Five Great Books for the Holiday Season

Whether you’re looking to gift a book or pack a few for traveling, here are some great ones to finish off the year!

_{*Art by Cy Twombly, Part of The Four Seasons}

Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet The latest from novelist, short story writer and author of A Children’s Bible (2020). I became a fan of Millet’s after reading her funny and reverent collection Fight No More. A Children’s Bible (2020) was equally ambitious, a terrific novel and finalist for The National Book Award.

Bliss Montage: Stories by Ling Ma. Author of Severence, recipient of a Whiting Award, Ma’s new collection is atop the list of multiple “must read” lists for 2022.

I Walk Between the Raindrops by T.C. Boyle. Sometimes listed as T. Coraghessan Boyle or Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, he is an American novelist and short story writer who has been around and praised for decades. I came across him just recently, having read the truly riveting “Princess” in The New Yorker, part of this new collection. 

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hamalainen. A scholar revisits the origin story of the US from the stance of the indigenous population.

How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler.  A debut collection of essays by science journalist and writer Imbler who links personal experience, identity, octopuses, Bobbitt worms and all sorts of lifeforms in the sea.

**In addition to these, I’m very excited to read Liberation Day by George Saunders, The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li, The Rupture Tense by Jenny Xie, Ballads by Sharon Olds and Life is Hard by Kiran Setiya, among others. I’d love to hear your picks! Feel free to list them in the comments section.

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Wendy Ruth Walker is the online editor for Little Patuxent Review. She lives with her family in Maryland and enjoys strong coffee, bird-watching, forests, gardens, libraries, swimming, puzzles and sleeping in.