19 Cozy Books to Curl Up With
Looking for a cozy book to curl up with? Grab one of these immersive, cozy novels. Add them to your list of cozy fall or winter books, grab some tea and a blanket, and snuggle in by the fire.
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When you think of cozy books, what comes to mind?
You might think of fall or winter, or mysteries with interesting characters (and not too much violence). Cozy mysteries, in fact, seem to be a genre and reading taste unto themselves.
Feel-good, comforting books set in the English or Scottish countryside also often fit the bill, maybe because so many cozy classics seem to be set in these locations. Similarly, books with small-town charm may fit your cozy reading bill.
Or maybe a cozy book is nostalgic. The characters may be experiencing nostalgia themselves, or you’re revisiting an old favorite.
Sometimes cozy books have some element of isolation, and the characters seem to exist in a world of their own, if only for a short time. They may be physically isolated, or they may be part of an intense friend or family relationship.
These books invoke a particular feeling of insularity and immersion when reading them. Even when the stories are dark, the settings and characters often feel comforting and we just want to sink into them.
The choices here are varied–some are light and some are decidedly dark–but all offer different options for your particular cozy mood.
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Cozy Nostalgic Books
The Shell Seekers
Author: Rosamunde Pilcher
Publish Date: 1987
Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction
An amazing cozy read about a woman named Penelope, who discovers that her father’s painting is worth a small fortune. Her adult children have their own ideas about what she should do about the discovery.
The Shell Seekers moves between past and present, revisiting various times in Penelope’s life, including her Bohemian youth during World War II. Penelope is truly an unforgettable character. I loved the slow reveal of her life told over decades and I know that I’ll be rereading this in years to come.
My First Popsicle: An Anthology of Food and Feelings
Editor: Zosia Mamet
Publish Date: 2022
Genres: Nonfiction
Zosia Mamet has assembled a collection of essays from a number of famous people reflecting on food, memories, and the emotions surrounding them. The essays range from short and sweet–and not all that meaningful–to poignant and deeply reflective.
This made the collection feel a bit uneven, but it was an easy listen that I enjoyed from start to finish. Many of the contributors read their own essays in the audiobook (and Busy Phillips read many of those not read by the author–she’s fantastic).
Caroline: Little House, Revisited
Author: Sarah Miller
Publish Date: 2018
Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Told from Caroline’s (“Ma’s”) perspective, this book revisits the familiar Little House on the Prairie story through adult eyes. It highlights the challenges and uncertainties of being a young, pregnant mother, alone on the prairie with only her wanderlust-filled husband and three- and five-year-old daughters. Only now that I’m a mother do I realize what a feat this was.
If you have memories of cozy childhood readings of Little House on the Prairie, this is an excellent choice for a grown-up dose of nostalgia–and a new perspective on the challenges of motherhood on the prairie.
Cozy Fall and Winter Books
Winter Street
Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Publish Date: 2015
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
If cozy winter holiday reading is what you’re after, this story of a family who owns a Nantucket inn may fit the bill. This book delves into some weightier issues and relationships, but it has a slight comic edge that keeps it light (one character runs off with the inn’s Santa Claus!). The family veers toward dysfunctional–relationship issues abound, one character is facing jail–but they are overall likable and kind to one another.
This is the first in a four-book series and the dreamy Nantucket inn at Christmas makes the whole series a great cozy choice.
Set over a period of 24-hours during a blizzard in Boston, Run brings together the former mayor, his twin sons, and a stranger and her child who are involved in an accident. Privilege and poverty collide and connections unfold in another moving tale of family from Patchett.
You can feel the quiet on the snowy streets of a usually bustling Boston, giving this muted but fast-paced story an insular snow-globe effect–perfect for a quiet night in.
Wintering
Author: Katherine May
Publish Date: 2021
Genres: Nonfiction
This little nonfiction book examines the concept of “wintering”–retreating into a more insular, reflective, and healing way of being by some necessity. In this exploration, May visits places with harsh winters and learns how people there cope and thrive through the dark months. It’s an unusual type of travel that struck me as exactly the type of retreat so many of us need. Quiet, meditative, and filled with lovely prose.
A Winter in New York
Author: Josie Silver
Publish Date: 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
When Iris stumbles on a familiar gelateria in Little Italy after moving to New York, she knows she’s seen it in one of her mother’s photos–and she may hold the key to saving it. The famous gelato recipe is a secret known only to Gio’s uncle, who has forgotten it after a recent stroke. When Iris tastes a bit of the last batch, she realizes it’s her recipe–the one her mother passed to her, that shaped some of her most precious memories. Realizing she’s stumbled on a complicated history that may not be hers to share, she offers her chef skills to help Gio recreate the recipe.
While this is a romance, it didn’t feel central to me. Iris’s unpacking of her complex trauma and the charming ensemble cast of characters were the things that kept me reading, and this had a lot more depth than I expected.
Cozy Books with Small-Town Charm
Still Life with Bread Crumbs
Author: Anna Quindlen
Publish Date: 2014
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Rebecca Winter is a 60-year old photographer, still famous but no longer sought-after, who moves to a rural town in an attempt to save money by renting her Manhattan apartment. She feels lost until she begins spending time with a local roofer, twenty years her junior, and finds a photography project in the mysterious crosses and mementos scattered through the woods.
Quindlen is always a solid choice for excellent prose and depth of feeling, and the light touch makes this a great cozy read.
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library
Author: Sue Halpern
Publish Date: 2018
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Set in a small Carnegie library in a failing New Hampshire town, Summer Hours at the Robbers Library brings a trio of loners together in the one public space left for them to find one another. When Kit, a quiet librarian in her early forties, is charged with overseeing 15-year-old Sunny’s summer community service (for stealing a dictionary), she is drawn to the girl’s curiosity about the world. The two soon form unlikely friendships with other library regulars.
The first chapter (fast-paced and a little racy) doesn’t match the tone of the rest of this book. Get past that and enjoy the cozy small-town quirkiness of these friendships.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the first in the trilogy set in Gilead, Iowa, takes the form of a father’s letter to his son. Rev. John Ames is 76-years-old and nearing the end of his life, but his son is only seven. In the letter, he reflects on his own life and relationships with his father and grandfather, and realizes some of his regrets–including his difficulty relating to a son so many years his junior, and that he won’t be around to watch him reach adulthood.
Robinson’s writing is quiet and meditative, but often astonishing in its perceptive observations on human nature.
Darker Novels You’ll Love Curling Up With
At a party in the vice-presidential mansion of an unnamed South American country, a band of young terrorists enters and takes hostages. The hostages include a world-renowned soprano, a Japanese business titan, and diplomats from various countries. The days and months stretch on and lines blur, relationships form, and tensions rise and fall and rise again.
This is one of my favorite books and was my first introduction to Ann Patchett–now one of my favorite authors.
Once Upon a River
Author: Diane Setterfield
Publish Date: 2019
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy & Sci Fi
When a little girl is pulled from the Thames river, seemingly dead, and comes back to life, the mystery of her survival is just the beginning. Three families claim she may belong to them–but none are sure, and the little girl isn’t saying.
Setterfield truly creates an atmosphere in this Victorian-era novel, one shaped by the powers of storytelling, nature, and mysticism. Light a candle, suspend a bit of disbelief, and curl up with this dark mystery.
The Mystery Guest
Author: Nita Prose
Publish Date: 2023
Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers
Molly is the Head Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, a role she adores. She is exacting and takes extraordinary pride in her work. When famous mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe dies during an event at the hotel, Molly knows that her gift for details will be the key to figuring out who killed him. As she reflects on her childhood connections with Grimthorpe, and the days leading up to the murder, Molly’s meticulous mind might just reveal more secrets than the identity of the murderer.
I didn’t read The Maid, which preceded this novel, but I felt this stood alone just fine. Molly is a delightful character, and while this didn’t blow me away, it was a pleasant, cozy mystery with a lighter tone than I’m accustomed to in my mystery reads.
The Dreamers
Author: Karen Thompson Walker
Publish Date: 2019
Genres: Fiction, Dystopias
At a dorm in a small college town, a freshman girl falls asleep and doesn’t wake up. Soon, other students also fall into deep sleeps and are hospitalized, kept alive by tubes. The remaining students are isolated, but others in the town succumb. Soon the town itself is under quarantine, its residents living in fear of falling asleep and volunteers risking themselves to keep people alive (sound familiar?).
The Dreamers is less dystopian fiction and more rumination on the true nature and power of dreams, as well as the freedoms we sacrifice in the name of fear and safety. Pandemic-lit is definitely not for everyone right now, but if you’re up for it, this is a great novel to curl up with.
Cozy Books About Friendships
Crossing to Safety
Author: Wallace Stegner
Publish Date: 1987
Genres: Literary Fiction
First meeting at the start of the men’s academic careers in Wisconsin, Larry and Sally and Sid and Charity instantly fall into a friendship that lasts through decades of work, play, children, sickness, travel, conflict, and heartache. These are quiet lives, punctuated with successes and disappointments, driven by ambition, intellectual pursuits, and their closeness with one another.
Stegner brings close the small moments that loom large in personal memories, especially as the four reflect on them late in life. Curl up with a pen to underline the many poignant passages.
The Ladies Midnight Swimming Club
Author: Faith Hogan
Publish Date: 2021
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Elizabeth and Jo are friends who live in a small town on Ireland’s west coast. When Elizabeth’s physician husband dies and leaves her with a mountain of debt, Jo asks her daughter, Lucy, to take over his surgery while Elizabeth sorts things out. Lucy arrives from Dublin with her teen son and seems in need of healing herself. Jo lets the two in on her secret: midnight plunges in the ocean bring peace.
As the three try to sort out their lives, the midnight swims become central–and become a community rallying point when Jo has her own challenges to face. Charming, heartwarming, and filled with wonderful friendships.
The Start of Something Wonderful
Author: Jessica Redland
Narrators: Rebecca Norfolk
Publish Date: 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
After losing her beloved grandfather and her job as a greeting card illustrator, Autumn Laine is at a crossroads. She decides to head to the Lake District to stay with her lifelong pen pal, Rosie, and hopefully get back some artistic inspiration. The beautiful landscape, the Beatrix Potter inspirations around every corner, and the intriguing man she meets quickly revitalize her.
This is a cozy novel of new beginnings, friendship, and sweet romance. The setting is enchanting and I loved the artistic friendship between Autumn and her new love interest. I enjoyed this cozy, easy listen.
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont
Author: Laura Pearson
Narrator: Penelope Freeman
Publish Date: 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Mabel Beaumont’s husband, Arthur, has died and left her one last to-do list, with only one item: “Find D.” Mabel takes this to mean she needs to find Dot, the best friend she hasn’t seen in more than 60 years. As she begins her search for this old friend, a whole group of new friends comes into her life. As the women support Mabel in her new life without Arthur and in her quest to find Dot, and she in turn supports them, she sees new hope for a future she never thought was possible.
This is a great choice for anyone who enjoys “up-lit” like The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle or A Man Called Ove, with older protagonists who find new friends, adventures, and even love late in life.
News of the World
Author: Paulette Jiles
Publish Date: 2016
Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Captain Jefferson Kidd travels the west, reading the news from around the world to the small hamlets scattered across the yet-untamed land. At one stop, he is asked to return a young girl who the Kiowa held captive for years after killing her family. Johanna has almost no memory of her previous life, including how to speak English, but she soon comes to trust Kidd. The two become an unlikely team as they face threats on their journey.
I loved Kidd and Johanna, their journey, and how their relationship unfolded. Kidd’s newsreading events that drew entire towns felt both foreign and charmingly innocent in contrast with today’s information overload.
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