Personal Picks in the December Issue

As someone who considers a well-chosen book the best of all possible gifts, my recommended first stop in the December issue must be the special Christmas for Readers section. Among the “ Thrillers and Throwbacks ,” Gyles Brandreth’s Oscar Wilde mystery looks especially promising, and several of the “ Lives and Legacies ” (Brad Gooch on Flannery O’Connor, Blake Bailey on John Cheever) sound tempting. I only wish I knew a child to whom to give one of the “ Wondrous and Silly ” picture books. (I must confess: I’m tempted to buy Leo Politi’s Pedro: The Angel of Olvera Street for myself.)

I also find myself returning to Dana Gioia’s poem “ Majority ,” which—in this season when we think of Christmases past, present, and to come—makes a fittingly gentle and haunting coda to the children’s books section.