For a winter projected to be very snowy and cold, what’s a better way to spend these days than with a good book? These are a few of my favorite recommendations for the winter season specifically. Transform your gray, stay-at-home days into journeys within these immersive books.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov – Told through two settings and in two different periods, this book can be best described as an existential roller coaster. Separated into three storylines that become intertwined with each other, Bulgakov inspires us with tales of religious faith and the stories of man’s experiences in this world. Though this read will take you through in-depth sections of old-time dialogue, the understanding of the themes presented will make it worthwhile.

Fans of this book might also enjoy – The Stranger by Albert Camus, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig– This book follows the life story of a woman who has already experienced the bulk of her adult life, even though she did not live the full life that she expected. The midnight library is full of books that enclose the decisions that she has made and can go back and change. Will she go back and do things over to change her life? 

Fans of this book might also enjoy – Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar, Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – One of the most famous and classic novels of all time, Great Expectations follows the frenzied story of a young orphan and his journey through trying to rise up the ranks of society in the 1800s. From the main character’s perspective, we are a part of the way he observes the new world around him and develops as a person.

Fans of this book might also enjoy – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontё, and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman – This book is a collective novel composed of short stories following the guise of what the famous scientist Albert Einstein could have possibly dreamed about in his lifetime. These are based off of the uncovered documents that Einstein left after his death and are traced back to the headspace he could have been in to determine his sleep patterns that could have influenced his dreams. This is made into a great short read, but it does not fail to give you text you can look back and contemplate on. 

Fans of this book might also enjoy – The Order Of Time by Carlo Rovelli, Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly – Another classic novel that has been talked about for centuries, the original story of Frankenstein follows the journey of a young man turned mad scientist who experiments with the middle ground between life and death after hearing the story of a man who created a part-human creature. Told through a series of letters sent back to his home in London, the main character shows his slow descent into madness from his obsession with his creation.

Fans of this book might also enjoy – Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, andThe Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde