Whether these were recommended to me by a friend, from a review in a magazine, or I stumbled across them online, I've accumulated books for my winter reading list. I like to mix it up when it comes to genres so this list ranges from coming-of-age novels to psychological thrillers and science fiction.

A Little Life

This novel delves into challenging themes of society. Google described it as "rich and resplendent prose" and said "Yanagihara has fashioned a tragic and transcendent hymn to brotherly love, a masterful depiction of heartbreak, and a dark examination of the tyranny of memory and the limits of human endurance." A friend recommended this to me; it's a book you can't put down.

Helter Skelter

This by no means is this book light reading and certainly not for everyone. Vincent Bugliosi, chief prosecutor the trial of Charles Manson, wrote this bestseller detailing the case. There's something chilling about the way these murders were performed, and I can't help but want to know more.

The Shack

The movie "The Shack" is coming to theaters March 2017, but that's not the only reason I want to read this. The novel appeals to me on many levels: it's a Christian novel and a bestseller—it was also self-published.

The Circle

The Circle is a commentary on technology and privacy. It is reminiscent of Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopic science fiction novels. The New York Review of Books said "Ideas about the social construction and deconstruction of privacy, and about the increasing corporate ownership of privacy, and about the effects such ownership may have on the nature of Western democracy."

While You Were Sleeping

While you were sleeping is a psychological thriller. The description on Amazon said, "You wake up to find the man beside you is dead. He is not your husband. This is not your bed."

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula Le Guin is an icon in American Science-Fiction Literature. I've wanted to read her books, but never did. I decided to start with this one as it was recommended to me by a friend.

Kindred

A Wired article led me to this author, Octavia Butler, and the two that follow, Samuel Delany and Philip Dick. All three are literary geniuses, known for their works of science-fiction. Kindred

Babel-17

As a language nerd, I can't wait to read this! It is a tale of "a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy’s deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack."

The Man in the High Castle

This novel takes place in a world where America lost WWII and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan. The description reads, "It’s America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages."

Enjoy!