“Winter is coming!” As promised by Ned Stark (I am sorry. I needed to add a small Game of Thrones reference). Anyways, the reality is that winter is indeed coming, in fact if you want to go all official, winter begins on December 21st, but counting that we are in Canada and the weather is already all Christmassy, and Winter break is basically here. It means that this is the perfect time to give some book recommendations for all those souls that are going to have a surprisingly high amount of free time.
I tried to make the recommendations as varied as possible, but honestly if you are expecting some non-fiction book, this is the wrong list.
1. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
You have to either end the 2017 or start 2018 with a novel by the 2017 Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro. Never Let Me Go is one of those books that just by thinking about it makes me want to weep a little. By saying this, Never Let Me Go is a tearjerker. For me, it is the sort of book that can have an impact in your life. It won’t easily disappear into the depths of your brain. It will make you go all philosophical over life, which is precisely what you need to start a new year. The novel is a mixture of drama, romance, and dystopian science fiction, but the type of science fiction that you might not even notice until you have read several pages. So, when you see that this book is supposedly dystopian do not expect to see a “Hunger Games” type of world.
Goodreads Synopsis:
“From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.
Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day”
Fact: It has a film adaptation released in 2010 starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley.
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
This is a book that is all Christmassy, and it is a book that needs to be mentioned because… it is A Christmas Carol! It does not matter that you have watched all hundred adaptations. You still need to read it at least once in your life during Christmas. It is a book that is surprisingly short for being a Dickens, and you can finish it while drinking hot chocolate on a lovely night.
Goodreads Synopsis:
“In his “Ghostly little book,” Charles Dickens invents the modern concept of Christmas Spirit and offers one of the world’s most adapted and imitated stories. We know Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, not only as fictional characters, but also as icons of the true meaning of Christmas in a world still plagued with avarice and cynicism.”
Fact: The movie called The Man Who Invented Christmas (released November 22, 2017) tells the story of how Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol.
3. And Then There were None by Agatha Christie.
While everyone is reading Murder on the Orient West, you should go and grab this book, which for many is Christie’s masterpiece, and according to Agatha Christie herself the book that was more difficult to write. So, if you are looking for a Mystery to make you company through all those cold nights, And Then There were None is the perfect option.
Goodreads synopsis:
“First, there were ten – a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal – and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.”
Fact: This book has a lot of different names. Some may know it as And Then There were None, others as Ten Little Niggers, and others as Ten Little Indians. The original title is Ten Little Niggers, but as you can guess it, the title was considered offensive in North America.
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.
It is simply not possible to give Winter recommendations and not mentioning at least one children’s book. So, to avoid recommending the one everyone keeps recommending (*Cough* Harry Potter *cough*), and to prevent going all “ You should read this classic” (*cough* The Chronicles of Narnia *cough*). I will go with the book that sits perfectly in the middle. The Golden Compass is the perfect recommendation for you. It has the perfect mix of magic and controversy to keep you reading, and by controversy I mean the religious type, but I won’t say much, in case you actually read it.
Goodreads synopsis:
“When Lyra’s friend Roger disappears, she and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, determine to find him.
The ensuing quest leads them to the bleak splendour of the North, where armoured bears rule the ice and witch-queens fly through the frozen skies – and where a team of scientists is conducting experiments too horrible to be spoken about.
Lyra overcomes these strange terrors, only to find something yet more perilous waiting for her – something with consequences which may even reach beyond the Northern Lights…”
Fact: The original title is Northern Lights, but it is more commonly known in North America as The Golden Compass. Also, Some critics believe that this work is Philip Pullman’s way of contradicting The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis.
5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
Don’t you wish you could go to a circus where magic exist? Well, If you do, it might take you a while to find, but the good thing is that this book takes you a step closer. The Night Circus is a rich story with a creative story. The story is so beautifully done that you might feel like magic is around you. Plus it has the perfect amount of love
Goodreads synopsis:
“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads:
Opens at Nightfall
Closes at Dawn
As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.
Le Cirque des Rêves
The Circus of Dreams.
Now the circus is open.
Now you may enter.”
Fact: The novel was written during the National Novel Writing Month, or better known as NaNoWriMo. Erin Morgenstern wrote it in over 3 NaNoWriMos. And if you were wondering, Summit Entertainment bought the rights for the film adaptation.