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Top 10 Winter Reads
14th Dec 2015 in Books
Winter is my favourite season. Bright snowy days, long dark nights: perfect for a cup of tea and a good book. Here are my favourite books to get you through these chilly months.
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken – My all-time favourite Christmas book. I loved it as a child, and as an adult I’ve yet to read anything as sinister as that stalled train in the middle of a snowy English countryside overrun by wolves.
- Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature, Margaret Atwood – You might have noticed that I’m a bit obsessed with the north and the sea, and this slim book of essays delivers that in spades.
- If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Italo Calvino – I first read this on a sunny Spanish beach, which was a mistake, as this sort of trippy, playful metafiction is much better suited to winter.
- Through the Woods, Emily Carroll – Possibly the most beautiful book I’ve ever read, and the stories are so creepy that I had trouble sleeping afterwards.
- NOS4R2, Joe Hill – I’m not a fan of feel-good Christmas stories – but the horrifying, vivid world of Christmasland? Bring it on.
- The Shining, Stephen King – If Christmas means spending time with family you’d rather avoid, this is the chilly, claustrophobic book for you.
- North Child, Edith Pattou – A version of ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’, and one of my all-time favourite fairytale retellings.
- Northern Lights (AKA The Golden Compass), Philip Pullman – One of the most vivid fantasy worlds I’ve ever read.
- The Secret History, Donna Tartt – Whenever I think of this book, I remember snow.
- Mysterious Christmas Tales, David Wyatt (editor) – I’ve reread this every Christmas since I was about 12. Is there anything better than a ghost story in December?
What will you be reading this winter?
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[…] and writing. Her book Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature is one of my favourites, and I loved this almost as […]