Comment Writer Devina Sharma recommends some cute and unique reads to liven this winter period
At this wintery time of year, our screens and shelves are flooded with romantic comedies and their comforting charm. Though these are certainly well-loved, if you are seeking something beyond the clichéd, hallmark Christmas storylines, look no further.
This article presents five books I highly recommend to you this season, tapping into a variety of genres to diversify your winter bookshelves – while still embodying the chilling freshness of the snowy season.
The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore
A perfect book to ease into this list; being a romantic mystery, Gilmore’s novel holds all the cozy ingredients for a Christmas rom com, but adds a fresh sense of intrigue with its added sub-plot of mystery. We are enveloped within the entertaining narrative, but also its comfort as a warm-hearted Christmas story, with its small-town setting and feature of a winter festival. Being the third Dream Harbour novel, if you’re looking for more cozy books like this, I certainly recommend looking into the rest of the series – including ‘The Pumpkin Spice Cafe’ and ‘The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore’.
Before the Coffee gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Kawaguchi’s novel is made of four stories, depicting how four different people enter the same Tokyo café, and each use its peculiar time-travelling chair. This story of magic realism is perfect if you are looking for a short read, beautifully transporting us through the heart-pulling complexities of navigating one’s past and relationships. When you’re warming yourself up with a coffee this chilly winter, why not pick up Kawaguchi’s novel and lose yourself in the possibilities of travelling back in time, going on a moving journey all before your coffee gets cold.
Perfect if you are looking for a short read
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
This first book of Pullman’s science fiction fantasy series is perfect to delve into at winter times. Young Lyra’s journey to the North is full of adventurous twists and turns, spanning across continents and transporting us to the magical world of witch-clans and ice-bears and advanced science. The latter portion of the novel is set in the Norwegian mountains, providing a chilling – and especially snowy – backdrop for the climactic final experiment that plunges us into the supernatural world beyond the Northern Lights.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
This Agatha Christie classic presents a murder mystery of the finest kind: a train snowed in by a blizzard; someone dead; the killer still on board… but who? Christie’s ability to pull us through detective Poirot’s interrogations and deductions make her works timeless classics, which have a fantastic repeat value novel where you simply spot more details with every read. After reading this, I’m extremely interested in delving into her other Poirot works and I’m sure you will be too!
You will have to give it a read and decide for yourself.
A total departure from Colleen Hoover’s usual style of writing, this psychological thriller will have you on the edge of your seat. This chilling novel is bound to have you checking over your shoulder when you’re home alone on those dark winter evenings. This is one of the most gripping novels I have ever read, with everything from suspense to disgust to intense shock crafted at each corner, and a mind-wracking puzzlement entwined throughout. We are constantly left questioning what is real and what is not,, or if every dark, twisted moment is simply the fiction of her manuscript, a story within a story… you will have to give it a read and decide for yourself.
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