Sinnes remembers the idea for “The Silverado Journals” taking shape in his head “in a few seconds” in 1980 — beginning, middle and end. That outline didn’t change over the decades Sinnes spent writing ...

By Andrew Solomon First, advent calendars; then gnomes; then the tree ... For three weeks a year, they peeked out from behind books in the library, winked from the windowsills, leaned casually ...