Here’s What Authors Think You Should Read During the Blizzard

The best part of a massive winter storm heading to the Eastern Seaboard is an excuse to curl up with a good book all weekend long. TIME asked authors to weigh in on what to hunker down with to weather the blizzard.

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier

“Because it can always get colder. And because Ian Frazier is among the greatest living travel writers. Here are stories of Russia’s Most Bearded in exile (Dostoevsky and Stalin), of dogsleds and relics of 1917, of prisons and swamps and awkward hugs. It’s anecdotal and historical and beautiful and you don’t need your mittens to read this book. Or any book, really. Mittens make everything unnecessarily difficult.”

—Sloane Crosley, author of The Clasp.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

“Read Larry McMurtry’s cattle-drive epic Lonesome Dove to keep your mind off the cold, and then watch the 6-hour miniseries—a near perfect adaptation—once you’re done. It should be spring by then.”

—Colson Whitehead, author of the forthcoming The Underground Railroad.

Ovenly by Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin

“Snow makes me want to turn on the oven, and to bake, so this weekend I’m going to hunker down with the Ovenly cookbook—baking is also a toddler-friendly activity, plus it always ends with something sweet, so it’s a win-win-win.”

—Emma Straub, author of the forthcoming Modern Lovers.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“I think that’s the perfect day to revisit a classic. You could do A Tale of Two Cities. You vaguely remember this, maybe you’ve even seen a movie based on it, and all you know is, ‘Hey, I read this a long time ago, it’s amazing, why don’t I just curl up in a chair and read something I haven’t read in a long, long time, but something that has withstood the test of time?'”

—Nicholas Sparks, author of See Me.