Vote for the December BOTM

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'Tis the Season - Lorna Landvik

Just in time for Christmas, Landvik gets into the head of a Paris Hilton–like celebuditz in this lively novel propelled by e-mails, tabloid gossip and letters primarily written by, about or to young celebrity bad girl Caroline Caro Dixon. The gorgeous heiress's boozy rampages have made her notorious, but now she's considering a 12-step program, hence the bitter apology letter she writes to everyone I have supposedly hurt. She tosses it out, and, in true Hollywood fashion, the catty missive turns up in a trashy tabloid. The ensuing firestorm of negative publicity and hate mail convinces Caro to give sobriety a shot. Caro's effort to dispel her image as Little Miss Hangover has its moments, but the choppy epistolary structure leaves much to be desired. Still, readers who love snark—it's doled out here by the shovelful—will dig this.

Skipping Christmas - John Grisham

John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25. Grisham's story revolves around a typical middle-aged American couple, Luther and Nora Krank. On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving they wave their daughter Blair off to Peru to work for the Peace Corps, and they suddenly realize that "for the first time in her young and sheltered life Blair would spend Christmas away from home."   Luther Krank sees his daughter's Christmas absence as an opportunity. He estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas," and have "precious little to show for it." So he makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends, and neighbors that "we won't do Christmas." Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But things start to turn nasty when horrified neighbors get wind of the Krank's subversive scheme and besiege the couple with questions about their decision.   Grisham builds up a funny but increasingly terrifying picture of how this tight-knit community turns on the Kranks, who find themselves under increasing pressure to conform. As the tension mounts, readers may wonder whether they will manage to board their plane on Christmas day. Skipping Christmas is Grisham-lite, with none of the serious action or drama of his legal thrillers, but a funny poke at the craziness of Christmas.

Visions of Sugar Plums - Janet Evanovich

A sugar plum for Christmas, indeed! Stephanie Plum, Evanovich's delightfully zany New Jersey bounty hunter, is the star of this too short but hilarious holiday romp. Grousing about the approaching Yule is something many of us can relate to and wishing for a helpful angel might strike a chord with some. But it takes a special imagination to conjure the handsome, if sort of grungy young stranger, Diesel, who magically pops into Stephanie's kitchen one morning just four days before December 25. Diesel joins Stephanie in her hunt for a bail skipper, Sandy Claws ("It was probably Klaus and got screwed up at Ellis Island"), though in fact he's after another target entirely and Stephanie's skipper is a means to that end. In addition to trying to catch Sandy Claws, Stephanie has to get ready for Christmas-which gives Diesel the opportunity to meet her unconventional family. "I'm always knocked out," he observes, "by the way a family can be at the upper end of dysfunction and insanity and still work so well as a unit." When that family includes a pistol-packing grandma, a niece who thinks she's a palomino and a sister on the verge of crisis, that's quite a statement. Throw in some elves, a mad hunt for a Christmas tree and a few fires and you have a Plum-crazy Christmas classic.

Angels at Christmas - Debbie Macomber

Every Christmas, three lovable angels visit Earth. Once a year, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy are allowed to intervene (or, more accurately, interfere!) in human affairs. Despite their frequent misadventures and the chaos they often cause, things always seem to turn out right….   This Christmas, join Those Christmas Angels as they respond to Anne Fletcher's prayer request. She wants her son, Roy, to meet a special woman—and the angels contrive to throw Julie Wilcott in his path (literally!).   Watch as the heaven-sent messengers reunite a divorced couple, bring peace of mind to an elderly man and grant a little boy's fondest wish. Because there's always joy Where Angels Go.  Shirley, Goodness and Mercy offer you laughter and Christmas cheer in these two heartwarming stories!

The Christmas Sweater - Glenn Beck

In Beck's debut novel, the conservative radio and TV host (An Inconvenient Book) makes a weak attempt at a holiday classic in the vein of It's a Wonderful Life. Despite his single mother's financial hardships, 12-year-old Eddie is certain this Christmas he will receive his much-desired Huffy bike. To his dismay, what he finds under the tree is "a stupid, handmade, ugly sweater" that his mother carefully modeled after those she can't afford at Sears (one of four places she keeps part-time jobs). Eddie tosses the sweater and insults his mother before the two go visit his grandparents at their farmouse. On the drive home, though, Eddie's exhausted mother falls asleep at the wheel and crashes, dying instantly. Sent to live with his grandparents, an increasingly bitter and angry Eddie lashes out at his accommodating guardians, engages in typical teenage angst and grapples with belief in God. For all his focus on traditional family virtues like respect, love and forgiveness, Beck's lightweight parable cruises on predictability, repetition and sentimentality.

[ElyannasMom]

The Beck book was a quick read, but a good one. I think it's great for this time of season. If you can get your teens to read it too!