Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood” , is the Icelandic tradition of giving and unwrapping new books on Christmas Eve, cozying up with family, making hot chocolate, and reading into the night. Better get those books wrapped!
Here are some of the books I’m reading right now:
Our Country Friends, by Gary Shteyngart.
I love his books and his deadpan humor. (Super Sad True Love Story is strangely prescient and one of my favorites.) This one is based on the author’s real-life experiment: What happens when a group of literary friends decide to ride out the pandemic at a writer’s country house?
Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan.
A quiet, lovely Irish book about a man wrestling with the knowledge of what’s going on at the local Magdalen laundry.
Your Song Changed My Life, by Bob Boilen.
What can I say? I love books about songwriting. This is a good one.
Still waiting to crack open….
