Carol Howard Merritt's Christmas list

To give

In The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton en­twines rich characters into the stunning landscape of historic New Zealand. Catton constructed a fascinating view of vocations, economy, and culture, while employing a unique structure that waxes and wanes with the moon.

I have never related to despicable people more than when I read George Saun­ders’s latest collection of short stories, Tenth of Decem­ber. Saunders sets up traps by building surreal and terrible situations and then, through humor and compassion, developing an awkward al­liance between the reader and the perpetrators. Through it all we begin to question social injustices all around us and see our part in them.