Special Holiday Recommended Reading List

I generally post my recommended reading list a month or three after I’ve done the reading. Which means that all of the holiday stories that I read get recommended in January or February. This year, I’ve decided to do a compilation of past holiday recommends so that you can get them for the appropriate season.

Of course, I won’t have this year’s recommends in there, so let me just mention one that you’ll see indepth in February or so…Connie Willis’s “All About Emily” in the December 2011 Asimov’s.  Find it and enjoy.

Here are the holiday stories listed in past years. What you’re reading below is the exact text of what I published about these books and stories in the original recommended reading list. I began doing the list in 2008.

HOLIDAY RECOMMENDED READING LIST

Cach, Lisa, “Puddings, Pastries, and Thou,” Wish List, Leisure, 2003.  I have no idea where I got this anthology, which also features Lisa Kleypas, Claudia Dain, and Lynsay Sands, but I read it for two reasons: First, I’m still puttering through my Kleypas binge, and second, I always read a Christmas romance anthology over the holidays.

I have to say, though, that I really hated the design of this book.  It doesn’t do what romance anthologies (heck, all anthologies) should, which is point you to the authors’ other work.  In fact, the stories themselves have no byline.  You have to look at the table of contents to see who wrote what.

The Cach story was a nice surprise.  I’ve probably read two dozen such anthologies over the years and the stories are often sweet but predictable.  This one wasn’t predictable.  I’ve discovered Mary Balogh through such an anthology, and now I’ll seek out other work by Cach.

This is a witty story of a down-and-out woman whose immediate family was dead and who depends on the kindness of her distant relations.  Only they stuck her with an elderly woman who had either dementia or Alzeheimers (of course, the story doesn’t say since it’s set in Regency England).  She was the 24/7 caretaker, and she barely had time for herself. She also barely got enough to eat.

When the story begins, our heroine Vivian has just moved in with another set of distant relatives, and must contend with a jealous 17-year-old who is about to debut. I’m all set for a Mean Girls story—the 17-year-old doesn’t want to share her glory days with a lesser cousin—but the story doesn’t work that way.

The 17-year-old does set Vivian up with a seemingly undesirably hero, who is a bad influence not because he’s a rake or an alcoholic, but because…well, let me simply say that it has to do with morals that no longer exist.  He had done something honorable in our world, but dishonorable in theirs.

The entire story centers around the feasts over the holiday, and Cach delineates them with loving care.  It’s pretty clear that Vivian will go from being a bony distant relation to a fat lord’s wife, and we’re cheering for her the whole way.

And the story made me hungry for pastries. Enough said.

[Note: Lisa put links in the comments to a new e-book collection that contains this story. You can find the Kindle version here. If you need another version, look at the comments.]

Hockensmith, Steve, “Fruitcake,” Naughty: Nine Tales of Christmas Crime, Kindle edition, 2010.  I love Steve Hockensmith’s short stories, partly because they’re so memorable.  I couldn’t get fruitcake out of my mind for days—much as I wanted to.  I’m not fond of fruitcake.  Many others aren’t either which is the impetus for this story of regifting and murder.

Hockensmith, Steve “Naughty,” Naughty: Nine Tales of Christmas Crime, Kindle edition, 2010.  Funny story about a down-on-her-luck woman, Christmas “elves,” a department store, and a rather unexpected crime.  Fun and memorable.

Hockensmith, Steve, Naughty: Nine Tales of Christmas Crime, Kindle edition, 2010.  I have no idea how many of Steve Hockensmith’s short stories I’ve read in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine or in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine over the  years.  Quite a few, judging by the ones I remembered and reread in this collection.  It’s a collection of Steve’s Christmas stories, all of which I liked, many of which I loved.  Even the copyright page is funny.  My only quibble with the volume?  In it, Steve mentions he’s too busy to write short fiction these days.  So I say, Stop sleeping, Steve!  Write your books, but write short stories too.  Whatever it takes.  Maybe it takes y’all to buy this book to get him to write more short stories.  So do it.

Klavan, Andrew, “The Advent Reunion,”Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January, 2011.  A Christmas ghost story that packs a heck of a punch. Very short, very powerful.  If I say any more, I’ll ruin it.

Kroupa, Susan, “Walter’s Christmas-Night Musik,” Laurel Fork Press, Kindle Edition, 2010.  A wonderful story about Christmas Night visitors.  Unlike the previous Christmas night visitor stories you’ve read, these visitors are a surprise.  I’d like to be visited by these folks.  I found myself thinking about this story long after I finished reading it.

Reed, Annie, “The Case of the Missing Elf,” Thunder Valley Press, Kindle Edition, 2010.  One of the nice things about the revolution in e-publishing is that you can buy a single short story of an author’s work just as a sample.  I already knew that I liked Annie Reed’s stories, but I also know she’s not a household name.  I hope that changes.

This is one of her Dee and Diz fantasy detective stories.  Diz is an elf, although not a traditional one, and Dee is a woman with an added gift.  There’s a bit of romantic tension involved, but that’s not at the heart of this story.  Like so many stories on this month’s list, this is a Christmas tale.  And the missing elf is not the Jolly Old One, but his occasional impersonator, Norman.  Fun, and thought-provoking, in a Christmasy kinda way.  It’s only 99 cents—a nice introduction to Annie’s work.

Smith, Dean Wesley, “Jukebox Gifts,” WMG Publishing, Kindle edition, 2010.  I love Dean’s jukebox stories.  The conceit is this: for the duration of a single song, played on a jukebox, the person who chose the story can time travel to their strongest memory of that song—and maybe change the past.  “Jukebox Gifts” is set at Christmas and is both heartwarming and heartwrenching.

Westlake, Donald, “Give Till It Hurts” Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop, edited by Otto Penzler, Vangard Press, 2010.  Losing Westlake last year was a tragedy.  I love his Dortmunder stories and this one, written for the customers of Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop, is marvelous.  Laugh out loud funny, as most Dortmunder stories are.