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69 Winter-Themed Novels for Cold-Weather Reading
For those of us with thin blood, the entire idea of winter is just an unfortunate development—Mother Nature’s most dubious major creation. Why provide a world of flowers and sunshine only to spike it each year with several months of cold and despair? It’s a cruel mystery.
Winter does make for good reading weather, though, so long as you have a recliner, a blanket, and proper thermostat controls. In that spirit, we’ve collected below an array of popular novels set in cold-climate conditions from across the genre spectrum. This way you can enjoy the season as it is best experienced—fictionally.
Each of the books below has proven popular with Goodreads regulars over the years, and you’ll find plenty of interesting genre riffs: true-crime historical fiction (The Frozen River), chilly fantasy (Spinning Silver), small-town ensemble drama (Beartown), classic Japanese mysteries in translation (The Honjin Murders), and at least one hall-of-fame ghost story (The Shining).
As a kind of geographical bonus, this collection also features a nice assortment of famously cold places: Norway (The Snowman), Alaska (The Great Alone), Donner Pass (The Hunger), the mountains of Manchuria (The Fox Wife), the Swiss Alps (The Sanatorium), the Scottish Highlands (The Hunting Party), Colorado’s Western Slope (Misery), the Arctic Ocean (The Terror), and—for an extra-cold option—the frigid void of outer space (Ghost Station).
Click on the cover images for more information on each book and feel free to use the Want to Read button to add promising titles to your own digital Goodreads shelf.
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Have a great cold-weather thriller recommendation? Share your picks with us in the comments below!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 74 (74 new)
message 1:
by
Joy
(new)
Nov 25, 2024 02:12AM
I would recommend Thaw by Nicole Lundrigan set in Newfoundland, Canada.
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I am currently reading The Worst Journey in the World. A first-hand account of Scotts last Antarctic Expedition. Highly recommendedAnd for Horror Fans: Boys in the Valley
The perfect winter read is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Allison wrote: "The perfect winter read is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey"I'll second that. Great book. I also loved Ivey's second novel To The Bright Edge of the World.
I recently raced through The Bear and the Nightingale trilogy. Absolutely magical. Medieval Fantasy Russia was the setting I didn't know I wanted.
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck also has a wonderfully chilling setting (18th century Sweden in, as you might have guessed, the winter).
The Bear and the Nightingale is in there twice lol
Lovely theme list, Cybil! Appreciated. A number of us love cold, icy settings. ❄️
Snow by Orhan Pamuk: locked in a snowed-in village and the machinations of some soldiers to start a coup.
Will Dean's Tuva Moodyson series, starting with Dark Pines, is a really good Wintery series, set in Sweden. Thoroughly recommend.
Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery by Agatha Christieis awesome! Also Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson and The Goldfinch by Donna Tart. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham is my favorite grown up holiday read. Happy reading everyone!
Hannah Mary Mckinnon and Heather Gudenkauf are excellent writers. Can't go wrong with either one.
I’ve read 18 of these books and I love the Winter ❄️.
Allison wrote: "The perfect winter read is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey"It's one of my faves! I've read 19 books from this list with a few more in progress or marked TBR, and none of them are better. I like to read books with cold and snowy settings in the middle of summer, then pick up reads set in warm places for winter reading.
I read The Terror recently and it was amazing. It's a supernatural take on a real event (the lost Franklin Expedition). It does have some slow down for detailed explanation and descriptions of things like the ships, but the action was great and thrilling. Much different than the show's adaptation.I also have The Shining on my Winter TBR. Can't wait to start it soon.
At least two books are on here twice, The Bear and the Nightingale and The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley.
Highly recommend adding:These Silent Woods, by Kimi Cunningham Grant
and
The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey!!!
Why the heck are these mostly horrors or dark stories? Hard pass. Diversify this list, please.
Allison wrote: "The perfect winter read is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey"Thanks for your recommendation, Allison... Just ordered via Amazon..
Looking forward to reading, especially when the Wintry temps kick in. ☺️
What about Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter
Why is the book Bear and the Nightingale twice on the list?
Any recommendations for cozy mysteries in christmas or winter settings?
Try these if you want some serious Science Fiction. Above are just usual mystery/horror novels.Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds,
Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds
Two older books: Cold by John Smolens and Chill Factor by Sandra Brown.
The Raven and the Reindeer by T. KingfisherPlanet of Exile by Ursula K LeGuin
How nice would it be if we could filter these lists by language...
Julie wrote: "Any recommendations for cozy mysteries in christmas or winter settings?"I would reccomend Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. It isa mystery/thriller and it is perfect for winter.
I have Murder at Midwinter Manor on my TBR. It seems to be a cozy mistery.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries should be on here!
I just finished reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and I could NOT stop reading. Definitely good for a cold, non-fiction read.
The frozen river ❄️Rock, paper, scissors ✂️
And Darcy Coates - Dead of Winter & Voices is the Snow have gone straight to my TBR! They sound great, and I am excited to venture on to some new authors 📚
The Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley is set on a cold wintry world. It features a mix of magic and technology and is blend of fantasy and sci-fi
Added a few to my TBR for the upcoming chilly months! Looks like a fantastic list
The Great Alone felt like someone had asked ChatGPT to write a book set in Alaska. It was page after page of literary cliches (we never spend too long in one place, abusive husband/father, the war changed him, disapproval of boyfriend, teen pregnancy). On and on it went, another page another cliche.
Arielle wrote: "Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries should be on here!"Agreed! It's winter-themed through and through (plus it's an amazing book in general.)
Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes is a queer polar gothic set in the Arctic. I really liked this one.
Arielle wrote: "Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries should be on here!"Yes, excellent suggestion! That was such a wonderful story.
Also, I am weirdly excited about A Haunting in the Arctic now. It doesn't sound remotely like something I would enjoy, so I'm not sure what's going on there...
A constellation of vital phenomenon is genuinely one of the saddest (but best) books I have ever read and also did they just pick it for this list because it's set in Chechnya in the winter?
Which one of them are/is strictly paranormal? Can someone help me out? I tried looking at the tags but can't quite tell.
Sri wrote: "Which one of them are/is strictly paranormal? Can someone help me out? I tried looking at the tags but can't quite tell."These are ones that have that tag but not sure you could say "strictly paranormal."
The Gathering
The Shining
Ghost Story
The Winter People
Let the Right One In
Dark Matter: A Ghost Story
Maynard's House
Voices in the Snow
Dark Matter and The Winter People were great. Both authors are really good!
I recommend adding Running Cold by Susan Walter to that list.
One to add to this list: The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven which takes place in the stark and frozen landscape of Svalbard.
The Dark by Emma Haughton - murder mystery takes place at a research station in Antarctica during 24/7 darkness
John wrote: "One to add to this list: The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven which takes place in the stark and frozen landscape of Svalbard."This is a great one
Julie wrote: "Any recommendations for cozy mysteries in christmas or winter settings?"An English Murder by Cyril Hare
Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie
Santa Klaus Murder by Mavies Doriel Hay
From Out the Vasty Deep by Marie Belloc Lowndes
Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer
Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon
Another Little Christmas Murder by Lorna Nicholl Morgan
These are all vintage reads set around Christmas. Have no idea of modern cozy reads.
