The 10 Books You Should Be Reading This December

"The last month of the year can be a strange month for new releases. That doesn't mean that there aren't gems to be found in publishers' catalogs; it just means that the books due out in the last month of the year tend to be more eclectic - but that can be, as they say, a feature rather than a bug. When a cohort of books includes everything from an annotated guide to the lyrics of The Mountain Goats to a beloved character actor's latest foray into fiction, it's a good sign for compelling reading to come."

"Over the decades since he first began recording music under the Mountain Goats name, both solo and with a variety of collaborators, John Darnielle has written an absurdly large number of great songs. In This Year, Darnielle explains the origins of 365 of his compositions, all the while telling the story of his life and the evolution of the Mountain Goats along the way. It's a candid and often moving exploration of a beloved songwriter's discography - and the experiences that informed these songs."

"In a recent installment of his newsletter, Roy Christopher described his new book as "a grim survey of all the ways we attempt to escape the limitations of our physical forms." Given Christopher's wide-ranging interests - his bibliography encompasses everything from an in-depth analysis of hip-hop to a surreal science fiction collection - this premise provides a way to cover a range of subjects, including cybernetics and the most extreme forms of music."

"How do you reckon with the legacy of someone who was both an industry pioneer and had a penchant for bending the truth? That's the question that Terese Svoboda reckons with in her new book Hitler and My Mother-In-Law, in which she ponders the life and legacy of the journalist Pat Hartwell, who covered World War II and the fall of the Axis."

The last month of the year yields eclectic new releases that often include unexpected, gift-worthy titles. John Darnielle chronicles the origins of 365 Mountain Goats compositions while narrating his life and the band's evolution in This Year, offering candid insights into songs and influences. Roy Christopher frames his new book as a grim survey of attempts to escape physical limitations, addressing subjects from cybernetics to extreme music. Terese Svoboda examines the legacy of journalist Pat Hartwell in Hitler and My Mother-In-Law, confronting Hartwell's pioneering career and tendencies toward embellishment during World War II coverage. These titles mix memoir, cultural analysis, and speculative thought.

Read at InsideHook