After seemingly months of rather
depressing books, this month we were given the option to read a
Christmas book of our choice out of the hundreds out there. My
personal favorite was Poirot's Christmas, a mystery novel by Agatha
Christie featuring my favorite detective of all time, Hercule Poirot.
But, while it was a predictably wonderful mystery story, it wasn't
much of a Christmas story (though there was a funny part where Poirot
exchanged a Christmas gift with Chief Inspector Japp).
So for my choice, I selected 1225
Christmas Tree Lane, by Debbie Macomber. I had never read anything by
this prolific author, so I enjoyed the book from many standpoints. I
found her to be a good storyteller, though the plot was fairly
predictable.
Apparently this book was the last in a
series that took place in a small Washington state town. The main
character, in an earlier book, had moved from California after
divorcing her husband whom she still loved. She bought a Christmas
tree farm, convenient for this Christmas novel. The gist of the story
was the woman's two daughters using trickery to reunite their
parents, knowing that they were still in love. Sigh. I wish life was
that easy.
There were very many subplots that
conveniently wrapped up stories that had taken place in earlier
novels in the series. Needless to say, every story ended happily.
Divorced people reconciled, barren women were able to conceive,
widows and widowers found each other and were going to live happily
ever after. The story even featured puppies, rescued by the main
character and all given away to happy homes. Heck, some families even
took two! Why not? It's Christmas.
I don't mean to sound cynical. It was
exactly what I needed to read during the busy and joyful season of
Christmas.
I'm not sure, however, that Macomber's
writing appealed to me enough to pick up another book. Life is too
short and there are too many other books to read. Next Christmas,
however, I look forward to reading a light-hearted novel with a happy
ending.
The book I read from our Ethereal Reader list was The Puppy That Came for Christmas. I am a dog lover and enjoyed the book very much, although it wasn't really a Christmas book. It's a non fiction book about a couple wanting badly to conceive a child and unable to do so. They decide during the process of working to have a child to take on a Helper Dog. The job entails taking in a puppy and training it for for 6 months in prep of being placed as a Helper. The story was heartwarming and a nice, light read during the holidays.
ReplyDeleteThe next two books weren't on our list but I usually only read Christmas books during December.
I read The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber. A bit sappy but it kept me hooked.
My final Christmas book was The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson. This one hooked me because of the author. It too, was a heartwarming, sappy, Christmas novel. It had a fun holiday setting and I think James surely had some help in writing this book. Not his typical genre.
Here's to good reading in 2012!
Since I'm retired and have more time to read than most of you do, I decided I would read as many of the books as were available at the local library. Following are my reviews of the four books I read.
ReplyDeleteI loved this idea and the excuse to read so many sappy Christmas books!
Lost December by Richard Paul Evans
I read this book first because I thought it would be my least favorite. While it was predictable—it re-tells the parable of the prodigal son—it was also enjoyable. There are some lessons to be learned about gratitude.
There were some things that stretched believability. This guy graduated from the Wharton School of Business and he forgot about taxes? He didn’t consider that the market fluctuates? He didn’t keep track of what was in his account? I mean—the Wharton School of Business!
None the less, I could get past that because the author never hid what he was doing in this book. It was a parable, and the reader is expected to have a wiling suspension of disbelief to get the lesson. And, I did.
A Christmas Blizzard by Garrison Keillor
James Sparrow has made a lot of money, but he still isn’t a particularly happy man. And, he doesn’t like Christmas. But, an unexpected trip to Looseleaf, North Dakota, where he grew up, changes his perspective and his attitudes. He confronts his past and his whacky relatives.
This was quirky and funny, although I think I would have appreciated the humor more had I listened to an audio version. I enjoyed the characters: they were so nutty and yet loveable, especially Uncle Earl, who carried his liver and pancreas around in a bag. There was plenty of fantasy in the book, so suspension of disbelief was essential.
I loved this quote: You are the benefactor of great kindness. And you have no idea how much goodness is lavished on the world by invisible hands. Small selfless deeds engender tremendous force against the darker powers. Great kindness pervades this world, struggling against pernicious selfishness and vulgar narcissism and the vicious streak that is smeared across each human heart—great bounding goodness is rampant and none of it is wasted. No, these small gifts of goodness—this is what saves the soul of man from despair, and that is what preserves humanity from the long fall from the precipice into the abyss.
I had to split up my "comment" because it was too long. More to come...
Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah
ReplyDeleteJoy Candellaro’s life is shattered when she finds her husband and her sister in bed together. She knew her marriage was in trouble, but the betrayal by her sister, with whom she was so close, was unbearable. On a whim, she gets on a charter plane to a town called Hope, just to escape from spending Christmas alone in her home town. On the way, the plane crashes, and Jay ends up with a man named Daniel and his son, Bobby, who are feeling their way back to a relationship after a divorce and then the death of Bobby’s mother. In Daniel, Joy discovers a man she could love, and in Bobby is the chance for the child she never had.
But, all is not as it seems, as we find out in the second part of the book. No spoiler here.
There is a bit of “cheating” here by the author, who never begins to explain the unexplainable circumstances of what Joy experiences. Never the less, I particularly enjoyed the first part of the book and the fact that it ends with a sense of hope for Joy, who has discovered a lot about herself in her journey.
A Christmas Homecoming by Anne Perry
Caroline and her husband, Joshua Fielding, an actor, are spending Christmas at a home in Whitby. Alice Netheridge had written a screen play of the very popular new novel, Dracula, and a troupe of actors is there to put on a production for the townspeople. A powerful storm snows them in, and there is no place for the tensions of this disparate group to go. Alice’s beau, Douglas, is unhappy with the players and with Alice’s part in the production, which he thinks is foolish. In reality, he’s afraid that she’s being drawn to a life that doesn’t include him. In the meantime, he seems to be falling for one of the actresses.
In the midst of this, a stranger named Ballin comes to ask refuge from the storm. He helps with the re-writing of the script, and Alice seems rather taken with him. Then, he’s murdered. Caroline, using some of the knowledge she’s gained from her son-in-law the policemen, determines to solve the murder.
Anne Perry’s writing is always sharp, and no one draws characters better than she does. She uses the theme of Dracula to help Caroline make points about the reality of the battle between good and evil, quite an appropriate topic for a Christmas novel. The unrelenting snow creates a feeling of oppression. As unlikely as the plot might be, Perry is able to make it seem reasonable. And, her characters feel authentic.
This is my favorite of the four Christmas books I read. But, then, I knew it would be, which is why I left it for last!
I didn't pick a book from the list, but I stuck with one of the authors. Like Kris, I read a Debbie Macomber book, but mine was called Trading Christmas. It's a reprint of an earlier Macomber book called When Christmas Comes.
ReplyDeleteThe book is about two people who trade homes for Christmas. Emily, a widow with a daughter at Harvard, is disappointed when her daughter decides to stay on campus for the Christmas break rather than coming home to Leavenworth, Washington. She posts an Internet ad looking to exchange homes so she can be in Boston with her daughter. Charles, a curmudgeonly Harvard professor, simply wants peace and quiet to finish writing his history book. Scrooge-like, he hates Christmas because he was dumped one Christmas, and he thinks Leavenworth, WA is the prison town, so it shouldn't have much Christmas going on. In reality, the prison is in Leavenworth, KS, and it's WA counterpart might as well be the North Pole South. Everyone in Leavenworth, WA decorates for Christmas, and it's a classic cozy small town. Charles even gets a casserole delivered to him by a neighbor his first night there.
When Emily arrives in Boston, she finds out her daughter is really going on a motorcycle road trip to Florida with her new, much older boyfriend, so her Boston Christmas doesn't turn out as expected.
There were a couple of really funny parts when Santa and some elves arrive on Charles' doorstep (along with Emily's best friend, Faith) and when Charles' mother calls his land-line at his Boston residence and Emily answers.
Charles' mother sends her son Ray to investigate the woman at the house, and Ray and Emily end up falling in love. Charles and Faith end up falling in love.
Emily's daughter doesn't have a happy Florida trip though. Her biker friend isn't a one woman guy, and she ends up with a broken heart. BUT the Boston Christmas tree sales guy, her ex-boyfriend Ben, has been pining away for her (sorry, that was too obvious to resist), so she may have love after all.
I've heard this is like a Jack Black/Cameron Diaz movie, and it was also a Hallmark movie this year. It was fluffy, and I liked it!
I am definitely going to read a couple of these books. I think Margaret chose a better Macromber book than I. The story line around Charles going to Leavenworth, WA, thinking it's the prison town, and then being inundated with joyful Christmas cheer sounds hilarious. And I am definitely going to give Anne Perry a try. Seriously, since life doesn't wrap up conveniently in real life, isn't it nice to have it do so in a book?
ReplyDeleteI also read A Christmas Homecoming by Anne Perry recommended by Beckie. I won't go into the details of the book but rather give my impressions. I had never read Anne Perry before and enjoyed her ability to quickly develop characters who seemed believable. Throughout the book, even though the characters are quickly developed, each of them has a mystique about them. This was particularly truer for Mr. Ballin who was the quest of the house and who knew an unusual amount of details about vampires. He won over the hearts of the women of the cast, who were practicing a play written by an untalented girl whose strongest desire is to escape her silver spoon live and join a theater group. The men of the cast do not trust Ballin and find his expertise on vampires strange, and threatening.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I wished Perry had done differently is expand on the murder of Ballin and who might have wanted him dead. I loved that Caroline was brave enough to seek out the killer on her own and thought it would have been interesting to see that play out more. Maybe even discover more about Ballin, and his relationship to the other members of the cast.
Either way, it was a fun read and i would definately read Anne Perry again. I also enjoyed reading a fun and light book, compared to the heavy and quite sad books we have read in the past few months. I am hoping we will be reading fun, yet enlightening books in the month ahead.
Happy 2012!!
I want to read an Anne Perry book!
ReplyDelete