When I came to America in 1987, I disliked Christmas decorations on the outside of people’s homes, perhaps on the not very logical grounds that one July, I came upon a huge plastic Santa Claus with sleigh and eight reindeer galloping across a house roof in Maine. Years of sun and rain had dulled its bright reds and greens to dingy shades of dun and gray. I didn’t want to get onto that slippery slope. Because of this, my children speculated that my heart must be two sizes too small — also because, like the thunder-browed matron of a Dickensian orphanage, I wouldn’t let them get a Christmas tree until about mid-month. But all that Grinchiness is ancient history now. I’ve lost. The outside of my house is festooned with colored lights and looping coniferous foliage. A 10-foot Douglas fir was up and trimmed as soon as December began.
I’m not the only one now happy to get into the Christmas spirit early. This has been, literally, a pestilential year, and most of us will be glad to bid it adieu. The calendar is near to being flipped over to 2021, and not a moment too soon. In keeping with this desire to get into the holiday season, we’re publishing our special 12-page Christmas Books section this week. We hope it gives you ideas to add to your gift shopping list.
Stefan Beck reviews the latest Jo Nesbo crime novel, The Kingdom, a Nordic saga in the “hard-boiled” American style of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. The criminal fraternity of Carl and Roy Opgard, in a remote Norwegian village, takes on the sheriff, whose father drowned mysteriously investigating the death of the Opgards’ parents.
Chris Timmers celebrates Unsinkable, a history of one of World War Two’s “fightin’-est ships,” the USS Plunkett, and five of its indomitable crew. They and their “tin can” destroyer saw action off North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, the Normandy beaches, and southern France.
Nat Brown reappraises the concise, pure storytelling of Nikolai Leskov, a contemporary of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who gets undeservedly short shrift beside those two greater and more wordy contemporaries. Scott Beauchamp delves into a new history of Magic, exploring the terrain between religion and science.
Lisa Hilton is gripped by Inventing the World, a new history of Venice, and by the remarkable catalog of that republic’s contributions to civilization, which justifies the book’s sweeping title. Eric Felten reviews the latest survivalist advice from Steven Rinella and suggests readers are better off if they stick to civilization.
Finally, the editors of the magazine return to some of our favorite works to offer suggestions not simply for excellent reads, but for compelling rereads. Going back to a loved book for a second, third, or fourth time is like meeting up again with an old but continuously interesting friend. You know him well, but he always has something new to tell you.
