Stock Up for Winter

When foul winds blow, throw on your jammies and curl up with one of these fireside reads.

If you missed all the hoopla back in January 2004, Absolute Friends, now in paperback, is John le Carré's latest, and perhaps most provocative, novel yet. The Washington Post writes of the hardcover: "It's a polemic, in a tradition that goes back to Shakespeare's portrait of Richard III, Swift's modest proposal, and Orwell's 1984." Time Canada writes: "John le Carré is still the grand master of the modern literary thriller. This is le Carré in career form." Need more reasons to add this book to your winter reading list? Click here.

In Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, Stephen Greenblatt asks an interesting question: How exactly did a man from the country, without independent wealth, without family connections, and without a university education, become the greatest playwright of all time? Pour yourself a warming drink and settle in to rediscover Shakespeare—the man and his work—with this National Book Award Finalist. Click here for more.

Have you already broken your New Year's resolutions? If so, temporarily boost your self-esteem—or at least realize that you're not at your absolute lowest—with The Wee Book of Calvin. This is the first (and maybe the last) self-help guide that promises to make you feel a lot worse after you read it. An anti-celebration of all that is dark and dour in the northeastern psyche, it's a hilarious satire on freeze-dried mysticism, off-the-shelf enlightenment, and transatlantic psychobabble. Click here for more.

Though his voice enthralled the world over a century ago, Enrico Caruso remains perhaps the most celebrated tenor who ever lived. In a novel of remarkable intensity and sensuality, renowned poet Mary di Michele brings Enrico Caruso—and the two women who adored him—vividly to life as she explores the tension between life and art, love and ambition. For more about Tenor of Love, an impeccably researched novel that will have you singing opera aloud, click here.