Are your jingle bells already jangled? Has “Bah, humbug!” already crossed your lips? Relax. A little hot cocoa, a quiet corner and a merry book will turn your Grinchy grin into a ’tis-the-season smile. We’ve checked out a stocking full of new Christmas releases and selected a few of the best to brighten your spirits.

If the hectic pace of the modern holiday season gets you down, Bob Artley’s Christmas on the Farm will transport you back to a simpler place and time. Growing up on an Iowa farm in the 1920s, Artley lived without electricity or indoor plumbing, but the smell of mincemeat pie baking in the big black cookstove and the happy music of sleigh bells brought warmth and cheer to his young heart. This engaging childhood reminiscence comes alive through Artley’s numerous watercolor illustrations. From gathering wood and hauling water to the pastoral quiet of a “silent night” scene, his work depicts both the hardships of rural life and its awe-inspiring humble beauty. Despite the onslaught of chores and the biting cold of Iowa winters, Artley looks back with joy and gratitude for Christmases full of handmade gifts, a fresh-cut tree strung with popcorn and the closeness of family and friends.

Linda Stankard admits to making her own mincemeat one jangled Christmas.

This month’s new paperback releases include several excellent titles in fiction and nonfiction. We recommend the following selections as good choices for reading groups.

Honky By Dalton Conley This wise, timely memoir is an account of the author’s childhood in a predominantly black and Puerto Rican neighborhood in Manhattan. Conley, whose bohemian parents traded their well-heeled lives for an artsy inner city existence, was one of the few white boys in the projects, a place ruled by race and class where violence was close at hand a world where whites, for once, were the minority. Richly evocative of 1960s and ’70s New York, filled with unforgettable incidents and characters from the author’s childhood, including his offbeat parents, Honky is an unusually insightful memoir. Conley, now a professor of sociology at New York University, offers a unique perspective on ethnicity and class. A reading group guide is available at www.vintagebooks.com/read. Lying Awake By Mark Salzman Salzman’s best-selling novel is the story of Sister John, a middle-aged nun who lives in a Carmelite monastery in Los Angeles. Intense, recurring visions of God are a source of spiritual fulfillment for Sister John, but they come with a price, arriving with electrifying headaches that force her to seek medical attention. When her doctor hints that illness may be the cause of her gift, Sister John must make a choice: cure the headaches and perhaps lose her special connection to the spiritual world, or carry on with the visions, knowing they may not be real. A brief novel that tackles weighty themes, Salzman’s latest is small and exquisite, a convincing portrayal of a society rarely seen. A reading group guide is available at www.vintagebooks.com/read. The Sheep Queen By Thomas Savage Back Bay is thankfully re-issuing this western epic, a family saga set in Idaho that was originally published in 1977. Emma Sweringen, known as the Sheep Queen of Idaho, is at the center of this taut, expertly crafted novel. As matriarch of the Sweringens a sheep-ranching clan she contends with the politics of family life: a worshipful son, a disappointing daughter and a granddaughter, long ago given up for adoption, who spends years making her way back to the family. When she finally finds the Sweringens, she changes their lives forever. Savage, a woefully overlooked writer who made the West his narrative territory, is the author of 10 novels and a Guggenheim Fellow. A reading group guide is included in the book. The Heartsong of Charging Elk By James Welch Charging Elk, an Oglala Sioux and member of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, travels with the troupe to Marseille, France, where after an injury he is left behind in a hospital. As the show travels on without him, he must make a life for himself in a strange land. Unable to speak French or English, Charging Elk adapts as best he can, eventually falling in love, but memories of life on the Plains are ever-present, and a sense of isolation haunts him. Loosely based on true events, the novel is a skillful re-imagining of history. Welch who is of Blackfoot-Gros Ventre descent gives new dimension to the American Indian experience in this beautifully executed, award-winning book. A reading group guide is available online at www.anchorbooks.com. Crooked River Burning By Mark Winegardner Winegardner’s second novel is as much about place as it is about people. Cleveland, Ohio, is the setting for this work of historical fiction that traces the life of the city and two of its inhabitants throughout the 1950s and ’60s. A pair of ill-fated teenage lovers from different sides of the tracks, David Zelinsky, who was raised on Cleveland’s blue-collar West Side, and Anne O’Connor, the daughter of a wealthy political boss, fall in love, and their romance has unforgettable repercussions. Although David marries another woman and Anne makes a career for herself in TV news, their relationship spans 20 tumultuous years, during which history works its changes upon the city. Blending fact and fiction ˆ la E. L. Doctorow, the author brings real-life figures like Elliot Ness and Satchel Paige into the novel, making this a many-layered portrait of a more innocent America. A reading group guide is included in the book.