We’re in the thick of it now. It’s the end of January, and it’s dark and we’re cold. But it’s a great time of year to stay in and read. Here are a few book recommendations according to the type of reading experience you’re looking for.

If you want to get hooked by a gripping gothic novel…

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters is a perfect winter read. Set in 1940s England, a doctor is called to an estate to tend to a patient. After befriending the family living there, the doctor returns to the property on numerous occasions, only to notice increasingly strange activity in the home. This book is a classic ghost story that includes a psychological element that will leave you thinking about the novel for some time.

If you want to curl up with a delicious mystery…

You should read The Secret History by Donna Tartt. This dark campus novel centres around a clique of university students. Unlike a lot of murder mysteries, this is not a whodunnit–from the beginning, we learn about the murder, know who victim is and are told that the protagonist was involved. Instead, you will be turning the pages wanting find out what exactly happened and why it happened.

If you want to wallow in the bleakness of winter with an equally bleak book…

It doesn’t get much more depressing than Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. This certainly isn’t a book for the faint of heart. The story is basically one horrible thing happening to protagonist Jude followed by the next. If you’re already in a dark mindset, it’s best to leave this one alone. But if your mood can handle it, it is a masterful depiction of Victorian society.

If you want to travel to another place, in another time…

That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan will transport you to 1920s Paris. This memoir about Callaghan’s friendship with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald et al will not only have you dreaming about the writer’s life in the City of Light, but it will also have you ruminating about how even the briefest of friendships can affect us.

If you want to hide away from people…

You should read The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel. This book tells the true story of Christopher Knight, a man who disappeared in his 20s to live in the woods. No one knew what happened to Knight until he was caught, more than two decades later, breaking in to nearby cottages where he’d steal food and other supplies. If winter makes you want to hibernate and avoid society, The Stranger in the Woods might just make you realize you’re more social than you thought.

If you just want to laugh and laugh and laugh…

You must pick up a copy of Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Have you ever told a friend a story about something funny that happened to you, only to be met with a blank stare? “You had to be there,” you might say. Well, I don’t think that’s ever happened to Sedaris. He somehow manages to perfectly illustrate those hilarious moments of his everyday life in the stories published here. And, when it’s dark and cold outside, the best thing to do might just be to laugh our heads off.