Book Your Stocking with Ben Cartwright

Book Your Stocking 2021

 Book Your Stocking: Day 8

This year, avid readers were asked to recommend a book, story, poem, OR song. Ben Cartwright is both today's word-consultant and the first to rise up and say, Listen to this song, friends.

And so we shall. 

Let's.

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Recommendation: [song] "God Lifts Up the Lowly" by Ezra Furman

Why: Hope requires toughness and resolve for individuals and folks trying to organize, and this song conveys the type of hope that won't lay down or quit.

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About today's reader: Ben Cartwright is a poet and a teacher.

Ben Cartwright

Book Your Stocking with Henry Valentine

Book Your Stocking 2021

 Book Your Stocking: Day 7

A week of recommendations have passed, and I hope you've passed the time writing down the titles for your next trip to the bookstore or library. Check back every day until Christmas for more ideas by avid readers.

I'm pleased to welcome my child Henry Valentine back to the series. A second grader, he's recently become a hands-down, laugh-out-loud, let-me-read-this-part-to-you fan of the Catwad series by Jim Benton. But here, I'll let him tell you about it.

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Recommendation: Catwad: Four Me? by Jim Benton

Why: Because it has camping. It's one of the funniest books because it has one of my favorite comics in it. I like Catwad because it has very funny little stories in it.

Catwad: Four Me? (cover)

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About today's reader: Henry Valentine divvies up his time among reading, ballet, guitar, and getting as close to our dog's and cats' faces as humanly possible without, somehow, losing an eye.

Henry Valentine and hot chocolate

Need more book ideas? See past recommendations at http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Book Your Stocking with Savannah Johnston

Book Your Stocking: Day 6

Book Your Stocking 2021

Somehow, we've nearly reached a full week of book recommendations. If you're new to the series, Book Your Stocking is a somewhat-annual advent-of-sorts in which avid readers, who are often writers as well, recommend the book that they think you'd love to find in your stocking this year. Or your sock drawer. Or that your favorite reader would like to find on the side of the road like those lone socks you see sometimes. If you've missed a day or two, or a year or two, you can find past recommendations here: 

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

Today, we're welcoming Savannah Johnston to the series. She herself has a new book out this year, so check for that link in her bio. :)

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Recommendation: LaRose by Louise Erdrich

Why: LaRose is a beautiful story of two families, one Ojibwe, one white, enduring the loss of their sons in two very different ways, and it simply begs to be read again and again.

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About today's reader: Savannah Johnston is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and her debut story collection Rites was recently published by Jaded Ibis Press. 

Savannah Johnston

There's No Place, a Novella by Erin Pringle (Part 1, 2, and 3)

This month, I spent three Sundays reading aloud from my new novella, There's No Place, which I had also printed a limited number of and sold because I love this story, and it will be a long while before it appears in a published story collection (and likely as the last story and, therefore, the least likely to be read by even those who do buy the book it comes in). So, here is the whole novella, read aloud in sections--from beginning to end. Please enjoy. 

It takes place during the first year of the pandemic, on Christmas Eve, in the rural Midwest.

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Part I of There's No Place (hour one) 

Part II of There's No Place (second hour of reading)

Part III. of There's No Place (~45 minutes)

There's No Place, a novella (cover)

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Wake to Words and Brew Some Coffee (December 5, 2021)

Wake to Words and Brew Some Coffee is a weekly series in which I read good poems by other people while we all drink coffee. Enjoy!

Poems read:

• Halfway by Daniel Halpern
• Poem of a Houseboat Stranded in a Field by C.D. Wright
• House Warming by Tina Mozelle Braziel
• Winter Night Poem for Mary by Wendell Berry 
• Intersection—Falcon Heights, Minnesota by Ann Tweedy

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🠊 Listen to more poetry sessions here: http://www.erinpringle.com/p/wake-to-words-and-brew-some-coffee.html

🠊 Catch the live show on Sunday mornings at some time-ish: https://www.facebook.com/erintpringle

Book Your Stocking with Sawyer Lovett

Book Your Stocking 2021

Book Your Stocking: December 5

May you find peace and solace in a quiet corner of a bookstore or library this season. To assist you with that, an avid reader gives one very good idea for a title to search for and stuff your stocking with (or the sock of a person you like and whose sock you have access to).

Please welcome today's reader, joining the series for the first time, Sawyer Lovett. 

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Recommendation: Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Why: As close to a perfect work of trans lit as I’ve seen yet, Peters hits so many relatable conversational landmarks between trans people (and between women, and between people trying to decide on the shape of family) with stingingly beautiful prose and effortless craft. 

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About today's reader: 

Sawyer Lovett is an adjunct professor at UArts in Philadelphia, a zinester, a dog dad, and a real mess most days.

Sawyer Lovett

Book Your Stocking with Ismael Gómez

Book Your Stocking 2021

Book Your Stocking: December 4

This is the place to be for all ideas book- and stocking-related. See past good ideas here: http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

Today's avid reader joins us from Madrid, and it's his first time to join the series. Please give a warm welcome to Ismael.

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Recommendation: Animal Wife by Lara Ehrlich

Why: I love how Lara Ehrlich uses the resources of the literary tradition of fairy tales to talk about women breaking the spells that pin them down.

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About today's reader:

My name is Ismael Gómez, and I'm the founder of Ferragosto, an independent publishing house located in Spain. https://www.editorialferragosto.com/

Ismael Gómez

Book Your Stocking with Jack Kaulfus

Book Your Stocking 2021

Book Your Stocking: December 3

We're on a roll here. It's Day 3 of recommendations by avid readers. I hope you're writing these titles down so they're handy should you stumble into a bookstore on your way to the grocery or dentist or nowhere near books. Every day will bring another idea for your stocking or the stocking of someone you like quite a lot. See past recommendations here: http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html 

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Here it is: Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Why: This apocalyptic story is beautiful, chilling, and absorbing. 

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About today's reader:

Jack Kaulfus is the trans, nonbinary author of Tomorrow or Forever (Transgress Press, 2018). You can find more of their work at jackskaufus.com

Jack Kaulfus

Book Your Stocking with Mallory Battista

Book Your Stocking 2021

 Book Your Stocking: December 2

Welcome back to Book Your Stocking, a somewhat-annual series in which avid readers recommend stocking stuffers for you and yours. Return each day through Christmas for new ideas. More stocking stuffer ideas here: http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

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Recommendation: "Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World" Written and Illustrated by Pénélope Bagieu

Why: This is a wonderful collection of graphic stories about rebel women throughout history and around the world; I love the illustration style and the powerful tales of these inspiring women!

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Mallory Battista

Mallory Battista is a visual artist and book lover in Spokane, and can be found at mallorybattista.com and on Instagram.

Book Your Stocking with Carol Pringle (My Mom)

Book Your Stocking: December 1

Book Your Stocking 2021

I'm happy to announce that Book Your Stocking has returned this year after a two-year hiatus. You'd think there'd been a pandemic or something. Thanks for finding your way back or for the first time. Welcome, welcome! This year, the series will run something like a Readers' Advent. Each day, an avid reader will recommend a book, poem, song, etcetera that they believe you need in your life--or at least your stocking. If you miss a day, you can find them all here: http://www.erinpringle.com/p/book-your-stocking.html

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Recommendation: The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin

Why: Love the story of redemption of several lives linked-by-beekeeping.

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About Today's Reader: Carol Pringle, retired teacher (and my mom)

Carol Pringle