Hmmm. I JUST really realized that November is already over halfway over. There’s only about 12 days left until December! That is INSANE. I need to finish Christmas shopping. And do some super-human amounts of reading to finish up the year.
So, here are December’s poll choices! You may notice that in the spirit of me being a huge, giant sap they are all Christmas-themed. (I’m excited.) Because I’m at work as I’m doing this and can’t get on Goodreads here, the book descriptions are from Amazon. Here we go:
A Coventry Christmas by Becky Cochrane (Because who doesn’t love corny Christmas romance novels?)
With a scrooge of a boss, her family thousands of miles away, and the only male in her life a hamster, Keelie Cannon is anticipating her worst Christmas ever when her friend Ivy convinces her to spend the holidays with her in the small Texas town of Coventry. Once Keelie arrives, her feelings about Christmas start to change as she not only rediscovers the joys of the holiday season but also of another chance at romance. Cochrane deftly flavors her quirky, character-rich contemporary romance with a surfeit of Christmas charm and sharp humor.
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (AKA Christmas With the Kranks, which I’ve never seen).
Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty, they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash, they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences—and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.
The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstein (Okay so this isn’t exactly Christmas-y, but it’s winter-y. And it sounds awesome.)
The snowman appears everywhere on practically everything — from knickknacks to greeting cards to seasonal sweaters we plan to return. Whenever we see big snowballs our first impulse is to deck them out with a top hat. Humorist and writer Bob Eckstein has long been fascinated by this ubiquitous symbol of wintertime fun — and finally, for the first time, one of the world’s most popular icons gets his due.
A thoroughly entertaining exploration, The History of the Snowmantravels back in time to shed light on the snowman’s enigmatic past — from the present day, in which the snowman reigns as the King of Kitsch, to the Dark Ages, with the creation of the very first snowman. Eckstein’s curiosity began playfully enough, but soon snowballed into a (mostly) earnest quest of chasing Frosty around the world, into museums and libraries, and seeking out the advice of leading historians and scholars. The result is a riveting history that reaches back through centuries and across cultures — sweeping from fifteenth-century Italian snowballs to eighteenth-century Russian ice sculptures to the regrettable “white-trash years” (1975-2000).
The snowman is not just part of our childhood memories, but is an integral part of our world culture, appearing — much like a frozen Forrest Gump — alongside dignitaries and celebrities during momentous events. Again and again, the snowman pops up in rare prints, paintings, early movies, advertising and, over the past century, in every art form imaginable. And the jolly snowman — ostensibly as pure as the driven snow — also harbors a dark past full of political intrigue, sex, and violence.
With more than two hundred illustrations and a special section of the best snowman cartoons, The History of the Snowman is a truly original winter classic — smart, surprisingly enlightening, and quite simply the coolest book ever.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss (Whatever, it’s been years since I actually read it instead of watching it on tv.)
The Grinch hates Christmas, and wants to stop it from coming. So he forms a devious plan: to impersonate Santy Claus and to steal the Whos’ Christmas presents. But come Christmas morning, the Grinch is in for a shocking surprise. He did not stop Christmas from coming! And the Grinch realizes something new. That maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. That maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!
1225 Christmas Tree Lane by Debbie Macomber (I already read one by her and liked it, so why not.)
The people of Cedar Cove know how to celebrate Christmas. Like Grace and Olivia and everyone else, Beth Morehouse expects
thisChristmas to be one of her best. Her small Christmas-tree farm is prospering, her daughters and her dogs are happy and well, and her new relationship with local vet Ted Reynolds is showing plenty of romantic promise.But…someone recently left a basket filled with
puppieson her doorstep, puppies she’s determined to place in good homes. That’s complication number one. And number two is that her daughters Bailey and Sophie have invited their dad, Beth’s ex-husband, Kent, to Cedar Cove for Christmas. The girls have visions of a mom-and-dad reunion dancing in their heads.As always in life—and in Cedar Cove—there are surprises, too. More than one family’s going to have a puppy under the tree. More than one scheme will go awry. And more than one romance will have a happy ending!
So those are your options, folks! Poll is on the right-hand side. Get your vote in!
~Sarah
