My Winter Reading List ☃️🕯️ | The Book Castle | 2024

[@BrookeReadsBooks333]

The Thirteenth Tale was a 15/10!!!! Absolutely amazing!!! Def make this a priority it was a whirlwind!!!

[@TheBookCastle]

Oooooh I’ll try to read it soon!!

[@tiffanydeckard8916]

I totally agree!!!! Loooooooved this book!!!!

[@cindyr4918]

I can relate - I am so bad with TBR lists! I am a total mood reader + there are just certain topics that intrigue me at certain times. I always laugh when you say "this sounds a little dark...which I'm into" - same.

[@TheBookCastle]

Hahaha love it!! 😂🖤

[@maevajesse]

Same! I like to read a romcom once in a while, but then I really need something darker because it ends well, it’s sweet and 🙄 … and people would think I prefer joyful readings because life has been really harsh lately but I guess I need something that mirrors the darkness of my life, I don’t know. Maybe this would be worth psychotherapy😅 but when someone warns me that “this book is dark”, I’m like “oh great, perfect!” 😂🙈

[@munglejoela]

I just read Starling House and really enjoyed it. I'd call it a gothic fairytale type book. I loved The Haunting Season, every story in it was good, which is rare! And The Shadow of the Wind is one of my favourite books of all time!

[@ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged]

The Thirteenth Tale is really good so definitely prioritize that one!

[@TheBookCastle]

😍❤️

[@udishaverma7862]

Woww new recs!! Adding many of these to my tbr!!! I was so excited I made my winter tbr last year in advance, and kept adding books to it over this year, and now I don't remember what most of them are, currently reading The Winter's Promise by Cristelle Dabos. Loving it, perfect for a dark cozy winter. ❄

[@hillarybeasley9000]

Stopping by to note that The Likeness reminded me of Secret History in moments. Can’t wait to hear what you think of it!

[@nonisnest9718]

I’m terrible with TBRs too but you have a really good stack there. I have read 4 of them and they were great!

[@kittisimon5139]

Ooohh I love The Haunting Season! 😍 I also love its "sequel" The Winter Tales that came out in 2023. Sadly no more winter-themed anthologies in 2024 but the next in the series comes out next October, its title is The Witching Hour and I can't wait to read it for Halloween 😁I really hope you'll have time to nibble a short story here and there in between other books 🥰

[@TheBookCastle]

Oh yay, I’m so happy to hear you liked it! And you know I gotta put that October release on my TBR, that’s so exciting!!! 😍😍😍

[@ReadingNymph]

Congratulations on getting through your exams! I love a short story collection. I try to read at least one a season

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! 🥰 Oooh one a season is a great idea, maybe I’ll do that as a reading goal next year 🤓

[@andrewcrow1031]

Hi Alice, greetings again from Toronto 🇨🇦. Congratulations on finishing your exams. Another interesting video with more great titles for my bulging TBR notebook! Thanks for the upload and have a great Christmas (with lots of books)📚❄️🎄.

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! 🥰

[@birgitaushamburg]

Congrats on your exams Now you deserve just reading and all the snacks your heart desires! The "autumnal books" dilemma ist not unknown to me. Autumn books, be they spooky or not, seem to make up the majority of my never ending SUBS, so the autumnal reading season stretches quite a bit... to the end of the year! I'm obsessed with lighthouses at the moment, which can be quite a good read in winter. Blame it on Emma Stonex' The Lamplighters." 🙂"The Thirteenth Tale" sits on one of my older shelves, time to get around to it. And then I absolutely want to read "The Wild Hunt." A reader's work is never done.😀 Since I am always a bit clueless as on what to read in spring, I came up with a little project for myself for 2025: from March to May I'll read as many books by japanese, korean and chinese female authors as possible. All from my shelves as well. Or maybe I'll start as soon as February when Han Kang's new book comes out ("We Will Never Part") which is not a sping book at all, but a winter book. Hopefully I'll stick to my plan - at least a little bit... 😄

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! Aaah what a great reading project you have planned!! 😍 I love it! You gotta come back and tell me your faves from those months, I’d love to know!

[@AbiofPellinor]

Good luck with your winter reading! I've want to read The Shadow of the Wind for a long time so I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on it

[@starlasell5698]

❤📚📚❤️ I gave The Thirteenth Tale five stars. I hope you enjoy it and all your other winter reads.

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much! ❤️

[@laurak5196]

What a great list, Alice! Yay for being done with exams too 🙂 The Likeness is one of my favorites and for me I never wanted that book to end. You will be able to move thru it quickly bc it is so hard to put down. You love atmospheric reads and I do think you’ll love it, esp since you enjoyed the first book in the series. I loved Shadow of the Wind and The Haunting Season too. And I have Starling House and House w Good Bones on my shelf to read also so I’ll be so curious what you think of it. I love the way you describe books in your tbr videos. Usually I skip those but not on your channel bc you have a great way of making every book you talk about intriguing, even if you’ve not yet read it. Thanks for all of your time and work here. I’m a pretty new sub and really enjoying your thoughts. I hope you get back to Daphne du Maurier soon too! Have a great winter break!

[@TheBookCastle]

Yay, I’m so glad to hear you liked The Likeness! I think I will love it too 😍❤️

[@felina2014]

If you pick up only two books from this TBR let them be The Thirteenth Tale and A House With Good Bones. I loved The Thirteenth Tale so so much that I've been dying to re-read it and I never re-read any books (just don't have the time) but for that book I'll make time. You're right that there are feral twins in it and they develop their own language because they've been neglected by their parents and don't go to school. Disturbing and dark things happen in the house and you get to find out why the twins have been neglectec, their parents' story as well as the story of the author and who she really is. Oh my God, such a marvellous book, couldn't recommend it enough. A House with good bones is an excellent book as well, a horror novel with a dash of humour, the mother's behaviour is very strange and unusual but so are the roses in the garden and the total lack of bugs that mystify the main character who is an entomologist. Later on more strange and creepy things start happening inside the house but I don't wanna spoil it for you. You'll find out when you start reading it. Seriously Alice, you need to read those two books, I can't wait to hear your opinion about them. 💗

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much for sharing, this makes me super excited to read both of these!! 😍😍

[@NicoleB-f4w]

I haven’t read The Thirteenth Tale, but I have read Once Upon a River by the same author, and it was incredible!

[@shellkay]

I think you’ll really enjoy The Thirteenth Tale & Shadow of the Wind. Starling House was just ok for me. The Haunting Season cover is so pretty. I’m hoping to get to The Child Finder, Burial Rites, & Murder on the Orient Express.

[@ACanuckinAlabama]

Oh you must read Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone! it was one of my favorites last year.

[@TheBookCastle]

😍❤️

[@joyceredman2136]

Hope that you enjoy your time off and have good reading experiences with your TBR.

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much! ❤️🥰

[@ulan25]

I think you will love The Thirteenth Tale :-) That edition that you have has a very nice cover!

[@TheBookCastle]

🥰❤️

[@FaeryLaume]

I don't make a committed TBR's so much as SOP's - Stacks of Possibilities. I JUST finished up a handful of books I was in the middle of that were autumn selections, including, FINALLY, The Secret History by DonnaTartt which was long but OMG so worth the time. I've started my winter reading last night by beginning two books, because I couldn't decide what I was in the mood for - The Nightmare before Kissmas and The Christmas Murder Game. I think The Christmas Murder Game is holding my interest most, but I will read them both. Oh, they weren't the first holiday read - I also read Let it Glow, a middle grade book. It was wasn't a five star but it was cute and well done, but really more for the target age audience.

[@TheBookCastle]

Stacks of possibilities!! What a great way to think of it 😍

[@catsandbats77]

Shadow of the Wind is one of my husband's favorite books. I still haven't read it though. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I am also planning on reading Starling House soon. A House With Good Bones was not at all what I thought it would be, and that's a good thing.

[@Darkpumpkinspice]

Hahaha! I’m so much like you in regards to having mental and physical tbrs but being a mood reader! I’ve had The Likeness for a while but I always have the « fear of the big books » 😂 Congratulations on finishing your exams, hope all went well. I finished moving and running around for bureaucratic papers and now I’m definitely going to enjoy some time off to read, read and read some more!

[@TheBookCastle]

The fear of big books is real! 😅 and thank you! Hope your move went ok too, that’s really stressful 😅

[@spexi513]

Ditto on TBR swag 📖🪱💚

[@darklingwang4152]

We love you girl 💕

[@TheBookCastle]

❤️

[@sandyokey7728]

I read The Likeness this past fall and loved it. Enough that I have since picked up all the rest of the Dublin Murder Squad books. It gave me If We Were Villains vibes. I read the thirteenth tale years ago. Sadly I don’t remember too much of it, but I know I enjoyed it. I really should do a reread of it. And I loved Benjamin Stevenson’s two books that I’ve read so far. Love love Everyone in my family. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on all of these.

[@DarkBooks_DarkWine]

Hoping to read Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands before Compendium of lost Tales comes out. And then probably grab Rebel Witch as soon as it comes out, because I can't wait to know what's going to happen with Rune and Gideon after the devastating ending of Heartless Hunter! 😢

[@AnnaRak423]

Hi Alice, Congrats on finishing your exams, that must be a relief! I read A House with Good Bones in October and I think that you will love it! It's strange and quirky (which is why T. Kingfisher is so much fun) and there is one part that I still think about because it is so weird. A few of her other books that I want to read soon are Thornhedge, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking and I just picked up A Sorceress Comes to Call. Hope you get some time to relax and read! 😄

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! It definitely is a relief 🥰 You’ve got some great Kingfisher books to look forward to! I actually just got A Sorceress Comes To Call too, I couldn’t resist buying it 😅

[@user-lovinlife]

I find that when I read at least 50 pages a day, I fly through my books. I have a book notebook with notes about the books I read. 📚 It's really quite enjoyable. ❤❤

[@TheBookCastle]

Amazing! 😍

[@carolynmonahan2488]

Really enjoyed Shadow of the Wind

[@gossamerabba]

The Likeness is fantastic. it might be a mim-chonker but is a quick read, I devoured it

[@TheBookCastle]

Really looking forward to it!! 😍

[@StashaA.]

Three books on your Winter reading list are on my all-time-favorites list: The Shadow of the Wind, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, and Starling House. I am especially curious to hear your reaction to Everyone in My Family... I laughed out loud so many times reading this book. I had to stop reading twice because I had to wipe away my tears how hard I was laughing. This book was really an unexpected jam. 😊

[@TheBookCastle]

Ooooh I hope it makes me laugh that much too! 😃❤️

[@StashaA.]

@@TheBookCastle Me too. 🤭

[@mentinfusion]

You really need to read the haunting season, it is perfect for this time of the year! And the second collection. Winter spirits is even better!

[@TheBookCastle]

Aaah I’ve seen Winter Spirits and I really want that one too 😍

[@chigangrel]

I need to reread The Thirteenth Tale. I remember liking it but barely remember the story... but I super recommend Starling House! Alix E Harrow is one of my favorite modern authors (my personal fav of hers is The Ten Thousand Doors of January), up there with Silvia Moreno-Garcia! Have you ever read any of hers? Silver Nitrate is my favorite.

[@TheBookCastle]

I haven’t yet! ❤️

[@bujobyfilo]

Just finished The 13th tale, it's amazing, you'll love it! I also enjoyed Everyone in my family, it was totally my kind of humour 😄 in fact I'm about to read the 3rd one that just came out: Everyone this Christmas has a secret 🤫 Have fun!

[@TheBookCastle]

Love it! 😍

[@lindacasalgrandi292]

Congratulations on finishing your exams! Relax and enjoy your holidays!❤

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much! 🥰❤️

[@pedrabrulez5075]

I have the book that follows the haunting season...winter spirits, also ghostly short stories from the same writers. I have yet to read it though. Enjoy your books. 📚 ❄️ ❤

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! 🥰

[@helenm4357]

Have read The Likeness and The shadow of the wind 😊 and I am thnking I heard about the Shadow of the wind from you in a book haul maybe ??😇

[@TheBookCastle]

😃🥰❤️

[@ameerahalgohary]

I plan my reading down to the number of pages I'm gonna read each day, and the number of days I'm gonna read per week. So you bet that I make a tbr for the whole year, and follow it to the T 😂 But I allow myself some flexibility so I can DNF books, and add & remove some stuff throughout the year.

[@ameerahalgohary]

This works for me, because otherwise the amount of choices available to me will be paralyzing, and I won't be able to decide on what to read next, and I won't end up reading or finishing anything 😄

[@gildedwolves]

i just read shadow of the wind at the beginning of the month and it def fits autumn/winter season, i rly enjoyed it i hope you do too :)

[@TheBookCastle]

Love it! 😍

[@sharonclarke1046]

I have read all of the Benjamin Stevenson books. I think you would enjoy them 😊

[@TheBookCastle]

😃❤️

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

I love making TBR's too, but then I think about all books I haven't read and my list becomes endless.

[@TheBookCastle]

Exactly my problem 😂❤️

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

I’m trying to limit how many books and focusing on reading books for reading projects.

[@caspiansvensson]

In Starling house you both follow the girl and the heir of the house, it is an interesting story.

[@TheBookCastle]

Ooooh interesting 😍

[@eileennielsen5165]

I read The 13th Tale a loooong time ago! Really liked it. I want to order The Haunting Season. I wrote down others you recommended. I am DEFINITELY a mood reader. Presently I have 2 LARGE tote bags of Winter bks. to read in Jan. & Feb. I KNOW I won't get to all, so they are really "possibilities". They are from my own shelves. 2025 I am going to try to read from my own shelves ONLY!! I HAVE TO!! If I feel the urge to buy a bk. I will get it at the Library...HOPEFULLY.😇. I have SO MANY good bks. that I want to read, it's irrational to keep buying BUT you know how that goes!!! How are your classes and tests going? We have already had bone chilling days here about 1 hrs. drive southeast of Detroit.3 days ago it was 9 below zero w/ the windchill! What war in Norway were you referring to? Enjoyed this as usual Alice, stay warm!🤗

[@TheBookCastle]

Sounds like some great reading plans! 😍 The book I’m reading is about World War II. And my classes and exams went ok I think! Not gotten the results yet, so we’ll see 🥰

[@GelaMarie83]

I hope you enjoy Starling House. It was a favorite of mine last year. If you like that one, you may also enjoy The Hazel Wood and its sequel, The Night Country. Also curious, what's your nationality? At times, you sound American, but other times you don't.

[@TheBookCastle]

I’m Norwegian! 😃

[@GelaMarie83]

@TheBookCastle your English is so good! I never would've guessed it wasn't your native language.

[@darklingwang4152]

Please make a video about Stephen king books PLEASE ❤

[@TheBookCastle]

I haven’t read a lot of Stephen King so I don’t think I have enough to fill a whole video ❤️

[@Joyce-d9v]

Do you know if The Shadow of the Wind can be read as a standalone novel?

[@TheBookCastle]

I'm not sure!

[@leslieh6739]

In my opinion it definitely can. I’ve read it and it’s the only I’ve read by that author. It was really good.

[@Damnonii]

Just an fyi edinburgh is pronounced ed-in-bruh

[@TheBookCastle]

And yet when I say it like that, someone will comment that that’s not how it’s pronounced either 😂❤️

[@Damnonii]

You can trust me haha. I'm a Scot living in Edinburgh