Library Haul and Reading List 12/18/15 (Holiday Edition)

Holiday madness is in full effect, so this blog might be quieter than normal between now and New Year’s. Aside from holiday fun and obligations, I’ve really got to crack down on some other work and the holiday break is going to be good for that. I hope. Anyway, I haven’t had any new holds come into the library this week so I thought this would be a good chance to reread some of my favorite holiday stories that I have on my ereader. (That’s why there’s no cool picture of individual books for this post.) These are the tales I try to reread every year for “comfort and joy.”

• Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham. This is the book that became the movie, “Christmas With the Kranks.” It’s a comedy about a husband who tries to skip Christmas and take his wife on a cruise, instead. Unfortunately for him, the wife is Christmas crazy, as is his entire neighborhood, and Luther Krank discovers that walking away from Christmas isn’t so simple.
• A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. A classic. None of the movie adaptations do it justice. If you’ve never read it, the eBook is free in the public domain.
• Blue Christmas, by Mary Kay Andrews. This cute little mystery centers around antiques dealer Weezie and her friends (from Savannah Blues) as she tries to decorate her store for the town’s annual decorating contest and figure out who keeps stealing her stuff, all while dealing with her moodier than normal boyfriend. The story is fun, but I really love the references to Christmas kitsch from years gone by.
• The Christmas Dog, by Melody Carlson. This one combines the old holiday staples: A stray dog, a woman who doesn’t have much love or fun in her life anymore, and a troubled child. It’s sappy and a little cliche, but the dog brings them all together and leads them to the real meaning of Christmas. It’s like a Hallmark movie in book form.

(Photo courtesy of RosieLea)