Thursday 13: Winter Tales

I haven’t done a Thursday 13 in a while, on any of my blogs, and thought I’d challenge myself, as a hard freeze descends across north Texas, by pulling away from my fantasies of beach vacations in Outer Banks rentals, and instead compile a list of thirteen Winter Tales.

  1. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott: a perennial favorite of mine, chock full of cozy fall and winter scenes. And then there’s the moment when Amy falls through the ice.
  2. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, by Italo Calvino: one of the oddest books I’ve ever read, it’s lingered with me since I was 19. Not for light reading.
  3. My Antonia, by Willa Cather: some people think this is boring, but I love those stories of the prairie…I just don’t want to live there.
  4. Holiday Grind, by Cleo Coyle: the ultimate holiday mystery, with recipes, too.,/li>
  5. Time and Again, by Jack Finney: classic fantasy; pay special attention to scenes like when the young couples are skating in Central Park.
  6. Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson: haunting, and you can re-watch the movie when you’ve finished the book.
  7. Smilla’s Sense of Snow, by Peter Hoeg: a tale of suspense and snow. Gripping!
  8. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin: takes place on a planet called Winter. Must I say more?
  9. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis: always winter, never Christmas, but a classic even so.
  10. The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and To Build a Fire, by Jack London: novellas, really, hence the lumping them together. Light a fire and find a thick blanket before you read these stories.
  11. Icehenge, by Kim Stanley Robinson: what if Mars was under totalitarian law, and there was a Stonehenge like creation made of ice on Pluto? What if?
  12. Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Vida: love, loss, and a night at the ice hotel.
  13. The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder: having lived through a few South Dakota winters, I have a new understanding of what Laura and her family went through.


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