Move Over, Beach Reads: It's Time for Winter Solstice Books
Brace yourselves, because we're about to make a controversial statement: Winter is the best time for books.
It's cold, the days are short, and sometimes twilight seems to last all day. And reading a great book under a blanket or two really gives you space to lean into hygge season.
A few years ago, we offered you winter books to get you through the season. Now, we're going to embrace escapism and offer up a few book suggestions to help you deal with the cold and darkness in body, mind, and spirit. Think of them as coping techniques, as well as ways to embrace Reading Season.
It may already be dark at 5 PM here in New York, but it can be eternal summer in our reading lives, right? Right.
Crafts
Winter may be the best time to try a new craft; especially one that can be done in a cozy armchair.
A Year of Embroidery: A Month-to-Month Collection of Motifs for Seasonal Stitching by Yumiko Higuchi
Embrace the solstice and pick the trumpeting angels for December, or escape into the flowers of spring and spiky cacti of summer.
Wellness
It may be tempting to hibernate all winter, but yoga may be just what you need to keep mind and body sound through these dark months.
Yoga Through the Year: A Seasonal Approach to Your Practice by Jilly Shipway
A practice specific to winter solistice to help center you on the darkest night of the year.
Cooking
If you find yourself gravitating to the kitchen in winter, get inspired by new recipes to warm you up.
Simply Hot Pots: A Complete Course in Japanese Nabemono and Other Asian One-Pot Meals by Amy Kimoto-Khan
You need a new hobby—one that involves the most nourishing, warm food you can possibly imagine. Your friends will thank you.
Winter Harvest Cookbook: How to Select and Prepare Fresh Seasonal Produce All Winter Long by Lane Morgan
Presents more than two hundred recipes for healthy dishes which incorporate seasonal vegetables, with advice on shopping, menus, and ingredients.
Fiction
Okay, you've done your yoga, you've cooked a healthy meal, you've embroidered a new pillow ... now it's time for some good old-fashioned escapism. Curl up under a blanket and check out these novels set in the dog days of summer.
Bimini Twist by Linda Greenlaw
Jane Bunker returns in another thrilling, small-town mystery set in Down East Maine. It seems like everyone in Green Haven knows that Jane Bunker has scored an invite to the ultra-exclusive Summer Solstice Soiree—and they all assume she'll be in attendance, as one of the few eligible single women in town.
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.
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Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!