When it’s too chilly to go outside, get lost in one of these books instead.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Despite being published in 1948, I Capture the Castle doesn’t at all come across as outdated or stuffy, a real testament to the writing abilities of its author, Dodie Smith. The book actually emerged from Smith’s longing for the happiness and security of her home (England) during the Second World War, when she and her husband were living in California. As such, I Capture the Castle truly does transport you to its idyllic setting, with a young female narrator who, though frustrating at times, is nonetheless genuinely relatable. Fun fact: Dodie Smith also wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Sure to keep you occupied for many a wintry day, Anna Karenina remains a hallmark of classic literature nearly 150 years after its initial publication, and for good reason. Beautiful, tragic, and incredibly ambitious in its scope, the Russian novel is a forceful meditation on love, marriage, fidelity, family, passion, and shifting societal values. If you’re a Hulu subscriber, check out The Beautiful Lie, a contemporary Australian re-imagining of Anna Karenina.
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World by Stephen Johnson
So, full disclosure, I know people who were assigned The Ghost Map as their summer-before-freshman-year-of-college reading, and those people found it to be considerably dull. That being said, I read this book entirely of my own volition, and found it fascinating. Though relatively short in length, The Ghost Map is somewhat of a slow read, since the figures and primary sources so crucial to the story require a bit of time to make complete sense of. If you are at all interested in public health, city planning, or even just history, I would highly recommend giving Stephen Johnson’s thoughtful analysis of London’s devastating 1854 cholera outbreak a chance.
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
I said it when I was 10, and I’ll say it now—Lemony Snicket’s series following the tribulations of the Baudelaire siblings is a masterpiece of modern storytelling (ok, so I definitely didn’t use the phrase “masterpiece of modern storytelling” as a 10-year-old, but the sentiment remains). I still consider A Series of Unfortunate Events and its sequels to be among the funniest, cleverest works of fiction I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. And isn’t there something just inherently comforting about revisiting your favorite childhood books?
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
A collection of short stories chronicling the coming-of-age of a young girl in a small Ontario town, Alice Munro’s Lives of Girls and Women subtly incorporates feminist ideals by realistically depicting the ambivalent—and oftentimes, quite blatant—sexism that so many women must contend with as they navigate the already choppy waters of adolescence. Any book able to authentically portray the realities of girlhood receives an A+ from us at HC Rice.