The Best Books to Read in Winter

As the cold creeps in and the evenings get darker, there’s nothing better than curling up with a good book. Picture this: you’ve made a hot chocolate, grabbed your favourite cosy jumper (maybe a blanket too), and lit a candle. All is well. 

Now, if you were to sit down and read a whirlwind summer romance or a tropical beach read at this point, the balance would be thrown off. If you’re in mid-winter, the leaves are falling, and there’s snow on the ground, the last thing you want to be reading about is white-sand beaches and fresh tans. Right? Well, maybe you would, but we know that we’d prefer to embrace winter and lean into those cold, cosy vibes.

So, to help enhance that wintry atmosphere, the book fanatics here at Victoria Freudenheim have put together a list of the best books to read in winter that will give you all the festive, cosy feels. 

Read on to find out more.

1. Before The Coffee Gets Cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2015)

Kawaguchi’s novel is the ultimate cosy, curl-up novel Perfect for sitting in your favourite armchair with a mug of — you guessed it — coffee, this book encourages you to come in from the cold and immerse yourself in the latte-scented world of mystery, intrigue, and nostalgia. 

The ideal slow burner to spend an afternoon reading, Before The Coffee Gets Cold is all centred around a coffee shop that allows its customers to travel through time — on a few conditions, however. Making and breaking intense bonds between family, friends, and lovers over a span of many decades, the time travel in this book is at once invigorating and heart-wrenching.

2. Misery, Stephen King (1987)

If you’d rather your winter read cooled you down than warmed you up, Misery by Stephen King is the perfect hard-hitting, snow-filled story. 

Centred around the homicidal antagonist, Annie, King creates a snow-laden world that is as icy cold psychologically as it is physically. Famed for its sophisticated prose, Misery actually uses snow as a narrative device throughout to emphasise its central theme of isolation. Using the pretence of heavy snow — and generally sustained bad weather — King is able to create an enclave cut off from society in which horrific atrocities can play out against a snow-blank canvas.

King, although ingenious, is not alone in this. Many horror books use cold, dreary, or snowy weather to emphasise themes of isolation, confusion, paralysis, and loneliness. For example, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, much of the emotional turmoil plays out against remote, barren mountains. 

You can read our full review of Misery here.

3. The Other Wife, Claire McGowan (2019)

Long, winter evenings spent inside can get repetitive when drawn out over months and months. So, how about something that will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time?

Described best as a psychological mystery thriller, McGowan’s story captivates readers within its opening pages and suspends them in a state of intrigue, disbelief, and suspicion until its closing lines.

Exploring the complex crossovers and relationships between a collection of individuals — wives, neighbours, husbands, friends, enemies — ‘keeping face’ in this small rural village quickly turns into betrayal with murderous endings. If you’re looking for a read that can shock away the numbness of winter, The Other Wife is that book, standing in direct contrast to some of the more wholesome, cosy reads we associate with winter.

4. Gingerbread, Helen Oyeyemi (2019)

Turning, now, back towards the traditional, Helen Oyeyemi’s Gingerbread is — at least, at first glance — your average lighthearted festive read, perfect for those dark December days. However, something tantalisingly dark lurks beneath the sugar-coated crust of this novel.

Oyeyemi uses Christmas customs as a launching point from which to delve into a complex exploration of the politics of jealousy, privilege, ambition, comparison, and wealth. Set in modern-day London, this novel uses a striking contrast between the well-known tale of Hansel & Gretel and a more unnerving tale of events between mother and daughter as they bake secrets into pastries and, you guessed it, gingerbread.

Dusted with a touch of magic, filled with all the right ingredients for suspense and shock, and baked into a delicious novel to consume on those winter evenings, Gingerbread is a top read.

5. The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey (2012)

Lastly, let’s return to the classic snowy novels that work so wonderfully in winter, The Snow Child is a bit of a modern classic.

Set in Alaska in 1920, Jack and Mabel arrive as homesteaders in a corner of a very isolated, unforgiving land.  Out in the icy-cold thicket, the lines between what’s real and what is just a trick of the snow quickly begin to blur. Building a child out of snow, the next day Jack and Mabel wake to realise she has come to life. But, as you probably guessed, this isn’t a fairytale, things aren’t that simple, and there’s not a straightforward happy ending.

The way this book writes the cold and snow are so palpable that we’d recommend grabbing a blanket and whacking the heating up a few degrees to anyone who reads it. That is, you can almost feel the harsh, ruthless environment of Alaska through the pages!

A book for every season

Do you like reading material in keeping with the time of year? We’ve got you covered, from brooding wintry thrillers to spring-time romances, our list of reviewed books is bound to give you some inspiration, whatever you’re in the mood for.