With the onset of winter and the arrival of frosty air, many of us are looking for coziness and warmth at home. And what could be better than wrapping up in a warm plaid with a cup of hot drink and doing some reading? Winter is the perfect time to immerse yourself in a world of books full of winter magic and atmosphere.

Today we recommend 7 cozy books with winter vibe for consideration that will not only warm your hearts, but also make you forget about the frosty weather outside the window.

Written by Violet
Literary critic

The Glimpses of the Moon, Edith Wharton

This Edith Wharton novel is a chain of unfortunate misunderstandings, long monologues, and a lace of surprising intrigue. A great read for winter: calm, exciting and relaxing.

In the story, two dream seekers got married to get wedding gifts, sell them and make a good life for themselves with the proceeds, and then split up. But life made some adjustments to their plans. Wharton plumbs the depths of human psychology, parsing stories of love and passion, betrayal and prejudice. Her works make us think about the meaning of life and the difficult dilemmas we face as we strive to make our own unique path in life.

The talent of the writer lies not only in the setting, narrative and style, but also in her ability to reveal the soul of her characters and readers. Her diverse characters make us fall in love with them and genuinely care about their fates.

«And how can anyone give you happiness who hasn’t got it himself?»

Blackberry Winter, Sarah Jio

Seattle, 1933. Single mother Vera Ray kisses her young son Daniel before bedtime and goes to her night job at a local hotel. In the morning, she finds the town drowned in snow and her son gone. Not far from home, in a snowdrift, Vera finds Daniel’s favorite teddy bear, but there are no other traces on the icy road.

Seattle, 2010. Reporter Claire Aldridge writes an essay about the May Day blizzard that paralyzed the city. It turns out that a similar inclement weather event had already occurred almost eighty years ago, and a boy went missing during the snowstorm. Claire takes up the case without enthusiasm, but soon discovers that the story of Vera Ray is intertwined with her own fate in a most unexpected way…

“Blackberry Winter” is a psychological drama about how fragile happiness can be. The book is about the past and the future, about a person’s place in life. Winter here is not only the background of the narrative, but also the state of mind of the main characters Vera Ray and Claire Aldridge. The action develops in two time realities at once: in Seattle in 1933 and 2010. It’s amazing how subtle and unexpectedly strong connection Sarah Gio found between these times! The storyline holds many mysteries that you can’t wait to unravel.

A light and engaging novel, perfect for a cozy winter evening.

«Sometimes you just have to take chances, especially when it makes you happy.»

Letters from Father Christmas, J.R.R. Tolkien

Every December, J. R. R. Tolkien’s children received a stamped envelope from the North Pole. Inside was a letter written in strange handwriting and a beautiful colored drawing or picture. The letters were from Santa Claus.

They told wonderful stories about life at the North Pole: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place; how the accident-prone North Polar Bear climbed up the North Pole and fell through the roof of Santa’s house into the dining room; how he broke the moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how wars were fought with a troublesome horde of goblins who lived in caves under the house, and much more.

For 23 years the writer created these letters for his own children: each year he drew pictures and stamps, made up stories and presented them to the children. The book was published after the writer’s death and contains illustrations drawn by the author himself.

«If you find that not many of the things you asked for have come, and not perhaps quite so many as sometimes, remember that this Christmas all over the world there are a terrible number of poor and starving people.»

Some Christmas Stories, Charles Dickens

Some Christmas stories were conceived by Dickens as a social sermon, and in the 40-ies of the XIX century every year at Christmas was released one of the five stories. With the help of artistic images, the author appealed to both poor and rich readers, advocating for the improvement of the share of some and “moral correction” of others.

The result was a cycle of five works, translated into all languages of the world, repeatedly screened and has become a truly immortal classic of world literature. In the cycle, which mixes fairy tale and fantasy, fantasy and reality, act, along with people, mythological and folklore characters, and in the final Good necessarily defeats Evil, triumphs virtue and punishes vice.

And we, children and adults, really want to believe that Christmas miracles really happen…

Winter’s Tale, Mark Helprin

Mark Helprin’s most famous novel, written in the genre of magical realism. What is not here: snowy New York, heroes in unusual circumstances, love and miracles. A magical story in which the fates of the characters are intertwined in a compelling narrative.

“Winter’s Tale” is the madness of a winter blizzard wrapped in the pages of a book. They are different stories, interlocked like links in the same chain. Blizzard of metaphors, cold of sarcasm, snowflakes of clever thoughts and a fairy tale at the heart of a domestic plot – this is the formula for the success of the novel.

Together with the author of the book you will be able to lie in the snow, watching space animals in the sky, visit Lake Cochirais, which is not on any map of the world, meet a flying horse and quarrel with the leader of a street gang.

Good news for fans of America: New York acts as a separate character here. He influences the fates of the characters and completely charms us, the readers.

By the way, the movie “Winter’s Tale” starring Colin Farrell is based on this book.

The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck

The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) – Steinbeck’s last novel, incredibly modern and relevant, although the action takes place in the 60’s in New England, in a fictional small town.

The protagonist, Ethan Allen Hawley, a descendant of a once very wealthy family, a World War II veteran, a man of education, decency and honesty, finds himself in a difficult position.

He is forced to work as a clerk in a grocery store. Iten, accustomed to a completely different life, is not easy to accept such a fall. Then he makes a deal with his conscience to regain his former status and position. But will this make him happy? A mature work by one of the world’s finest authors.

«Readers seeking to identify the fictional people and places here described would do better to inspect their own communities and search their own hearts, for this book is about a large part of America today.»

A Wild Sheep Chase, Haruki Murakami

“I was informed of her death by phone by an old friend.”

So begins A Wild Sheep Chase perhaps the strangest journey through the corners of the modern world and human consciousness, invented by the classic of modern literature, the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. This novel has not without reason become an absolute world bestseller: the Sheep Hunt in our souls never ends. So – call the police, ask for the address and phone number of the family, then call the family and find out the date and time of the funeral. And then, on the appointed day, take the commuter train from Waseda Station. And hope the hunt will be successful.

The Japanese city of Sapporo, where the action of the book takes place, boasts only prolonged snowfalls and high drifts. It seems that winter reigns in it all the time: a blizzard rages outside the window, and in the soul of the heroes lives a continuous longing for summer.

The plot of the book is based on an ancient Chinese legend about the transmigration of the soul, and this sets the tone for the whole novel: mysticism, hope and a premonition of the end – that’s what is felt in every chapter.

This book is considered the third in the Rat Trilogy series, but it can be read in isolation from the previous installments. Remember that the book is translated from Japanese. On the one hand, this makes it easier to understand. On the other hand, it contains constructions and stable expressions borrowed from Japanese.

«Sometimes I get real lonely sleeping with you».

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I hope our Book Blog #7 helps you find new and interesting books to read and broaden your horizons.

5 tips for choosing books to read from me:

#1: Read books of different genres. Don’t limit yourself to just one type of book, try something new. This way, you may find new favorite books that you would never have known about if you hadn’t gone outside of your usual genre.

#2: Read books that interest you. If you are not interested in reading a book, you are unlikely to finish it. Choose books that deal with topics that are near and interesting to you.

#3:Read books that are well written. The style of writing can greatly affect your impression of a book. Try to choose books that are intelligently written and engaging.

#4: Read books that evoke emotions in you. Books can evoke a wide range of emotions, from joy to sadness and from anger to love. Choose books that make you feel something, feel deeply.

#5: Read books that make you think. Books can be entertaining as well as educational. Choose books that make you think and rethink your outlook on life, search your personal hero’s way.