Warm Christmas Reads

I know it's early and I, like a million other people, dislike the marketing of the Christmas holiday before Halloween, yet here I am doing something similar. I'd like to say it is for your own good. Truly,....how much fun is it to read a Christmas story in June or July?  I believe Christmas stories are better when it's cold outside and you can sit under a blanket in a comfortable chair with a great book and a nice hot cup of chocolate nearby. I must admit that if that hot chocolate happens to have whip cream and chocolate shavings in it, it is even better. So if you enjoy stories that will leave a smile in your heart and a smile on your face than give these beautifully written Christmas stories a try before the season comes to an end.

I've included new titles and then some of my favorites from years gone by. I would be remiss if I did not include a few children's stories, what would the holidays be like without them?  Reading Christmas stories to my children has always left a smile on my face.  I still, even as my children grow older, read the classics with them every Christmas.  These memories are ones my children and I will always treasure. If you haven't started a tradition of reading stories with your children at Christmas (or any other time), there's no better time to start than right now. So grab a good book, a comfy chair and snuggle in for a few minutes of quiet reading.

New Releases
A Winter Wonderland by Fern Michaels
My Kind of Christmas by Robyn Carr
A Christmas Garland: A Novel by Anne Perry
A Fool's Gold Christmas by Susan Mallery
Together for Christmas by Lisa Plumley
Mischief and Mistletoe by Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, Patricia Rice, Nicola Cornick, Cara Elliot,
Anne Gracie and Susan King
Angels at the Table by Debbie Maccomber
A Christmas Home: A Novel by Greg D. Kincaid
The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd

A Few of My Favorite Christmas Romances
The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson
Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
Dashing Through the Snow by Mary Higgins Clark
The Gift by Nora Roberts
A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh
A Christmas Waltz by Jane Goodger
A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas
A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber

Classic Christmas Stories
Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore
Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus by Francis Pharcellus Church
The Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffman
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Short Stories

I've noticed an interesting trend lately.  An abundance of short story collections are being published and popping up all over. 
I love short stories!  It is amazes me how much information and emotion can be conveyed with so few words.  I think it takes a very talented and special author to write a good short story--or a whole collection full.

Pick up one of the following newer collections to try then scroll down a bit and choose some of our staff favorites.  Prepare to be shocked, frightened, amazed, cheered up, and always entertained.


New and Forthcoming

Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie
Have You Seen Marie? by Sandra Cisneros
Astray by Emma Donoghue
An Apple for the Creature edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner
Into the Woods by Kim Harrison
Zombies, Zombies, Zombies edited by Otto Penzler

Staff Favorites

A Vocation and a Voice by Kate Chopin
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg by Deborah Eisenberg
The Great Frustration by Seth Fried
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Zombies vs Unicorns edited by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black
Dark Forces edited by Kirby McCauley
Like Life by Lorrie Moore

What is your favorite short story?


"I love short stories because I believe they are the way we live.  They are what our friends tell us, in their pain and joy, their passion and rage, their yearning and their cry against injustice."
Andre Dubus

The next Thursday Next

I've been in the midst of some fairly heavy books lately...good books, but nothing that has made me laugh. Whether from Geronimo T. Johnson's Hold it 'til it Hurts, a stunning debut about war, family, race, and love, or Andrew Porter's widely-acclaimed debut In Between Days about the disintegration of a family, I needed a break.  What better respite than a book about an impending smiting in the city center, doppelgangers with a 24-hour life span sneaking in and stealing the protagonist's consciousness, dealing with a daughter who's never existed, and a 64% chance that the world will be annihilated in 37 years because time travel has been un-invented?  Oh, and did I mention the dodo bird who spends a lot of time thinking about The Dukes of Hazzard reruns? 

Jasper Fforde has lifted my literary spirits yet again with his seventh book in the Thursday Next series The Woman Who Died a Lot: Now With 50% Added Subplot. Fforde has created a world in which science fiction and literary classics are smooshed together with a level of absurdity that flirts with annoying, but is just smart and funny enough to keep it from crossing that line.  In the latest addition to the series, the famous literary detective Thursday Next is still suffering from her injuries sustained in Book World and is trying to adjust to her new position as the Chief Librarian at the "All-You-Can-Eat-at-Fatso's-Drink-Not-Included Library." At the same time, she continues to battle Goliath Corporation and her nemesis Jack (I don't think I can publish his last name here because even though it's spelled differently, it still sounds and reads the same). Her children play an important role in this book, with Tuesday attempting to create an anti-smote field by week's end and give a keynote speech at the MadScientists' Convention all while trying to be a normal sixteen year old girl, and Friday adjusting to the fact that he's gone from a promising future as the head of the Chrono-Guard to a certainty that he will murder someone by Friday. As for Jenny? Well, she still never existed.  Confused? It's to Fforde's credit that this all manages to tie together and add to the story, rather than detract from the plot with its silliness. 

The Woman Who Died A Lot is a refreshing return to what Fforde does best, after a rather weak turn in the sixth book of the series, One of Our Thursdays is Missing.  If you've never read any of Jasper Fforde's books, I highly recommend starting with The Eyre Affair, in which Thursday Next is introduced and saves all of literature in well fell swoop. 

Gone Girl, Not Gone At All

 Gone Girl: A Novel, a spectacular thriller, was released June 5, 2012 and it's been smashing the charts ever since. It has been in the top 10 on USA Today's Top Ten Book List and the NY times best seller list for 17 weeks and sold over 1.5 million copies.  There's no doubt about it, Gone Girl is here to stay.  If you enjoy crime fiction and psychological thrillers here are a few of my favorites from this past year.

Gone Girl was an exciting roller coaster read for me.  I personally thought I had it figured out in the first 50 pages (ha! ha! ha!). I also thought one of the characters was timid and should have a bit more back bone. After reading further into the story (well let's just say) I could not have been more wrong!   I would say this book has a plot that twists, but that is not quite accurate, this book has hair pin turns that will leave you wondering, how you missed it?!  I caught myself cringing and turning the page to see what would happen next.  If you like fast paced reads, which give you quite a few twists and turns, read this book.  Do not read it because everyone's reading it (which they are), but read it because it is an excellent crime fiction thriller.

I also enjoyed  Before I go to Sleep by S. J. Watson. This is a fantastic story. Christine's memories are gone every morning when she wakes up.  She has no clue who is sleeping beside her, who her friends are and her only help is a journal she keeps hidden from everyone. She wakes afraid every morning and struggles through the day to relearn who she is and wonders what happened to make her this way.  This is a mesmerizing novel that will keep you hooked from cover to cover.  There are plenty of heart pounding twists that will make you glad your memories are intact.

This last one is for all you Scandinavian Crime fiction lovers. If you enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you need to try Some Kind of Peace by Camille Grebe and Åsa Träff. This is set in an idyllic town on a lake outside of Stockholm.  Siri Bergman is a psychotherapist who has her own set of issues.  She is terrified of the dark and feels as if someone is always watching her.  This is a keen psychological thriller that uses vivid imagery and a somewhat predictable storyline yet manages to leave the reader wondering who did it.  It's a story of friendship, love and obsession. It is not as intense as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but it still made me wonder, gape and shiver with fright.

Check out these wonderful thrillers, if you have not already. After all it is October which is the perfect time of year to read a haunting thriller!

Guest blogger: Ralph Keyes

We at Fine Print are very excited to occasionally share contributions by local authors. We have asked them to share their thoughts about their favorite book, something they've read recently, or the role reading has played in their lives. Today's offering is from Ralph Keyes, whose books have included Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms, I love it when you talk retro : hoochie coochie, double whammy, drop a dime, and the forgotten origins of American speech, and The post-truth era : dishonesty and deception in contemporary life, among others.

Some years ago I read A Fan’s Notes by Frederick Exley.  This had been recommended to me by a number of other writers, and with good reason.  Exley’s “fictional memoir” was a searing account of his life on and off his living room couch, trying to get his life on track.  The candor with which he wrote invited empathy.  Exley’s portrayal of his fraught relationship with his father was especially compelling.  This father had been a renowned high school athlete in the New York town where the author grew up.  Exley himself, a mediocre athlete, could not match his father’s renown.  In one riveting scene the two compete against each other in a father-son basketball game at the high school where Exley Sr. had once been a star.  His son has to guard him.  He crushes his 13-year-old boy mercilessly.  Afterward, as they walk home, the father rests his arm on his son’s shoulder and tries clumsily to apologize.  The son represses his urge to “sob uncontrollably, and to shout at him my humiliation and my loathing.  ‘Oh, Jesus, Pop!  Why?  Why?  Why?’”  As a memoir-writing man Exley wishes he’d done so.  Instead he just seethed and wished his father – soon to die of cancer – was already dead.  “Among unnumbered sins,” the author concludes, “from that damning wish I seek absolution.” 

A Fan’s Notes gained such a following because it portrayed one man’s struggle to get a grip with such candor.  Reading about Frederick Exley’s struggle made other men feel better about their own.  It did so for me.  As an aspiring writer I found that his honest, well-written memoir gave me courage to write with greater candor myself.  Today I appreciate more than ever the author’s integrity in calling his book a fictional memoir.  During a time in which so many memoirists have been revealed as fabulists who passed their fantasies off as the truth, Exley’s honesty shines even brighter.

Bouchercon World Mystery Convention 2012

This years Bouchercon convention was in Cleveland beginning with a reception at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  Several sets of awards were presented including The Anthony Awards, The Barry Awards, The Macavity Awards, and The Shamus Awards. Try one of the following winning mysterious and thrilling books:

Anthony Awards

Best Mystery Novel:  A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

Best First Mystery:  Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry

Best Critical Nonfiction Work:  The Sookie Stackhouse Companion ed. by Charlaine Harris

Barry Awards

Best Novel:  The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Best First Novel:  The Informationist by Taylor Stevens

Best British Crime Novel:  Dead Man's Grip by Peter James

Best Thriller:  The Informant by Thomas Perry

Macavity Awards

Best Mystery Novel:  Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran

Best First Mystery Novel:  All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen

Shamus Awards

Best P. I. Novel:  A Bad Night's Sleep by Michael Wiley

Best First P. I. Novel:  Shortcut Man by P. G. Sturges


And try some of the following multiple nominated works:

Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman
Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making... by John Curran
1222 by Anne Holt
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnette Friis
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante
Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

For a full list of winners and nominees go here.

Welcome to the dark carnival

Imagine you’ve gone to visit a dear old friend, and after having a good dinner and conversation, your friend turns to you and asks if you would like to hear a “strange and disturbing” story. It’s a bitterly cold night, and as you both sit by a cozy fire, a good story sounds delightful. But this is no tall-tale you’re about to hear. No, my friend, this is something far creepier. Thus begins Susan Hill’s The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story. In it, Cambridge professor Theo Parmitter relates to one of his former students the story of a strange painting that he purchased as a young man at an art auction and which he still owns. Depicting a rather sinister-looking Venetian carnival scene, this painting—according to what Theo was told of it—apparently has the power to trap the living within its confines, taking them out of this world forever. To be sure, there is a face on the canvas that appears eerily similar to one Theo was shown in a photograph, but surely this is only coincidence? No mere painting could possess the demonic power necessary to accomplish such a feat, could it? Oh, but it could, and according to its dark history, it has claimed many. And yet, ever since he first laid eyes on it, Theo has never been able to rid himself of the desire to possess it, an irrationality that will ultimately prove to be both his and his young friend’s undoing.

With The Man in the Picture, Susan Hill has crafted yet another short but ghoulishly delightful page turner, keeping in line with her much more well-known The Woman in Black. The witching season is almost upon us, so if you’re looking for a quick but classically written ghost story, add this one to your reading lists. And while you’re at it, don’t forget her very latest dark tale, The Small Hand. I enjoyed all three, and hopefully you will too.

 

Dayton Literary Peace Prize Winners announced

In 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords were agreed to and initialed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, ending a three-and-a-half year long war in Bosnia and beginning a strong commitment in the Miami Valley to promoting peace. In 1999, community leaders created the Dayton Peace Prizes to "recognize individuals who contributed to the peaceful reconstruction of a society torn apart by war." That tradition led to the creation of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2006. It is the first and only US award awarded to recognize the power of the written word in promoting peace.

This past weekend, winners of the 2012 awards were announced.  Andrew Krivak won the fiction prize for his debut novel The Sojourn. Judges Alan Cheuse and April Smith wrote that it was chosen, in part, because, "Though this compact and powerful novel never so much celebrates war as it does the power of the mind to recall it and the power of language that can describe it, which is the beginning of the making of peace." Ha Jin was the runner-up in fiction with his book Nanjing Requiem.

In nonfiction, Adam Hochschild won with his World War I history To End All Wars : A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion 1914-1918. Hochschild has been credited for his narrative style that makes clear the impact of World War I on the development of "Stalinism, World War II, and the Holocaust. And it was also the beginning, sadly, of new-fangled machines of destruction, of a time when, as Hochschild writes, 'the magnetic attraction of combat, or at least the belief that it was patriotic and necessary, proved so much stronger than revulsion at mass death,'” according to nonfiction judge Ken McClane. The runner up in nonfiction was Annia Ciezadlo for Day of Honey : A Memoir of Food, Love, and War.

Finally, each year the Dayton Literary Peace Prize awards the Richard C. Holbrook Distinguished Achievement Award. Previous recipiencts of the lifetime achievement award include Barbara Kingsolver, Geraldine Brooks, Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, Taylor Branch, Elie Wiesel, and Studs Terkel.  Sharon Rab, founder and co-chair of the awards has said that O'Brien is being recognized for his works, which, "capture the horrors and hallucinations of the twentieth century's most divisive war while carrying a powerful message for peace." At a time when most Americans are insulated from the impact of our ongoing wars, O'Brien's work helps us understand what it means to send soldiers into combat and reminds us that their war continues long after they return home."

For more information about the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the gala to recognize this year's recipients, please visit http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/