Slow down, breathe and read flash essays – three books to guide you through the end of 2020
Katherine May argues the benefits of ‘wintering’ in her book of the same name, James Nestor experiments with the ‘lost art’ of breathing in Breath, and The Best of Brevity presents a collection of snappy non-fiction
Wintering by Katherine May, Riverhead Books
Perhaps 2020 will be the year in which “overwhelm” is again accepted as a noun. Most of us, after all, have little left in reserve to argue against a return to the word’s 16th century usage. Which is why Wintering is a relief. About resting and retreating while waiting for spring to return, it takes on special meaning while our virus-weary world takes two steps forwards, one back.
That said, Katherine May found it difficult initially to shift down gears or ask for help when faced with her overwhelm: her husband’s illness, her own, and then their son’s opting out of school encouraged her reluctantly to adopt “unfashionable” behaviour – slowing down and sleeping. A university lecturer who had almost forgotten how to stop working, she realised that years of frantic activity had left her with nothing.
Using the months of the year as chapters, she taps nature and literature for tips on how to prepare for renewal after fallowness. She learns from different cultures (including the Finns and their mind-easing saunas) and belief systems (the Druids), as well as from ants and bees (humans are not eusocial like they are).
May also takes up knitting, proving that Sylvia Plath’s instincts were correct about the importance of keeping hands moving in the winter. This book is a pass to sign off from 2020.
