I don’t know about you, but every holiday season I gravitate towards the same few books. They are not necessarily jolly or Christmas-themed, but possess a deep nostalgia that is reserved only for the cold season — those dreary December nights when I want nothing more than to curl up next to a fire with my beloved book and a cup of hot coco. So, if you are looking for a wintery read, and want to bring some new books into your holiday rotation, here’s what I’d recommend reading this December.
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
This feels like a bit of cliche, as I could name ten different movie and book characters who always cite Wuthering Heights as their favorite book that they read every Christmas, but alas, I too share in this sentiment. Written in a somber, dreamlike prose over the frozen mores of Northern England, this novel feels like winter personified. I fell in love with Emily Brontë’s novel when I was sixteen years old. Never before had I read a book so beautifully written, with characters full of so much agony and despair, yet so deeply and madly in love. Wuthering Heights explores a love affair between Catherine, a spoiled, cruel young woman, and Heathcliff, an orphan taken in by Catherine’s wealthy and cold father. Class and attitude separate these protagonists, yet they cannot fight their attraction and deep infatuation. A love story told in the most poignant way possible, I think Wuthering Heights is a must read this holiday season. - Ethan Frome, Edith Warton
My beloved Edith — oh, how I adore her writing. Maybe most known for her novel, Age of Innocence, Edith Warton is an exceptional storyteller and beautiful writer. Each book of hers captures what it means to fall in love, how the world fades away and all that is left is your beloved. Each of her novels encapsulate the human condition from desire to despair. I could have chosen any of her novels for this list but for winter, I have to recommend Ethan Frome. Set in the desolate landscape of Maine during the winter months, Ethan Frome is an isolated and deeply unhappy farmer living with a frigid and domineering wife, Zeena. Until, one day, Zeena’s cousin Mattie — a young, beautiful, and kind woman — decides to stay and help maintain the property. Melting Ethan’s frozen exterior, this novel captures a brief yet timeless love affair set in the most wintry setting imaginable. - Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season Forough Farrokhzad
Forough Farrokhzad is one of the most exceptional poets to ever live. In her short life she not only defied a brutal existence set for her in Iran, but created some of the most ground-breaking and endearing art I have ever been exposed to. Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season is a collection of poetry thoughtfully curated and deftly translated. Spanning from her earliest poems to ones written shortly before her untimely death at the age of 32, this collection charts Farrokhzad’s tragic and beautiful life. Touching on her brief marriage, the loss of her child, her public affair, and her relationship to art and the world around her, this poetry book centers on Farrokhzad’s thoughts on love, grief, desire, wisdom, hope, and terror. I have never met a collection of poetry that so quickly touched me. Her writing is accessible and essential, so please read her this winter. - Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
I believe this short novel is a perfect introduction to the unmoored and brilliant world of Hermann Hesse. With biting prose Hesse transfixes the reader, raising questions about our reality, our personhood, and what it actually means to exist as a human being. Steppenwolf follows depressed outsider Harry Haller, a man living on the fringes of society who feels that he is part man, part wolf. The novel unfolds on a strange and mystical odyssey, as Haller tries to find autonomy, faith, and transcendence. It’s a strange book that simultaneously feels warm, inviting, yet utterly perplexing. Steppenwolf is a novel destined to be read during the lull of winter, when the mind is languid and there is time to ponder the impossible. - A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway & The Paris Wife, Paula McLain
I’m not sure why but I love historic works during the winter time. There is something so inviting about entering a pocket of history, of nestling into the lives of strangers and indulging in their passions, their loves, their desires. For me no other story satiates this craving more than reading of the love affair between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. Moving together from the states to Paris, France in the early 1920’s, their decade long romance was wrought with tension, adultery, and blazing love for each other. So, if you too are interested in reading about this infamous relationship, I give you A Moveable Feast and The Paris Wife. The first book is Hemingway’s only memoir, a first-hand retelling of his time in Paris, filled with his reflections of his failed first marriage, and the friends he made along the way. The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain, on the other hand, is a retelling of the relationship from Hadley’s perspective. McLain writes in a style that would rival even the great Hemingway himself, as she crafts a protagonist so compelling, so honest, you can’t help but fall in love with her. I adore these books together as they create a complete story of such a complex relationship. With inviting prose that oozes from the page like honey, these books will be a delight to read this holiday season.
And there you have it, my favorite winter time reads. Enjoy 🙂
