The beginning of winter is a moment when the outside world slows down, and we instinctively seek shelter in the warmth of our homes. Long December evenings are the ideal time to catch up on reading and reach for titles that require something more from us than just turning pages for entertainment.
Wondering what to read in December, we selected three titles for you that correspond perfectly with the aura outside the window. We have the chill of the cosmic void, the gloom of old libraries, and the harshness of an alpine village. Each of these books is a literary feast that stays with the reader long after the cover is closed.
The series is not sponsored. The only criterion for awarding the symbolic Books Factory quality seal is the subjective value of the publications themselves.
Arturo Pérez-Reverte, “The Club Dumas”
For lovers of printing, bookbinding, and the scent of old paper, this title is absolutely mandatory. Arturo Pérez-Reverte has created a thriller where the main character is… a book. And not just any book, but rare manuscripts for which collectors are ready to kill.
Lucas Corso is a “book hunter” – a cynical special-assignment detective who tracks down white crows for wealthy bibliophiles. This time he receives two commissions that begin to intertwine in a disturbing way. He must verify the authenticity of a manuscript of “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas and solve the riddle of “The Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows” – a 17th-century manual for summoning the devil, whose author burned at the stake.
“The Club Dumas” is a sophisticated game with the reader.
- It is an ideal proposition for fans of the atmosphere of Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” or Zafón’s “The Shadow of the Wind”, although Reverte’s novel has a decidedly more entertaining, picaresque character.
- The novel became the basis for Roman Polanski’s famous film “The Ninth Gate” starring Johnny Depp, yet the literary original offers a much more complex, intellectual intrigue.
- It is worth noting that new, exclusive hardcover editions are appearing on the market, which in themselves are an ornament to any library.
An ideal read for December for anyone who loves books as objects with a soul and history.
Monika Helfer, “Last House Before the Mountain”
If you are looking for fiction that touches the most sensitive chords, “Last House Before the Mountain” (original title: Die Bagage) will be a spot-on choice – not without reason was this book honoured with prestigious literary awards. Monika Helfer takes us on a journey to the time of World War I, to a poor village in the Austrian Alps, sketching a portrait of her family. It is the first part of a moving trilogy.
The titular “riffraff” (German: Die Bagage) is a derogatory term with which the local community branded the author’s family. The story concentrates on Maria and Josef. When Josef sets off for the front, Maria is left alone with the children, at the mercy of gossiping neighbours. The woman catches the eye not only of the local mayor, who makes his help conditional on immoral proposals, but also other men in the village. Maria is beautiful, proud, and different, which in a hermetic community is sufficient reason for ostracism.
Helfer writes in language that is sparing, even raw, yet simultaneously incredibly picturesque.
- Although the action takes place in the shadow of the Great War, the author does not dazzle with frontline violence. She focuses on what conflict does to women and children, describing men rather through the prism of irreversible changes in their psyche.
- This is prose about poverty that does not strip away dignity but marks generations.
- The author weaves contemporary sketches about herself into the story of her grandparents, attempting to reconstruct the truth from crumbs of memories and family understatements.
It is a short but emotionally dense novel that reminds us how easily we attach labels to others and how difficult it is to break free from them.
Stanisław Lem, “Solaris”
One cannot imagine winter without classics, and “Solaris” is indisputably the most important work in Stanisław Lem’s oeuvre and one of the most significant science fiction novels in the history of world literature. If you do not know it yet or read it years ago – December is the best moment for a journey to a research station suspended above a cytoplasmic ocean.
Kris Kelvin, a psychologist, arrives on the planet Solaris to investigate the strange behaviour of the station’s crew. He quickly discovers that this alien world is not dead matter. The Ocean covering the planet is a thinking entity that cruelly tests the human psyche. It materializes the researchers’ most deeply hidden, repressed memories and pangs of conscience.
For Kelvin, “Solaris” becomes a confrontation with a tragic past and lost love, which returns to him in the form of a “guest” – a perfect copy of his deceased wife, Rheya.
- Lem uses science fiction decorations to ask fundamental questions about the nature of humanity, the limits of cognition, and our (in)ability to communicate with the Other.
- The claustrophobic climate of the station and the infinite, silent presence of the Ocean create an atmosphere that hypnotises and disturbs.
- The novel has lived to see three film adaptations, yet it is the literary original that most fully conveys the philosophical depth of Lem’s vision.
This is a book about loneliness in the cosmos, which is, in essence, a story about the loneliness of man in the face of himself.
The Perfect Gift
December is also a time for finding gifts. It is worth remembering that a book is a universal gift, and in the case of editions such as those mentioned above – also an aesthetic one. Reading “The Club Dumas”, we involuntarily pay attention to the quality of print and binding, about which the characters speak so passionately. Tracing a physical copy in hand – especially in a collector’s edition – we become part of this centuries-old tradition of passing on knowledge and emotions on paper.
As a digital printing house, we understand this magic perfectly. We know that the appropriate selection of paper or cover embellishment is not just technology – it is a way to underline the character of the story .