5 Local Reads For Lazy Winter Days

There’s nothing better, especially after a day shoveling snow or pulling little ones around on a sled, than curling up by a fire with a good coffee and a good book. 2016 had some great releases by local scribes. In case you missed out, here are five you should read this winter.

The Last Good Heist
Written by WPRI’s Tim White and former Journal reporters Randall Richard and Wayne Worcester, The Last Good Heist chronicles a real-life heist that went down in Providence in 1970s. The twist? The loot that was stolen belonged to the city’s notorious criminal community. Providence Monthly called it “a snapshot of a Providence that doesn’t exist anymore, and a must for anyone curious about the good old days of mob rule.”

100 Things To Do in Providence Before You Die
When you live in the smallest state in the country it’s easy to assume you’ve done it all, but 100 Things To Do in Providence Before You Die made us really stop and consider what hometown fun we might be depriving ourselves of. Full of must-dos in dining, entertainment, culture and shopping – and certainly not limited to the Providence city limits – this essential Rhode Island bucket list is a great way to think warmer thoughts.

Pretty Wicked Word Search Puzzles
When they aren’t being used for catching up on a good book, winter days are for playing games. Created by a couple of local graphic designers, Pretty Wicked Word Search Puzzles takes the idea of your Sunday paper word search and pushes it to its trippiest, brain-bustingest extreme. As So Rhode Island put it, “The puzzles are mind-meltingly satisfying, especially coming off of a summer of a zombie-like addiction to Pokemon Go. The oversized pages make Pretty Wicked Word Search Puzzles ideal for playing with friends, which is perfect because you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

The Book That Matters Most
Letting your imagination run wild through far away and fantastic places is one of the great joys of reading, but sometimes it’s nice to revisit someplace familiar. The Book That Matters Most, for instance, written by best selling Providence author Ann Hood, takes readers to our favorite little city. According to East Side Monthly, “On the very first page… locals will find references to PPAC and Weybosset Street. As the book continues, they will also visit the skating rink downtown, the Providence Athenaeum, The Eddy and other familiar haunts.”

What The Waves Know
Block Island gets the fictional treatment in the debut novel from Rhode Island native and Johnson and Wales professor Tamara Valentine. Eight years in the making, the novel was inspired by our own island getaway. “I remember standing on the cliffs on Block Island, and looking at this white house, starting to fill in the characters that might live there,” she says. “That is how this piece started, not with the characters, but with the place. I worked backwards, filling in the slots as I went. I kept a picture of that house up in front of me when I started writing.”