Book recommendations for a rainy weekend

November 30, 2012 10:26 AM

Fiction for a rainy weekend?

Please recommend some good books for lazing about on a rainy weekend and which also feature weather as a 'character.' I'm thinking of something like The Shipping News, but I've read it too often and need something new. Coastal setting a plus.

Thanks!

posted by mudpuppie to writing & language (16 answers total)

The vagaries of weather features fairly regularly in the Aubrey-Maturin series, which I am incapable of not recommending in every book recommendation askme apparently.
posted by elizardbits at 10:34 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

I just finished The Brandy of the Damned, which was recommended to me as being a little Hornby-esque (I would agree, though this is very short and a little 'huh' at the end, but if you're using a kindle/kindle app it's $2.99 right now).

The main characters are driving around the coast of Britain in their old band's van; the weather is ever-present. And British.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:35 AM on November 30, 2012

There's a lot of cold and snow in The Secret History. I spent last Christmas devouring it.
posted by jabes at 10:38 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Anything by Kate Atkinson (for example) - mostly set in Northern England / Scotland so bad weather is standard!
posted by superfish at 10:41 AM on November 30, 2012

The classics. Jane Eyre is a nice, moody piece to read on a rainy weekend.

Anything by Jane Austen.

Not so moody, but perfect for a weekend in, PG Wodehouse, Jeeves, Wooster. Heaven.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:46 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's only a short story, but "Spring in Fialta" by Vladimir Nabokov may suit you.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:50 AM on November 30, 2012

Adrift by Callahan? Kinda extra, extra, super, duper on the "coastal" front, insofar as he's in a lifeboat, but still. Weather and his environment is a big part of the book.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:21 AM on November 30, 2012

If you're open to sci-fi, I strongly recommend "Wool," in which the weather outside plays a major role in the story. By MeFi's own Hugh Howey!
posted by jbickers at 11:28 AM on November 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

The Nine Tailors is a Peter Wimsey mystery that takes place in Fen Country. Snow and rain and floods play a significant part. It's one of my favorite comfort books and is a great mystery novel besides.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:06 PM on November 30, 2012

Water Witches, by Chris Bohjalian; the plot revolves around a drought, if I'm remembering it right.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:40 PM on November 30, 2012

I've always thought Snow Falling on Cedars did a terrific job of capturing the weather and atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest.

Pretty much anything by Alistair Macleod will have coastal weather in spades, but his short stories are particularly good in this regard. Check out Island: The Complete Stories.

Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley is a retelling of Noah's Ark, so there's a bit of rain.
posted by ZaphodB at 4:10 PM on November 30, 2012

The Track of the Cat by Walter van Tillburg Clark.
posted by kirst27 at 5:24 PM on November 30, 2012

1222 by Anne Holt
posted by Daily Alice at 5:40 PM on November 30, 2012

Going on the description of The Shipping News, I'd recommend Without Vodka: Adventures in wartime Russia by Aleksander Topolski (snow, hunger, cold, and WWII), The Theft & the Miracle by Rebecca Wade (rain, cold, Christmas, and God), and maybe a little Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (trains, snowdrifts, murder).
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:22 PM on November 30, 2012

I only sort of liked The Age of Miracles, but it is totally about weather--the earth slows down, and the characters adapt and don't adapt to it. It is one of those books that drew me in and the writing is quite nice, but the story just went on a little too long for me.
posted by gubenuj at 8:26 PM on November 30, 2012

This article from Library Journal might fit the bill. "In the following titles, weather evolves into an additional protagonist, deeply inter­woven with its fellow characters and plot."
posted by stampsgal at 11:16 AM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]