Who knows better what to recommend for holiday reading and gifting than our beloved independent booksellers? We asked several Vermont bookstores what they were recommending to customers this year because we wanted to share their thoughts with you!
First up is Montpelier’s Bear Pond Books. We’ve spent many an hour browsing their bookshelves and have fond memories of attending some fabulous events there like the “Women Writers Showcase” that featured Robin MacArthur, Melanie Finn, Sarah Healy, and Maria Hummel.
Booksellers Claire and Sam share their picks below, including a double staff pick. Thank you, Claire and Sam!
Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder
Where do women go when the identities society has laid out for them are not enough? What do they become when faced with these limited roles? In Nightbitch's case, they might become a dog. Rachel Yoder's protagonist is an artist who gave up her career to take care of her infant son. Stifled by the demands of motherhood by day, she finds freedom in nightly adventures as a free, instinct-driven dog, roaming the neighborhood and delving into its wild chaos. This is a brilliant, powerfully creative story that slices into the heart of contemporary motherhood like canines slice into raw steak. It is also a celebration of the ability of women to create and invent their most powerful selves. I want to put this book in the hands of every woman who has sacrificed a part of herself to the wonder of motherhood. Ultimately, Nightbitch is everywoman, everymother. —Claire
A wild and angsty ride of motherhood, art, and transformation. It is effing fantastic! Run, don't walk, and get this book now! —Sam
From the Caves, by Thea Prieto
From the Caves (winner of the Red Hen Press Novella Award) is a fantastic novella of literary merit about a small family living in a cave after the climate apocalypse. Told in language that sings from the point of view of Sky, the youngest member who learns that responsibility is as necessary as the stories they tell each other to survive. The book is dark and bleak at times, but the fresh and lyrical language and the wildness of the hot and desolate future world really keep you turning pages. Picture Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but told from the child’s point of view. A necessary tale to think about the effects of climate change and how language and stories may be the key to our survival. —Sam
Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder
Pick up Milk Fed for the eye-catching cover and stay for the funny, smart story of the food-obsessed, calorie counting Rachel as she meets a zaftig frozen-yogurt store clerk who changes her life, one sundae at a time. What sustains us: food, love, sex, spirituality, mother's love, fro-yo? Maybe all of the above. I absolutely devoured (pun intended) this candid look at one woman's sexy deep dive into what happens when we allow ourselves to follow our appetites. Melissa Broder reminds me of a funny Ottessa Moshfegh. More, please! —Claire