Six books to read, give, or talk about during the festive season

There is an Icelandic tradition, Jolabokaflod (Christmas book flood), which began during World War Two once Iceland had gained its independence from Denmark in 1944. Paper was one of the few commodities not rationed during the war, so Icelanders shared their love of books (other gifts were in short supply). By tradition, gifts are opened on 24 December and everyone reads the books they have been given straight away, often while drinking hot chocolate or alcohol-free Christmas ale called jolabland.1 For the last couple of years we’ve also had a BJGP tradition of reviewing some book-ish stocking fillers, books to give to those we love (and/or work with), books to read in quiet moments and on cold nights, and books to talk about at gatherings.2,3 It’s been another bewildering year on both a global and local level, and the selection reviewed reflects this. ![Graphic][1]</img> No haunting season is complete without ghost stories. Radicalized , a collection of four novellas by Cory Doctorow is not about supernatural entities (or ghosts of the past) but a haunting and darkly humorous series of reflections for (ghosts of) a near future dominated by powerful interests via technology. In Unauthorized Bread we see America through the eyes of a refugee trying in earnest to become a US citizen with her son. In this particular dystopia, however, household appliances will only work with appropriately branded products — the toaster oven will only cook authorised bread. In Model Minority we are invited to imagine what might happen if an alien superhero chose to defend the innocent and vulnerable in direct conflict with … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif