A List of Recommended Winter Reads

In my previous post I explained the why Winter Reads are—or should be—different from the usual Summer Reading fare. Winter Reads should take advantage of the fact that (if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere like me) you are cooped up inside during long nights and cold days, and finally turn to those books that require a bit more focus and patience to appreciate. In this post I’ll present some books I’ve read in winters past. Without further ado, and in no particular order, my recommended winter readings include:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

There’s something about the sound the cold wind makes against the windows that makes the world of Victorian England so much more realistic when reading the classics. Particularly good to read in November, when it tends to be cold and gray, are the parts where the titular heroine is in a boarding school with frozen water in the washbasins.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Speaking of cold wind, you might as well read Charlotte’s sister Emily’s only novel, especially if your taste runs more toward the surreal. For extra credit you could lock yourself out of your house and pound on the window. On second thought, don't do that.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

…and pretty much all the rest of Jane Austen’s novels. If I had to choose one, however, it would be Pride and Prejudice. If you’ve already read it, it’s worth a re-read. If you’ve never read it (GASP!) then you should do so post-haste! Not only is it a foundational work for all other romances and romantic comedies that have come after, it is just plain funny and absorbing. At first the vocabulary might be off-putting. Persevere through this and you’ll find that, like a person with a thick accent, the more you spend time in Austen’s universe the easier it will be to understand her prose. Persuasion is also a good one to read in the winter, as it has a very quiet pace and a plot that requires a decent amount of concentration in order for the reader to gather its nuances. Wait, did I just choose two when I said I had to just choose one? Hey, I make the rules, so I can break the rules, alright?

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Like Austen, most of Dickens’ works fit the bill of recommended winter reading, if only because his books tend to be very long and have loads of characters and subplots to keep track of. I’ve chosen Our Mutual Friend because the other runner-up in my mind is Little Dorrit. Now, I know my sister will eventually read this blog post, and since she’s already read Little Dorrit I figure why not do a little nagging as to what I think she should read next?

But seriously, though, Our Mutual Friend is one of my favorite Dickensian novels. It has tons of intrigue, adventure, romance, drama, along with the requisite humor Charles Dickens usually pours into one or two of his side characters. With a book chock full of all that, how can you say no?

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Winter is a good time to settle down with a cup of cocoa and pretend you’re cuddled up in a hobbit hole. Winters are hygge, and so are hobbits. (Since Tolkien was a linguist, I wonder if he was familiar with the Scandinavian word and decided to create a pseudo-mythological creature to embody it?) It doesn’t hurt to have dragons and elves, either. Just to liven things up a bit.

Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge

This novel is still queued up for me to review in more detail, but I’m going to suggest it here as a sort of teaser until I prepare a more in-depth post. Goudge is one of the authors whose books my mom collects, so I’ve seen this book sitting around my house throughout my childhood for so long it’s a wonder it took so long to pick it up and read it. I was really impressed with Goudge’s Style, which is descriptive without veering into melodrama, and her characterizations which are complex and psychological and realistic.

The Sea Wolf by Jack London

London’s works make for good winter reading since he bases many stories such as White Fang and The Call of the Wild in the Yukon. I’m going with the one populated by humans because, well, it’s my favorite, and also because I’m particularly sensitive about animals being hurt, fictional or not.

The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

Nesbit is one of those authors whose prose is mostly geared toward children, but is enjoyable to the adult reader as well. Her books are almost “modern” (Edwardian) fairy tales, with magic a sort of commonplace entity like physics, with its own laws and logic and consequences. I didn’t read any of Nesbit’s work until I was an adult myself, so I can attest to the fact that, though whimsical (and sometimes sentimental), the stories are not juvenile or babyish. Nesbit is probably best known for Five Children and It, but so far I’ve liked The Railway Children the best. Even if I do sometimes mix the title up with The Boxcar Children.

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

Another book I’ve not reviewed yet, this is a great Victorian adventure novel full of swashbuckling, false identities, beautiful heroines, trap doors, and fake European countries. It’s exactly the sort of escapist story that one might need during a blizzard.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

It’s kind of a shame that the appreciation of this book has become increasingly centered around its sensationalism, while too often Stoker’s literary ability is marginalized.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

There is absolutely no way you can appreciate the part of the story where Moley and Ratty are lost in a blizzard and rescued by Badger, unless you read this book during a snowstorm yourself. Absolutely. No. Way.

Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

These books are so short that you might as well read them both together. Like The Wind in the Willows, Milne’s books have a sort of simplicity that can easily deceive the reader into thinking these are “just” children’s books. Don’t fall for it.

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Nothing balms the January blues like reading about far-off, preferably hot, places like India or Africa. Kipling’s writing evokes the very smell of spices and exotic jungle flowers.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Speaking of far off, hot places, why not go all the way to Mars?—or, as the natives call it, Barsoom. Burroughs’ Barsoom chronicles, starting with A Princess of Mars, are Edwardian dime novels full of macho heroes and the feisty heroines, strange beasts, arid landscapes, dastardly villains, and misunderstood antiheroes who eventually join the side of good. While sometimes the prose leans a little too heavily on Noble Savage or Your Princess Is In Another Castle tropes, these novels introduce a sort of proto-Star* Wars that expands with every sequel to explore all over the planet and discover increasingly more bizarre cultures.

*Hahaha get it? Astronomy humor? No…oh, fine, I’ll get back to my blogging and leave the jokes to the professionals.

Silas Marner by George Eliot

I feel that no Winter Reads recommendation list would be complete without mention of George Eliot. Silas Marner is my favorite of hers thus far. Her works tend to be long and slow-moving, but contain complex characters and themes that delve into morality, psychology, and social criticism that attempts to recreate the real world in written form. Her works deserve to be read, and they deserve to be read with purposeful attention so as to fully appreciate the nuances that are so easily missed when trying to speed-read a book.

And, Lastly, Poetry in General

That’s right, I said it. Poetry. Whether you’re jonesing for some Springtime or meditating over the beauty or hostility of winter, poetry is the thing to aid your ruminations. I’m not going to recommend specific poets at this time, since that would fill enough space for its own post.