Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in Snowy Places

It’s been forever since I’ve done a Top Ten Tuesday, but I have a new web site and I could probably use a good kick in the TBR. Seriously, I read a lot of books at work. My new web site is also my author web site, but it’s where we talk about books. Because I don’t even have an agent so… there’s just so much I can say about my own books.

Anyway, today we’re talking about books set in snowy places, and as I write this… Brrr! We have like five or six inches of snow on the ground right about now. Not sure if it will be around by Tuesday, because I’m writing about this on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. But here are some of the books I’ve read set in snowy places (although I have to say some of them I don’t remember well).

1. Alaska – James Michener. So last year my parents and brother went to Alaska and my kids stayed at home. I read this book to get in the mood. It’s a chonk, but if you’re going to Alaska, it’s a good way to get to know the place a little before you go. And it’s cold. And snowy.

This book covers a huge time period, from the earliest peoples coming to the land to almost the present day. If you’ve ever read any of his other books, you probably get the idea.

2. The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah. This one is also set in Alaska, although it’s not as long as the Michener novel and doesn’t cover as many years. I think this was the first Kristin Hannah book I read, and I think I found it here on Top Ten Tuesday, many years ago.

This book takes place during the days when people from the US were first starting to go to live in Alaska. So it was still a very wild place. There’s still a lot of places in Alaska that are pretty wild, but there are also some populated places.

3. Call of the Wild – Jack London. Another book set in Alaska. It’s about a dog. I don’t remember very much about it, other than my teacher read it to us in fourth grade. And I think at the time it was a little too advanced for me to appreciate.

4. The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden. This is another find from Top Ten Tuesday. I used to have a winter TBR lottery and a summer TBR lottery. I think I may have to start that tradition back up, since I’m sure I’m going to be finding tons of books to add soon. This is the first book on the list that isn’t partially set in Alaska. This one is set in Medieval Russia instead. I still haven’t read the follow-up, The Girl in the Tower, but it was on my Winter TBR list for years. One of the reasons why I had seasonal TBR lottery lists was because I didn’t really want to read about snowy scenes in July.

5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis. While I don’t think the Pevensey children entered the wardrobe in the winter in England, it was always winter and never Christmas in Narnia—at least until they broke the spell of the White Witch.

6. The Long Winter – Laura Ingalls Wilder. One of those books I remember reading in my parent’s warm living room as a kid. It didn’t snow much where I lived in Western Washington, but I always imagine reading it with snow outside. Even though that probably wasn’t always the case. I read it several times.

This is the sixth book in a series of nine, so you may want to read the others as well, but if you’re looking for the snowy vibes, this is the best book to go for in the series (although Little House in the Big Woods, the first book in the series, is also very snowy for much of the book).

7. My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Love Stories – Stephanie Garber (editor) and various authors. I love this book and have read it at least a few winters. This, and it’s summer counterpart, are library go-to books for me. I should just go ahead and buy it already. I can get a hardcover copy (used-very good; I prefer to read hardcovers) from Amazon for like $10 including shipping. I’m not sure if all the books are snowy, but there’s plenty of snow in here.

There are twelve stories in this book and, while I like some of them better than others, I love them all. Which is probably why I read it year after year.

8. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern. I actually don’t remember it being a really snowy book, but I did read it, I think in 2019. I remember reading about how this book was written during NaNoWriMo. And I googled books with a snowy setting, because I couldn’t think of ten off the top of my head, and I have read it, so onto the list it goes.

9. Carve the Mark – Veronica Roth. I really need to read this duology again, even though I’ve read it multiple times already. Akos, the main male character, lives in a very cold, snowy climate. It took me a chapter or two to really feel invested in the book because it’s so different from our own world (and the first time I tried reading it in Spanish I gave up after 50 pages, although I eventually did read it in Spanish) but I really love this book.

10. Save the Best for Last – Brooke Lorren. Sorry I just had to include this book, even though I’m the only person who has ever read it and I know it is likely to change a lot before it actually gets published, so not even I have read the final version. Anyway, it’s a best friends to lovers story where it snows in the summer and the characters have to go on an adventure to earn money for food as a result. It’s inspired by the year 1816, also known as “1800 and Froze to Death” or also “The Year Without a Summer.” Also, the title comes from the Vanessa Williams song.

Well, that’s nine books you can put on your TBR today, and one you might want to beta read next year? (it’s not ready for that right now) I’m so happy to have my domain ready to go again (although I’ve owned the domain for probably two decades, it fell into disrepair) and I’m also happy to be back for Top Ten Tuesdays!