As the threat of snow looms over Boone each winter, it’s important to be prepared for a snow-in. This includes keeping up with supplies, making sure batteries are charged and indulging in entertainment. This rendition of Bookstop is here to give you books to keep your blood pumping through any snow day or blizzard. With six spine-chilling books all set deep in winter, you won’t need to go outside to experience the cold.
“Misery” by Stephen King
One of many snowy novels by King, this book focuses on a famous writer and his biggest fan. Paul Sheldon has just finished his masterpiece, and to celebrate, he takes a drive through scenic rural Colorado and gets into a near-fatal accident. Luckily for him, nurse Annie Wilkes is there to take him to her mountain cottage to tend to his wounds — or so Paul thinks. He soon finds out Annie’s real intentions, which are far more sinister than he believes. Trapped in her cottage with nothing but a typewriter and a snow-filled backdrop, Paul learns he must do whatever it takes to survive.
“No Exit: A Novel” by Taylor Adams
When a blizzard takes hold of Darby Thorne’s last chance to see her sick mother, she is forced to stay at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere with four other strangers. With no signal, a dying phone and a busted coffee machine, the four try their best to get along. When Darby makes a last-ditch effort to try to find a signal to phone for help, she uncovers a horrific scene: a little girl trapped inside one of the parked cars. As Darby tries to figure out which stranger is responsible for the kidnapping and how to save the girl, she discovers she has nowhere to go and nowhere is safe.
“The House On Vesper Sands” by Paraic O’Donnell
Set deep within Victorian society, this gothic mystery follows two men on their mission to solve a string of cases involving missing girls. One man, a curt yet witty inspector whose unusual background in the paranormal steers the case toward the supernatural, and the other, a Cambridge dropout on the search for his missing uncle. Alongside their story is that of an up-and-coming journalist and her quest to solve the case while steering clear of dangerous nobility. Together, this unusual crew braves London’s fierce underground while traversing the limits of reality.
“Cold Eternity” by S.A. Barnes
This intergalactic novel takes place on a somewhat abandoned spaceship that doubles as storage for cryogenically frozen billionaires. The reader follows Halley, a woman with a past full of politics and scandals, as she navigates a lonesome environment filled with eerie Artificial Intelligence holograms and an increasing sense of danger. With no one to talk to except Karl, the maintenance man — the only other member on board — Halley discovers an empty ship full of secrets and shadows.
“Iron Lake” by William Kent Krueger
Life could not get much worse for Cork O’Conner, a disgraced former sheriff and recent divorcé, but when the town judge ends up dead, and a kid goes missing, he finds that it could. As O’Conner works through each suspect, he finds the web of lies and conspiracy goes deeper than he could ever imagine. With historical notes of Indigenous Anishinaabe culture and southern Chicago, Krueger sets up a snowy mystery that entangles the entire town.
“The Left Hand of Darkness” by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin needs little introduction within the literary field and neither does her 1969 novel “The Left Hand of Darkness.” Following Genly Ai, a human emissary from an intergalactic collective of planets, this novel takes the reader to a planet called Winter, a land plunged in eternal ice and snow, where its alien inhabitants are genderless and their cultural systems are intricately detailed. As Genly tries to convince the rulers of the different kingdoms on Winter to join his planetary union, he continues to face hardships amongst his hosts. This book explores deep sociological concepts alongside fantastical science fiction.
