Book Your Stocking with Aileen Keown Vaux

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 23

Clearly, you're standing in the bookstore reading today's book recommendation because this is the last Sunday before stockings are stuffed, and because you're using Book Your Stocking as your virtual book-list. Good. 

Now that we have that established, please welcome today's reader, Aileen Keown Vaux, with your day-before-the-eve book-wish.

Prepare your stockings.

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Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala cover

The book I would want to see in my stocking this year is Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala a memoir written by an economics professor who lost her family (parents, husband, and two sons) to the 2004 Sri Lankan tsunami. Wave is exacting in its recall of events from that day, along with memories of Deraniyagala's past life, and her subsequent recovery. 

I checked this book out from the public library last fall on a whim and haven't stopped thinking about it since. The book is as much a celebration of her family as it is a chronicle of devastation and those two aspects combined make for one of the most haunting reading experiences I've had in awhile.

Wave is a testament to one woman's strength, but also a record of how important language is to convey our realities to others.

• Find Wave at your bookstore.
• Discover Wave at your library.
• Learn more about the book from the publisher website. 

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Aileen Keown Vaux

About today's reader:

Aileen Keown Vaux is an essayist and poet whose chapbook Consolation Prize was published by Scablands Books in 2018.

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Maya Jewell Zeller

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 22

'Tis the last weekend for book-buying before the biggish day, so it's good you're here for another reading recommendation for your stocking and the stockings of people you love or like.

Maya Jewell Zeller is here to help.

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Ladies Lazarus by Piper J. Daniels

Daniels explores subjects with a lyricism I admire; her deft weaving of Sergei Esenin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Leonard Wolf, and her own narrative offers a poetic rendering of the topic of mental illness. She also portrays the images of the world through a lovely slanted lensing. 

• Find Ladies Lazarus at your bookstore.
• Discover Ladies Lazarus at your library.
• Learn more about Piper J. Daniels at her website.

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Maya Jewell Zeller

About today's reader: 

Maya Jewell Zeller is the author of the interdisciplinary collaboration (with visual artist Carrie DeBacker) Alchemy For Cells & Other Beasts (Entre Rios Books, 2017), the chapbook Yesterday, the Bees (Floating Bridge Press, 2015), and the poetry collection Rust Fish (Lost Horse Press, 2011). Recipient of a Promise Award from the Sustainable Arts Foundation as well as a Residency in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Maya teaches for Central Washington University and edits poetry for Scablands Books.

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Sharma Shields

Book Your Stocking: December 20

Here we are, twenty days into December and no sign to the end of books that could appear in your stocking or the sock drawers of your favorite people. And, so, let's keep this daily book-wish experience going. 

Please welcome writer, publisher, and avid reader, Sharma Shields.

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The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani, cover

THE PERFECT NANNY by Leïla Slimani

I've already read this title, as a checkout from Spokane County Library District, and I would love to own a copy. It's a dark, dark book (it begins with the aftermath of a brutal murder of two children, so don't gift this to a lighthearted reader on your list), but it's also a blunt and perfectly executed commentary on parenthood, privilege, race, and class. An expert study in pacing, it's impossible to put down, but also multi-layered, even-toned, and smart as hell. Translated from the French; it's always a great idea to gift women writers in translation.

• Find The Perfect Nanny at your local bookstore.
• Discover The Perfect Nanny at your library.
• Learn more about Leila Slimani here.

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Sharma Shields, photo by Rajah Bose

About today's reader:

Sharma Shields's newest novel is The Cassandra, out soon from Henry Holt. She is the founder of Scablands Books, began the annual reading series and anthology Lilac City Fairytales, and works actively to connect writers to readers and readers to each other. Learn more about Sharma and her writing at http://www.sharmashields.com/

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Barbara Williamson

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 19

You're back, Stocking Reader. Good. You know where you are, but if you are not you, but new, you've reached Book Your Stocking, the annual holiday series in which avid readers share the books they'd love to discover in their stockings, or leg warmers, or sock drawers.

Please welcome today's guest, film and literature professor, Barbara Williamson. 

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Educated:  A Memoir by Tara Westover

Educated by Tara Westover

I haven’t read this book yet, but it seems to ping many of my buttons:  cultism, survivalism, local area issues, childhood trauma, the meaning and power of education, and the ability to overcome against the odds.  Named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, Educated:  A Memoir, recounts Westover’s experience growing up isolated in an abusive, rural Idaho home with a father who believed public school was indoctrination.  Eventually, she earns her Ph.D. from Cambridge, and this book is her journey.  I am attracted to such books, I think, because I wasn’t supposed to make something of myself, so watching that process of transformation in others is both heartening and inspiring, and I think we need inspiring at this point in history. 

• Find Educated at your local bookstore.
• Discover Educated at your library.
• Learn more about Tara Westover at her website.

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Barbara Williamson

About today's reader:

Barbara Williamson is both a high-school dropout and a proud community-college graduate. She eventually moved on to earn other degrees, including a Ph.D. with a triple emphasis:  Popular Culture with an emphasis in film, Women’s Literature, and 20th Century American and Canadian Literature. She loves teaching film, cultural studies, literature and writing, particularly at a community college, and particularly at Spokane Falls, because she believes teaching at a community college is an act of revolution.

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Sarah Bartusch

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 18

You've found yourself at Book Your Stocking, the annual reading series in which writers and readers wish for the book they most want to discover in their stocking or sock drawer this year.

Please welcome Sarah Bartusch to today's edition. 

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Calypso by David Sedaris, cover

So, I really struggle to make time for myself to read. However, I really, really enjoy David Sedaris's books, essays, diaries, and so on. I love his dry, dark humor. I almost need a diaper when reading his stuff. He says what I think--only funnier.

I read that Calypso is Sedaris' "top read," and if I love all of the other books that I've read so far, then this must be an amusing riot!

• Find Calypso at your bookstore.
• Discover Calypso at your library.
• Learn more about Calypso and David Sedaris at his website.

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About today's reader:

Sarah Bartusch

Sarah Bartusch lives in Terre Haute, Indiana where she works as a psychotherapist, writes poetry, and lives with her daughter and husband. She also runs 'th Poetry Asylum, a monthly poetry-reading series in its tenth year of existence. Learn more about the series at its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thpoetryasylum/

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with John Kenny

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 17

For those celebrating the pagan, religious, or some mix of Christmas, we've now entered the last full week before that big day. So few days to write that book you want to give everyone, but enough time to order a book someone else wrote and hide it in your favorite person's stocking or under their pillow or wherever book-surprises happen where you live.

Here to recommend such a book is John Kenny, all the way from Dublin.

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Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector

I’d like to pop Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector into other people’s stockings. It’s the story of Macabea, a young woman living in the slums of Rio who may or may not be real according to the author, Rodrigo, who may or may not be the author Clarice Lispector. It’s a short novel that is as much about the author, fictitious or real, as it is about Macabea; it’s about the act of writing, and of trying to avoid (or not) imposing a writer’s preconceived notions onto a life; it’s about fiction and the truth of fiction as opposed to reality, or so-called reality. It is at times a maddeningly frustrating read and yet, despite the digressions and the author’s hand very deliberately showing, the story of Macabea’s life shines through in all its splendid constraint; even as we witness the author’s intrusion and artifice, the reader feels for the person of the young woman and her lack of self-awareness and aspiration.

• Find Hour of the Star at your local bookstore.
• Discover Hour of the Star at your library.
• Learn more about the author here.

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About today's reader:

John Kenny

John Kenny is a writer, editor and creative writing tutor in Dublin, Ireland. His short stories have appeared in Revival Literary Journal, The Galway Review, Woman's Way, Emerald Eye (an anthology of the Best of Irish Imaginative Fiction), Transtories, Fear the Reaper, Uncertainties Vol 1 and many other venues. John was co-editor of Albedo One from its inception in 1993 until 2013. He is editor of original horror anthology Box of Delights for Aeon Press, Writing4All: The Best of 2009, and Decade 1: The Best of Albedo One. Learn more at https://johnrichardkenny.com/

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Tatiana Ryckman

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 16

Welcome back to Book Your Stocking, the annual reading series in which readers and writers share the book they most want to discover in their stocking this year, whether that's a book they've read, want to read, or wish existed. 

Today's reader joins us from Austin, TX by way of a childhood in Cleveland, OH. Please welcome Tatiana Ryckman.

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So Sad Today + Melissa Broder

So Sad Today: Personal Essays
Melissa Broder

I often just think the name of this book as if it's an explanation for something, or an independent thought (similar to Heti's How Should a Person Be?--a question I ask myself often). I've seen the book in shops, I've heard it mentioned by friends, it just seems so ubiquitous and yet I haven't taken the plunge and bought the thing. It's starting to feel absurd that I haven't read it yet. I'd like to put my eyes where my brain is, I guess.

• Find So Sad Today at your local bookstore.
• Discover So Sad Today at your library.
• Learn more about Melissa Broder at her website.

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About today's reader:

Tatiana as a child in Cleveland, OH

TATIANA RYCKMAN is the author of the novella, I Don’t Think of You (Until I Do) and two chapbooks of prose. She is the editor of Awst Press and has been a writer in residence at Yaddo, Arthub, and 100W. Her work has appeared in Tin House, Lithub, Paper Darts, Barrelhouse, and other publications. Tatiana can be found on airplanes or at tatianaryckman.com.

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Melissa Stephenson

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 15

All December long, avid readers show up on Book Your Stocking to share the book they most want to discover in their stocking this year (or, I think, the book they most want you to discover in your stocking because readers are like that, always wanting to talk to other readers through book selections). 

And today's book-wisher is writer Melissa Stephenson, all the way from the Midwest, Southwest, and now Northwest.

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Asymmetery by Lisa Halliday

Asymmetry, a novel by Lisa Halliday, came to me on recommendation from someone whose taste I trust, and she was right: I've never read a book like this before. I mean that in a good way. I mean it in the way that I now understand why my friend said, I can't wait to talk about it when you finish. 

Because this book will whisk you away quickly, with sharp, bright prose and dialogue, and then it becomes something else. And something else again. And again. It's a narrative full of left turns, turns that add gravity and depth to the narrative. If you get it in your stocking, I'd love to talk about it when you finish.

• Find Asymmetry at your local bookstore.
• Discover Asymmetry at your library.
• Learn more about Lisa Halliday at her publisher's website.

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About today's reader:

Melissa Stephenson

Melissa Stephenson's writing has appeared in publications such as  Blackbird, The Rumpus, The Washington Post, ZYZZYVA, and Fourth Genre. Her memoir, Driven, a memoir of cars, childhood, and loss, was released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in July of 2018. She lives in Missoula, Montana with her two kids. Learn more at https://melissa-stephenson.squarespace.com

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Rajia Hassib

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 14

Welcome to Book Your Stocking, an annual reading recommendation series in which writers and readers share the books they'd most love to discover in their stockings, or sock drawers, or doormats this year--whether that's a book they've read, want to read, or wish would exist. 

Please welcome novelist Rajia Hassib for sharing today's bok-wish.  

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Create Dangerously by Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat has always been one of my favorite authors. She writes with a tender authority, with compassion and yet with the severity of a truth well drawn, and she masterfully manages to present characters living in a different country and representing a different culture as ones as familiar to us as family—and isn’t that the dream of every minority writer? But I only recently stumbled upon her collection of essays, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, and I found that it was one of those rare books that I read and felt as if I was the ideal audience for it: a book about writing as an immigrant, about being an immigrant and an artist, about the ties that bind readers and writers of totally different backgrounds. 

In the book’s titular first chapter, Danticat writes: “Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously. This is what I’ve always thought it meant to be a writer. Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk his or her life to read them.” It’s a reminder of the freedom we take for granted, of the people all around the world who are still persecuted and murdered for attempting to speak their minds, of how writing and reading are often acts of challenging authority, of exhibiting “disobedience to a directive,” and of how, all around the world, peoples still do it all the same. Recent reality is a reminder that such risks are still present, often closer to home than we like to admit. Jamal Khashoggi would agree, I think. 

Those essays remind me of how important writing is, challenge me to reconsider my identity and how I’m presenting it, and that assure me that we should all be passionate about reading and writing while also challenging me to do better. I love all of Danticat’s work, but these essays have a special place in my heart. 

• Find Create Dangerously at your local bookstore.
• Discover Create Dangerously at your library.
• Learn more about Edwidge Danticat at her website.

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About today's reader:

Rajia Hassib, photo by The Oberports

Rajia Hassib was born and raised in Egypt and moved to the United States when she was twenty-three. Her first novel, In the Language of Miracles, was a New York Times Editor's Choice and received an honorable mention from the Arab American Book Award. Her second novel, A Pure Heart, is forthcoming from Viking (Penguin) in August of 2019. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Marshall University, and she has written for The New York Times Book Review and The New Yorker online. She lives in West Virginia with her husband and two children. Learn more at https://www.rajiahassib.com/

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Eva Silverstone

Book Your Stocking 2018

Book Your Stocking: December 13

Welcome back to Book Your Stocking, the annual series in which avid readers share the ONE book they'd love to discover in their stocking this winter. Today's reader is The Most Certified of Book Suggesters, which as you know, is a librarian's official title. 

Thanks to Eva Silverstone for creating today's installment of Book Your Stocking.

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The Book of Dust

I would love to receive The Book of Dust (Volume 2) by Philip Pullman, but it hasn’t been released yet. His Dark Materials is a three-book series by Philip Pullman that is one of my most favorite ever. La Belle Sauvage is the first book in the follow-up series to His Dark Materials (actually a prequel), and I tore through that book with incredible gusto. I can’t wait for the next installment. Philip Pullman creates a world where magic, religion and life all mix and it’s fascinating and smart and challenges readers to think. I love this!

How to learn more about this book:

• Visit Philip Pullman's website for updates about release dates
• Begin reading the trilogy at your local library.
• Locate his works at your local bookstore.

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About today's reader:

Eva Silverstone

Eva Silverstone works at the Downtown Public Library in Spokane, WA where she’s in charge of all the art exhibits at that location. She also works the reference desk, manages the meeting rooms, and does “other duties as assigned.” One of her favorite things is recommending books to people. When not at work, Eva makes her own art which has recently been textile based.

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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html