Winter provides the perfect background for catching up on all the great books you always wanted to tackle, but never had the time. After all, you need to do something besides stare at your digital screen during those long winter evenings! The books I selected will take your imagination around the world while you snuggle wrapped up in your blanket.

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a collection of twelve short stories set in Nigeria, in America and in South Africa. Adichie is an excellent storyteller and, as one critic said, “leaves us wanting more”. I totally agree! As soon as you finish The Thing Around Your Neck, you will want to delve into more books written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera is a novel of love and politics in communist-run Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring and the years that follow it. This novel is worth reading for its many fine insights. Look for The Unbearable Lightness of Being and other titles by Milan Kundera on bidorbuy.

The Flounder by Gunter Grass is a novel about women and food through history. Brilliantly written and full of Grass’ famous humorous and grotesque scenes, the novel also contains a number of great cooking recipes. Get The Flounder and other works by Gunter Grass on bidorbuy.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith is a novel set in London that mainly focuses on the lives of people from former British colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. The author’s intelligence, wit and understanding of human character make White Teeth an absorbing, thought-provoking and entertaining read.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga gives a darkly humorous view of India’s poor and underprivileged class. The novel is written in the form of letters that the main character (himself unprivileged) addresses (but never sends) to Chinese premier. Funny, revealing, surprising, at times shocking and even macabre, The White Tiger will keep you engrossed.

Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg is a thriller that explores deeper cultural issues, notably between Greenlandic Inuit and Danes. The story is told in first person by Smilla, the daughter of an Inuit mother and a Danish father who hates punch cards, passport controls, birth certificates and “the whole rotten monstrosity of government controls and demands.”

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie is here because no reading for pleasure is complete without the Queen of Crime. In this Hercule Poirot detective story, Christie demonstrates a mastery of suspense coupled with superb story-telling and fine characterisation. Find The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and many other novels by Agatha Christie on bidorbuy. They are guaranteed to provide entertainment!

By the time you finish these seven volumes, plus perhaps one or two more, the winter will come to an end! While it lasts, enjoy staying indoors with works of fiction you got on bidorbuy.