Keeping you in literature during the cold months!
Review
It’s that time of year again! If you’re like us, we’re all hoping for a little escape, a little respite from the daily grind. Whether you’re traveling to see family, or hunkering down in your own homes to ride out the holidays, nothing fills the time better than a good book.
We at The Mantle want to make sure we keep you in good reads, so here’s what we plan on reading over the holidays, what we aspire to read over the holidays, and what we know we probably won’t read but damn wouldn’t it be great if we did! We hope you find something to keep you warm and entertained during this cold season!
Shaun’s Holiday Reads:
A Stranger's Pose by Emmanuel Iduma (of course!)
- Christmas Carol and Other Stories by Charles Dickens
- The Night of Christmas Eve by Nikolai Gogol
- Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Anything by David Sedaris (literally, just anything he’s written)
Aria’s Holiday Reads:
In Zanesville: a Novel by Jo Ann Beard (I'd also recommend Beard's essay collection The Boys of My Youth to read anytime, anywhere)
- They Went Whistling: Women, Wayfarers, Warriors, Runaways, and Renegades by Barbara Holland
- Also, Ferrante's Neopolitan novels. So beautiful, readable, dramatic, and will probably make you thankful for your (by comparison) drama-free family.
Montana’s Holiday Reads:
- The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector
- Revenge of the Translator by Brice Matthieussent (Author), Emma Ramadan (Translator)
- The Piranhas: The Boy Bosses of Naplesby Roberto Saviano
- Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation by William H. Gass
- Daguerreotypes and Other Essays by Isak Dinesen
Shaun said my go-to Gogol, so...
- The Christmas Sketches by Washington Irving "I do not go to bed two nights out of seven without taking Washington Irving under my arm upstairs to bed with me." - Charles Dickens
- The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle
- A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Peter’s Holiday Reads:
- Stuck at home this holiday season? Let H.P. Lovecraft show you the horrors of the ocean in The Call of Cthulhu!
- After this year in politics, why not get away with a trip to the Arachnid planet of Klendathu in Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers!
- Have that annoying, oh-so-moralizing relative? Scare them off with Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals. (Alternatively, The Antichrist)
- Is all this holiday cheer too much for you? Take a quick break with Eugene Thacker's Cosmic Pessimism.
- Shatter your sensibilities and micro-analyze everything this holiday season with Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus.
- If self-flagellation is the reason for the season, then """enjoy""" Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.
Marie’s Holiday Reads:
My book choices depend on the mood of the week. This week the new Haruki Murakami book, Killing Commendatore calls to me.
Annie’s Holiday Reads:
- The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper
- The Girls of Atomic City: the Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan
- Crazy Rich Asians trilogy by Kevin Kwan
Much like the assignment of sending a picture of our workspaces (I was the only one with a human actually in my photo), I feel like I am the odd man out with our vacation reads choices. So I’m going to take a minute to share my love about the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy which I read two thirds of on my recent vacation exploring Utah’s fabulous national parks.
Whether or not you’ve seen the movie (which you should if you haven’t) the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy by Kevin Kwan is worth your time. The basic fish out of water plot remains the same, but the books have less focus on Rachel’s storyline. Instead they dive deeper into the interconnectedness of the three familiar (the Youngs, the Shangs, and the T’Siens). While I am still waiting for my turn with the third book (only 239 people ahead of me on the Seattle Public Library’s hold list!!) the books are a great vacation read.
Corrie’s Holiday Reads:
Good and Mad: the Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister Let’s be honest, this just seems cathartic after this past year.
- All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung - A little bit of Korea, a little bit of Oregon? Sounds right up my alley.
- Little Book of Sloth Philosophy by Jennifer McCartney Sometimes you just need to learn some philosophical lessons from a sloth. I think this will be good for me. I’ll finally figure out the philosophy of slowing down...maybe...
- Limetown: The Prequel to the #1 Podcast by Cote Smith, Zack Ackers, and Skip Bronkie - Anyone who knows me knows I have a serious addiction to this podcast. If you’re not listening, you should be. Season 2 is out now, and it’s intense! So, even though it’s probably just a money-making ploy, I’m down to check out the prequel here.
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