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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://evpl.org/community/utility/FeedStylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Books Blog : Stewart ONan</title><link>http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Stewart+ONan/default.aspx</link><description>Tags: Stewart ONan</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><generator>CommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Build: 30619.63)</generator><item><title>'Tis the Season to Curl Up With a Good Book</title><link>http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/2008/12/01/tis-the-season-to-curl-up-with-a-good-book.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:01:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">9a7b961d-7882-4302-b701-732ca0e566f2:952</guid><dc:creator>Shh_ImReading@evpl</dc:creator><slash:comments>4</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=952</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/2008/12/01/tis-the-season-to-curl-up-with-a-good-book.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Most years I try to pick out and read at least one Christmas&amp;nbsp;novel during the holidays. I thought I would share some of the titles I&amp;#39;ve enjoyed in years past. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some of the novels I&amp;#39;ve read are fairly traditional.&amp;nbsp;I&amp;#39;ve never been a fan of Charles Dickens, but &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0?/Xa%20christmas%20carol&amp;amp;l=&amp;amp;m=a&amp;amp;b=&amp;amp;SORT=D&amp;amp;Da=&amp;amp;Db=/Xa%20christmas%20carol&amp;amp;l=&amp;amp;m=a&amp;amp;b=&amp;amp;SORT=D&amp;amp;Da=&amp;amp;Db=&amp;amp;SUBKEY=a%20christmas%20carol/1%2C164%2C164%2CB/frameset&amp;amp;FF=Xa%20christmas%20carol&amp;amp;l=&amp;amp;m=a&amp;amp;b=&amp;amp;SORT=D&amp;amp;Da=&amp;amp;Db=&amp;amp;4%2C4%2C" target="_blank"&gt;A Christmas Carol&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; really is worth your time. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0?/Xthe+christmas+train&amp;amp;SORT=DZ/Xthe+christmas+train&amp;amp;SORT=DZ&amp;amp;extended=0&amp;amp;SUBKEY=the%20christmas%20train/1%2C61%2C61%2CB/frameset&amp;amp;FF=Xthe+christmas+train&amp;amp;SORT=DZ&amp;amp;2%2C2%2C" target="_blank"&gt;The Christmas Train&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by David Baldacci is one of my favorites. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0?/Xthe+handmaid+and+the+carp&amp;amp;SORT=DZ/Xthe+handmaid+and+the+carp&amp;amp;SORT=DZ&amp;amp;extended=0&amp;amp;SUBKEY=the%20handmaid%20and%20the%20carp/1%2C32000%2C32000%2CB/frameset&amp;amp;FF=Xthe+handmaid+and+the+carp&amp;amp;SORT=DZ&amp;amp;2%2C2%2C" target="_blank"&gt;The Handmaid and the Carpenter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Elizabeth Berg is a story about Mary and Joseph.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=0393051587" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=1400065380" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=0446531472" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are two that I thought were well-written and enjoyable, but don&amp;#39;t have the happy endings some people expect from a Christmas novel. One is a collection of short stories by Maeve Binchy called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0?/Xthis+year+it+will+be+different&amp;amp;SORT=DZ/Xthis+year+it+will+be+different&amp;amp;SORT=DZ&amp;amp;extended=0&amp;amp;SUBKEY=this%20year%20it%20will%20be%20different/1%2C11%2C11%2CB/frameset&amp;amp;FF=Xthis+year+it+will+be+different&amp;amp;SORT=DZ&amp;amp;1%2C1%2C" target="_blank"&gt;This Year it Will&amp;nbsp;Be Different&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and the other is a small book by Stewart O&amp;#39;Nan called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0/?searchtype=X&amp;amp;searcharg=last+night+at+the+lobster&amp;amp;sortdropdown=-&amp;amp;SORT=DZ&amp;amp;extended=0&amp;amp;searchlimits=&amp;amp;searchorigarg=Xthis+year+it+will+be+different%26SORT%3DDZ" target="_blank"&gt;Last Night at the Lobster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=0385315031" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=9780670018277" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When I can find them, I really enjoy off-the-wall Christmas stories. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0/?searchtype=t&amp;amp;searcharg=the+stupidest+angel&amp;amp;sortdropdown=-&amp;amp;SORT=D&amp;amp;extended=0&amp;amp;searchlimits=&amp;amp;searchorigarg=thogfather" target="_blank"&gt;The Stupidest Angel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Christopher Moore is certainly off-the-wall. I have one word for you: ZOMBIES. &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0?/thogfather/thogfather/1%2C2%2C2%2CB/frameset&amp;amp;FF=thogfather+a+novel+of+discworld&amp;amp;1%2C1%2C" target="_blank"&gt;Hogfather&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Terry Pratchett is another great one, especially for fantasy readers.&amp;nbsp;You might also try&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://evans.evpl.org/search~S0?/tThe+Shepherd%2C+the+Angel+and+Walter+the+Christmas+Miracle+Dog/tshepherd+the+angel+and+walter+the+christmas+miracle+dog/1%2C2%2C2%2CB/frameset&amp;amp;FF=tshepherd+the+angel+and+walter+the+christmas+miracle+dog&amp;amp;1%2C1%2C/indexsort=-" target="_blank"&gt;The Shepherd, the Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Dave Barry. It&amp;#39;s short and funny.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=0061050466" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=0399154132" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;amp;Password=BT0005&amp;amp;Return=T&amp;amp;Type=L&amp;amp;Value=0060590254" alt="" width="165" height="225" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some&amp;nbsp;of these titles are available in large print and audio! Also, the edition of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;A Christmas Carol&lt;/em&gt; that I&amp;#39;ve linked to is the annotated one. There are smaller copies without notes available as well if you prefer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#39;m always looking for Christmas reading suggestions, so be sure to sign in&amp;nbsp;share what you&amp;#39;ve enjoyed in the comments below!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://evpl.org/community/aggbug.aspx?PostID=952" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/fiction/default.aspx">fiction</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Terry+Pratchett/default.aspx">Terry Pratchett</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Christmas/default.aspx">Christmas</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/holiday/default.aspx">holiday</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Charles+Dickens/default.aspx">Charles Dickens</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Maeve+Binchy/default.aspx">Maeve Binchy</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Dave+Barry/default.aspx">Dave Barry</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Elizabeth+Burg/default.aspx">Elizabeth Burg</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Christopher+Moore/default.aspx">Christopher Moore</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/David+Baldacci/default.aspx">David Baldacci</category><category domain="http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/Stewart+ONan/default.aspx">Stewart ONan</category></item></channel></rss>