11 Wintry Books To Read Under Your Warmest Blanket

11 Wintry Books To Read Under Your Warmest Blanket

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It’s that time of year again, where instead of layering on roughly half of all the clothes you own to brave the mounds of snow outside, you’d probably rather make hot tea and dive under a blanket to hibernate. While you’re bundled up, what better way to spend the time than to plunge into a good read?

For some, books are a great way to alleviate the loneliness that comes with winter. Here are 11 tomes that could be good to dive into this season, plus some that may serve as reminders that other people have survived far worse cold than you’re experiencing right now (we hope).

1. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami; From $13

One of the best books to read in winter is pictured, "A Wild Sheep Chase" by Haruki Murakami.

“A Wild Sheep Chase” by Haruki Murakami | Kodansha International Publishing / Amazon

As the third entry in Murakami’s “Trilogy of the Rat” series (which also includes Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973, as well as Dance Dance Dance), this early work reads like a classic noir by way of Alfred Hitchcock, but as seen through the lens of Jean-Luc Godard. In it, an advertising exec receives a postcard depicting a sheep with a star-shaped birthmark. By the end, we’re in the snowy mountains of northern Japan. Shorter and faster-paced than his later works, A Wild Sheep Chase comes with that wonderful thrill of reading a great, exciting writer before they become firmly established. And like the other titles considered part of the “Trilogy of the Rat” series, this book—which was first published in 1982—includes a mention of November 25, 1970, a significant date in Japanese history, wherein acclaimed novelist, poet, and activist Yukio Mishima died by seppuku in the aftermath of a failed coup at a military headquarters near downtown Tokyo.

Buy it: Amazon

2. White Teeth by Zadie Smith; $13

One of the best books to read in winter is pictured, "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith.

One of the best winter reads is shown, "The Seas" by Samantha Hunt

“The Seas” by Samantha Hunt | Mariner Books / Amazon

This dreamy, melancholy novel opens with the 19-year-old narrator, a descendant of a long line of mermaids, waiting for her fisherman father to return from sea. When he does, he brings with him a man who may be a merman. Samantha Hunt’s prose is as lush and watery as the story she tells, and the tale is as haunting as it is intimate. The narrator’s devotion to her father and her yearning for the truth about her mother, who vanished years before, create a web of family secrets and mythic undercurrents that are as deep as the ocean itself.

Buy it: Amazon

“The Seas” by Samantha Hunt is a haunting novel that opens with the line, “The highway only goes south from here. That’s how far north we live.” The story follows a nameless young woman in a coastal town, grappling with her father’s disappearance at sea and her own identity as possibly a mermaid. The novel paints a picture of the cold and unforgiving nature of the ocean, where love is unrequited.

To purchase “The Seas” by Samantha Hunt, visit Amazon. Looking for a captivating read that will take you on a surreal journey through a world filled with oddities and mysteries? Look no further than “Fjords Vol. 1” by Zachary Schomburg. Priced at $15, this collection of poetry is a must-have for any avid reader.

In “Fjords Vol. 1,” Schomburg creates a world where large refrigerators, unkind swans, and stars lined up like teeth coexist in a strange and fascinating landscape. The poems in this collection touch on themes of absurd deaths, icy landscapes, and haunting silences, drawing the reader into a realm that is both funny and heartbreaking.

One of the standout poems in the collection is “What Would Kill Me,” a shadowy work that sets the tone for the rest of the book. With lines like “And then, just like I knew it would, it came late one night, booming with slowness, from the fjords,” Schomburg weaves a tale that is both chilling and mesmerizing.

If you’re intrigued by the sound of “Fjords Vol. 1,” you can purchase it on Amazon and dive into this mesmerizing world of poetry and surrealism. Don’t miss out on the chance to experience one of the best books to read in winter. sentence: The cat sat lazily in the sun, basking in its warmth. Please rewrite the sentence so I can assist you better. sentence in a more concise manner.

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