Your 2024 Winter Reading List

Grace's Winter Reads

I haven’t been doing too much reading lately as I have mostly been occupying myself with knitting projects this winter. However, these are a few of my recent reads that stood out and I would heartily recommend them for anyone looking for something to pick up!

Whether you want something to help pass the time on your daily commute or to distract you on these chilly winter evenings, I hope there is something to pique your interest in the list below.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Jesse Q. Sutanto

“Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.”

A hilarious murder mystery for any fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, or just anyone after a fun read! Fair warning though that the descriptions of various teas and food aromas will leave you searching for snacks!

When I Open the Shop

Romesh Dissanayake

“In his small noodle shop in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, a young chef obsessively juliennes carrots. Nothing is going according to plan: the bills are piling up, his mother is dead, and there are strangers in his kitchen. The ancestors are watching closely.

Told through a series of brilliant interludes and jump cuts, When I open the shop is sometimes blackly funny, sometimes angry and sometimes lyrical, and sometimes – as a car soars off the road on a horror road trip to the Wairarapa – it takes flight into surrealism. A glimpse into immigrant life in Aotearoa, this is a highly entertaining, surprising and poignant debut novel about grief, struggle and community.”

I think people will be able to find beauty in many different things from a nostalgic story like this. Part of it shows how you can feel like an imposter in a place you have spent the majority of your life. Even when we know a place and it’s people so intimately we often struggle to find space for ourselves.

Another part is simply about the joys of good food.

Legends and Lattes

Travis Baldree

“After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.”

This book is just cozy fantasy at its peak and perfect for reading while enjoying a hot beverage of your choice (and maybe a pastry or two…).

The Love Contract

Steph Vizard

“Single mum Zoe had the parenting thing all figured out with little Hazel until a childcare drought derailed her plans to return to work. Enter Will, Zoe's nemesis and frustratingly handsome neighbour.

After Will's boss mistakenly assumes Will is the father of Zoe's baby and insists he take parental leave (to make the law firm look progressive), it seems like a simple white lie could help both Zoe and Will to get ahead.”

Set in Melbourne, this rom-com is a witty and light-hearted read that had me laughing out loud more than a few times. It also explores the complexity of mother-child bonds and how there are so many ways to experience and process love.

Book Shop Woman

Nanako Hanada, Cat Anderson (Translator)

“Nanako Hanada's life is in crisis. Recently separated from her husband, living in youth hostels and internet cafes, her work is going no better. Fallen out of love in all aspects of her life, Nanako realises how narrow her life has become, with no friends outside of her colleagues, and no hobbies apart from reading and arranging books. 

That's when Nanako joins an online site called Perfect Strangers to try and find some new connections around her. She describes herself as a sexy bookseller who will give you a personalised book recommendation. In the year that follows, Nanako meets an eclectic range of strangers, some of whom wanted more than just a book, others she became real friends with.”

Based on a true story and intermixed with numerous book recommendations, this is a great read for book lovers but also for anyone who finds themselves feeling a little lost in life and wants some reassuring that it will usually work out in the end (just maybe not how you expect)!