I was in Rite Aid the other day, stocking up on Christmas candy, when I wandered over to the paperback rack in search of something sweet for my brain. (It bears mentioning that I'd already browsed and resisted a 10-piece Coca-Cola-themed Lip Smacker assortment and various Calgon bath and body gift sets.) I picked up and rejected a couple of murder mysteries, not wanting something even the slightest bit dark. Then I saw a book called The Christmas Cookie Club, the back cover of which promised laughter and heartache, trials and triumphs. In other words, all your usual sentimentality wrapped up with a great big holiday bow. This sounded just marvy to me. What better way to forget life's problems, after all, than to read about a bunch of fictitious characters' undoubtedly more serious problems?
But these problems, as it turned out, were just a little too serious. So much so that I probably should've stuck with a nice glossy copy of InStyle. Readers, this Christmas caper was grim.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to hear about stillborn babies and twentysomething men plummeting to their deaths in my seasonal stories. Or, actually, ever. I know these things happen - but I'd rather not know about them, much less within the gilded confines of supposedly fluffy fiction. Although I appreciate the occasional tearjerker, the thing I crave most from a novel is a frothy escape.
Whew. I unleashed more of my inner mean girl there than I meant to. Thankfully, I got a ton of really excellent books for Christmas, so my next book report is sure to be sunnier.
2 comments:
Wow! What a crappy plot surprise indeed. You're right, gruesome and Yuletide do NOT belong in the same sentence. I think if you took the book and a copy of your book report back to the store for the clerk to read, and once he did just that, surely he'll be glad to refund you the $5.99. Nobody deserves a lump of coal for Christmas, especially this kind.
Aside from the nasty novel incident, I trust you had the merriest holiday ever? Great! And it's great to be merrily reading one of your blog entries again, too!
Happy New Year!
SparkleFarkle~~~~~*
When you read as much as I do, you're bound to run into a few duds here and there :)
I did have a merry holiday and hope you had the same!
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