The Christmas Book Flood written by Emily Kilgore and illustrated by KItty Moss, Macmillan, 2022
Dear Readers,
The Christmas Book Flood published in 2022 is a picturebook story about the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflódid or Yule Time Book Flood, a time devoted to book giving and reading during the winter season that began during World War II. This beautiful tradition is now spreading in Scandinavian countries and parts of Europe –one we hope will continue to grow.
Our newsletter includes a list of favorite books compiled by the staff of Book Beat and our reading groups. Tom Bowden has reviewed some French Lit and we have a couple fundraisers that can use your help. Our annual Gesu Library “bookraiser” is Sunday, December 7, and the local arts journal Three Fold Press has a fundraiser December 5th and 6th at Book Beat.
Michigan author books have been flooding into the bookstore and so we decided to feature some of them in our newsletter. Most of the provided links are to our affiliate page on Bookshop.org, however, most books mentioned are available in store.
Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Marion Hayden’s monograph at the Book Beat. It’s a free gift from the Kresge Foundation and a wonderful reading gift for a jazz lover.
This past year being the 100th anniversary of surrealism, brought some major releases and reissues. The Pompidou exhibition which began last year is now titled Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100 and opened earlier this month at the Philadelphia Museum. It will be up until February 16, 2026, and will be the only US venue for the exhibition. Surrealism is a stunning catalog of art and essays that brings together various strains of the movement and publishes many great paintings and vintage artifacts for the first time. We are also keeping a large selection of Surrealist writings in a new section with Beat and other experimental authors.
Blastitude is a long-running journal of underground record reviews, new music, and sub-underground happenings from Chicago. Editor Larry “Fuzz-O” Doleman and his wife Angelina paid a visit to Book Beat over twenty years ago and it was great to meet up again at the Detroit Public Library, and the Mythic Chaos exhibit at Cranbrook. Read their fun and detailed diary visiting the Motor City: BLASTITUDE DETROIT ROAD TRIP 2025 .
A new Crossword Puzzle book on the city of Detroit came in last week and blew out. Block Party: Detroit Edition: 40 Crosswords for Lovers of the 313 by Sala Wanetick and Emily Biegas was recently featured on WDET. We misjudged the amount of crossword fanatics in Detroit but we’ll have more copies back in stock next week. This new collection “captures Detroit’s personality through light and deep-cut references and the lived experiences of its creators.” The Detroit Crossword Puzzle creators will be stopping at Book Beat again on Sunday, December 7 from 2-4 pm to sign books during our annual Gesu Library Bookraiser.
Also plan on some gift-buying for Friday and Saturday December 5-6th. We are holding a fundraiser for Three Fold Press an online journal that is the literary arm of Trinosophes, a non-profit culture center focused on new music in Detroit. They are currently holding an art auction on their site that will be moving to Salt & Ceder in Paris by early December.
The Sub Rosa reading group had a great year and will be doing Wuthering Heights over the December/January holiday Some of their most memorable discussions included Lolly Willows by Sylvia Townsend Warner; My Antonia by Willa Cather; The Wax Child by Olga Ravn; and The Stepdaughter by Caroline Blackwood.
Staff member Zoe’s favorite reads this year included; The Antidote by Karen Russell; True North by Jim Harrison; and The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt.
Staff member Mike G’s favorite reads this year were; Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal; A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin; and The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Staff member Sean B. selected the following three books as his favorite reads of the year: 1.) Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa: A brief novel in which a disabled Japanese erotica author struggles toward bodily autonomy. Plain-spoken and hard-hitting. 2.) The Woman With Fifty Faces by Jonathan Lackman and Zachary J. Pinson: Graphic novel telling the true story of a Polish refugee posing as a famous film actress who convinced fifty of the greatest names in early 20th century art to paint her portrait for a non-existent Hollywood movie. 3.) The Ephemerata by Carol Tyler: Long-time alternative cartoonist Tyler illustrates a Dante-esque voyage through her personal landscape of grief following the deaths of her parents and husband, among others.
Nancy R’s favorite non-fiction titles:
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer. In this exemplary book the author Dederer explores the soul-searching question – can you separate the art from the monstrous behavior of the artist?
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminst Punk by Kathleen Hanna, Singer/songwriter Hanna (Bikini Kill and Julie Ruin) details her life from a very rough childhood, the violence of men, her revolutionary art, extortionary friendships, debilitating illness, love and motherhood with honesty, humor, pain and joy.
Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddess by Peter Wolf. This is the most engaging memoir I have ever read. Wolf’s extraordinary life is filled with entertaining stories and some of the most influential artists of our time. Through it all he remains a humble and generous soul.
Nancy R’s Fiction picks:
Trust by Hernan Diaz. In this brilliantly constructed book, the secrets of an American capitalist are told in four separate stories. The book is about money, the way it can warp reality and one man’s desire to change the world’s perception of his life and marriage.
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. This book is both riveting and unsettling. Set in Dublin during a political crisis, the book follows the life of a family as it spirals into chaos. This book is very poignant in our times.
Gliff by Ali Smith. Smith masterfully chronicles the dark adventure of two siblings during a dystopian time and the extraordinary things they do to survive.
Stay tuned: In preparation are Colleen’s selection of outstanding titles from this years crop of picturebooks and YA offerings, and our best new picks in Art, Photography, and the unusual.
Thank you for reading our newsletter and for your continued support. Together we can make book giving and the Jólabókaflódid a Michigan tradition!
We wish you a Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving!
~Cary, Colleen and the Book Beat Staff
PS Tip for Tomorrow: Record Store Day begins Friday morning and last night we saw the Record elves at Street Corner Music stocking the shelves with 700 “new” old vinyl titles plus the walls were covered with priced-to-go vintage music and concert posters – wow!
To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. -Victor Hugo