And a happy winter to all of you, dear readers!  In honor of this past week’s Solstice, and in looking forward to the holidays coming up this weekend and next week, it seemed like a good moment to share a bit of good cheer and high hopes for the future, before we get to the books, which always bring good cheer!  So here is a bit of verse, from us to you:

The Shortest Day
by Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!

History of Wolves: Emily Fridlund’s debut novel has been getting attention for a while, and her first chapter won the McGinnis-Ritchie award, giving it a seal of excellence from quite early on in its creation.  Set in the woods of northern Minnesota, the book follows fourteen-year-old Linda, whose family lives on a nearly-abandoned commune, isolating them from the world around them.  Linda suffers most, especially when the arrest of one of the teachers at her school cuts off the few connections she has forged, until a young family moves in across the lake, Linda begins to babysit for their young son Paul, and soon finds a sense of belonging.  But with belonging comes access to secrets that Linda never imagined, and over the course of a few days, she will make choices that will have lifelong consequences.  This is not an clear-cut read, but Fridlund is so skilled at crafting the damaged, lonely Linda, that readers will find themselves falling into the complexities of this story.  Publisher’s Weekly agrees, giving this book a starred review and praising is as “An atmospheric, near-gothic coming-of-age novel turns on the dance between predator and prey . . . Fridlund is an assured writer . . . The novel has a tinge of fairy tale, wavering on the blur between good and evil, thought and action. But the sharp consequences for its characters make it singe and sing—a literary tour de force.”

Difficult Women: From Roxane Gay, author of the sensational Bad Feminist (among other sensational and thought-provoking works), comes a collection of fictional stories about women from all walks of life, whose tales form a mosaic of works that describe the reality of America in the present day, from a pair of sisters, abducted as children and inseparable throughout life, learning to cope with the elder sister’s marriage, to a Black engineer moving to Michigan for work and trying to leave her past behind, from a college student who works as a stripper to pay her tuition to a girls’ fight club in a wealthy Florida suburb, each of these stories is a wry, funny, and deeply emotional example of Gay’s talent for prose, as well as her piercingly insightful views on race, gender, class, and identity.  These stories will definitely challenge, but they will also help you grow, and that is some of the best work that fiction can do.  Kirkus Review agrees, saying, “Unified in theme―the struggles of women claiming independence for themselves―but wide-ranging in conception and form . . . Gay is an admirable risk-taker in her exploration of women’s lives and new ways to tell their stories.”

Instructions Within: Ashraf Faydah’s book of poetry was first published in Beirut in 2008, and was subsequently banned from distribution in Saudi Arabia, and Faydah himself is currently in prison in Saudi Arabia for apostasy (the renunciation of religious beliefs), and for allegedly promoting atheism through his poetry.  All of this makes the US publication of his book that much more important, but Faydah’s poetry speaks for itself, taking its inspiration from historical texts, ancient artistic traditions, and modern pop culture to make powerful observations about the world around us, its horror as well as its beauty, and what we are willing to do about what we see happening in that world.  Art has always been a fierce and relenting voice against tyranny and injustice, and Fayadh’s work proves an strong reminder of that truth.  A note–this book is bound on the right, like Arabic texts, so be prepared not only to see the world through another’s eyes, but to read through another culture’s lens, as well.

The Gentleman From Japan: Fans of John Le Carre’s novels should definitely check out Inspector O, the protagonist of James Church’s intriguing series.  In this sixth installment of the series, O is assigned to investigate a Spanish company that is allegedly producing parts for a nuclear weapon, disguised within a dumpling maker.  When it is discovered that this “dumpling maker” is ultimately destined for North Korea, O enters a world of government corruption and family ties that will bring him face to face with a Chinese gangster he’s worked for years to destroy.  A hard-boiled mystery full of gritty settings, murder, secrets, and lies, Churches’ books, which benefit enormously from his years in intelligence, are always densely-plotted, twisting, and engrossing, but critics everywhere are agreeing that this may be his best Inspector O novel yet, with elaborate deceptions, dastardly foes, and international intrigue aplenty.  The Chicago Tribune agrees, cheering “The deeper you get into The Gentleman From Japan, the more educated you become about the dark complexities of international relations, and the more indebted you are to Church for creating a series that stands out as winningly as this one.”

Mad Genius Tips: I don’t know about you, but there has never been a holiday season where some part of the food preparation has gone chillingly, disastrously wrong.  A critical pan is missing…the proper ingredients weren’t purchased…I nearly cut the top of my finger off….ok, to be fair, Justin Chapple’s book can’t really save you from yourself, but it can offer you a whole ton of tips, tricks, and last-minute saves that will make you look like a suave culinary expert.  Each chapter deals with a different household cooking tool, like resealable baggies to knives, from plastic lids to cooling racks, and leaves it to Food & Wine‘s Mad Genius to tell you all the nifty things you can do and make with each item.  Packed with weird, wonderful tips, and a whole bunch of fascinating recipes, this is a book that will definitely make your holidays a little easier (and more fun!), but is sure to help any time of year, too!  Publisher’s Weekly is definitely a fan of Chapple, saying “Chapple, a senior editor at Food & Wine, brings his Web video series into print with a collection of 90 creative uses for everyday kitchen items, and 100 recipes in which to employ this hackery…. Some of his suggestions are handy indeed: he gets a lot of mileage out of a baking rack, for example, using it as a chopper for both boiled eggs and avocados.”

Until next week, beloved paons–happy reading!