> ARRIVALS

Here are some beautiful series of collectible books so small they can be tucked in a pocket (or stuffed in a stocking in a couple of months). Avidly Reads, general editors Sarah Mesle and Sarah Blackwood The editors describe these brief books as “part memoir, part cultural criticism, each bringing to life the author’s emotional relationship to a cultural artifact or experience.” The series, which began online in 2012, has now moved into the physical world with three slender books: In “Making Out,” University of Utah prof Kathryn Bond Stockton writes about her non-binary childhood — beginning with a kiss. In “Theory,” academic and “theory head” Jordan Alexander Stein writes about five ways theory makes us feel (“silly, stupid, sexy, seething and stuck”). In “Board Games,” writer Eric D. Thurm acquaints us with “the emotional and social rules that board games create and reveal. Object Lessons, editors Ian Bogost and Christopher Schaberg These elegant little books, each about the size of a hand, are billed by publisher Bloomsbury as being “about the hidden lives of ordinary things.” Interesting individuals are assigned a topic and off they go, probing their object every which way. The latest lessons include “magnet,” by design consultant Eva Barbarossa, “email,” by English prof Randy Malamud, and “hashtag,” by author and academic Elizabeth Losh. Forty-four Object Lessons have been published since 2015, with seven more poised for early 2020. Christmas Ghost Stories, various authors, illustrated by Seth This series from Biblioasis, now in its fourth year, harks back to the Victorian custom of telling a ghost story on Christmas Eve. There are now 12 books, all period pieces by authors famous or obscure, all illustrated by Seth, the Canadian cartoonist and illustrator. This year: “The Apple Tree,” by Daphne du Maurier (1952); “The Old Nurse’s Story,” by Elizabeth Gaskell (1852); and “The Sundial,” by R.H. Malden (1943). Available: Nov. 5. The Regina Collection The Regina Collection is a series of compact books by or about Canadians — Indigenous, native-born and immigrant. There have been15 since 2014, and two recent ones are good examples. “The Listener: In the Shadow of the Holocaust” is a difficult motherdaughter story by Irene Oore, whose mother gave her the “gift” of her experience of cruelty and suffering. “Florence of America: A Feminist in the Age of McCarthyism,” by Florence Bean James with Jean Freeman, is the story of U.S. theatre impresario James (1892-1988), who fled to Regina in 1952 following a clash with the House Un-American Activities Committee and went on to establish professional theatre in Saskatchewan. Picador Modern Classics Series This is the third set of four literary classics that Picador has released since 2015. They are hardbacks, with sturdy covers, so while they may be a tad heavy for your pocket they will make a strong style statement on the welldressed bookshelf. The latest include “The Hours,” by Michael Cunningham, “A Single Man,” by Christopher Isherwood, “The Great Fire,” by Shirley Hazzard, and “The Lottery and Other Stories,” by Shirley Jackson. A bibliophile’s dream.