Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times (2020) by Katherine May

Whatever it was that I hoped to gain by reading this book never came, although I can't even recall what I was hoping for. In the beginning, a few notable tidbits were included among the mundanity of this memoir, but by the end of my read of the book (note: I did not finish it) I found myself struggling the find the purpose of the text on the page. For a book flaunting the 'power of rest and retreat in difficult times' the content of this book comes across as nothing more than a privilege white woman's struggle with being dissatisfied with daily life. Perhaps I'm making this up—my high school English teachers always told me that I never understood the meaning of the god-awful poetry and historic works of literature we were forced to read—but as hard as I tried I couldn't find a real point to this book. Coming as a recommendation from an email newsletter which has lost its own charm, I am now finding little surprise that this book did not connect with me.