I Woke Up In Love This Morning by Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons

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Powell's Books

It's that time of year again. Roll out the holly, try not to get trampled at Target, it's the holidays! And the holidays are not complete without what? Peppermint? Charlie Brown Christmas? Doing a solitice dance? Why my Holiday Book Picks!  Okay it might not be a tradition as say, Bing Crosby and David Bowie's duet, but it's getting there! Also, we were supposed to do it as a comment, but Red Room has so many great authors, I had to write a blog!

Books to make you laugh:

How Come I Get Blamed For The Things I Do? Brian Crane: Every morning I read Pickles. I chortle every time I read it;  partly because I love Earl and Opal Pickles, their grandson Nelson, and of course Muffin the cat and Roscoe the dog. Read about Earl getting stuck in the bathroom, Opal getting her head caught in a bush, and Nelson deciding to dress up as God for Halloween.
America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't, Stephen Colbert: Stephen Colbert is hysterically funny, so of course this book is also hysterically funny. Extra bonus: 3-D glasses to view the photos.
The Year of Learning Dangerously, Quinn Cummings: Yes, she's the girl from The Goodbye Girl. But she's also hysterically funny and wise as she decides to homeschool her daughter. During this journey, she researches different homeschooling methods to see what works for them. Best chapter? When Cummings goes to a Quiverfull conference (think Duggars)

Ebook for your grieving soap fan:

As The World Stopped Turning, Lynn Liccardo: Okay I'm so biased: Liccardo acknowledged me in this book. Plus I love soaps. I loved ATWT back in the day. But what Liccardo does well is dissect what happened to the once popular show that left the airwaves in 2010, and she does it with humor and style.

Novels to savor:

Fobbit, David Abrams: This is a hysterical debut by Abrams that describes Chance Gooding, a guy who finds himself in a war zone. Only the enemies he faces are people who changes his wording on press releases to make it more "patriotic";  Abe Shrinkle who could give Frank Burns a run for his money in stupidity; Eustace Harkleroad, who on a regular basis writes tales of glory to his mother that's all made up. It's the Catch-22/MASH of this decade.

Becoming Clementine, Jennifer Niven: Velva Jean Hart is back! She's in Paris, looking for her missing in action brother Johnny Clay in World War II.  While she's there, she finds herself recruited as a spy. Her spy name? Clementine Roux. No matter what name she goes by, Velva Jean tries to remember her dying mother's words: to live out there.

The Cider House Rules, John Irving: I finally read this epic novel by Irving this year about St. Cloud's, a home for unwanted children--and a safe place to have abortions. Homer Wells lives there, but longs to leave. Fate intervenes when a young woman named Candy and her fiance come, and Homer makes a choice that changes his fate. Wonderful book to curl up by a fire (or if there's no fireplace, a good heater)

Books for your Teen:

Daughters of Eve, Lois Duncan: It's the sorority that all the girls want to get in, but is it worth it? Irene Stark leads the girls into a journey of self discovery, but she doesn't intervene when the girls start to take it too far. Some people think this is a critque of feminism, I think it's a critque of when people are not treated well, they resort to desperate measures, regardless of gender.

The Disenchantments, Nina LaCour: Whoo hoo! Graduation! Summer! Road trip! It's all planned out for Colby and Bev. After they tour with Bev's band, they'll go to Paris. Forget college, forget responsibilities. But Bev springs a shocker on our Colby: she's going to college instead. What's a poor boy to do?

And now, I am biased, but well, I can't say enough about this author. My God, what a talent. She's funny, she's smart, and she's just darned brillant.

Ella Bella, Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons: Yeah, I'm promoting my own book. Yes, I am shameless. But blogs are shameless. But here's the deal: I truly believe it's a good novel. I should know, it went through oh, seven or eight drafts. And I know the prologue is a downer (I won't give anything away, you need to buy it) But here's the deal:  I wanted to write about a girl who went through horrible losses, yet managed to survive. A red haired girl who loved Muppets, Beatles, and books. Is Ella me? Yes and no. But she has what I have: A resilency to survive.

There you have it. If you say there's no good books out there I get to hit you. Merry Christmas, happy Haunkah, Peaceful Solitice, Happy Kwanzaa, and Merry Festivus. Hopefully, I've got all the holidays covered.