Book Reviews & Lists

     Having trouble navigating the holiday hub-bub? The following books will restore your love, joy and peace on earth.
     In Hundred Dollar Holiday, Bill McKibben frees us from the tyranny of Christmas present by taking a look at celebrations from Christmas’ past, and suggests a more creative Christmas by setting self-imposed limits on what you will spend during the holidays. Unplug the Christmas Machine by Jo Robinson & Jean Coppok Staeheli is a workbook for combating holiday commercialism. It includes Q & A sections and chapter-end exercises that will help you understand your own values regarding the holidays, sort through the competing possibilities and establish family traditions accordingly.
      Startling Joy, by James Calvin Schaap is a collection of short stories, each with a moment of Christmas epiphany, where love and light are revealed in odd ways to odd people in odd places. My favorite may be the woman pondering her daughter’s unplanned pregnancy while enduring a presentation on how to make the perfect present with used panty hose and empty Kleenex boxes.
      Perhaps the best Christmas story ever is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. In this classic by Barbara Robinson, the incorrigible Herdman children take over the church Christmas pageant - Imogene (Mary) smokes cigars in the girls room, Ralph (Joseph) wants to burn down the inn, Gladys (Gabriel) shouts “Shazam!” and Leroy (a Wise Man) shows up with a ham instead of frankincense. You’ll want to make this hilarious and unorthodox but completely authentic retelling of the Christmas story a part of your own family traditions.
 
Submitted by Laurie Bell, Pomfret Public Library