Winter Wonderland

Baby it's cold outside!  First real snow here in the DC area and I have to say, riding the ambulance in the middle of the night with just the lights on the new fallen snow and nothing else out there is kind of awesome!
Here are a few of my favorite snow/winter scenes form books that occupy my winter shelf.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - There are many winter scenes in this book considering part of the plot is a witch who has kept the land in eternal winter.  My favorite "wintery" scene is when Edmund meets the White Queen for the first time and he is cold.  Once she figures out who she is she wraps him in warm furs, gives him Turkish Delight and the best part is gives him a drink that I want to figure out so I can try it too!

A Song of Ice and Fire- Again plenty of coldness, when one of your main families sayings is "Winter is coming" you know that it ain't gonna be warm.  The coldest part for me was probably in A Clash of Kings when they are on the other side of the wall searching for Benjen Stark.  The descriptions of this scene always require and extra blanket to read.

The Cry of the Icemark-This book is set in the frozen north featuring a strong Viking like heroine.  It also has vampires, werewolves, and snow leopards.  I know, I know this sounds a little shady, but I love love love this book.  There is a scene where she travels over the frozen tundra to attempt to garner help for her country from former foes that will make you reach for your fuzzy socks.

Graceling-Most of this book is not about being cold, however there is one part of the book where our Graced heroine must get her and a 10 year old child over a treacherous mountain pass.  The way the author writes this scene is simply amazing and I am always shivering and swear my fingers are turning blue every time I read that passage.  Do not, I repeat DO NOT read this without a cup of hot cocoa in your hands.

The Fellowship of the Ring- How can one read about the passage of our intrepid nine over the mountains and not feel the sharp wind and the biting snow.  I am usually not a huge movie/book comparison person, but I will say the sweeping views of the mountain range in the movie really nailed that epic winter cold. Warm robe and possibly a pipe required for reading this part.

I hope these gave you all some idea's on how to make a little snow seem like not such a big deal :-)  Either that or a way to cool you down if you are in a hotter part of the world.

Have you seen snow yet? Do you prefer to read about cold winters during this season, or do you prefer to read something on the warmer side?  Does reading about certain environments make you feel them on occasion?