May Sunshine Light Your Day... (an ongoing personal challenge)

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.

-- St. Francis of Assisi

When November arrives in the Pacific Northwest, it brings deep darkness and rain. Most of us living here actually like the rain and understand Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's advice: "The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." But that doesn't mean we don't long for sunshine on those long, dark, wintery days. One of my favorite things to do in winter, on a dark and dreary day, is to read a book that takes place in sunnier climates. I love to immerse myself in the written sunlight, and then look up to be startled by the dark contrast outside my window.

As I was looking through the books on my bookshelves this weekend, I was amazed at how many fit that sunshine description. I decided to put a list together of books I can read on very gray days...my own little journey south in search for sunshine.

My Sunshine choices:
The Old Patagonian Express, by Paul Theroux
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder
Malinche, by Laura Esquivel

Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather
Mexico, A Traveler's Literary Companion, edited by C.M. Mayo
The General in His Labyrinth, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Green Mansions, by W. H. Hudson
Martin Fierro, by José Hernández
The Alchemist, by Paul Coehlo
The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.

-- Anton Chekhov