As the days get shorter and colder, sometimes the best thing to do is curl up with a good book. During a time when we are less inclined to go outside, a good book can help wile away the hours. Whether curled up by the fire as the snow falls outside or living in a warmer place where you want to imagine a wintry mix coming down, these months are often a great time for reflection, introspection, and exercising the mind.
There are plenty of stories that evoke the colder months, winter settings, and highlight the experiences of those who faced the frozen odds. From fairytale retellings to works of classic literature to tales behind the Iron Curtain to adventures in the earth’s poles to steamy romances to mysteries that twist and turn, here are 20 books to put you in the right mindset for winter.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America’s Forgotten Invasion of Russia by James Carl Nelson
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre
White Fang by Jack London
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck
