We like a good beach read just as much as the next person, but if you didn't have the foresight to plan a mid-season getaway, don't stress—there are still books that'll help make the bleak weather a little more palatable. After all, winter is truly when you need a book the most (you know, for those nights when it's too cold to fathom doing anything other than sitting on your couch engulfed in blankets). With that in mind, we rounded up five titles well worth your time this month. Happy reading, folks.
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
The stand-up comedian and star of Girls Trip gets candid about her rough childhood as a foster kid in South Central Los Angeles, her stint as the school mascot, and dealing with misogynistic men (including a cheating ex-boyfriend) in a brutally honest and hilarious collection of essays.
ONE STATION AWAY by Olaf Olafsson
The author and EVP of Time Warner returns with a new novel about a New York neurologist named Magnus and the three women who defined his life: his pianist mother, his fiancé, and his comatose patient.
The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien
Maude Julien's chilling memoir describes the horrifying abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her controlling father, who believed that punishing experiences like swimming in freezing cold water and sitting still in a dark basement filled with rats would turn her into a "superior being" in post-World War II France.
Elmet by Fiona Mozley
Set in the titular village of North Yorkshire, England, and told from the POV of a teenage boy named Daniel, Elmet follows his bare-knuckle fighting father, gutsy sister, and their complicated life in a remote area of the woods where their mother grew up.
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will no doubt enjoy this fast-paced thriller, which centers on a reclusive 38-year-old child psychologist who suffers from agoraphobia and spends her days drinking and pill-popping in her New York City townhouse until she witnesses a stabbing in her neighbor's living room.
