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Weather keeping you home? Cozy up with a good book

It's a perfect day to curl up with a good book. Pat Evans has some perfect reads for a day like today.

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Embrace the cold by bundling up inside with a great book this weekend.

Don't want to leave the house for more than a few minutes? Magers & Quinn now offers in-store pickup: buy online, then swing by when your order is ready.

Here are some of their picks.

Dark Skies by Tiffany Francis: embracing the beauty,social history, science, and psychology of the relationship between people and the nighttime. Perfect for getting a new perspective on these long winter nights.

Cozy by Isabel Gillies: Lately we seem to be obsessed with coziness - think of all those books about Scandinavian concepts like hygge. This is a more general exploration of the feeling itself, with practical inspiration on achieving that feeling in your own life.

Little Beast by Julie Demers: The story of a girl who - upon suddenly growing a full beard at the age of eleven - runs away from her home village to brave the Canadian wilderness. A slim volume full of precise language, sardonic humor and (usually dead) animal companions; Little Beast is wacky, mysterious and touching in equal measure.

Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets: Another excellent collection of poetry from one of our local publishers, Milkweed Editions. Skeets, Diné from Vanderwagen, New Mexico, writes about masculinity, intimacy, violence and tenderness in this stunning book.

Angel Mage by Garth Nix: This young adult novel, from a prolific and beloved fantasy author, takes inspiration from 'The Three Musketeers' and medieval iconography. It's a swashbuckling and funny adventure where magic, religion and art all come together in one of the more unique YA fantasies in a while.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: You might already know this book: it was a bestseller when it came out and both it and its sequel (Bring Up the Bodies) won the Booker Prize, plus there was an excellent PBS/BBC TV series. The story follows one of Henry VIII's advisors, Thomas Cromwell, as he rises to power and then (as many of Henry's advisors--and wives--did) falls out of favor. It's fiction that takes place in a historical time period, but I wouldn't exactly call it historical fiction - it's a little stranger, a little slippery-er. If you haven't read these, do it now over a couple cozy weekends in, because the final installment, The Mirror and the Light, is FINALLY coming in March!

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