It’s December and winter is officially banging our doors. While we are bound to have bouts of boredom and are tempted to veg out all day, I love this season. Because after all, winter is the best time to cozy up with a good book. There are many shows these days which you can binge-watch on Netflix. But I would always prefer a good book over TV shows any day.
So, let’s hold on to this excuse to stay in and read some great books. Here are my Favorite Winter Reads.
13 Books to Cozy Up With This Winter
1.Harry Potter Series: Let’s begin with the obvious – Harry Potter Series! I re-read the series almost every year and this year too, I am doing the same. Right now I’m reading the Goblet of Fire, a book which I believe, is the turning point in the HP Series. It’s fun for the most part with Professor McGonagall’s ‘babbling bumbling band of buffoons’, the Yule Ball and of course, the Triwizard Tournament. But this book is also when we are hit with the death of one of our favorite characters and Lord Voldemort comes to power.
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2. The Chronicles of Narnia: Epic battle between the good and evil, fantastic creatures and humans above all, the Chronicles of Narnia makes it for a great Winter Read.
3. The Winternight Trilogy: The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden is yet another series of adult historical fantasy novels. The books The Bear and The Nightingale and The Girl in The Tower are already popular in Goodreads and the third book The Winter of the Witch is set to release in January 2019. This trilogy is Vasya Petrovna’s wondrous journey, who battles enemies, both mortal and magical to save Russia. It is a fairytale with magic, romance, feminism, destiny and what not!
| Buy The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy)
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4. The Night Circus: or Le Cirque des Rêves is only open at night and it arrives unannounced. And this is battle of magic between Celia and Marco. It’s no ordinary battle for the contestants doesn’t know the rules or how the victory is determined. Hooked? Perfect. Grab that peppermint tea and start reading!
| Buy The Night Circus (Vintage Magic)
5. The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered all the Rings of Power, by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring – the ring that rules them all – which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. Get a Middle Earth scented candle and start reading?
6. The Gift: If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be? Cecelia Ahern’s magical world of ‘The Gift’ is a beautiful book to devour.
7. Classics: Pick any Classics -be it a Shakespearean Drama or Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice or Gone with the Wind this winter! They deserve our love.
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8. Wonder Woman: Or any Superhero book, for that matter! The adrenaline rush is just what you need this winter. Wonder woman, the book is entirely different from the movie. So, that itself calls for a read. I loved the movie more, which happens only once in a blue moon though. Anyway, my current read is Catwoman and I’m liking what I’m reading.
| Buy Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons series)
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9. Chocolat: Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk opens a chocolaterie—La Céleste Praline, which is on the square opposite the church. However, this happens during the traditional season of fasting and self-denial, and the church sees this chocolate indulgence as a sin. The chocolate descriptions make you yearn for them and you are going to love reading this book!
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10. A Game of Thrones: One day you ought to finish reading those big giant books, alright! I have read the entire series (uptil whatever GRRM wrote and I have no idea when he is planning to finish with the series. But oh, a new book – Fire and Blood has been released, an independent read on the history of Targareans and Daenery’s dragons). So, it’s a good time to re-read the books especially since the T.V> series is coming to an end.
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11. And Then There were None: My favorite Agatha Christie novel, this book is perfect for a winter read! Who doesn’t love murder mysteries? So, raid your bookshelf and take out all the mystery books to devour. The weather helps with the chills!
12. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Another fantastic thriller recommendation for you to pick up this season. Translated from Swedish, this book has an impressive set of characters and an intriguing plot. A girl goes missing and the investigation results in unearthing serial murders, corporate trickery, and financial fraud. The book is controversial and has received many whiplashes, however, it is worth picking up.
13. Circe: Circe by Madelline Miller took the bookstagram by a storm upon its release. There are many who swears by it and I have just picked up the book for December read. With the Odyssey as a backdrop, this is Circe’s story, the beautiful enchantress and Goddess and her relationship with Gods and Men. I would love it if we could do a read-along for this book. Click the below Instagram account @muffytales to know the dates! Join in, it would be fun!
| Buy Circe: The Sunday Times Bestseller
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That’s all for now, folks!
| This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure policy for further information.
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Now that’s a long list comprising of book series which means more than 13 books. Going by your list, one can be sure that the long dark winter (from where I live now) is taken care off and well. I have read Cecelia Ahern’s books as a sort of project one book after another and it makes me think now I have got inside her head because I know what is going to happen in her plots. Shalini, I have to tell you and I have told it to Ramya Abhinand, I love your bookstagram pics. They are a beautiful sight to behold and your Muffy looks too disciplined to stay put in the pics.
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I have added ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’ and ‘Chocolat’, to my TBR list. Thanks so much, Shalini! I saw the first one at the bookshop the other day, but didn’t know if it would make for a good read. Now that you have recommended it, I will read it.
Also, your Muffy is one patient model! How do you make him follow your directions during your shoot? 😛 Give him a tight hug on my behalf, please! ❤
Have read all the books and own most of them. I still love revising them with a cup of coffee
Happy Winters Shalu.
This is an exhaustive list. I watched Chocolat, the movie and loved it. Have read a few from your list, but I’m not a big one for HP, GTs or the LOR trilogies. So have always let them pass.
Muffy is such an ideal model with your books. He is patient and so compliant.
Your blog is a visual delight.
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Wowie shalu… such lovely books na.. YOu could just cosy up and dream away with each one of them. Gone with the wind is a favourite, sitting inside a blnket, you could dream away about Rhett Butler. I just finished Circe and its an absolute delight yet another winter favourite. An apat from And then there were none, I love various other Agatha Christies which will make you forget the world, and beat the low phase of winters:))
I would also prefer a book over a Netflix series. I am not fond of fantasy novels but your list looks exciting. The book that I am really looking forward to reading is “A girl with the dragon tattoo”.
Wow, such an illustrative list, bookmarking this post. Thanks for sharing.
I love your Instagram clicks, Shalini. These are some wonderful recommendations. I have only read half of them and HP is my favorite in this list. Adding ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ to my TBR. I don’t like to have a long TBR list. So bookmarking this post for later reference. 🙂
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I love these recommendations! I have read a few of these and those are the books that I would like to go back to because I loved them so much. I haven’t read a lot in the past few weeks but I hope to make up for it.
I absolutely love your Instagram pictures. They are all so amazing!
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So many of my favourites are on this list! The Winternight Trilogy – LOVE! I’m waiting for Jan so I can dig into the final book!! Circe is at the top of my wish list. And The Night Circus is the book I’m planning to start 2019 with – we can all use some wonder, magic, and smarts to help us through a new year, eh? 😉
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Much as I loved reading your post, I got terribly distracted by Mufasa. He’s adorable. A great collection. I’ve read most of these and would any day sit down to re-read them.
Such a fantastic list! Oh and I too re-read Harry Potter every year around this time. I just completed the final book a few days ago. This post has so many great recommendations, my TBR overfloweth!
P.S. Muffy looks so cute with all the books. I have to confess I love your insta feed, with or without muffy (though I am biased towards the ones with him of-course) 😀