Five Best Books About Women to Read This Winter

I promise quality here.

Definitely need a refresher on wintering.

I took a break from reading the 2020 Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain, an upsetting masterpiece about a gay Scottish kid with an unbearable alcoholic mother, so that I could breeze through Weyward, a simple page-turner about generational trauma in a family of British witches.

Before last year, I’d never read books written specifically for women. Some are better than others, but many, it seems, are the literary equivalent of box wine for the weary woman. And as I am a weary woman, I kinda understand the appeal. One thing I’ve noticed is, there’s an abundance of novels about women finding out they’re witches, which I guess speaks to a suburban longing for magic. I also feel that these days.

My recommendations below would not fit into the “chick lit” category. Rather, these are enjoyable books that illustrate something essential about being a woman specifically. They may make you feel more human than you have in awhile.

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
By Katherine May

I read this philosophy-meets-self-help book slowly then thought about it a lot afterward. It sticks with ya. Katherine May uses personal stories, observations, research, and interviews to find ways to prepare herself and you, not just for the chilly winter season, but the winter-like or miserable seasons of your life.

While you may find that May is not entirely a relatable person, she’s an extremely gifted writer who will have you lingering on each page. This is exactly the kind of book I wish I’d written, but I’m glad May wrote it because she’s so much more talented than me.

Wintering was appropriately released in November 2020. I’m working on her newest, Enchantment, about finding joy, which is, again, exactly the book the world needs right now — something a little sacred and magical in dull, uncertain times.

Circe
By Madeline Miller

OK, so Circe is about a witch. But at least she’s an Ancient Greek demigoddess who learns to harness nature and her power to fight back against pretty repulsive supernatural relatives. So, she’s like a different kind of witch.

Miller is skilled at making a mythical time feel like it’s happening for real, like right down the street. It reminds me of how in the stellar Underground Railroad, Colston Whitehead transports you to a historically-based but fictional space that is entirely relatable with characters that feel like they’re alive today.

I ate this book up. It was deliciously filling and wrapped up cleanly, so there was no aftertaste. You’ll love it.

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
By Rivka Galchen

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch sounds like it has witches, but thankfully does not. This funny, quirky tale is told from the perspective of Katherina Kepler, a not-so-everyday gossipy grandma in 18th century Germany who is accused of being a sorcerer.

You will fall in love with Katherina and her particularly blunt way of addressing the world. She was an actual real person whose son Johannes was an imperial mathematician and the author of the laws of planetary motion. Galchen used historical documents to inform the novel.

This book captures the humor and profound sadness of the human experience in a way that will have you weeping and laughing cathartically. It’s also fascinating historically, too, so you may find yourself reading more about early modern Europe.

Girl, Woman, Other
Bernardine Evaristo

I read this book during the long, dark winter days of 2020. It transported me from our two-bedroom prison to pre-pandemic times across the Atlantic, deeply diving into the lives of 12 very different, mostly Black, women. This vivid novel weaves their stories together in a way this is entirely captivating and will stick with you forever.

Girl, Woman, Other was co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize for good reason — its characters are all the way developed and it has an ultimate plot that you kinda maybe see coming, but embrace all the same. This is another book where you’ll find yourself reading on the toilet, while changing a diaper, eating breakfast, basically constantly enthralled until the final page.

Salka Valka
By Halldor Laxness

On an extended stopover in Iceland, I looked for books about trolls and Icelandic folk tales at the airport shop. Once I realized the exchange rate meant the paperbacks would cost well over $40 each, I am ashamed to say that I turned to Amazon. I bought Independent People by the only Icelandic author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Halldor Laxness, then spent the rest of the summer delighting in the book’s weirdness.

While I personally REALLY loved Independent People, I wouldn’t suggest it for everyone. But Salka Valka, about a young woman who suffers a miserable fate due to poverty and some bad decision-making by her mother, is way more digestible and retains Laxness’s humor and oddness.

This is the perfect winter read because it is literally always winter in Salka Valka’s life. Yet, she manages to summon strength when it seems there is no way to be strong and powers through. And you will have to power through the sections focused on the perks and downfalls of socialism from a mid-20th century Icelandic village’s perspective, but just skim those pages, it’s ultimately worth it.

You may end up as obsessed with Laxness as I am! I’m reading Under the Glacier now. Updates to come, here or on Instagram.

LMK what you’re reading this fall in the comments!