With the leisure advent of the last month of the year ensues the unhurried but inevitable broaching of winter. The not too frigid winter of Bangladesh is the best season in the country for soothing relaxation and de-stressing. And what better way to blow off steam and temper your frazzled state of mind – always preoccupied with your stressful work-life or the precarious, never-ending problems of your personal-life – than to disorient and disconnect yourself from the real world, curl up under your blanket and sink into an imaginary world of books.
While socializing is a great and handy custom, sometimes it’s better to just detach yourself from the outside world, find a hidden nook of your own, and dive headfirst into the beautiful world of fiction. Paul Auster once claimed, “Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head.”
So presented to you is a list of winter books that you can burrow yourself in while you are already burrowed deep in your blankets.
- Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
This is a story of a young boy coming into terms with who he really is. This story features both a novel and a poem, and functions as a recreation of a Greek myth. Furthermore, this tale tells the story of heartbreak and transformation in the life of Geryon who learns to look inward himself and encourages the readers to do the same. This book is thus perfect for winter, a time for turning inward in order to be renewed and transformed with the spring.
- Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
Featuring the dreariest and heart-rending times and the most lethal characters, this book immaculately resonates the desolation of winter. The landscape prevalent in the story is bleak and unforgiving and the tale is tension-filled and haunting. It’s surely a perfect winter read!
- Tinkers by Paul Harding
This novel is one of those stories that can transport you to a harsh Western-world winter where snow drizzles and blankets the ground they walk on. Maybe while reading this, for a few moments, you will experience gratefulness in the light winter we are actually blessed with and get to pretend that you are chopping heavily frosted wood in the middle of a massive avalanche while moving through the strangely beautiful centre of George’s epileptic seizures. It makes those awkward conversations with your parents about your latest crush almost bearable in comparison.
This was just a small list for some of the winter books that you can give a shot to over the winter. Stay tuned in for more winter-books next time!
Happy Reading!!