Every December, I’m astonished all over again by the scarcity of daylight. I’ll walk outdoors at 5:30 p.m. and exclaim, “It’s night already!” As if this hasn’t happened every year of my life so far. This year, I’ve decided I can do more than survive the long hours of darkness. I can embrace them. In that spirit, I present four books about darkness and nighttime.
“National Geographic Night Vision, Magical Photographs of Life After Dark” is a coffee table book of photographs portraying the world at night. We see the stunning colors of the aurora borealis swirling across a northern sky, a NASA shuttle launch, a moonlit gazebo in a quiet garden, a barred owl swooping through the woods. The book is divided into four sections, with a theme for each: energy, harmony, mystery and wonder. Images come from all over the globe and are interspersed with occasional quotes. The night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.– Vincent Van Gogh.
Erin Morgenstern’s novel, “The Night Circus” is a richly detailed story
of magic, rivalry and love. The tale takes place against the backdrop of a fantastical traveling circus that appears in the night with no advance notice, and disappears with the break of day. Within this setting, two young apprentices, Celia and Marco, are groomed to grow into the most powerful magicians of the era and bound to an ages-old wizards’ duel neither of them understands. Naturally, they fall in love.
“Grow in the Dark, How to Choose and Care for Low-Light Houseplants” is Lisa Eldred Steinkopf’s practical guide to nurturing greenery in houses and apartments with little natural light. Those homes can probably reap the most benefit from an indoor plant or two to cheer the place up. Steinkopf has compiled much more than a list. The book provides plenty of photos to assist with identification, as well as detailed information about each plant. She tells us how often and how much to water each one, and which plants are safe for pets.
The final title is a memoir, “Girl in the Dark.” Anna Lyndsey did not choose the dark. It chose
her. She describes the drastic changes in her life stemming from an extreme sensitivity to light that developed in her early twenties. She first noticed her face burning as she sat in the glow of a computer screen. Before long her world was reduced to a darkened room. On her best days, she can venture outside at dusk and dawn. But she’s managed to build a life in the dark, listening to audio books, playing word games, getting married, writing a book.
