It's cold outside. Bitter and gnashing cold if you're in Chicago. Here's some recommendations for you to chew on, er, munch on while waiting for Santa. To see a full list of our recommended readings, see or Procrastinations page.

 
Nate: It's All About FROST

Robert Frost's poetry expresses the Shakespearean paradox of being in a uniquely American way. With the exception of perhaps Walt Whitman, there is no American poet who so resonates with the mundane, earthy sentiments of the American individual grounded in the land as Robert Frost. He is, without a doubt, my favorite poet, and the recently released The Notebooks of Robert Frost, edited by Robert Faggen, unlocks Frost's inscrutable mind to the patient reader in a way that nothing else could. The mind of natural genius is splayed out before the public in these faithfully edited and precisely compiled manuscripts.

 Chris: The Glorious Russian Tale of Winter

For the postmodernist, the philosophical and the splendid, read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera, if only for the blood-curdling images of the wake of the Prague Spring conjured by Kundera's masterful hand. For the Russophile, there's always Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment to make you feel better about winter. Oh, and of course, re-read a Harry Potter book to feel the warmth of butter beer and magical yuletide balls!

 

Helen: Ice is Not The Christmas Spirit

 Read John Steinbeck's East of Eden. The antagonist is wonderfully and loathsomely icy. When that's done, watch James Dean and Marilyn Monroe grace the screen in the movie version. If you're traveling a lot this winter and need some time away from all the family or a moment to yourself while stranded at O'Hare, pick up e. e. cumming's 95 Poems, which fits into your bag. I'm also going to go back to Yann Martel's collection of short stories, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. These are stories about memory and returning to right the pain of the past, a good way to remember what time with family is about.

Courtney: Winter = Time to Laugh Off the Turkey

Check out everythin ever written by David Sedaris. His short stories are about the only thing that gets me through my workdays. Trust me - if you just received your fall quarter grades and aren't too happy with them, Sedaris will get you back on your feet. My favorite is one of his more recent works, Naked, but if you don't want to be reminded of warm weather at the moment, pick up Holidays on Ice and read Sedaris' hilarious stories about being a Macy's elf. Oh, and if you're done with all that by the New Year, read Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, an interesting and funny critique on pop culture.