What We’re Reading: The Liter-nerdy Holiday Gift Guide
Last minute shoppers, rest easy. We’ve got you covered for every wordy nerd on your list here at Hazel & Wren with these recent releases packaged up for your easy purusing pleasure. Behold, the Hazel & Wren Liter-nerdy Holiday Gift Guide!
For the outdoorsy, environmental reader: My Green Manifesto by David Gessner (Milkweed Editions)
Environmentalism is fun AND meaningful with David Gessner in his most recent book of nonfiction, chronicling his journey down Boston’s Charles River, to find a new kind of environmentalism. (Throw another book or two in your cart, and Milkweed will send you a FREE limited-edition, letterpress chapbook called Winter Fiction. Totally worth it for this letterpress nut. I got mine in the mail today, and boy-oh-boy, I almost started believing in Santa again.)
For the true fiction reader: Round House by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
The 2012 National Book Award winner from well-known author Louise Erdrich is an easy choice for any true fiction lover. The main character, a teenage boy, grapples with the violence of his North Dakota reservation, including an attack on his mother.
For the graphic novel-devouring reader: Building Stories by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
From the guy who penned Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (which Timothy reviewed here), we get a box (yes, a box, not a book) of 14 different comics in different formats: magazine, newspaper, different sized strips, pamphlets, etc. Dig in with all you’ve got with this one, folks.
For the classic-with-a-twist reader: Dante Alighieri: Inferno, translation and introduction by Mary Jo Bang, illustrations by Henrik Drescher (Graywolf Press).
By far the heaviest book of its size on my shelf, this book is a piece of art. Printed on art-quality paper, poet Mary Jo Bang puts her stamp on the classic epic for our age. Publishers Weekly says “This will be the Dante for the next generation.” In her introduction, Bang describes how she lovingly broke down the original text and brought it into a contemporary space, with our vernacular language and idioms. Henrik Drescher’s quirky drawings on almost every page bring another element of beautiful irreverence to this translation.
For the bookstore-browsing reader: Read This! Handpicked Favorites From America’s Indie Bookstores (Coffee House Press)
I reviewed this book when it came out, and still can’t help flipping through the pages now and again. Initiated by Hans Weyandt, co-owner of Micawbers Books in St. Paul, MN, this is a collection of favorite books from bookstore owners, managers, and employees from independent bookstores around the nation. Take it with you as a tour guide on your next visit to one of the cities, or use it to figure out which book you’re going to pick up next. A gem among gems.
For the lit-mag drooling reader: Revolver
Eegads, there are just so many options with this. For smart, solid, new literary magazine, Revolver just came out with their first print issue, Oblivions, JUST IN TIME for the holidays. With the tagline of “rowdy reading,” the issue includes the fantastic likes of Alex Lemon (a personal favorite), Lightsey Darst, Laird Hunt, Bao Phi, and more.
For the Minnesota-loving reader: Thirty Two Magazine
I just reviewed this beauty last week here. It’s the perfect blend of proud-to-be-Minnesotan culture, arts, literary, current affairs, and more. Smartly designed and written, it also features a variety of formats, including longer, investigative pieces alongside shorter blurbs, or page-long creative essays.
Do you see any books that are plainly missing? What books are on your holiday wish list?
Psst. Need something for a letterpress-lover? Check out our Hazel & Wren 30% off sale on all sassy limited-edition letterpress wordy prints!
Thirty Two Magazine (Vol. 2, Fall 2012)
Thirty Two Magazine is a fresh new face in the world of Minnesotan magazines, literary, or otherwise. Thirty Two falls into that latter category of otherwise. While they include literary essays, poems, and more, they also include interviews, articles about local fashion, a breed of investigative journalism, contemporary art, current affairs, and Midwest design features, all just in their second issue. In their own words, it’s a gathering of “Minnesota minds exploring our times.”
The magazine was founded by print-lover Katie Eggers, who is one smart cookie. The design is freshly subdued, clean, and contemporary (think Instagram in cleaner, wholesome, more dignified magazine form). The voices reflected within are diverse in subject and tone, yet complementary in overall aesthetic. The masthead is also a starry lineup, including literati Maggie Ryan Sandford and Andy Sturdevant.
The masthead page includes a mini-manifesto at the very bottom, which I found to be especially insightful to the goals of the magazine. It’s about the great work that happens in Minnesota, and about showing pride in all that happens here:
If you are from Minnesota, thirty-two is your number, not only because it is the point of freezing. At Thirty Two, we also see it as the point of thawing, where movement and life begin and new things are on the way. It just so happens that Minnesota is also the thirty-second state of the union—a gentle reminder that it’s about time that we claim our place in contemporary America.
The issue feels balanced and whole thanks to the varying length of content, as well. There are short paragraph blurbs, page-long essays, and two exceptionally written long-form articles at the heart of the fall issue. One of these is an interview with Björgvin Sævarsson, entrepreneur and cofounder of the Twin Cities’ Element 6 Media. Fascinating and inspiring, Sævarsson, originally from Iceland, offers an alternative look at Minnesotan and corporate agency culture. The other, called “In the Land of Oil and Money,” follows fortune hunters camped out in rigs in North Dakota. Both pieces are strong and unique, bringing character and excellent writing to the center of this magazine’s focus, and indulging the desire for longer, investigative pieces.
Another favorite is the short essay by Maggie Ryan Sandford called “You Say You Want a Revolution,” an invigorating, funny piece about Minnesota’s cultural renaissance.
Most of all, what I love is that this is a magazine about hybridity; it embodies a sentiment of bringing together these separate, diverse communities of literature, art, fashion, film, design, and current events together under the contextual umbrella of a contemporary Minnesota. And let me tell you, Thirty Two, it feels good to be a Minnesotan.
What other state publications bring out your geographical pride (in Minnesota or otherwise)?
