Best books to cozy up with this winter BY ANNA SPIVAK Grab your fuzziest blanket and a warm cup of whatever makes you happy and jump right into some of 2016’s best books – picks that, coincidentally, are just the right fit for a cozy, too-cold-even-to- consider-going-outside, read. Scan the list of categories below for books that fit into your favorite genre or peruse some of the other options for a taste of something different. MYSTER & THRILLER FICTION Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick (Simon & Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris (St. Martin’s Press): A shudder-worthy thriller with serious potential movie chops, B.A. Paris’ debut novel – a Good Reads 2016 Choice Awards nominee – is completely can’t-putdown good. Behind Closed Doors paints the picture of a marriage almost too good to be true – a couple that is never apart and shares everything. However, not everything is what it appears to be in this truly twisted story. The couple has an unimaginably dark secret between them – a twist that could give even the most believing of romantics a good scare. The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (Bookouture): Also a Good Reads 2016 Choice Awards nominee, The Girl in the Ice is a stone-cold page turner. The book starts out with the discovery of a woman’s body frozen deep beneath a sheet of ice in a London park. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. However, when detective Erika Foster begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found in water around London. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins): A deeply character-based and family dynamic-focused novel, Ann Patchett truly gets what makes a good, worthwhile read in her latest novel, Commonwealth, summarized pretty much perfectly by Good Reads in this synopsis: “Told with equal measures of humor and heartbreak, Commonwealth is a meditation on inspiration, interpretation, and the ownership of stories. It is a brilliant and tender tale of the far-reaching ties of love and responsibility that bind us together.” SCIENCE FICTION Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (Crown Publishing): Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? That’s the big question for Dark Matter’s protagonist Jason Dessen. If you’re into overwhelmingly bring-you-back-to-earth, you’re a speck in the grand scheme of things kind of sci-fi stuff, this is definitely the book for you. But, be warned, deep philosophical questions about your own existence may ensue. HUMOR Schuster): A way-too-real read for anyone who’s ever felt a little too weird for other people’s tastes, Anna Kendrick’s delightfully honest, funny and at times awkward stories about her own life really take on a life of their own in Scrappy Little Nobody. If you like bold women with a sharp wit and no-frills attitude, this is definitely the book for you. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer (Simon & Schuster): Voted Good Read’s 2016 choice award winner in the Humor category, Comedian Amy Schumer’s The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo is a hilarious look into some of Schumer’s candid, personal and pretty relatable life experiences. If you’re aching for a good laugh, pick this up, but try not to read it too fast as you surely won’t want it to end. QNS.com 36 WINTER 2016
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