Sharpening your pencil

Small life improvements (and very many good books)

Hello! How was your Christmas? Merry and bright? Like mine, rather lower key than expected? Or perhaps it was just plain awful? If it’s any comfort, I’ve always thought terrible Christmases make for excellent copy. The dysfunctional family gathered in Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections; the ghastly family assembly in Mistletoe Malice; Saki’s bitingly sa…