Wanting comfort, warmth, relaxation? Come on in to your Library! As the temperatures start to drop, the Chatham Area Public Library has plenty of (free) cozy books, puzzles, activities and movies to enjoy inside this Winter. Take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season to hunker down. Some of our favorite books and movies are cozy fantasy! What exactly makes a book cozy? Well, we can’t quite place our finger on it, but it has to do with being comforting, relatable, and gentle (not too suspenseful or violent). In general, it has a warm theme, but it can span across genres.
One of the top cozy books in recent years is the historical fiction The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This moving story is about writer Juliet Ashton, who in 1946 finds inspiration for her next book in her correspondence with a native of Guernsey island, who tells her about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi during German occupation. This great book is even available in a book-club kit! So if you would like multiple copies to share with friends and family as well as pre-written discussion questions, this is the book for you!
Cozy mysteries are popular, too. One of our favorites is Alexander McCall-Smith’s spirited The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. This is the start of a series, following Precious Ramotswe, the very first female private detective in all of Botswana, Africa. “Tactful, effective, and insightful detecting comes naturally to this very independent woman in this highly entertaining humorous cozy mystery series” with a “strong sense of place.”
The Bookshop on the Corner seemed to make everyone’s cozy list. In this book by Jenny Colgan, a literary “matchmaker” who takes joy in pairing readers with perfect books, moves from the city to a sleepy village where she becomes a bookmobile driver and rediscovers her sense of adventure while searching for a happy ending of her own. Speaking of books about books, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore is another on our “cozy list” as a quirky, likable science-fiction book. But don’t be put off by the genre! Plenty of non-science fiction lovers will enjoy this book, too. In Bookstore, “after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything. Soon he embarks on a complex analysis of the customers' behaviour and ropes his friends into helping him figure out just what's going on.”
Some classics make our list of books to cuddle under a blanket with as well. Louisa May Alcott’s feel-good Little Women, chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England, and it may just bring back some childhood memories. Maybe this winter you could read it aloud to your kids or grandkids.
There are so MANY more cozy books, too! We just can’t fit them all here. Be sure to check out our newsletter for warm events at the Chatham Area Public Library coming soon. Until then, stop on by, pick up a book or two and grab a comfortable spot by the fire.