Winter is my absolute favourite reading season, there’s no doubt about it. There is magic in the silence that settles over the world like a soft cloud, especially in the last week of December. No better time to tap into that magic—the beautiful fairy dust that floats around between moments of rest and reflection after an entire year of working to the bone. The meditative pause of autumn is a great runway to launch your winter rituals, as the year comes to a close and your insights and clarity become sharper. Folk tales and retellings are a big part of my winter reads—stories that seem like they’ve been around for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Winter is also the season of festivals and traditions around the world that bring people together, so I’m always craving books and media with lots of characters & warmth in them.
Towards the end however, as festive December morphs into dreary January, and the trees lose their leaves, and the snow turns into slush, and the bitter chill penetrates my bones, I find myself drawn to things like police procedurals and Nordic noir to explore that colder, darker side of humanity that lives just beneath the surface of our day to day lives. But from the comfort of my home underneath a pile of heavy blankets with a hot drink in hand of course.
Seasonal books
The Bear & The Nightingale by Katherine Arden — A beautifully written book set in a village at the edge of wilderness, deep in the heart of a Russian winter. You get the feeling that you’re reading a centuries-old fairytale, something beyond time and age itself. A young maiden with a secret gift, a family huddled around a pechka, a village losing its old ways to the modernity of Moscow, whimsical folkloric creatures and of course, Frost—the dark haired blue-eyed winter demon who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. This book is not just a book but an experience and I always get excited when friends tell me they’re about to embark on this journey into wintry Russia. You don’t need VR when books like this still exist in our physical world.
The Wedding Party by Liu Xinwu — You are cordially invited to an epic, hilarious and moving wedding feast in a traditional siheyuan in Beijing! Meet the Xue family. Aunty Xue has a lot on her plate; her son is getting married today. But, living in a neighbourhood where neighbours, relatives, friends and well-wishers live a little too near you has its own quirks and challenges. You’ll be accompanying her and the myriad of characters in the siheyuan, as they all prepare for the wedding in this little part of town. The people are what makes this book such a fun read—their dreams, motivations and temperaments are multilayered and written with a lot of love and care. Together, they create a beguiling tapestry of what a hutong actually is, and capture the essence of 80s Beijing and the communal dwellings of yore. Reading this as a Bangladeshi was a real joy too because it reminded me so much of the intricacies of social life in the villages back home, despite being set in a completely different culture. A tone of nostalgia underpins this book—of a time when neighbourliness, selflessness and community took precedence over modern comforts, nuclear families, boxed-in living and “privacy”.
Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen — Something about this bleaker, more mature Austen classic tugs at me when the weather becomes cold, damp and windy. Or at least it starts off bleak, with the newly widowed Mrs Dashwood and her three daughters being forced to relocate to a more modest cottage on the cliffs of Devonshire. To ease their financial worries, their mother is set on having her two eldest daughters, Marianne and Elinor, married off as soon as possible. The entire novel is about how the two sisters, completely opposite in nature, deal with hardship and heartbreak, and finding love again. On the one hand is Marianne, the middle child who wears her heart on a sleeve and believes in the good in everyone far too easily. And on the other hand is Elinor, the eldest, who has long learned to keep her own wishes in check, think sensibly, and move through the world by taking up as little space as possible because she’s far too perceptive of the reality of society and the people around her. Also: Intense Yearning with a capital Y. I enjoyed the 2008 BBC miniseries too (yes the one with Dan Stevens, obviously), if you’re looking for a visual companion!
And lastly, it’s also time to revisit your favourite childhood/ young womanhood classics this season! Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, The Golden Compass, LOTR, Little Women, Shakespeare retellings, folklore retellings, something by Ruskin Bond for a hill station escapade, maybe even Jane Eyre (for cold, moody days of course). I’m collecting some recs – what are some of your favourite classics to reread in winter?
Seasonal shows & movies
Haider (2014) — I like most modern Shakespeare adaptations but very few have been able to beat Vishal Bharadwaj’s trilogy—Maqbool (Macbeth), Omkara (Othello) and this final one, Haider, based on Hamlet. Darkness, anger, and tragedy cleverly bound together by the thick rope of absurdity. Watching this movie actively feels like you’re going off the rails too (much like what we have been experiencing after this latest release of the Epstein files). It’s a story of the fragile psyche of Haider, a man hurt again and again by those closest to him, and by the country that has reduced his beloved Kashmir into a shell of itself through brutal crackdowns, curfews and military violence. Bharadwaj’s first version of the script was a purely personal exploration of the themes in Hamlet set in the turbulence of 90s Kashmir, but when Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer came onboard, he helped transform the story into one of a regional tragedy, told through the deteriorating mental state of Haider. There is so much genius in this movie that I think I need a whole post dedicated to it. From Irrfan Khan’s enigmatic character Roohdaar (the Ghost), to the choreography, direction, location, music, lyrics, puppetry and costumes of Bismil, a masterclass in storytelling. There’s something new to take away with every rewatch. Can you believe this movie came out just as Modi and the BJP were voted in in 2014? Guts toh hai iss bande ka.
Love Between Lines (2025) — Two architects escape from their dreary realities by taking part in an immersive VR mystery game set in Republican Era Shanghai. But things take a complicated turn once they cross paths in real life at their architecture firm. There’s so many tropes in this I honestly don’t know where to begin, but you need to trust me on this when I say it’s literally one of the best c-dramas of this year and 2026 has just begun! A fun, whimsical escape from your own hectic schedule (seriously, why was January this busy?!)—and it helps that Chen Xingxu looks really good as a conniving warlord NPC (see: photo above).
Typhoon Family (2025)— My favourite show of 2025, period. A young CEO struggles to save Typhoon Company, the small business his father left behind, during the 1997 IMF financial crisis in South Korea. This is a show about people, first and foremost, and the many ways we care for and love each other even when the world is crumbling around our ears. A portrait of mercy, tenderness, and oldschool resilience. And taking the tougher road to preserve the dignity of ourselves and others despite the immense difficulty we face during times of crisis.
When the Weather Is Fine (2020) — A small, sleepy village town. A cold, harsh winter. An emotionally closed-off ex musician who returns to her hometown after many years. An alcoholic aunt harbouring a dark secret, who also happens to be the only living relation the ex musician has. An introverted bookshop owner who leads a simple, cozy life and is afraid of anything that threatens his peace because of past traumas. And the most satisfying wintery slowburn you will ever see in TV land. The philosophy that lives between the quiet moments of this show is so refreshing. A 10/10 watch for the season.
Veer Zaara (2004) — If you want to torture yourself during the coldest, darkest months of the year. For anyone who hasn’t experienced a true Bollywood romance/tragedy movie yet, with writing to match the lavishness of the sets and costumes, do yourself a favour and watch this one (and keep a box of tissues nearby). And for the rest of us, something of this scale and sensitivity will probably never be made within our lifetimes because of the current state of geopolitics so it’s probably worth a revisit, even if only to keep its memory alive in our consciousness.
Monsoon Season 
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