What’s a better winter read than the classic Little Women by Louisa May Allcott? The story has had something of a renaissance in recent years, thanks to Greta Gerwig’s adaptation, but nothing beats reading the original text.

Sometimes the ideal cozy book is a work of historical fiction, like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The 2008 novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is a World War II tale told through letters between writer Juliet and members of a society that formed during the German occupation of Guernsey.

After Tova’s husband passes away, she starts working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, and bonds with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus. Tova is haunted by the disappearance of her son, Erik, 18 years ago, and Marcellus (yes, the octopus) decides he’s going to figure out what happened that fateful night. A tender, warmhearted story.

This book (linked here in audiobook form) is based on the popular podcast of the same name, Nothing Much Happens. As the publisher notes, “Already beloved by millions of podcast listeners, the stories in Nothing Much Happens explore and expose small sweet moments of joy and relaxation: Sneaking lilacs from an abandoned farm in the spring. Watching fireflies from the deck in the summer. Visiting the local cider mill in the autumn. Watching the tree lighting in the park with friends in the winter.” Collected within are 16 new stories—along with illustrations, recipes, and meditations.

This mystery novel (and the three others in the series) follows four elderly residents of a retirement community who discuss cold cases. When a body turns up, they suddenly find themselves with a real, live case. What results is a delightful cozy mystery that you won’t be able to put down.

Neil Gaiman’s beloved fantasy novel follows Tristran Thorn, a young man who promises a woman he loves he will bring her back a fallen star. It was also adapted into a movie starring Claire Danes and Charlie Cox.

Ann Patchett’s newest novel is moving and tender story of family and love. It’s set in spring 2020, when Lara’s three daughters return to their Northern Michigan home during the pandemic. As they deal with the cherry harvest, they beg Lara to tell her the story of her relationship with Peter Duke, a famous actor whom she dated briefly at a summer theater company called Tom Lake. Patchett’s superb storytelling will envelop you in her world—in the best way possible.

One of the buzziest cozy fantasy books in recent years, House in the Cerulean Sea follows case worker Linus Baker, who works in the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth. When he’s sent on assignment to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six children are cared for by an enigmatic man, Arthur, Linus’s entire perspective on his job and his purpose in life begin to shift.

British veterinarian James Herriot’s memoirs follow his experience throughout the countryside treating all sorts of animals. It’s warm (cozy!) and enjoyable, as you learn about Herriot’s life and career. The New York Times Book Review noted at publication, “Herriot charms because he delights in life, embraces it with sensitivity and gust and writes with grace. All Creatures Great and Small may well be the happiest book of the year.”

This cozy mystery features Vera Wong, an older woman who lives above her tea shop in Chinatown in San Francisco. When Vera uncovers a dead body on her floor, she’s determined to solve the mystery, thinking she knows better than the police. And! If you like reading the book before it becomes a show, a TV show adaptation is in the works.

For readers, it’s hard to resist a good story set in a bookshop. In The Bookshop on the Corner, Nina has a gift for finding the perfect book for her readers—but struggles to find her own happy ending, so she decides to quit her job as a librarian and start a mobile bookshop in a sleepy Scottish village.

When you think of being cozy, maybe it means curling up with a good book (like one of the ones on this list!) But for author Isabel Gillies, “coziness goes beyond mere objects. To be truly cozy, she argues, means learning to identify the innermost truth of yourself and carrying it into the world, no matter your environment.” Here’s to learning a new way of coziness.

Single mother Jane takes her teenage daughters Eva and Vera with her to Siberia to search for woolly mammoths. “It’s like they always say, you look down for one week to breed a woolly mammoth and when you look up again your little girls have turned into women,” Jane narrates. The Last Animal is a tender tale of mothers and daughters, and the nature of our changing planet.

Laid off tech worker Clay takes a job working at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, but soon realizes that this is no ordinary bookstore. He discovers a centuries-old secret society, and sets out on an adventure.

Sasha Sagan, the daughter of astronomer Carl Sagan and writer Ann Druyan, was raised secular, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t find the beauty in ritual. In For Small Creatures Such as We—part memoir, part guide to rituals, and part ode to her parents—Sagan details “the stunning grandeur of reality that requires no faith.” The title comes from Carl Sagan’s novel Contact, where he wrote, “For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.“