A Cozy Winter Reading Challenge

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I’m back with another reading challenge that’s actually seasonally relevant: a winter reading challenge! This was a fun one to put together not just because it’s the current season, but I love a lot of the books I included.

As usual, I included 12 prompts, one per week. But if that’s too much for you, no worries! This is extremely casual and you can do it however you want.

You could pick one to do each month, or you can choose books that cover multiple prompts. An example of that would be Dead of Winter. It could count for snow on the cover, set during a blizzard, winter in the title, and white cover.

I tried to include a variety of genres, as usual, but also as usual it tends to lean more toward what I am personally interested in. There are at least five suggestions for each prompt, some have more.

You’ll find a lot of thrillers, some horror and romance, a bit of nonfiction, and a smattering of other genres. And as always, feel free to ignore every idea and choose your own books!

If you decide to join, I’d love to see what you end of reading. Feel free to share with the Instagram story templates.

• Pango is my go-to for finding secondhand books affordably, sold by other readers! If you’re a new user, you can use HEYIMREADING at checkout for $5 off your first $10 purchase! Check out Pango Books here!
• Thrift Books is one of the places I check when I’m looking for a book and want it cheap. It’s great if you like buying used books. With this you can get a free book after spending $30!
• If you want to listen to some of these, consider trying Audible! You can get your first month free (one free book) plus tons of others they have for free.  Get that Audible deal here.
• If you want to read more on your Kindle but don’t want to buy books, Kindle Unlimited is a good option. If you read a lot and like to read more than just new releases (especially romance), it could be worth it. Get Kindle Unlimited here!
• Shop my collection of bookish goodies on Etsy! These aren’t my shop items, but other shops I’ve curated into a book-themed collection. Shop my Etsy bookish goodies here!
• Shop my book lists here! You can find every book list I have on Bookshop.org (except my monthly round-ups) and I add everything I can but they occasionally won’t have some. I do occasionally add extras though. If any lists are empty, they’ll be filled in shortly! Shop my bookshop.org book lists here.

Snow on the cover

• Moon of the Crusted Snow
• The Pachinko Girl
• Don’t Let In The Cold
• Five Total Strangers
• The Overnight Guest
• No Exit

Set during a blizzard

You can find more locked-room mysteries here.

• Dead of Winter
• Shiver
• The Sanatorium
• One by One
• Made You Look

A holiday novel

You can find Christmas horror books here, Christmas books here, and other cozy Christmas mysteries here.

• The Christmas Appeal
• Krampus: The Yule Lord
• The Matzah Ball
• How to Excavate a Heart
• Once Upon A December

White cover

• Autobiography of Red
• Zero Days
• Swimming to Antarctica
• Vox
• Choke
• If Something Happens to Me

Set in a Nordic country

You can find all of my Nordic noir posts here.

• Around Iceland on Inspiration
• The Forgotten Girls
• The Boy at the Door
• I’m Traveling Alone
• Last Rituals
• Snowblind
• The Tenant

Set in Antarctica

You can find more books set in Antarctica here.

• The Impossible First
• Antarctica
• Terra Incognita
• Skiing Into the Bright Open
• The Dark

A Goodreads Choice Award nominee from the most recent awards

This one varies by year so I won’t add anything specific here. There are dozens of books to choose from depending on your taste preferences. It doesn’t have to be a winner or even top ten, just something from the most recent nominations.

A new release from December-February

This one will also vary by year, so I’m not including anything specific. I think a fun way to choose this would be to go to your local bookstore (indie is best if possible but anything will work) or library and browse their new arrivals area.

Blue cover

You can find more books with blue covers here.

• You’d Be Home Now
• Dept. of Speculation
• Vanishing World
• Brat
• The Wall

“Winter” in the title

• Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife
• The Winter Witch
• Winter
• The Midwinter Witch
• Winter in Sokcho

Letters W, I, N, T, E, and R in the title (but not the word winter itself)

• Certainly More Than You Want to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast; A Postmodern Experience
• Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe
• The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
• We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

Set above the Arctic Circle (or just in the Arctic)

• Arctic Dreams
• The Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland
• In the Land of White Death
• Julie of the Wolves
• Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube

Have you read any of these? Which ones? Are you going to join the winter reading challenge? Which books are you going to read for it?