10 books you should read in December, including Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit And Glamor Of An Icon

Also check out Outside Looking In: The Seriously Funny Life And Work Of George Carlin and A Dangerous Business from Pulitzer Prize-winner Jane Smiley

By Cat Auer | December 1, 2022 | 2:00pm

Aux Features Elizabeth Taylor

10 books you should read in December, including Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit And Glamor Of An Icon

Clockwork from bottom left: No One Left To Come Looking For You (Image: Simon & Schuster); The Book of Everlasting Things (Image: Macmillan); Roses, In The Mouth Of A Lion (Image: Flatiron); Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit And Glamor Of An Icon (Image: Harper); How Far The Light Reaches (Image: Little, Brown); A Dangerous Business: A Novel (Image: Borzoi); 21-Hit Wonder: (Image: Matt Holt/BenBella); Outside Looking In: The Seriously Funny Life and Work of George Carlin (Image: Applause) Graphic: Libby McGuire

December brings a wave of new books just in time for the holiday shopping season. The A.V. Club has sorted through the best of these options to highlight 10 titles we’re most excited about, including the first authorized biography of screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, a nervy whodunit from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley, and an illuminating deep dive into the life of George Carlin, one of America’s most important comedians.

A Dangerous Business: A Novel by Jane Smiley (December 6, Borzoi)

Set in gold rush-era California, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist ’s latest melds historical fiction with a nervy whodunit. Young widow Eliza, a Michigan transplant to the brand-new state, discovers she can make a steady if not entirely safe living as a prostitute in Monterey (though simply existing as any kind of woman is a “dangerous business,” her madam quips). She befriends the fearless Jean, who services women clients at a different establishment. After local working girls go missing, the two suspect foul play, but local authorities are uninterested. Inspired to investigate by Edgar Allan Poe’s detective Dupin, the duo begins to flex their observational and logical skills in the pursuit of justice and hunt for the killer—or killers.

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