What I like to do at this time of year is to alert you to lesser known titles, those that may get buried under the Flanagans, Daltons, Garners, et al

Rebecca Solnit, Kathryn Heyman, Amanda Lohrey and Steven Conti, served with tamales.

There will be no mention of the c-word in this column. I will go ahead, as per usual, with a rather eclectic collection of books recently read.