L’Winter and the coldest days of the year are officially here: it’s time to stock up on tea, rock wool sweaters and curl up on the sofa with a nice fleece blanket. Staying at home (also considering the period we are going through) is the only imperative. But the good news is that we will not be alone: next to us will be the books which, especially in Winter, they turn out to be precious companions to fully experience the coldest season of all.
In fact, there are perfect stories to read during these months, narratives set in cold and distant places, preferably with a lot of name that falls softly from the sky, covering the streets and roofs of the cities. Some of these books can be cheerful and romantic, like the comedies of Sophie Kinsella, have now become a guarantee for anyone looking for love stories, sparkling lights, sweet feelings and a guaranteed happy ending. Others, however, like Harry Potter, have that touch of magic that leads us to truly believe that everything is possible. Not to mention all those books that have a tragic and mysterious atmosphere, like the Scandinavian thrillers, which have made a real trademark of the darkness and winter restlessness.
After all, one of the key texts of the Christmas period is A Christmas Carol of Charles Dickens, a gothic and macabre tale, full of terrifying and frightening figures, which paved the way for many stories immersed in the same climate of terror. Perhaps it may be that snow and low temperatures always instill the instinct to protect oneself and stay safe, but also in great works of literature such as War and peace e Dr. Zivago, or again The Sergeant in the Snow by Mario Rigoni Stern, we can find that feeling of slight restlessness and disturbance, typical of winter stories.
Regardless of the genre, the books to read in winter are recognized by their ability to unfold slowly, allowing themselves to be read with a completely singular transport, as if the world outside had been put on pause. And it is precisely to face the intense cold season that we have prepared a selection (which does not claim to be exhaustive and in which the titles are not placed in order of importance) of readings that will keep you company in these long months to spend in home.
Winter diary of Paul Auster. According to Paul Auster, winter is a season of life. In his novel Winter Diary (Einaudi, translation by Massimo Bocchiola), the American writer, who has signed, among others, The invention of solitude, traces his existence through his body, which becomes a map and catalog of experiences and sensations experienced. A ruthless, sweet, moving and extremely sincere book.
Beyond the winter by Isabel Allende. Beyond the winter (Feltrinelli, translation by Elena Liverani) by Isabel Allende, a beloved and prolific Chilean author, is a highly topical story that deals with issues such as emigration, national identity and domestic violence. A novel in which snowstorms represent not only the traumas of life to be left behind, but also a trap from which it seems impossible to escape.
Shining of Stephen King. Classic of contemporary fiction, The Shining (Bompiani, translation by Adriana Dell’Orto) is a novel (from which Stanley Kubrick drew the film of the same name with Jack Nicholson) masterfully written by the great master of suspense and horror: Stephen King . A reading recommended always, but especially in winter, the season in which the story is set, which sees at the center a strange and imposing hotel, the Overlook, the scene of sinister and macabre events … The girl in the fog by Donato Carrisi Let’s stay in a dreary and disturbing atmosphere, with The girl in the fog (Longanesi), bestseller by Donato Carrisi (from which the writer, in the director’s view, then made the film with Toni Servillo and Jean Reno). This time we are in a small mountain town, Avechot, where two days before Christmas Eve Anna Lou, a sixteen-year-old girl with red hair and a face covered with freckles, mysteriously disappeared.
Flowers above hell by Ilaria Tuti. Another brilliant voice of Italian fiction is Ilaria Tuti, who with her first novel, Flowers over Hell (Longanesi) won the hearts of readers and readers. Merit of his writing, fluent, evocative and of great impact, but also of his protagonist: Teresa Battaglia, commissioner and profiler, who finds himself investigating a heinous murder that took place in the village of Travenì, a suggestive place set in the mountains, full of woods, streams, glaciers, snowy expanses and unforgettable natural sceneries… If a winter night a traveler by Italo Calvino Impossible not to mention, If a winter night a traveler (Mondadori) is a cult, an authentic pillar of the twentieth century.
Novel on the novel or, better still, on “the pleasure of reading novels”, is composed of ten different incipits whose titles, together, make up the beginning of a new novel.
In short, a narrative game full of meanings on the meaning of reading and the impossibility of really knowing reality. Signed by one of the most important writers of Italian literature: Italo Calvino.
The book of winter by Tove Jansson. Opaque sky, white snow that submerges the landscape, horizons that sink into the earth. Dreams, art, fantasy and wishes that come true. This and much more offers The book of winter (Iperborea, translation by C. Giorgetti Cima) by Tove Jansson, a volume that comes directly from Finland, in which those that appear as common daily events are lit up with magic and poetic grace, revealing itself as sparks to understand and rediscover the value of human feeling.
Edited by Jolanda Di Virgilio for ilLibraio.it
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