It's happening: the days are getting shorter, the air is getting colder and each new weather forecast brings the possibility of snow. Winter is upon us. For many Coloradans, this means it's time to break out the skis and snowboards, but for athletically challenged bookworms (read: nerds) like myself, winter provides a great excuse to curl up out of the cold and do one thing: read, read, read. So when many of my friends are headed to the slopes, I'm heading to the couch with a book, a hot beverage and a couple of dogs in tow. (I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes, I do remember to stretch before engaging in such rigorous physical activity.)
 
I want to have a game plan in place, so I'm crafting a winter reading list for myself. These are the books that I hope to read over the next few months:

Batman Noel by Lee Bermejo
This graphic novel is based on Charles Dickens' classic novel A Christmas Carol and features characters from both Dickens and the Batman mythos.

Letters by Kurt Vonnegut, edited by Dan Wakefield
This collection of correspondence by Kurt Vonnegut spans 60 years, from a 1945 letter he wrote to his parents after being released from a German POW camp to a final declining of an invitation, shortly before his death, to deliver a lecture at Cornell. A must-read for Vonnegut fans like myself.
 
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
In an alternative, surreal version of Great Britain circa 1985, literary detective Thursday Next pursues a master criminal through the world of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
 
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
I've never read Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love, and somehow Russian literature just seems perfect for winter – though, admittedly, this book is so long I fully expect to still be reading it into spring.

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
The tenth volume in Brian K. Vaughan's intelligent, funny and exciting comic book series about the only man to survive the simultaneous death of every male mammal (save for the same man's pet monkey) on Earth.

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon's latest, about the intertwined lives of two proprietors, one black and one white, and a used vinyl store trying to survive. This is when I tell you that I once met Michael Chabon at a book signing and he was endlessly charming and devastatingly handsome.

Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
I'm giving myself some fun, light reading for the holidays in the form of this collection of short stories by three of today's most popular, beloved YA authors.

What's on your reading list this winter? Let us know in the comments!