I’m looking for books to read in December that are cozy and moody and atmospheric. No rom-com but any other genre.

Question

Angie · Answer

Good Morning, Midnight: Or anything else by Jean Rhys.

Liz · Answer

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey: One of my favorite novels. A story of magical realism set in the Alaska wilderness. Eowyn Ivey's writing is the closest you can get to visiting Alaska without leaving your couch.

Marlo · Answer

Fresh water for flowers: I recently read this super cozy and atmospheric and touching book called Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin.  The protagonist is a female groundskeeper at a graveyard in the French countryside. A perfect fall/winter read.

JaperMoon · Answer

Lies and Sorcery - Elsa Morante

Lily · Answer

Audiobook Christmas Carol read by Tim Curry: Hear me out. Dickens rules. You know the story, but the detail and compassion embedded in Dickens’ writing and Curry’s acting make this an important December tradition for me. Christmasy but not really Christian, it’s a glimpse into a society with inequalities so like our own, grappling with what we owe to one another.

Sarah · Answer

Anna Karenina: The Pevear and Volokhosky translation. I know it seems daunting but it’s hilarious and poignant and gripping. I recommend a ritual involving a wool blanket and some Earl Grey tea and a little notebook to capture all the gold nuggets.

suzy · Answer

the shipping news: extremely atmospheric! and blustery! enjoyed it way more than i thought i would.

Ginny Branch · Answer

Ghost Wall (Sarah Moss): This is a perfect October read. It’s a slim novella telling the haunting story of a young girl being forced by her abusive and controlling father to join a local college’s Anthropology program’s course on Iron Age living as they live off the land as the ancients once had. The author’s descriptions of their natural world via foraging excursions are evocative and atmospheric. She also builds suspense and tension expertly and slowly. Her father’s obsession with “Bog People” and the rituals of the time is a genre completely unfamiliar to me until this book, but boy is it a good base for a thriller. I chose this book purely by its cover at the library, and knew nothing of the plot before reading it, and was hooked pretty quickly after an initial slower start. The feeling of dread and unease throughout is great if you’re into that thing!

Molly · Answer

Wild Dark Shore: It’s moody and set in Antartica! Mysterious and melancholy. Can’t stop thinking ab the ending!

Clara · Answer

“Sea Room” by Adam Nicolson: One of my favorite books of all time. Details the history of the Shiant Islands off the coast of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. Incredibly evocative storytelling about archeology, wildlife, and personal narrative, as well as some fascinating reflections on the concept of property ownership, all in one.

Joy Fowlkes · Answer

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead: Okay, so I picked this up during the holidays to read while traveling in Switzerland just after the world opened during the pandemic. I instantly got covid, and I spent a week in the hotel room… flying high on Shipstead’s sweeping novel about aviation, brushing up against what it means to be understood when what you want for yourself is unprecedented.

Lexie F · Answer

Flight by Lynn Steger Strong: Read if you like a family drama like The Family Stone.

Amy · Answer

The Heart's Invisible Furies (John Boyne): You’ll probably cry with this one. 🥺

Jeanine Nault · Answer

Winter by Ali Smith: “That’s what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again. An exercise in adapting yourself to whatever frozen or molten state it brings you.”

E_C_B · Answer

Two Series for you!: First, anything by Catherine Newman, but particularly Sandwich and Wreck, in that order. Written from the perspective of Rocky, a midlife mom with teen/young adult children and aging parents in the Northeast. Both novels are funny, touching, slice through you.

Second, the Cal Hooper series from Tana French: The Searcher, The Hunter, The Keeper. Great detective series set in rural Ireland, very atmospheric and cozy/dreary (in a way that makes you want to curl up under a blanket by a fire).