Still looking for Christmas gifts? Here are 9 book ideas, including by Idaho authors

As we search for gifts for friends and family this holiday season, why not make it books you can purchase from Rediscovered Books or your bookstore of choice? Here are some ideas you might find of interest.

My favorite book of the season these days is Boise’s own Samantha Silva’s “Mr. Dickens and His Carol.” But don’t take my word for it. Boise’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Tony Doerr, called it charming, comic, and an ultimately poignant story about the creation of the most famous Christmas tale ever written. I found this to be a most clever account of how Charles Dickens just might have written “A Christmas Carol.” Tony has his own novel out this season with “Cloud Cuckoo Land” receiving excellent reviews.

Another book on the fiction front is Jodi Picoult’s new novel, “Wish You Were Here.” It’s about the pandemic’s effect on a couple planning to be married when the future groom, a physician, is called to the hospital for medical duty just as the couple was to be vacationing in the Galapagos Islands. The future bride makes the trip alone where discoveries are made in more than one way.

The New York Times just listed “Clark and Division” as a Best Mystery Novel of 2021. Written by best-selling novelist, Naomi Hirahara, the book is part mystery, part historical fiction and a deeply moving family story. The novel is set in World War II Chicago as Japanese Americans are being resettled from the notorious internment camps in the West to big cities like Chicago. I just finished it and interviewed its author. I can vouch for its selection as the Best of 2021. The interview will run early next year at Reader’s Corner.

On the non-fiction front, a new book is out exploring just what caused the 737 tragedy at Boeing. It’s called “Flying Blind: The 737 Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing” by Peter Robison. Reviewers call it a riveting account of what went wrong at Boeing that caused two fatal crashes in quick succession which took the lives of 346 passengers. It’s a scathing account of a corporate culture gone rogue. Peter Robison will be on Reader’s Corner early next year talking about his book.

Netflix has been running a series called “The Americans,” which is a period drama set during the Reagan administration. It’s a tale of the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington, D.C. Its creator, Joseph Weisberg has written his nonfiction take on the U.S.-Russia relationship in a new book, “Russia Upside Down: An Exit Strategy for the Second Cold War.” Weisberg, a former CIA officer, suggests we rethink our assumptions about our Cold War enemy and find common ground with the Russians. Here’s a timely account of the new Cold War just as Russian troops are assembling on the Ukrainian border threatening to invade the country.

Speaking of the CIA, David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst, has written a novel, “Damascus Station,” that has been called the most realistic and authentic depiction of CIA espionage tradecraft yet. It’s a gripping account of the toll the tragic war in Syria has taken on its people and those who come to the aid of the Syrians. I just finished” Damascus Station” and would recommend it as a great Christmas gift.

How about a book about Idaho and its lumber mill past? “Pushed Out: Contested Development and Rural Gentrification in the U.S. West” by University of Idaho sociology professor, Ryanne Pilgeram, chronicles the history of Dover, Idaho, just outside of Sandpoint, where we learn about those who have inhabited northern Idaho over the years and how a town with a logging past handles rural gentrification. Pilgeram explores the cultural/political divide between environmentalists and those focused on jobs and the overall economic needs of the community which several Western communities are experiencing with a major influx of modern-day settlers, many looking for second homes.

There is an interesting new novel that could serve as a fictional partner to “Pushed Out.” “Damnation Spring” is written by first-time novelist, Ash Davidson, who was raised in northern California amid the giant and iconic redwood trees that have graced the landscape for millennia. It’s a fictional account of the clash between environmentalists and those who rely on logging for their livelihoods.

Given her roots in northern California, the author, Davidson, knows her stuff when it comes to the redwoods and logging. With her vivid portrayal of loggers climbing these monstrous trees aided by sophisticated tools of the industry, the reader is inserted into this clash of cultures between “long haired hippies,” as the novel identifies them, and the local townspeople entirely dependent on logging as a way of life.

The spraying of defoliants to clear the underbrush around the trees seems to be having a serious impact on the health of the locals. Even with evidence showing why miscarriages, birth defects and illnesses are related to chemicals sprayed over their communities, the locals reject the science in favor of logging jobs that pay the bills.

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to relate the loggers’ stance to our present-day pandemic and a vaccine that science has proved can keep people safe from the virus. But just as the loggers refuse to accept the reality of their circumstance, so do our current anti-vaxxers who choose to place their faith elsewhere.

The New York Times reviewed “Damnation Spring” with the headline, “From Towering Redwoods to Tiny Creatures, This Novel Has It All!“ It’s not often a first-time novelist gets that kind of praise. Boise State’s Emily Ruskovich, the author of the best-selling novel, “Idaho,” called “Damnation Spring” a sweeping family saga of love and grief and the deeply personal tragedies that occur when our planet is abused.

Just in case you are torn between a gift of nonfiction and fiction for fear that your favorite reader won’t place much stock in fiction, keep in mind what the French philosopher, author and journalist, Albert Camus, had to say about it. “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.” There’s lots to learn in the world of fiction.

Here’s to happy hunting in the book world and happy holidays to you and yours!