Christmas Blizzard

Christmas Blizzard
by
Garrison Keillor
adult novella

James and his wife live a comfortable life in their Chicago penthouse.  James has no intention of ever re-connecting with his family and old friends back in North Dakota.  He would rather spend his time in warm, snowless Hawaii. 
He is told that his uncle back in ND is dying and that he should visit before it is too late.  Grumpy to be reminded of the past, he begrudgingly tells his pilot to prepare his private jet for a flight to the frozen north.
Will James, like Scrooge, and the Grinch before him, find some joy this Christmas or can that only be had in Hawaii?
This tale rambles and roams with some bizarre characters and odd situations.  Once the reader realizes that James, like Scrooge, is being confronted by his version of Marley, et al, then the story makes more sense.
This is recommended for someone who wants a quick holiday read, but is no great classic.    

Why Does the Coqui Sing?

Why Does the Coqui Sing?
by
Barbara Garland Polikoff
children/YA fiction

I had the privilege of traveling to Puerto Rico this year and I thought that in preparation I would read a book set in P. R. Thirteen year old Luz has grown up in Chicago, but her ancestors are from Puerto Rico and Italy. Her mother remarries a man from Puerto Rico and they move the family "home" to Puerto Rico. Luz is not too keen on moving to this strange land of which she has heard her whole life. She becomes reacquainted with her grandfather and other relatives, but still feels like a fish out of water. Slowly she learns what her family has known about the charm of Puerto Rico and she starts to feel a part of it like the tree frogs and the horses of the land.
This book had been discarded from my local library, so I left it in Puerto Rico for someone else to read. I home they enjoy it as I did.

Where Do I Go?

Where Do I Go?
A Yada Yada House of Hope Novel
by
Neta Jackson

Adult Christian Fiction

Gabrielle is middle aged with two boys and an ambitious husband. He decides to move himself and his wife to Chicago, leaving their sons with their Grandparents in Virginia. She is feeling displaced and doesn't really want to be the hostess to dinner parties and such that will help her husband's firm get off the ground. Through a turn of events she finds herself at a women's shelter and thinks that maybe this is where she can volunteer or get a job and a renewed sense of purpose. Maybe she even can have a talk with God about her life and her future.
This light fiction work does not go for simple answers and tidy happy endings. The cover says it is book 1 in the Yada Yada House of Hope series. A number of minor characters are probably featured in other books in this series. This is a warm book that invites the reader in to Neta Jackson's world. Like the "At Home in Mitford" books we have a series to recommend to Christian readers. This book seems to be written for women, but in an unusual twist, her husband, Dave Jackson, is also writing books set in the same universe. I assume that these are supposed to have male main characters and appeal to men.
This was a fairly easy read and may appeal to people who do not read many fiction books as well as more experienced readers who want a quick book fix. Teens and their mothers could probably both read this book and series.

http://daveneta.com/ For more about the series and free short story downloads.