Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Transitions and Celebrations

The beginning and end of the year are always the busiest time at January Magazine. In that time, we produce several features that our readers have come to enjoy and expect. Because a lot of people take breaks from their regular schedule through the holidays, we thought we’d let you know what we’d been up to while you were looking in the other direction. Some of this stuff is just too special to miss!

This year, our annual Holiday Gift Guide started rolling in mid-November and kept picking up steam almost right up to December 25th. That piece is here.

For readers, the segue from Gift Guide to Best Books of 2011 might have been subtle, but around here, it was a huge shift. Both pieces are massive and represent many hours writing for all of our contributors, as well as lots of editing and planning for January’s senior editing team, Linda L. Richards and J. Kingston Pierce, not to mention lots of original design from art director David Middleton.

The Best Books of 2010 feature was one of our most significant ever. We talked about 133 books in total in fiction, non-fiction, crime fiction, art & culture, cookbooks, science fiction/fantasy, biography and books for children. The feature is based here.

Finally -- and sadly -- we talked about the literary passages that we covered in 2011. Briefly, and respectfully, we bow our heads and mourn the stories that will never be told.

In 2012, January Magazine moves into our 15th year. Thanks for letting us share a corner of your reading life. May you and yours have a rich and rewarding new year.

Note: the painting above is “La Liseuse” and is by the French painter Jean Jacques Henner (1829-1905). There is something beautiful and dreamy in this chiaroscuro painting of a woman reading. Something that tells us she is so involved that she has has no time for the noise of the world.

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