Winter has finally hit Southern Idaho (whether we wanted it or not), so it’s a perfect time to take a look at books set in places even colder – the polar regions. For centuries, we’ve been fascinated by the poles; whether in terms of isolation, distance, or frigid temperatures, it seems humans are undaunted by these extremes in our quest to conquer the Earth. Regardless, the nice thing about reading about the Arctic and Antarctic is that you can experience all the excitement and drama without actually dipping your toes in the freezing water (read: ice).
(Side note – Not sure what it is about the Poles that makes fiction writers move toward terror – the darkness, the unknown – but many of these fictional accounts are eerie…)
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North Pole/Arctic
FICTION:
Afterlands – Steven Heighton
The Collector of Lost Things – Jeremy Page
Deception Point – Dan Brown
Icebound – Dean Koontz
Terminal Freeze – Lincoln Child
The Terror – Dan Simmons
The Voyage of the Narwhal – Andrea Barrett
Voyage to the North Star – Peter Nichols
NONFICTION:
Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic – Jennifer Niven
Arctic Obsession: The Lure of the Far North – Alexis S. Troubetzkoy
The Ice Balloon: S.A. Andrée and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration – Alec Wilkinson
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette – Hampton Sides
The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle – Sara Wheeler
Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic’s Edge – Jill A. Fredston
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South Pole/Antarctic
FICTION:
Antarctica – Kim Stanley Robinson
Antarctic Navigation – Elizabeth Arthur
Blood and Ice – Robert Masello
Cold Skin – Albert Sánchez
Dark Winter – William Dietrich
Dead Men – Richard Pierce
Ice Station – Matthew Reilly
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? – Maria Semple
NONFICTION:
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration – David Roberts
Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence, and Emperor Penguins – Gavin Francis
Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition – Caroline Alexander
Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole – Jerri Nielsen
South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage – Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
The Worst Journey in the World – Apsley Cherry-Garrard
The Reference Desk at TFPL 