Gather these winter books and curl up in your favorite chair for a cozy season.
Curling up with a good book is an ideal way to enjoy the winter season and learn things to apply to the entire year.
This collection of seasonal books are favorites of mine and sure to inspire with simple living ideas, recipes for seasonal eating, crafting tutorials and more.
[mailerlite_form form_id=13]Winter Books to Read in 2020
These winter books are sure to help you spend the season curled up in a comfy chair and enjoy the season.
Bake and get crafty with this book specifically designed to help you not just survive but thrive in the winter season. Craft projects include using elements of nature, crochet, and paper. Recipes for cocktails, pastries, and more are included to help you slow down and literally savor the season.
This book is almost a pastry course. It contains amazing photos to help you improve your technique in various pastry arts as well as includes incredibly detailed instructions for every recipe.
Pastry Love has wonderful recipes both sweet and savory (though more heavily sweet) for things like Multi-Grain English muffins, Syrian Nutmeg Cake, Double Chocolate Rye Cookies, Cranberry Pecan Bread, and much more.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I re-read it almost every winter even though I feel like I know the story by heart.
A college students lives alone in a canvas wall tent with his dog in the Idaho wilderness during a winter. You'll experience a range of emotions with him as he chops wood, bakes bread, gets sick, misses a family connection and more.
It is a lovely story but be forewarned that there are graphic descriptions of hunting and even trapping in the pages. You'll grapple with these things right alongside the author as he tries to survive and understand himself, his mountain man ideals, and nature.
This is an inspiring book no matter your ultimate simple living goals. You'll meet people living their priorities in creative and super simple ways. Some of the profiles are quite austere and while that might not be the ultimate goal for everyone, you will definitely find an epiphany or two within the pages of this book.
I've been living a simple life for well over 20 years and I found so much encouragement and joy in this book and know that you will you no matter where you on your simple living journey.
Get a historical perspective of what it is like to almost starve through a harsh winter eating a potato a day. Understand that all those pioneer dreams and romantic visions weren't always so very idealistic in this book from the Little House on the Prairie Series. Adults are very likely to take away very different things than children especially from this particular book in the series.
I know there's been some controversy of late in Ma Ingalls' language in these books. Do I approve of such racism? No. But I also do not think it serves us well to pretend it didn't (or doesn't) exist especially for the time in which these books represent.
There are so many lessons to learn in this book from survival to racism that we can apply to our lives today because if we don't know our history well, we can't change and improve things for the future.
Melissa
Sunday 13th of November 2022
Thank you for these Winter book recommendations, I'll try reading some of them. I've read some previous comments on here and agree with the "Winter Solstice" book also. I re-read that almost every year too. It's about 500 pages so it takes me a few weeks to read it, but I look forward to each night reading in a comfy bed and re-acquainting myself with Elfrida Phipps' family. I also enjoy reading "Christmas at Fairacre" by Miss Read. It's an English countryside volume with three different quaint tales of her books.
Esther
Sunday 16th of February 2020
I just found your website, and I think you are on the right track. Dh and I too are definite homebodies. In addition to books you have mentioned, we absolutely love audio books! I can cook, knit and get all sorts of other things done while listening to great reads which we download from the local library.We have not had our TV hooked up for about 8 months now, not to make a statement, just didn't have the right hookups. We do have internet, but those audiobooks are a great accompaniment to staying at home!
Natura
Thursday 9th of January 2020
Your bookmarks are simple, colorful, filled with grace and beauty as everything you generously share with us is. I'm delighted to receive an email which encourages my own deep sense of being grounded and seasonal living. Kindred spirits!
Barbara Thompson
Wednesday 8th of January 2020
Thank you for your winter book reading suggestions.. I love to bake, (more than cooking) and love to read.. The Laura Ingalls Little House on the Praire books were a favorite as a child and I thoroughly enjoyed the show later on.. I cannot understand why they classify historical books that give a history of what the pioneers and other settlers went through.. Children, young people and adults would benefit more if they learned to put our history in perspective instead of trying to rewrite it, revision it and twist it into something it was not.. Enjoy your blog. Thank you again.
Lee
Wednesday 8th of January 2020
Hi Kathy, I've been rereading all the Little House books recently. I hadn't read LHOTP for years, and I'd honestly forgotten how Ma talked then. It was uncomfortable reading her words, but we shouldn't try to whitewash the past and pretend Ma didn't have those feelings and sentiments. Otherwise, we will never learn to do better. And recognizing that Ma wasn't a perfect person is a good lesson for everyone, because nobody is perfect. I really like to read Rosamund Pilcher's Winter Solstice around Christmastime. It's a lovely look at a simplified holiday season. The characters aren't perfect people, they're dealing with real problems and crises, and that makes it enjoyable. I also like to read Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas and Father Christmas Goes on Holiday. My mother had very battered copies which I've inherited, and they're a delightful pair of stories. I don't recommend the DVD of them, because it's not nearly as fun as the books are.