Surrounded by Books

Author Rick Bragg has made it clear: no matter what the future holds, he wants to be surrounded by books. It’s all a part of his writing process, he says. “It’s like having something wrap its arms around me when I sit down to write. And I hate the idea – will not live with the idea – that I wouldn’t have that. I’ll always have my books, and I’ll always have them in plain old, raggedy old paper.”

Vanity Fair published Christopher Hitchens’ final essay, on Charles Dickens’ respect for childhood. Hitchens writes: “It is all there to emphasize the one central and polar and critical point that Dickens wishes to enjoin on us all: whatever you do—hang on to your childhood!”

Travis Jonker, an elementary school librarian, has been considering where book dollars are spent, and in doing so, he has decided to make a statement: He is committing to using at least half of his yearly budget to purchase books at his local independent bookstores. “The question is,” he writes, “are you with me?”

Good literature is often the antidote for the blues. Just in time for Winter, Stylist compiled a list of literary pick-me-ups.