Rain, Snow, or Shine: 9 Books to Read For Any Winter Weather Forecast

Location: Minnesota
Temperature: -40 degrees
Snowfall: 0 inches

This is a book about the only people who may be colder than you. In 1928, Billy Gawronski, a scrappy teen from New York’s Lower East Side, stowed away on an expedition to Antarctica. This true story will take you from the dance halls of Tahiti all the way to the blinding white of Antarctica, following the unforgettable voyage of a boy who would become an international celebrity.

This is not the weather you were expecting when you retired to Florida. We understand. Be reminded of your former, warm paradise with this novel about a movie location scout trying to convince the mayor of a small Florida town to let her team film within their community casino.

Okay. Stay calm. It MIGHT rain today. You might have seen a cloud already. I promise, it’s not time to panic. This short story collection contains a hundred real apocalypses, some only a few lines long, showing the many forms of apocalypses, from the end of a relationship to the end of the world.

It will be snowing all day, and you know from experience that it will take much longer for you to get out. That’s okay. You have bread, milk, toilet paper, and Stephen King. Begin with THE GUNSLINGER and work your way through this eight-book fantasy series that begins with Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger, pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life.

Read the full review of the Dark Tower series.

New Jersey does not completely shut down for 5 inches, but everything does slow down. From the trains to the traffic, you will quickly come to relate to the title of this novella. This is the moving portrait of an elderly man’s struggle to hold on to his memories and his family’s efforts to care for him as they let go. I recommend bringing Backman’s A MAN CALLED OVE with you, too. It may be a few hours. . . .

Two inches shouldn’t be enough to impede your drive to work, but we all know the ice will be the real problem. Get prepared for your day on ice with this memoir from US National Champion figure skater and 2018 Olympian Karen Chen. Beginning her ice-skating training at five years old, Chen describes her journey to becoming a champion.

Your roommate has the flu. Your boss has the flu. If you don’t have the flu yet, you will soon. Don’t worry. While you’re lying in bed, this novel will reassure you of your ability to find love during an epidemic. Florentino and Fermina were once passionately in love, but when Fermina decides to marry a rich doctor, Florentino is devastated. Over the next 50 years, he builds his business career and carries out affairs, all while saving his heart for Fermina.

Today may be your only chance to hike Camelback Mountain or the White Tanks and pretend you’re climbing Mount Everest. If that doesn’t sound like fun to you, you can feel the entire Everest experience—perils and all—through Jon Krakauer’s INTO THIN AIR. This is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Mount Everest from a man who reached the summit on May 10, 1996.

In case you’re wondering what’s happening on the mainland this season, THE CHILDREN’S BLIZZARD will give you a better idea and make you very happy about the choices that have led you to the islands. On the prairie in January 1888, an unseasonably warm day ended in a deadly blizzard, killing hundreds of newly arrived settlers. This is the story of a storm that is still included in local lore in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Minnesota, reminding parents to bundle up their children and you to really enjoy that beach.