If you're hunkering down ahead of the big winter storm this weekend, we want to make sure you're well prepared. Yes, with batteries, flashlights, toilet paper, and food but — perhaps most importantly — with good reading material.
We looked back through some recent interviews and Books We Love, our annual year-end reading guide, to find snowy suggestions to get you through the storm.
For the nonfiction lovers
Winter: The Story of a Season by Val McDermid, 2026
Scottish author Val McDermid is best known for her crime writing, a world of brutal murders and dark alleyways. But her new book, a work of creative nonfiction, is an ode to memories of winters past and a heartfelt appreciation of all the season has to offer. "I'm kind of hoping it charms you into winter as well," McDermid told NPR's Daniel Estrin. Her book meditates on warm soup, and winter festivals, and the comfort of coming indoors on a frigid day. "I like the contrast with being out in the outside, where it's crisp and cold and when you come indoors and it's all warm and lovely, and you can sit down with a good book and a good fire or a wee glass of whiskey," she says. "What's not to like about that?" — Samantha Balaban, senior producer, Weekend Edition
Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks – a Cool History of a Hot Commodity by Amy Brady, 2023
Amy Brady's cultural history of ice in America is the unexpected nonfiction pleasure read I turned to in lieu of air conditioning one summer. Brady fascinates and educates, covering the immense impact and complex social histories of this now-ubiquitous and indispensable part of American life. There's a lot to learn! Helpfully, Ice is divided into four parts: The Birth of an Obsession, Food and Drink, Ice Sports, and The Future of Ice. With clear prose and a lot of passion, Brady touches on many manifestations of ice; however, it feels like just the tip of the iceberg. Do you like surprisingly expansive niche subjects? I can't recommend this one enough. — Jessica P. Wick, book critic and writer
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, 2020
English writer Katherine May's beautiful and unintentionally but uncannily timely 2020 book is about what she calls "wintering," a way to weather tough periods when you feel cut off, sidelined or overwhelmed. Brought low by a perfect storm of personal challenges, May learns to slow down, hibernate and regroup. She becomes convinced that the cold has healing powers and explores how other creatures and cultures cope with the dark, frigid season. She takes up ice swimming, cradles an amazingly soft hibernating dormouse and considers the profusion of wolves and snow in fairy tales. May finds solace in her explorations, and readers, especially in these trying times of social distancing, will too. — Heller McAlpin, book critic
For the fiction lovers
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller, 2025
There's a storm beneath the somber surface of The Land in Winter, Andrew Miller's 10th novel. The land is the rural West Country of England during the legendary Big Freeze of the early 1960s, when blizzards engulfed trains on their tracks and froze over rivers. The two young couples who anchor the book are, unsurprisingly, frozen too: a gentleman farmer uneasily married to a former nightclub hostess, and a posh doctor's wife whose husband is conducting an affair with a patient. The action unfolds like a thaw, and by the end of this Booker-shortlisted novel, it feels as though the drama has soaked itself into your soul. — Neda Ulaby, correspondent, Culture Desk
The Trouble Up North by Travis Mulhauser, 2025
Travis Mulhauser perfectly evoked northern Michigan, in all its beauty and icy menace, in his previous novel, Sweetgirl. He returns to the region in this book, which is just as accomplished as his last. The novel follows a family of bootleggers and smugglers whose criminal enterprise has fallen on tough times, leading one member of the clan to take matters into her own hands. This is a top-notch literary thriller that's extremely difficult to put down. — Michael Schaub, book critic
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, 2023
Dig your crime novels blanketed with a late 18th-century, New England snow? How about with a capable, middle-aged midwife in the role of detective, telling the men in power things they absolutely do not want to hear? This compelling story begins in a river community in Maine with a body frozen in the ice; it unspools with the alleged assault of a minister's wife. This is a most uncozy mystery that addresses the unbalanced power dynamics of men and women, rich and poor. Bonus: The character of the midwife and some plot points are based on a real person, Martha Ballard. Not quite true crime but true enough! — Melissa Gray, senior producer, Weekend Edition
Every Reason We Shouldn't by Sara Fujimura, 2020
Olivia Kennedy is 15 going on 16 and the prodigal daughter of two Olympic figure skating darlings. A gold medal pairs skater at the junior level, Olivia no longer competes due to lack of funds and a crash-and-burn performance when she was 13. But things start looking up when short track speed skater Jonah Choi comes to town. The two bond immediately over mild teenage rebellions, workouts and the concept of being "normal." They challenge each other because they know no other way – second best is not an option in the life of champions. — Alethea Kontis, author and book critic
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: A Novel by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, 2019
I originally picked up this book just because of the title. Later, I heard that Olga Tokarczuk had won the (delayed) 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature, and it made total sense because this book (originally published in 2009, released in English translation in 2019) is both deeply strange and deeply personal – a kind of noir murder mystery with feminist, leftist, vegetarian and academic undertones. Gorgeously written and immediately engaging, it is a complicated story about deer, hunters, age, infirmity, chaos and William Blake, driven by the rigorously no-BS practicality of its elderly narrator, Janina Duszejko, who is trying to figure out who is murdering all the hunters in her small, snowbound Polish village, all while contemplating the greater mysteries of life, Poland and the universe in general. — Jason Sheehan, author and book critic
And for the kids ...
My Antarctica: True Adventures in the Land of Mummified Seals, Space Robots, and So Much More by G. Neri, illustrated by Corban Wilkin, 2024
Take a trip to the coldest, windiest, highest and driest continent in the world. Here, young readers will find answers to every question they've ever had about Antarctica – not to mention ones they hadn't even thought to ask. Who is there now? Why? What do you eat when you're there? G. Neri's easygoing narrative reads like a journal, full of cartoons, photos and the occasional mummified seal. Plus, he profiles the many different scientists at work at McMurdo Station with humor, candor and wonder. Just be ready for one inevitable question after reading this book: "Can we go?" (For ages 7 to 10) — Betsy Bird, librarian and author of POP! Goes the Nursery Rhyme
Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper, illustrated by Kenard Pak, 2020
A gentle, affirmative story of a little girl's winter walk through her neighborhood to visit a beloved grandmother. Lina is Lebanese American, she addresses her grandmother as "Sitti" and the two joyously cook stuffed grape leaves together. But the story's focus is on Lina's independence and connection to the sensory magic of a snowy day. Author Cathy Camper humorously evokes the "snyak, snyek, snyuk" of a child's boots "crunching snow into tiny waffles" and the "scraaape, scrip, scrape" of shovels against the sidewalk. Kenard Pak's softly saturated watercolors evoke winter's diffused light and vivid pop of children's mittens and hats, making cold days something to savor. (For ages 4 to 8) — Neda Ulaby, correspondent, Culture Desk
Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell, 2017
As every schoolchild knows, little girls in red-hooded outerwear rarely fare well when encountering wolves in the wild. Yet in this nearly wordless tale, a girl's meeting with a wayward wolf cub fuels a wary friendship that transcends their very different worlds. From the hyperrealism of the wolves, frightening in their detail, to the sketched-out, almost cartoonish, rendering of the girl, Matthew Cordell offers young readers a dreamy fable with a lot to say about making connections outside your comfort zone. (For ages 4 to 8) — Betsy Bird, librarian and author of POP! Goes the Nursery Rhyme
Toys Meet Snow by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky, 2015
Whether you're already acquainted with Lumphy, StingRay and Plastic from their chapter books, or are just meeting them now, you're sure to love Toys Meet Snow. As the three venture out into the snow for the first time, their unique personalities shine through. Each toy's impressions and observations are full of imagination and charm. Emily Jenkins' masterful text is deceptively simple, and Paul O. Zelinsky's warm and wonderful illustrations make this book an enchanting read for all seasons. (For ages 3 to 7) — Lisa Yee, author of "The Misfits" series
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