Short and Seasonal!

 

With all the bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to get burned out.  Reading can give one a chance to rest and recharge before tackling that “to do” list.  Here are some short books with seasonal themes that just might hit the spot:

Christmas Letters by Lee Smith is a novella built around one of my favorite Christmas traditions, the Christmas letter.  Those once a year, newsy letters that help people keep in touch with those far away. Smith’s novella tracks the lives of three generations of women through their correspondence, sharing joys, sorrows, fears, and recipes.  The letters begin in 1944 when Birdie writes home to West Virginia about her new life in North Carolina.  Readers follow her through the years until the torch is passed to her daughter and then granddaughter.  It’s a tale beautifully told.

Another Appalachian treat is Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb.  Nora who has some psychic gifts is called to a home by its new residents who are disturbed some strange events, leading them to wonder if the house is haunted.  Meanwhile, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood is called upon to arrest an elderly man who lives up in a hollow, an unpleasant task made more unpleasant by a threatened storm.  Having two of McCrumb’s most popular characters appear in their own tales makes for a very festive treat.

If you fancy very old-fashioned tales, then look no farther than The Quiet Little Woman:  A Christmas Story by Louisa May Alcott, which is actually a collection of three stories written by Alcott in the 1870s for three little girls who were fans of her writing.  In the title story, Patty is a quiet, shy, industrious orphan girl who longs to be chosen by a family as the other girls and boys have been.  “Tilly’s Christmas” and “Rosa’s Tale” round out the collection.

Connie Willis is known for her science fiction and fantasy stories with a focus on the human aspect rather than technology. In Take a Look at the Five and Ten, a young woman is bracing herself for another boring holiday with her extended (very extended) family.  This is sure to include Grandma Elving, who only seems to talk about working at a dime store in the 1950s in excruciating detail over and over and over, not to mention pretty, popular, and self-centered Sloane who will be showing off her latest trophy boyfriend, Lassiter.  As it turns out, Lassiter is very interested in Grandma Elving’s story. 

On the other hand, if it’s a dark thriller you fancy, try The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson. As it opens, our narrator is cleaning her apartment when she comes across a diary written by an American college student named Ashley.  Ashley is going to spend time at the country estate of her British friend Emma, and is wondering if her story is going to be a romance or a murder mystery.

Of course, there are a number of authors who put out short holiday books for the enjoyment of their readers.  Check out books by authors such as Richard Paul Evans, Anne Perry, Donna VanLiere, or check out some of our short story collections!

Stock Up

Main and the Avoca Branch will be closed Friday, December 22 until Tuesday, December 27, so be sure and stock up on books before then!

If you are in a festive mood, we have some seasonal books on display!

Christmas in October!

It seems the holidays come faster and faster these days.  This year I saw Halloween items out after the Fourth of July; by Labor Day there were aisles of fall goods.As of September 12,  I saw the Christmas items being stocked on shelves.

The book world isn't immune to the phenomenon either. There are a number of Christmas themed books coming out in October, including some by favorite authors which should be showing up on our reserve list.  Here are some you many want to add to your list:


Duck the Halls by Donna Andrews begins with Meg Langslow after some holiday pranksters who put skunks in a church, but then a murder enters the picture as well.

Silent Night is a Spenser story begun by Robert B. Parker and completed by Helen Brann.  Spenser and Hawk are on the case when a teenage boy tells them his mentor is being threatened.

Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson is a holiday themed Longmire story in which a young woman brings back memories of Walt’s first year as a sheriff and raises questions about Walt’s predecessor.

Anne Perry, best known her Thomas & Charlotte Pitt and Monk mysteries, has written a Christmas themed book each year for the last decade or so.  This year’s title is A Christmas Hope.

Starry Night by Debbie Macomber has the joys and comforts of Christmas, as might be expected from this best-selling author.

Thomas Kinkade’s Cape Light:  Songs of Christmas by Katherine Spencer will be out in early November.  Spencer was often credited as co-author of the Kinkade books, both the Cape Light and Angel Island series. 

Christmas Books

Most of the Christmas books we remember fondly tend to be children’s books or else short stories like “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry.  Some authors have started doing a book at Christmas, and fans look forward to these every year.  Here are some popular Christmas selections:

The late Thomas Kinkade lent his name to the “Cape Light” books with author Katherine Spencer. All the books are set in a fictional New England town, and are inspirational and uplifting. You don’t have to read them in order to enjoy them.

Anne Perry is best known for her two mystery series, but for several years she’s produced a book with a Christmas theme set in Victorian England.  These are shorter mysteries, just right to squeeze in while trying to get ready for the holidays.  This year’s book is A Christmas Garland, set in 1857 India where a young and inexperienced British lieutenant is supposed to defend a fellow soldier against a charge of being an accomplice to a murder and the escape of a prisoner.

Debbie Macomber has several Christmas themed books, including Christmas at Cedar Cove.  While her books set in Cedar Cove are probably her most famous, she’s also known for her Christmas books featuring the angels Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy. The most recent one in that series is Angels At the Table.

Donna VanLiere has a number of fiction books to her credit, but the ones most often requested are her Christmas books.  Christmas Shoes,  Christmas Blessing, and Christmas Hope have been made into TV movies; Christmas Secret is tentatively scheduled for 2013.

Richard Paul Evans self published The Christmas Box back in 1993.  It became a local hit, and was then brought out by a major publisher, becoming the first of several best-selling books from Evans. Most have a Christmas theme, and several have been filmed.

Christmas Traditions: Amahl and the Night Visitors

Every holiday has its traditions.  Some are unique to a particular community, like the Easter Egg fights at Peters Hollow, while others, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, are national.  Families have their own traditions as well, so this year we thought we’d list some of the staff’s favorite holiday traditions.   Feel free to join with your favorite book, video, recipe, event or memory! This one is from Jeanne:

“Amahl and the Night Visitors”

Some traditions fall by the wayside.  When I was a child, my mother always looked forward to the then-annual showing of “Amahl.”  This was, believe it or not, an opera that was run in prime time on a national network.  No, my mother was not an opera aficionado—her musical tastes ran more to Big Band and folk, and as far as I know she never watched or listened to another opera in her life—but there was something about “Amahl” that she dearly loved.  For those unfamiliar with the opera, it’s the story of the lame boy Amahl and his impoverished mother who meet the Wise Men on their way to Bethlehem.  Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti wrote the opera as a commission from NBC and it was first televised as a live performance in 1951. (It was also the debut of another tradition:  it was the first production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame.) The program was performed live for over a decade, then in 1963 it was taped and rerun until 1966. Of course, this is all from hindsight and Wikipedia.  At the time we weren't keeping track.

I do have a hazy memory of my mother’s disappointment when “Amahl” didn’t come on one year.  At first she thought we must have just missed it, but several years went by without a sign of it. This is a time before DVDs, even before VCRs, when there were few channels and holiday specials were just that:  they were only shown at the holidays and were special. If you missed “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” then you had to wait until next year and hope it was shown again. Still, on any occasion in which someone asked about a box, Mom would chant, “This is my box, this is my box, I never travel without my box” as Kaspar sings in “Amahl.”

Some seven or eight years ago I found a copy on video and bought it. My first surprise was to find out that it was an opera.  I thought it was just a musical, like "West Side Story" which I knew not from the theaters but from ""NBC Monday Night at the Movies." This video was from a later version—from the 1970s, I think—but it was pretty much as I remembered.   The biggest difference is that it was in color. My mother was delighted!  On Christmas Eve, she insisted that we all sit down and watch “Amahl.”  My older brother seemed vaguely puzzled at first, and then all at once he remembered it too.  If I’d remembered more about it, I would have had tissues at the ready.

Even if you don't like opera, give "Amahl" a try if you come across a copy.  If you're curious there are excerpts of various performances on youtube. There’s a book adaptation in the Children’s Department in the fiction section under Menotti.

Just keep some tissues handy.

New Book News!

Some favorite authors have new books out in October!  Here are some of the ones we think you might like:

Back in 1977, there weren’t many female detectives outside of Nancy Drew or  nosy little old ladies in English villages.  That was the year Marcia Muller debuted her detective Sharon McCone, a hard-boiled private eye in San Francisco. In  City of Whispers, a search for her half-brother leads her to two murders and a race against time.  This series just keeps going strong!

If you love English historical fiction, you’re in for a treat!  Philippa Gregory has a new book out, The Lady of the Rivers.  It’s set just before the War of the Roses, and the main character is Jaquetta, who will be the mother of Elizabeth Woodville.  Passion, power, and the fate of a nation—what more could you ask for?

 

For years, Eve Duncan has tried to discover what happened to her seven year old daughter.  Now at last, Iris Johansen gives fans the answers in a three book arc:the first book is  Eve, followed by Quinn and now at last comes Bonnie. Yes, we do get the answers we've waited for; and no, it is not the end of the series.  

Lethal is the new book by Sandra Brown and it's another thrilling page-turner!  Honor Gillette finds her world turned upside down when an accused mass murderer shows up in her yard, claiming that he was framed and that Honor's late husband's death was no accident.  There are twists and turns aplenty, just as we've come to expect from Ms. Brown!

You can tell the holidays are fast approaching when the publishers start putting out the Christmas books!  Debbie Macomber fans are already on reserve for 1225 Christmas Tree Lane, the latest in her popular series set in Cedar Cove.   Glenn Beck has followed The Christmas Sweater with another holiday tale, Snow Angel.  The publisher describes it as a tale about family, forgiveness and "a future free of the past."  Donna VanLiere's 2011 book is The Christmas Noe, which tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two women as one searches for a family she didn't know she had. Christmas Treasures is the title of the new Cape Light book Thomas Kinkade.  It's due out in November. Last but certainly not least, there's The Christmas Wedding which sounds as if it should be the new Nora Roberts or Danielle Steel.  Surprise!  It's the new book by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo.  As the title suggests, it's a family drams about a widow who announces that she is going to remarry at Christmas-- but she won't tell her children the identity of the groom.



You can reserve these books online, in person at the library or by calling 276-645-8780.