There’s certainly no shortage of downtime during the holidays. In between opening presents, eating and talking to family, there are plenty of opportunities to indulge in some fun reading. Books can help you escape the hubbub and gluttony while you’re contemplating what to do:

• Standing in line at the airport…
  What better time to enjoy stories of lives changed in airports? You can request a copy of “Digging to America” by Anne Tyler, a tale of two families awaiting the arrival of their adopted infant daughters from Korea who meet at the airport and whose lives become intertwined. Or how about the epic struggle to win your travel dollars in “Boeing Versus Airbus “ by John Newhouse. Or perhaps your love of travel will prompt you to check out “Career Opportunities in the Travel Industry” by Judy Colbert.
• Waiting for Aunt Edna to come down Christmas morning so you can open the gifts…
  An opportunity to reflect on the meaning of gifts lies in the reading of “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light” by the woman herself. Or, the origins of the winter celebrations can be explored in “The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice” by Wendy Pfeffer. Either way, those presents will take on a whole new shine.
  
• Sitting on the couch complaining how full you are from the holiday feast…
  You can take a gander at what they ate before you could buy a spiral-cut ham at Costco in “Food in the Ancient World” by Joan P. Alcock or start preparing for the repercussions of the meal you just consumed by considering “The No Sweat Exercise Plan: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Live Longer” by Harvey B. Simon. Or embrace your love of good food! “Fat and Proud: The Politics of Size” by Charlotte Cooper could give you a new perspective on an old issue.
  
• While the family is watching football…
  You can entertain them (or annoy them!) by quoting facts and figures about
  sports from the “Anthology of Statistics in Sports” edited by Jim Albert. Alternatively, you could enrich the viewing experience by dramatic readings from “Not Just a Game: An Anthology of Sporting Poems” edited by Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke. Imagine how appreciative your audience will be when they can place the game they’re seeing in the rich historical context of art and literature!
  

Whatever your reading pleasure, enjoy the holidays, and we’ll see you for an exciting new quarter in January!

Tip of the Month

Our collection here at the UW Tacoma Library is based on our curriculum which doesn’t include courses on holiday reading, unfortunately! However, you can search in the UW Libraries catalog under genre/form—for instance, Genre/form: Mystery fiction, for fun reads that you can request from within the UW libraries. Or take advantage of our connection to the Summit Lending Network, which allows you to borrow books from all over the Northwest. And don’t hesitate to contact a librarian for help in finding that elusive title you’ve been dying to read.

Carole Svensson is the assistant director of the UW Tacoma Library.

Got an idea for a book to feature in Book Dirt? E-mail Carole at svensson@u.washington.edu.