civil war Christmas ~ oughta be a match made in heaven ~

[lookingland]

for the 50bookchallenge:

no. 44: Our Simple Gifts by owen parry ~ this was a fun Christmas present to myself: a book of short stories about Christmas set during the Civil War. owen parry is prolly best known for his Abel Jones mysteries (also set during the Civil War), but i've never read them because i don't like mysteries and there are aspects of the war that don't interest me much; pinkerton and the secret service being among them. anyway, parry's style doesn't endear me to him anyway, so it's not likely i will pick up his stuff again. it's almost as if he tries too hard to affect the victorian construction of the era and it just comes off stilted for the most part. he's also prone to repetitions and long-windedness (the first story, 72 pages long, could have easily been told in half as many). nothing new in these stories: small acts of kindess, chance encounters, and ghosts (the usual fare). i enjoyed "Tannenbaum" perhaps the most (a nice reversal in which a much-picked on Dutchman prepares a surprise Christmas feast for his company and we discover at the end that he's actually Jewish).

this was a fun quick read. i'm a sucker for Christmas stories. and i still intend to write a handful of them eventually if i ever get them out of my head. i meant to finish last year's, but never even got around to opening it.



i've got three more books almost finished and a handful of standbys. still don't think i will make it to 50, but am hoping to get a lot of reading done this weekend.

: D

Comments

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a fun challenge! My problem is that while I may easily pick up and start 50 books in a year, I don't always finish them. A lot of books get put down partway through Because Life Is Too Short.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

life is definitely too short to waste on bad books and i've unfortunately done my share of that this year (finishing things that i really disliked). i don't tend to do that, but sometimes you hold out hope to the end that something may surprise you. i've read some real trash this year, but also some amazing winners ~ so it's been worth it so far.

: D

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

What are the gems you've discovered? I'm always on the lookout for good books.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i'll do a end of the year write-up spotlighting the hits and misses!

: D