Winter break can feel like a pause button. After the rush of the semester, I finally have space to slow down, reflect on the year behind me, and look ahead to the new one with excitement. The books I reach for during this time are the ones that inspire me, challenge me, and leave me with values I want to carry into the new year.
Winter break reading lists often lean on snowy backdrops, Christmas cheer, and holiday favourites. But for me, growing up in India, the holidays looked very different. I never experienced a white Christmas. In fact, I didn’t even discover the Twilight series until very recently! My sense of “classics” and comfort reads has always been shaped by a different context.
So, this list is not your everyday winter classic; it’s an immigrant’s take on it, featuring books that have inspired and entertained me during my breaks.
Heartwarming & Hopeful Reads
The Reason You Walk
by Wab Kinew
This memoir follows Wab Kinew as he reconnects with his father, a residential school survivor and former Chief, during the final year of his life. It’s a moving story about reconciliation, forgiveness, and carrying forward both the pain and the strength of your heritage. It helped me reflect on how to start the new year with compassion and purpose.
The Secret Wish List
by Preeti Shenoy
This book follows Diksha, whose one mistake in her youth sets the course of her life — until she writes down a secret wish list, rediscovering her forgotten dreams. It’s about self-discovery, love, and courage, while also showing the everyday pressures women face in domestic spaces. It’s the kind of read that made me pause and ask: what’s on my wish list?
Quick Reads for Busy Breaks
Em and the Big Hoom
by Jerry Pinto
I picked this book up on a whim and couldn’t put it down. Set in Bombay, it follows a son trying to make sense of his unpredictable, hilarious, and often heartbreaking mother, Em. One moment I was laughing at Em’s sharp comebacks, and the next I was just sitting with the heaviness of her struggles. It reminded me so much of how family love is never perfect, but still one of the things that holds us together.
The Housekeeper and the Professor
by Yoko Ogawa
This is one of those quiet books that stays with you. It’s about a math professor who loses his memory every 80 minutes, and the little world he builds with his housekeeper and her son. On the surface, it’s about math, but really, it’s about kindness and the small ways people connect. It gave me a gentle reminder to slow down and notice the little things in everyday life.
South Asian Classics
Train to Pakistan
by Khushwant Singh
Set during the Partition of India in 1947, this novel tells the story of a small village on the India-Pakistan border that is suddenly caught in the violence of history. It is based around the lives of ordinary people; their love, fear, and moral choices. It showed me how the decisions of upper-class bureaucracy affect ordinary lives, and how quickly peace can turn to tragedy.
A Suitable Boy
by Vikram Seth
This epic novel follows Lata, a young woman in post-independence India, as she navigates family expectations, love, and the search for “a suitable boy.” I kept turning the pages, reading how politics can shape the choices we make, even those related to love! It’s a long read, but worth every page.
At the end of the day, winter break feels like the perfect time to pause, recharge, and let a good story keep you company. These books helped me reflect on identity, belonging, and storytelling from different parts of the world — I hope one of them will speak to you, too.
