It may not be Black Friday, but the post-Christmas Day sales could offer you inviting discounts on books.
Here’s a short list of some suggested titles to consider.
“Why Read Moby Dick?” by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking, $25).
Philbrick wrote the award-winning “In the Heart of the Sea,” which related to the real-life incident that inspired Herman Melville to write “Moby Dick.” Now Philbrick is arguing in this 127-page essay why early-21st-century American readers should read this Great American Novel that was written in the 19th century.
In World War II Captain Ahab was compared to Hitler; today he might be thought of as a dictator intent on killing his own people. If reading of the novel itself is tough swimming, try a graphic edition or audio version.
“THE THORN AND THE BLOSSOM, A TWO-SIDED LOVE STORY” by Theodora Goss, illustrated by Scott McKowen (Quirk Books, $16.95).
The two sides of this novella belong to Evelyn Morgan, a young American in England, and Brendan Thorne, a young Brit working on a graduate degree in English lit. They meet when she walks into his family-owned bookstore in the town of Clews. The physical book has two sides, but with no spine. It’s made so the pages open accordion-style, with Evelyn’s and Brendan’s stories on opposite sides of each page. Read either story first. What a charmer.
‘THE HEALING POWERS OF HONEY, A COMPLETE GUIDE TO NATURE’S REMARKABLE NECTAR!” by Cal Orey (Kensington, $14).
You’ll find a chapter on the power of honey to cure; e.g. local honey may cure allergies. There’s a list of 30 varieties of honey that heal. There’s a big chapter on recipes with honey. There are profiles of “bee foods,” such as bee pollen and propolis. And more.
“VISIONS OF EARTH: BEAUTY, MAJESTY, WONDER” (National Geographic Books, $40).
An Iraqi boy practices on his violin. A butterfly emerges from a chrysalis. A flame emerges from a man’s kerosene-filled mouth in a Sikh ceremony in India. These are among the photographs of people, animals and landscapes in this large-format book that will astonish and provoke thought.
“MONET AT GIVERNY” by Caroline Holmes (Garden Art Press, $39.95).
This gorgeously illustrated book is divided into three sections — The Man, The Garden, The Paintings. The man is famed French painter Claude Monet. The Garden — actually gardens — he created at his home in Giverny, where he spent the last 43 years of his life. You can look at many of Monet’s now-famous paintings of the flowers in those gardens. More than 140 illustrations, including paintings, engravings and photographs from Monet’s time and the present.
“TRAIN DREAMS” by Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18).
This short work of fiction presents two parallel stories. On the surface it’s the life story of Robert Grainier, a day laborer in the Rocky Mountain West who suffers through the loss of his wife and daughter in a cabin fire. He dreams that maybe their daughter survived. Is Kate the wolf-girl he encounters years later? The book is also story of America in the first decades of the 20th century. Johnson’s novel “Tree of Smoke” won the 2007 National Book Award.
“HOW TO BUILD A FIRE AND OTHER HANDY THINGS YOUR GRANDFATHER KNEW” by Erin Bried (Ballantine Books, $15).
Bried’s enumeration of practical and sensible how-to’s aren’t confined to Boy Scout activities. She advises how to hang drywall, how to save money, how to hit a tennis serve, how to find self-confidence (step 1, be your own best friend) and how to apologize (step 1, buck up).
“THE TINY BOOK OF TINY STORIES: VOLUME I” compiled by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and hitRECord. (itbooks, $14.99).
Yes, the book is small as in paperback size, but fewer pages than a novel. Just about every page is a (very) short story, accompanied by art. Here’s one: “The element of surprise wasn’t allowed near the Periodic Table.” The figure of Surprise walks away, sulking.
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