Book Round-Up, Christmas Edition

A Child's Christmas in Walesby Dylan Thomas: Thomas is most famous for his poetry, so it is no surprise that this prose work is remarkably lyrical and impressionistic.  Thomas strings together memories from his childhood to form a perfect Christmas, where even the snow was better than it is now.  A lovely little story.

The Lump of Coalby Lemony Snicket: A slight but amusing "fable," with Snicket's trademarked wordplay and sensibility.

Holidays on Iceby David Sedaris:  I read this every year, to prevent any undue seasonal sappiness.  The stories are a mix of fiction and (exaggerated?) memoir, skillfully satirizing the expected targets -- commercialism, empty pieties, and Christmas letters.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: After spending most of my life avoiding Dickens (I found Oliver to be a twit, and it took me three tries to get through Bleak House), I finally read this and enjoyed it (it probably helped that it was so short; this edition pads it out with a long introduction, a chronology of Dickens's life, and a glossary).  The best part was the last "stave" -- Dickens expressed well Scrooge's elation bordering on hysteria and tinged with the slightest fear that it was too good to be true.  It was also fun to compare it to all the different versions I have watched this season.

 The Tick: Giant Christmas Cavalcade: The Tick started out as a superhero parody for the New England Comics stores' newsletter, but proved so popular he soon got is own comic, cartoon, live action show, and merchandise.  This collects some of the Christmas annuals, and features the Tick fighting cowboys, weekending in a chalet, and putting on a Christmas Pageant with all the other heroes and villains.  My first exposure to the Tick was watching the cartoon in college, which was absolutely brilliant, so I'd been meaning to check out the comics for a long time.  Unfortunately, these stories weren't that great.  Reviews indicate that the original comics are much better, so I'll seek those out next.

Book Round-Up

Shopgirl by Steve Martin: A lovely little jewel of a novel. I thought the prose was a bit overwritten on occasion, but Martin excels at character development. He has a way of cutting to the core of a character with just a few sentences, and within the first few pages of the book I was invested in the characters and their growth. Although the humor of this novella was more subtle, it reminded me quite a bit of L.A. Story, my favorite Martin movie.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris: I have encountered Sedaris's writing before, in his collection of essays entitled Holidays on Ice (which caused me to vow to never take the Beadboys to see the Macy's Santa). This collection is just as witty and demented. His description of foreigners in a French class in Paris trying to describe Easter in broken French, for the benefit of a classmate who had never heard of it, had me in hysterics on the train. I also learned that Amy Sedaris has an evil, evil sense of humor.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen: After finishing Tristam Shandy I needed something light, and this was perfect -- pretty and fluffy and magical. I really enjoy her books quite a bit, and I am looking forward to the next one.

Blackwork by Monica Ferris: the latest in her needlework mystery series, and as with the others it was an enjoyable read. The "Wiccans are people, too" PSAs were a tad heavy-handed, and the attempts to suggest the Wiccan character may have actual magical or psychic powers were completely ludicrous, but those are minor quibbles. These books are not brilliant or profound or sophisticated, but Ferris does have an ability to create interesting, nuanced, albeit quiet, characters.

The Quick and the Thread by Amanda Lee: On the other hand, this first book in a new needlework mystery series was a total disappointment. The book was filled with flaws such as forced dialogue, absurd leaps in logic, faulty motives, and unrealistic scenarios. Each one on its own was minor, but together they added up to a deeply implausible (and silly) book. The protagonist is driven to solve the mystery because she supposedly needs to clear her name, but only an idiot would have considered her a suspect. The police apparently had no qualms about letting her in on their investigation, and the lawyers did not really act like lawyers (Lee's understanding of what creates an attorney-client relationship almost caused me to throw the book at a wall). Frankly, I was shocked to learn that Amanda Lee is a pseudonym for a woman who has written many other mysteries.