy because we're talking about books and all of these are let me look at the list. Yeah, all of them are just perfect for curling up on the couch getting under a blanket, having your tea nearby and just letting the hours pass. So also ideal for like maybe your Christmas break. I have like a week and two days or so until my my like break break when I can finally like huh, but these are perfect for that as well. Some of them are a little more lengthy, but many of them are quite short as well. So you can easily read one or two over your Christmas break. All right, so I have eight books here three nonfiction, five fiction looks like and the first two I'm going to share you know immediately because I have spoken about them before in entire episodes. In fact, I've done an episode by Just on two of these books, but I still love to look at them every year and I just I can't recommend them enough, the first of which is called cozy the British art of comfort by Laura Weir, and I made episode Podcast Episode 16, based on this book called cozy ways to enjoy winter days, but it is like a little snack of a book. It's so inviting. There's illustrations, and it's about a sort of no pressure, easygoing approach to wintertime. It's all about comfort in the home and letting go of what anyone thinks. Winter needs to look like. It's not It's like aesthetic without being aesthetic, if that makes any sense at all, because she really emphasizes like, what do you what do you want? What do you want to do? What? How do you want to get cozy. But of course, there's just beautiful, charming elements. It's the British art of comfort. So there's a lot of tea talk and stuff like that. So I really enjoyed this book. It's quite short. It's really charming, and I think helps to, I guess, romanticize wintertime for those of us that don't have an easy time with it. I sort of go back and forth. It's not my favorite, but I'm trying to enjoy it more each year. So that's the first book and the second book. Likewise, I've talked about before it is calm Christmas, and a Happy New Year by Beth Kempton. Last year, I made Episode 75, called reducing holiday stress, part two, embracing a calm Christmas that was based off of this book. And it's really set up so that you can visit it each year. So that you can assess your Christmas season because things change. And maybe you learned from the previous year, what you need more or less of. And it's very easy to follow. And it really helps to sort of remind the reader, you me that there is no one correct way to celebrate Christmas, that we can get a sort of idea in our head of what it should be or what it should look like when it doesn't serve us or our family or our budget or whatever. And so there are so many beautiful ways to celebrate. And they don't have to look the same. And this book does a really great job of making you look at your priorities, what you what you prioritize what you want to celebrate how you want to celebrate, and then putting kind of like a plan into action. There's also lots of really sweet ideas for ways that you can celebrate. And just little crafts and recipes and things like that. Also, I will also have to use this moment to shout out her podcast again, which is called the common Christmas podcast. She has a new season out this Christmas season. And it's fantastic. So I recommend this book and her podcast. Number three is the final nonfiction book on this list. And I just finished it like a couple of weeks ago. It's called The Little Book of Heuga the Danish way to live well by I know I'm gonna mispronounce his name, but it looks like Mike or make perhaps Wiking or wicking. You can see it written down. It's Danish. I don't know anything about that language. But this book is not new. But it's new to me. And I listened to the audiobook because the author narrated it himself, which is my favorite thing. And it was just lovely. It was so heartwarming and approachable. And so I bought the physical copy as well. The author works at the I think it's the happiness Institute or the Danish Institute for happiness, the capital of the like the headquarters are in Denmark, because over and over like statistically the Danes report being very happy people. And he asserts that a large contributing factor is the concept of Hugo which is spelled H YG G and the way that it influences their culture, it's a really fascinating book, he looks at the way that language influences culture and vice versa. He examines the different elements of Heuga from what you're wearing to eating to the home. Apparently the Danes are obsessed with lighting, which is you know, makes perfect sense. It's fantastic. Stick especially coming from a country where the winters are so long and so dark and so cold. So everything in this book is so comforting. And I think I, I listened to this book, I read this book at the right time, because I feel like maybe 456 years ago, when the word Heuga made its way to the United States, it just sort of exploded, and it meant any number of things that weren't actually connected to the Danish idea of Heuga, it just became like something you would add on to your Pinterest search. And it was always very, like outward focused, it was the aesthetic, if it wasn't perfectly this or that, then it couldn't be Heuga. And this, you know, very much dispels all of that. But there's a prioritization on togetherness on conferred on a very sort of a egalitarian sharing of roles and responsibilities. And it just feels very open. And so I was able to as I was listening to it, examine my own life. And I thought, yeah, this is this is very Hugo right now this feels really good. I'm able to see how so many different moments especially like with my family, getting together, those little moments are really special. And I liked that this book pointed out to me how special they are. Probably there will be a full podcast episode coming about this book as well probably in like, you know, later on in the winter, when we all need a little bit of that coziness. So you can either prep for that or else just enjoy it on your own. I do recommend the audiobook, but also, the physical copy is very adorable, but that is the little book of hookah. I really really enjoyed it. Alrighty, so let's move into the fictional category. The first book I'd like to talk about is also one that I enjoyed this year for the first time. And I think I read it kinda at the wrong time, not the wrong time. But it's a winter book, and I didn't know it. And that is Emily wild Encyclopedia of fairies by Heather Fossett. This book came out just this year. And I think because you know, the, the book cover had flowers on it. And it's about fairies, and it kind of came out in the springtime, I think everyone sort of read it at that time, including myself, but it takes place in the winter. And on an island. It's supposed to be off the coast of like Norway, or Iceland or something like that. And there's so much snow imagery. And even like, these particular like ice fairies, like it's so wintry. And so I really recommend it for a really nice winter read. There's also very cozy cabin vibes. However, this is just before warned this is the first book in a series and we don't know when the next one's coming out. But I think it did very well was very successful. So I do anticipate second one coming out. But I really enjoyed because it's sort of it's it is a fantasy book, but it kind of reads like historical fiction. It's written in journal entries, which I really enjoy the main character, she is a scholar of some kind of fairies. So this is an alternate version of I can't remember like when exactly it set, I think early nine 1900s. That's my guess. And she is a scholar of fairies. And so as she's writing her journal entries, there's also like footnotes at the bottom referring to other literature about such and such fairies. And so I love that when there's a very strict factual format about things that don't exist. There's a little bit of like a rivals to lovers sort of dynamic. There's some very cozy towns, people who know the townspeople go see the town is Gozi. The townspeople dynamic is very nice. There are a few elements in this book that I'm like, I know this is fantasy, but yeah, that that would not happen historically. That's not That's not real. But I do think that the last like the last little portion of the Book, maybe the last 50 pages or so it really shifts like the environment shifts. The way that the story is told kind of shifts, the stakes are much higher. And I think that that might be introducing part of the world or the vibe for the next book. So I won't I won't judge it based on this alone. But I did enjoy this book and I liked the way A, the lore of the fairies. And I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I'd read it in the winter. So that is my first fictional pick. That's Emily wild Encyclopedia of fairies. Next up is one that kind of spans all year, but in a very sort of American girl way, you know, all of their books series always ended at Christmas. So all the movies always ended at Christmas. This book does the same thing. It's Mandy, by Julie Andrews Edwards, this is the same Julie Andrews, you know, Sound of Music. Jim, you know, treasure to the world. She wrote this book, it's middle grade, she's written several books. In fact, and this is the only one I've read so far. I read it this year. And Mandy is just this charming book. It's about a young girl who lives in an orphanage, and she discovers beyond the property, a sort of rundown cottage. And it's very sort of secret garden vibes, as she takes it upon herself to fix it up and sort of makes the cottage her own sort of refuge. But then the story takes his really charming turn, and it ends at Christmas time. And there's like all these elements of family and of home. And it's just so cozy and heartwarming. Because it is middle grade, I think that you could read it very quickly I did. And even though a lot of it takes place in the spring, as she's observing the different flowers and plants, it goes all the way through the summer in the fall. And then like I said, grand finale, Christmas time. I don't really want to say too much more about it, because I don't want to give too much away. And it really is a simple kind of story. But it was just so comforting. And then for something completely different. Next on this list is a mystery that I read last Christmas season. It's Hercule borrows Christmas. Very simple. By Of course, Agatha Christie. She has several stories, and I think especially short stories that are around Christmas time or in winter. But this is a full length book for was our detective. And he ends up going to this big estate where of course there is murder. So like, if you're not into the that element of your cosy read, I understand. But as always, there's some elements that I just sort of read right over and then right at the end, that'd be that, you know, they become very important, because Agatha Christie does that to me every time. And I didn't guess the murder weapon or that anything correctly. But we do have a really beautiful, old house. And it's Christmas time. And there's a family gathering for Christmas when this thing goes down. And so there's also wintry weather and train rides and things like that. So if you'd like a little mystery for this time of year, I did enjoy this one. Good luck trying to figure it out. Okay, now we're moving on to the last two and these two are the ones that I feel the most passionately about. So bear with me. The first of which is the enchanted sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork. I read this last December. It was like one of the last days of the year I finally finished it. I kind of read it over that week between Christmas in the new year. Oh my gosh, this book is gorgeous. It's stunning. It is perfect. It's a nutcracker retelling, and it's the best Nutcracker retelling I have ever encountered. Okay. Clara is a concert pianist. Is she a concert? Well, she's at least like a kind of prodigy level. She's very good. And she's gearing up for this big concert. And when she ends up in the land of the I forget there's a name of it. There's a kingdom where the Nutcracker and all of this is going down. The magic is woven together with music and I know I'm a music nerd. But hear me out. I've never encountered a book with magic where the rules of magic are so so interesting and so consistent in a way that I've never seen before. So the fact that she's a musician becomes helpful, right? And the villain is sort of think sort of Pied Piper re he sort of luring children away and turning them into toys. And he like uses the rats it's not the rats themselves that are against the people per se. But okay, the Nutcracker the prince he's an actual character in this book. And I feel like he has a personality and he has agency and he has a history and like I so enjoy this character. And there's also other side characters, there's a beautiful like sweet Emporium. And so they're describing all the different rooms and there's like a chocolate room and like a coffee seating area. And like, you can see every room is so beautifully described when they're walking through the woods, I can feel the cold and I can smell the freshness of the air. Oh my goodness. It's beautiful, though, that the law that established in in the world is beautiful. And then towards the end, there's like a lot of action going on. And a little bit of like, crossing between. I don't I'm not I'm not going to like be specific. But she ends up back in her own world a little bit too early. And so there's also like a levels of like dream. She's also discovering things about herself, because she's having to grow up and accept certain things. And oh, my goodness, like, please read this book. This is the Christmas book to read. I will probably read it several more times. If you recall, last week, I was talking about those boxes, where you can make like boxes of gifts gifts to accompany a book. And you open certain little things based on every page number. This is my number one book that I want to do that with because there's so much beautiful descriptions and it just takes you to places you haven't been before. And so I just love this book, and I can't recommend it enough. So once again, that's called the enchanted sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork, this is the one, please read this book. And finally, I'm equally passionate about this last book on the list, but it's less Christmas specific, I suppose. It's a castle in the clouds by Kirsten gear, or Gaia, perhaps, and translated by Rami, first lend. I know I've talked about these last two before, probably because they were on my best books of 2022 list. But this is, oh my goodness, this is winter. This is everything winter that you need. It's about a girl who works in a hotel in the Swiss Alps. And actually, as I was reading it, I was like, I don't understand the layout of this hotel, I kept envisioning something very American, and very modern. And so I did a little bit of research into Swiss architecture. And it was worth it because Wow, is it beautiful. And I was able to get a better picture of what this hotel might look like. And because it's, it's translated from German, I really enjoy reading sections where the character is observing like a couple came in and they were speaking English. I only caught a few words here and there. I was like, oh, that's, that's really interesting. I've never encountered anything like that. Probably because I haven't read as much translated fiction. But this book is a little more slow paced. It runs all the way up through the Christmas season, and it ends I believe, around New Year's day or so. So it's also great for that in between week. And it involves a little bit of magic, but just a little dose of it. It's like a little bit of magical realism. There's beautiful descriptions of food and cozy drink. There's snow, there's ice, there's, I mean the coziness of the of the hotel, of course, and she's encountering all these different guests, then you find out there's also a little bit of mystery, there's a bit of something nefarious brewing, and she has to find out what's going on. This book just feels like a hug. It's really ideal for reading on a cold day. I read it around I think it was in February, almost two years ago, and I was under a blanket I had been outside in the cold. And that's when I really like dug into this book and it was perfect is the perfect blend of outdoor sensory elements and and what I was reading, so that is a castle in the clouds. It's so good. All of the books on this list. I really really enjoyed for different reasons and are perfect for embracing that coziness when you just need something comforting and warm. But something that I like when books take place in the winter because they're reminding you of the cold outside because you can read it when you're safe and warm inside. But as I've mentioned before, I haven't read as many books that are really centered around winter or ice or Christmas, snow those things so if you have any recommendation Since for me, I am so open to them, you can either leave a comment on the blog post, which will be at life on the brink dot live or over on Instagram as well. I am ready. I'm so ready for the winter reads. I've kind of Loki been in a slump or reading slump, I think it was just when Thanksgiving was rolling around and all of this stuff going on, I just haven't really been drawn to books. But I'm getting excited again, I'm finally like, continuing finishing up the last of my Autumn books, which is the very secret society of irregular witches. And that's that's working out well because it actually is heading toward Christmas as I'm reading it. So I think it might be like a, like an autumn to winter crossing over book, which is ideal for me in this situation. And I've got a couple of books that I've picked up here and there. And I, the thing is that I have four books left to meet my reading goal for 2023. I have another one lined up after secret society. But I think I need another audio book and something else. So if you have anything that can be quick and Gozi let me know at this time, and whatever book you choose, I hope that it sparks a little bit of joy and Christmas comfort. And that is able to accompany you well through the start of the winter season. I'm looking forward to cozying up on the couch with a big blanket and getting into some new books this season. So I hope you find one that you enjoy. And I'll be right back with this week's little joy this week's little joy is one of many honestly, there's been so many really nice moments of just spending time with family getting a Christmas tree watching bake off on the couch, lots of really nice moments. But I'm going to share one that is kind of unexpected and is probably you know, this moment won't happen again. So the group that I sing with the TrueTone honeys, I mentioned a few episodes ago that we were singing some Christmas shows with the symphony orchestra. You know, in Virginia, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Wow. And we've done one of those shows, as far as I'm recording this. And it was beautiful. It's I think it's gonna get a little smoother as we go through each show, obviously, but it went very well. It was great. And a beautiful moment for me happened on rehearsal day, which was the day before the first concert. Because many of you know that I love the animated movie A Christmas Carol, the one with Jim Carrey. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I know I've talked about it I must have been I don't know if it was winter movie night or holiday movie night or whatever. It's one of my favorites ever, ever ever. And the soundtrack is stellar. Alan Silvestri does his job and then some because it's what you want in a Christmas score, which is beautiful Carols interwoven with each other and then original themes that still sound Christmassy but our new this is this is what was called for and it is the best way. It's like the best version of this. So vestry composed the best score, and I've listened to it so many times. And the main title sequence in particular, is it just fills my heart with joy. Because the main melody a helmet for you in case you know what it's bomb that I'm done tom tom tom pom pom pom pom pom, Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun, dun dun and so on. So it's not good king Wenceslaus. But it kind of sounds like it. And then as it continues, there's moments of Joy to the World deck the halls, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. And they're just little quotes that if you're not paying attention, which you don't have to be as you're watching the movie, it's just it's that nostalgic feeling because you're being transported into Victorian England. But if you are paying attention and you're listening to it over and over and over in your car, like I am just blown away by the orchestration and the just the construction of this piece. And what is the Virginia Symphony starting the second half of their show with this main title sequence? When I saw this on the lineup i was i My jaw dropped. I was like there's no way I'm gonna get get to hear this piece live. Nobody talks about this piece. And so there was last week in rehearsal, it was in between the tunes that I was a part of. And so I went out in the hall, and they're playing the song. It was so beautiful. It was gorgeous. And even in the, you know, rehearsal, where I think maybe he had to stop the orchestra, that conductor to address a couple things, and then get back into it. The Chorus was there. And they you know, they're just singing those really big notes. It was, I was beside myself, just like grinning from ear to ear. It was so magical. And so I sent a little clip of it to my sister as well, because she's coming to see the show later on this week. And she was like, oh, no, no, are they gonna play this? So I said, Yes, first piece on the second half. And she was like, Oh, I have tears welling in my eyes. Like, I can't wait for that. So it was such a good moment. I can't wait to hear it again. I'll be backstage for those other moments. But I also can't wait for my sister to hear it when she goes to the concert this week. Anyway, that was my little joy. Thank you for for enjoying the backstory that came along with it as well. It's just such a magical moment. And I love that, like, there are musical pieces that I are really special to me. And then at some point, I ended up being either a part of them, or I end up being able to see them live stuff that I never would have thought I would be able to hear live or or seeing or be a part of. And this is one of those. So of course, for this week's album of music, I'm of course going to recommend to you the soundtrack to A Christmas Carol. Released in 2009. by various artists, it says the score was composed by Alan Silvestri, but also the main theme. He wrote an original song for the film and it is the same as the main theme called God blesses everyone. And it's sung on the album by Andrea Bocelli, which is stunning, of course, so I highly recommend listening to a Christmas carol main title. It's track number one. Also, um, what are the other ones I love? Flight two Fezziwig, truck six, and truck seven first waltz, this waltz I've dissected in my brain like so many times, because it's just wonderful because it's romantic. And it's simple, and it still sounds like Christmas without being annoying in any way. It's fantastic. Yeah, if you haven't listened to this score, even if you have seen this film before, I can't recommend it enough. Alrighty, well, I hope that you're enjoying these holiday episodes. If you are, please feel free to head over to Apple podcasts. For those of you that listen on Apple, and leave a star rating or a review. Or for those of you on Spotify, you can also leave a star rating over there as well. Thank you so much to all of you who have done so already. It really means so much to me to know that you are enjoying the show. I hope that this episode brought you a little bit of some stillness and coziness, something warm and fuzzy inside in the midst of what is probably a very busy holiday week. I know it is for me. And so until next Thursday, I wish you a very beautiful, calm, cozy Christmas week. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Life on the brink. If you're enjoying these episodes, please feel free to leave a star rating or even better leave a review on Apple podcasts to help spread the word. For podcast show notes and extra inspirational posts throughout the week. Head to the blog at life on the brink dot live. And if you'd like a little extra dose of inspiration in your life, sign up for the monthly newsletter, which lights up your inbox the first Friday of each month. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, friends you have a lovely week. Bye