12 Days of Bookmas – The Night Circus

Title: The Night Circus Author: Erin Morgenstern Genre: Fantasy Read it if: You’re ready to become irrevocably attached to a fantasy world “You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might …

12 Days of Bookmas – Big Magic

Title: Big Magic Author: Elizabeth Gilbert Genre: Self-help Read it if: You’re not happy with the direction your creative journey is going “Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.” A couple years ago, I was in a creative …

12 Days of Bookmas – The Mobius Strip Club of Grief

Title: The Mobius Strip Club of Grief Author: Bianca Stone Genre: Poetry Read it if: You want to be crushed under a sea of emotion   Last April, less than 24 hours after completing my undergrad, I took a road trip down to San Francisco. I didn’t have any specific plans for once I got …

12 Days of Bookmas – How to Talk to Anyone

Title: How to Talk to Anyone Author: Leil Lowndes Genre: Self-help Read it if: You’re stuck in how to interact with others “Take consolation from the fact that the brighter the individual, the more he or she detests small talk.” If you only met me in the past four years, you’d never guess that I …

12 Days of Bookmas – 1996

Title: 1996 Author: Sarah Peters Genre: Poetry Read it if: You want something relatable about relationships and growing up   I got this book by accident. My friend bought it at a stand-alone poetry book sale at our university, then realized he didn’t like the style or the content. So, he gave it to me. …

12 Days of Bookmas – Goya

Title: Goya Author: Pocket Library of Great Art Genre: Art History Read it if: You want to see Goya’s paintings other than “Saturn Devouring His Son”   I took an art history course in my first year of university. I chose it because it looked fun, but also because it looked easy. I’d always had …

12 Days of Bookmas – A Room of One’s Own

Title: A Room of One’s Own Author: Virginia Woolf Genre: Essay/Fiction Read it if: You want a reminder of how far we’ve come “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” A Room of One’s Own is …

12 Days of Bookmas – Eating Fire

Title: Eating Fire Author: Margaret Atwood Genre: Poetry Collection Read it if: You want to read something heart-wrenchingly beautiful   Strangely enough, I didn’t start seriously reading poetry until I was in my early twenties, but when I did, I read with voracity. The first poetry book I ever bought myself was Atwood’s The Door …

12 Days of Bookmas – The Haunting of Hill House

Title: The Haunting of Hill House Author: Shirley Jackson Genre: Horror Read it if: You want a slow descent into madness “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.” I used to have a hard time answering the …

12 Days of Bookmas – The Garden of Eden

Title: The Garden of Eden Author: Ernest Hemingway Genre: Realist fiction Read it if: You want a romance that's not very romantic “You’ll ache. And you’re going to love it. It will crush you. And you’re still going to love all of it. Doesn’t it sound lovely beyond belief?” I get that not everyone is …