On Thanksgiving weekend, the store took a sharp turn into the Christmas holiday. Boxes descended from the attic, trees were assembled and placed, lights strung, ornaments hung, charging full steam into the merriment of the days coming, prepping for all things holiday, especially Christmas in Edgartown, our favorite time of the year.
In Iceland, Jólabókaflóð is celebrated. Literally translated, it means “book flood”; books and chocolate are given for Christmas presents, a tradition started during World War II, when almost everything was rationed –– but paper wasn’t. Christmas Day is spent reading and eating chocolate, sipping cocoa. If that Icelandic tradition were practiced here, these are some books I would consider giving.
David Baldacci, an Edgartown Books favorite, is out with “Nash Falls.” Following the death of his father, Nash –– a comfortable, bland investment executive –– finds himself fighting for his life, when the FBI sucks him into investigating a money-laundering scheme in his own company.
Fans of the megahit movie “Wicked” get a deep dive into the life of Tony and Emmy awardwinning actress Cynthia Erivo as she steps into the literary spotlight with “Simply More,” a powerful memoir chronicling her journey from stage to screen.
One of my closest friends, the most avid reader I know, Rita Mullin, is a great fan of Stewart O’Nan. O’Nan revisits his beloved character Emily Maxwell in “Evensong,” a sweet story about the Humpty Dumpty Club, older women supporting each other through the challenges of aging, a place where Emily finds strength and community. Perfect for those who seek solace in troubling times.
Which is one of the trends happening in publishing these days: a movement toward the warm and cozy. We’re seeing a spike in mysteries that aren’t too bloody or psychologically devastating, romances that aren’t too dark, happy endings guaranteed. Agatha Christie is having a moment; we’ve sold more of her this year than all the years I’ve been at the bookstore combined.
“You’ve Found Oliver,” by Dustin Thao, is a Young Adult novel, the much anticipated follow-up to “You’ve Reached Sam.” Oliver is processing grief over best friend Sam’s sudden death the year before by texting Sam’s number, but one time he accidentally hits the call button and Ben answers. He’s been assigned Sam’s old number, and has been reading Oliver’s texts. They don’t remain strangers for long.
“The Will of the Many” has felt like some kind of insider’s book. It first came into the bookstore about a year ago, as a special order. Then other people started asking for it. The follow-up, “The Strength of the Few,” is out. It’s a mind-bending story, found upstairs in Science Fiction.
Books by Emily Henry (“Great Big Beautiful Life”), Carley Fortune (“One Golden Summer”), and Christina Lauren (“The Unhoneymooners”) are marching out the door. Jenny Han of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” fame is hot again because of the streaming series.
- Lockhart’s “We Were Liars” is also a streaming series and, yes, we are the bookstore in the book and series. She’s out with the newest installment on the Sinclair family, “We Fell Apart.” Debbie Macomber, a novelist whose specialty is warm and cozy books, stories of gentle love and redemption, is out with her newest, “A Ferry Merry Christmas,” set on a ferry broken down in Puget Sound. Doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination for us to relate to the story.
Laurie Gilmore’s “The Gingerbread Bakery” was on the New York Times Best Seller list for weeks. It’s part of the “Dream Harbor” series, and folks are searching out every one of them, because it would be nice to live in Dream Harbor, wouldn’t it?
The book on everyone’s lips these days seems to be “Theo of Golden” by Allen Levi, who self-published the book; its runaway success has resulted in Simon & Schuster’s picking it up. An elderly Portuguese man arrives in the town of Golden and becomes the glue holding the town together in this warm novel about the power of generosity.
For the middle reader, there is the much-anticipated “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Partypooper,” the 20th book in Jeff Kinney series that has sold 300 million copies.
For toddlers, what better than “The Night Before Christmas,” now available as a recordable book, allowing you to narrate the story, which they can listen to year after year?
At Edgartown Books, Christmas is our favorite time of the year. We love to decorate, and love to suggest books. Our lollipop bowl is filled with candy canes. On the Saturday of Christmas in Edgartown, we have a pail filled with ornaments and invite our customers to help us decorate the wreath on our front door.
It’s my hope we all embrace Jólabókaflóð, have a holiday flooded with books, to be enjoyed with lots of chocolate, surrounded by people who care for us, also reading and eating chocolate. That’s the coziest thing I can think of right now.