lindapanzo's mini challenge

Now that I've finished my main 2013 category challenge, I'll be reading pretty much whatever I want, through within two broad categories. I'll be talking about them here...

20 mysteries

1. Skating Around the Law by Joelle Charbonneau--finished on 10/16/13
2. Assault and Batter by Jessica Beck--finished on 10/28/13
3. Bran New Death by Victoria Hamilton--finished on 11/2/13
4. Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By by Elizabeth J. Duncan--finished on 11/4/13
5. Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay--finished on 11/9/13
6. A Christmas Hope by Anne Perry--finished on 11/17/13
7. Ruddy Gore by Kerry Greenwood--finished on 11/20/13
8. An Old Betrayal by Charles Finch--finished on 12/1/13
9. Hero's Journey by J.J. Cook--finished on 12/3/13
10. Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison--finished on 12/7/13

13 nonfiction books

1. From the Hood to the Hill by Barry C. Black--finished on 10/20/13
2. Willie Stargell: A Life in Baseball by Frank Garland--finished on 10/27/13
3. Wayne Gretzky: His Lessons for Success in Hockey and in Life by Jack Miller--finished on 10/28/13
4. One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson--finished on 11/14/13
5. Ice Cream: A Global History by Laura B. Weiss--finished on 11/16/13
6. Lost Airports of Chicago by Nicholas C. Selig--finished on 11/24/13
7. Angel Is Airborne: JFK's Final Flight from Dallas by Garrett M. Graff--finished on 11/24/13
8. Orr: My Story by Bobby Orr--finished on 11/28/13
9. Soup: A Global History by Janet Clarkson--finished on 12/2/13
10. Sandwich: A Global History by Bee Wilson--finished on 12/2/13
11. Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present by Hank Stuever--finished on 12/12/13

I'd like to read some mysteries in anticipation of Murder and Mayhem in Muskego next month. Joelle Charbonneau's two series, the roller skating one and the choir one. Maybe start Julie Hyzy's other series (not the White House chef series).

As for nonfiction, I have an armload of nonfiction books checked out of the library. Early on, I want to read my Willie Stargell bio, which is an ER book. I'd also like to get cracking on The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough, about the building of the Panama Canal.

I can't believe I'm first.

Great mini challenge!

Hey congrats about finishing and good luck on the mini challenge!

Checking in to say hi! Congrats on finishing (if I didn't say so on your other thread)

Looks like you will have fun with your new thread!

Enjoy the mini challenge, and congratulations on finishing the big challenge :)

Congratulations on finishing your challenge, Linda! Looking forward to following your mini-challenge.

Congratulations, Linda on completing your 2013 Category Challenge. Your mini-challenge sounds like a fun idea and I will certainly be following along.

Congratulations on finishing!!! Great mini-challenge to finish the year - looking forward to following along here too.

Congrats on finishing your main category challenge, Linda. I like the very open structure of your mini-challenge. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the congrats.

You'd think that, now that I can read anything, I'd be reading more, but noooo.

Too much baseball playoff watching.

Skating Around the Law by Joelle Charbonneau--finished on 10/16/13

After her mother passes away, Rebecca Robbins has to return to her small Illinois hometown from Chicago to get the family's roller rink ready to be sold. However, the murder of the handyman, who drowned in the toilet bowl in a restroom at the rink makes selling the rink tough.

Though it starts slowly, this debut mystery is quite enjoyable and shows a lot of promise for future books. I liked the characters and expect to read more of these soon, as well as Charbonneau's other series, too.

From the Hood to the Hill by Barry C. Black--finished on 10/20/13

This is an inspirational look at the author's life from the Baltimore ghettoes through his chaplain career in the Navy, where he rose to the Chief of Chaplains and attained the rank of Admiral, through his latest position as Chaplain for the U.S. Senate.

Lots of inspirational and leadership principles and lessons to be learned.

Willie Stargell: A Life in Baseball by Frank Garland--finished on 10/27/13

At long last, I finished this ER book. For a 240-page book, it took forever.

This is an informative, though somewhat dry, look at the life of Pittsburgh Pirates slugger and Hall of Famer, Wilver "Willie" Stargell. Stargell "didn't just hit home runs, he hit conversation pieces," as the author quotes a baseball insider as saying, of Stargell's mammoth home runs.

From Stargell's early days growing up poor in Alameda, CA, to the racial discrimination he experienced in his minor league days with the Pirates organization and his early years during Spring Training (he couldn't eat or sleep with his Pirates teammates), through his Pirates career, which stretched from 1962 through 1982, through his post-career, the author seemingly provided every single detail he could find and related every comment about Stargell that he tracked down. Yes, this book could've used some editing.

Despite the occasional repetition and plodding writing style, this book was interesting. I was aware that Stargell was called Pops and was the Pirates team leader, especially during the "We Are Family" 1979 championship season, but I never knew that he got involved in the classical music world after his career was over. Or that he passed away on the day the new PNC Park opened in April of 2001.

Eye-opening and informative, this is a solid baseball book that I would recommend.

Assault and Batter by Jessica Beck--finished on 10/28/13

One of my top 5 favorite cozy series is the Jessica Beck Donut shop series, featuring April Springs, NC donut shop owner, Suzanne Hart. This 11th book in the series is just as enjoyable as ever.

A focus of the book is the upcoming wedding of Suzanne's ex-husband. She's asked to be the Maid of Honor and, of course, she and her friend, Grace, end up investigating a murder, as usual.

I love this series and love the recurring characters and they're all present, as usual, in this entertaining new entry in the series.

Interestingly, the author included a note saying that, due to reader response, the length of the donut shop books has been cut back. Also, there'll be fewer recipes and these will be placed at the back of the book.

Also, with shorter books and fewer recipes, future books will be published more quickly. Great news for fans of this series!!

Wayne Gretzky: His Lessons for Success in Hockey and in Life by Jack Miller--finished on 10/28/13

I've never given a book a half a star before but this one is worthy of that rating. It's the single worst "book" I've ever read in my lifetime.

I've long admired Wayne Gretzky and have believed him to be the most dominant athlete in his sport. Ever. Thus, I was eager to see what sort of leadership lessons he could impart.

Instead, I got this, a "book" that sounded like a non-native English -speaking 5th grader's book report.

I had a horrified fascination as I read through it.

At least I didn't have to pay for it as I chose it as my Amazon Prime freebie for the month. Thank goodness.

Linda: thanks for the heads up about the Jessica Beck book. Usually I get some sort of notice (from B&N, Fictfact, etc) that there's a new book in the Doughnut Shop series, but I didn't with her last book and I had no idea about Assault and Batter.

I'm off to investigate now....

Lisa, after the message from the author, there's an email address to get an alert from the author when a new book is out.

This one surprised me, too, because none of the usual sources was reporting on it.

Bran New Death by Victoria Hamilton--finished on 11/2/13

This is the first in the Merry Muffin series featuring Merry Wynter, a woman who inherited a castle in upstate New York. The town in which the castle is located, Autumn Vale, is an odd place, to say the least, populated with quirky characters.

This book had about the slowest start I've ever seen. If several friends hadn't read it and liked it, I certainly would've put it aside. Fortunately, I stayed with it and I liked it, probably enough to continue with the series.

I agree that it started slow. I really wasn't sure what the point was. I think it was more of an introduction to the characters. I know that I struggled with how to rate it and ended up giving it the extra half-star.

It was a bit slow, I agree, but the quirky characters caught me and kept me going.

Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By by Elizabeth J. Duncan--finished on 11/4/13

I absolutely loved this terrific, ultra cozy fifth book in the Penny Brannigan series. Penny owns a nail salon/spa in a small Welsh village and dates a police officer, DCI Gareth Davies.

In this installment, Penny is attending a clerical conference at Gladstone’s Library in North Wales, along with Gareth. As is usual in these books, she gets involved in trying to solve the murders that take place in the book.

I loved how the author took many of the usual characters and skillfully moved them to another locale, for a change of pace, to keep the series from getting stale, yet while retaining the usual feel of the books. Besides an interesting mystery with characters I’ve grown to love, the book includes interesting details about churches and how they operate.

Though the book occurs in the present and, indeed, talks about email, the Internet, and other modern-day conveniences, it also has an old-fashioned charm to it, more so than just about any mystery series I read.

Incidentally, another favorite cozy series for me is the Dorothy Martin series by author, Jeanne Dams. As usual, Duncan manages to incorporate the lead character from this other series into her book.

The Duncan books are comfort reading at its best.

Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay--finished on 11/9/13

I love McKinlay's cozy Library Lovers series. I also enjoy her cupcake series. So, naturally, I thought I'd love the first one in her new hat shop series set in London. I didn't.

It starts out slowly and never really got going for me. At page 100, there's still no murder. It picked up just a tad once the sleuth starts investigating (to show you how much I disliked it, I finished it yesterday and already can't remember the name of the sleuth, though I do remember that she's the American cousin who heads to London to help her British cousin out at the hat shop).

There's some potential and I may read the second one, just to confirm that I don't care for it or, perhaps, be pleasantly surprised.

What a shame the London hats didn't live up to your expectations. I'll hold off on starting that one since I'm not caught up on her others!

@ 24 -- I totally want to read a book called Cloche and Dagger, but it seems I should steer clear! Thanks for taking the bullet, Linda!

I borrowed the new Bill Bryson book from the library on Kindle. Thought I had 3 weeks to read it but I had only two. Managed to finish with about an hour to spare.

Next up, a lighter mystery of some sort.

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson--finished on 11/14/13

Quite possibly my favorite book of the year, or at least top 5.

I understand that Bryson books typically have a lot of humor. While this one is a breezy look at America during the summer of 1927 and he included an occasional humorous fact or two about famous people of the time, it wasn't what I would call humor.

What it is was a fascinating look at the events, both big and small, of the summer of 1927. Of course, Charles Lindbergh and his trans-Atlantic flight tops the list, as does Babe Ruth and his summer of 60 home runs. Sacco and Vanzetti. Al Capone. Prohibition.

However, there are lesser-known people, such as the man who specialized in carrying out executions via the electric chair. Who knew that the condemned were fitted in leather football helmets, so that they resembled Red Grange. Or the woman who first thought up going after mobsters for unpaid taxes.

Fascinating book, one I'd highly recommend

Ice Cream: A Global History by Laura B. Weiss--finished on 11/16/13

This enjoyable little book from the Edible series offers an interesting, worldwide look at ice cream, from its early days through its development in the U.S.

From the soda fountain and soda jerks through the popularization of the ice cream cone at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair through Good Humor ice cream trucks, Eskimo pies, Howard Johnson's, Baskin Robbins, and super premium brands such as Ben & Jerry's, probably anything anyone would want to know about ice cream history, along with mechanical advances, is in here. Also of interest are the variants on ice cream that people outside the U.S. enjoy.

An interesting book!!

I have either that Ice Cream book or a similar one on my wish list.

Every one of the Edible books I've read has been solid. Interesting. Not great but always informative. I think I've read Pizza, Hot Dogs, Hamburgers. Maybe one other.

I added this and the Bread one to my library's wish list. I think the kids would find them interesting.

#32 Oddly, our local libraries don't have many of them. I just put Soup on ILL reserve. Also Sandwich.

Perhaps I can add Chips and Soda. Just kidding about the last two. I don't think they're in the series yet, though I do own a copy of Fizz: How Soda Shook Up the World

A Christmas Hope by Anne Perry--finished on 11/17/13

There's nothing like an Anne Perry Christmas novella to start getting in the holiday spirit. At first blush, you wouldn't think so, as this is a book about a Victorian era society woman, Claudine Burroughs, trapped in a loveless marriage who finds satisfaction volunteering at a women's health clinic run by Hester Monk.

Claudine attends holiday parties, the opera, and other high society events and, at one of these, a young woman, said to be a streetwalker, is murdered. Three well-to-do young men accuse a Welsh poet of the murder and he's quickly on the run. Claudine sets out to try to prove the poet's innocence, while, at the same time, trying to impart lessons learned from her life to a young woman.

As is always true of the annual Christmas novella, the holiday lesson/takeaway is timeless.

Well done, as always.

>33 lindapanzo:: And now I'm hungry, despite just having had dinner ;)

I always get hungry when I read any of the books in the Edible Series.

They have books about various cocktails and also one about Game. Those don't appeal to me as much.

Tonight, we are going out for Pizza. Plus Beer. I wonder if there's a Beer book in the Edible Series.

->29 lindapanzo:
Oh dear, a whole series to add to the wishlist... :)

Congratulations on finishing, Linda!

Thanks, Laura.

I'm certainly not doing well on my mini challenge but I'm not too worried about that. It's just guidance.

This doesn't fit within my mini-challenge as it's fiction but interesting nonetheless.

If Kennedy Lived by Jeff Greenfield--finished on 11/22/13

I love a good, plausible alternate political history and thoroughly enjoyed Greenfield's trio of novellas, Then Everything Changed, as well as his Kindle single about Al Gore beating George W. Bush. As a result, I thought I'd love his alternate history about how JFK survived the November 22, 1963 assassination attempt and lived to have a second term. Alas, I liked it, but did not love it.

The book takes a look at such key events as whether JFK would've won a second term, what we would've done in Vietnam had JFK lived, what might've happened with civil rights/voting rights, and whether the hippies and other countercultural events might've happened.

One thing I like about Greenfield's books is that they are plausible and he cites sources for the positions he takes. They are not "out there" and, with a few minor twists or turns, they could've happened.

As I say, I'd liked this book, but didn't love it. He doesn't go out on many limbs and, in fact, is awfully cautious in his predictions. This is quite a limited alternate political history. Very policy-oriented and, unfortunately, somewhat dry at times.

I think the novella or Kindle single is actually a better format for alternate political history. To me, it felt like he was stretching things to try to create an entire book. By the end of the book, by the end of JFK's second term, it seems like he was really stretching things to keep the book going. I wish he'd put his political focus aside a bit more and gone more into greater detail about how our society might be different had JFK lived.

Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting, thought-provoking book and I admit that I did not see the ending coming. I just think that he might've done more with it. It's a bit skimpier than I would've expected. Very good, but not great.

Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination by Jim Lehrer

About the best thing I can say about this book is that it is a quick read so I didn't waste much time with it. The author is a respected newsman and I understand that this his his 21st novel. I would've expected much better.

On that infamous day, November 22, 1963, a Dallas newsman (in real life, Jim Lehrer, the author) asked a Secret Service agent whether the top on JFK's limo would be on or off. The agent asked someone about the weather downtown and, hearing that it was good and the rain had cleared, ordered it taken off. The rest is history.

In this novel, the agent who gave the order is overwhelmed by grief and guilt, his psychological problems akin to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, just won't go away and his physical health greatly declines. Thinking that he was responsible for JFK's death, he pushes away his family, his wife starts to drink, and his 15-year old daughter seemingly loses the family she knew as both of her parents change.

Five years later, the newsman who asked the agent about whether the limo's top would be on or off gives a speech about his guilt and that now 20-year old daughter contacts him. They decide to reenact the shooting, hoping to show that, if the limo's top had been on, JFK, Jackie, and both of the Connelly's would all be dead. Doing so, they hope, will save the father.

There's not much of a plot. The characters aren't developed. It's a boring book. Not at all recommended.

I'll be sure to skip the Lehrer book on Kennedy. Sounds like a real dud.

Lost Airports of Chicago by Nicholas C. Selig--finished on 11/24/13

When I was a kid, in the 1960s, and we were travelling from the city to our summer cottage in northern Lake County, we'd always pass by Sky Harbor Airport. I'd always wonder what was going on there and would always bring it to someone's attention "hey, there's the little airport." I was fascinated but never managed to get there. Then it closed, in about 1973, I think, and I never made it there, though one of the old hangars is a restaurant now, I believe.

I had no idea but, over the years, more than 40 small country airports in Chicagoland have closed, including Sky Harbor Airport in Northbrook, IL and Chicagoland Airport, in what was Half Day, IL but is now Lincolnshire.

The author has penned an interesting little book full of stories about the ghost airports and the people who flew from and/or worked at these little airports way back when.

Fascinating information about little-known airports of yesteryear that, sadly, have closed and are now part of subdivisions, shopping malls, office complexes, and other modern places.

Angel Is Airborne: JFK's Final Flight from Dallas by Garrett M. Graff--finished on 11/24/13

The fascinating book is, quite possibly, the best Kindle single I've ever read. Granted, I've probably read only a dozen or so, so far, but it was outstanding.

The author takes a look at the flight back to Washington DC, from Dallas, after JFK's assassination. The whole spectrum of human emotions was on display during the 2-hour flight. Shifting loyalties, dawning realizations that things were no longer the same, unspeakable grief, anger. You name it and someone probably felt it.

First though, there was time waiting for the slain president's body, his widow, and the soon-to-be president to arrive. Interesting information about them scrambling to figure out what was needed for LBJ's swearing in onboard the plane, then waiting for Judge Sarah Hughes to arrive to administer the oath.

I just wish this was an entire book, not just a Kindle single. Highly recommended!!

Orr: My Story by Bobby Orr--finished on 11/28/13

All-time hockey great, defenseman Bobby Orr has long been one of the athletes I most admired. With quiet grit and determination, he got the job done and revolutionized the game of hockey, making the defenseman, at times, a more offense-oriented position. So, when I heard that Orr had finally written his memoirs, I was eager to read them.

This book wasn't what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. His NHL career was only a part of this book and a far smaller part than I would've expected. In fact, Orr spent far more time talking about the people and things that have influenced his life and less about his hockey accomplishments.

Except for Alan Eagleson--his friend, lawyer, and agent--who fleeced him, Orr had little negative to say about anyone so, in that way, the book was relatively bland. Still, I liked reading about Orr's thoughts about the state of hockey. Interestingly, one rule change he encouraged, the automatic icing, has already been adopted at the NHL level.

Hockey fans, especially fans of the 1960s/1970s game, will likely love this book. Even nonfans could find plenty to enjoy in this book.

Highly recommended!!

An Old Betrayal by Charles Finch

I absolutely loved the 7th installment in the Charles Lenox series, set in 1875 London. Lenox's friend and former mentee, Lord John Dallington, is quite ill so Lenox helps him out by meeting an previously unmet client at a restaurant. It turns out badly and Lenox and Dallington spend much of the book trying to make things right, along with solving a murder or two, Lenox when not in Parliament and Dallington, when not ill.

Disraeli, Gladstone, and even Queen Victoria herself, play key, speaking roles in this terrifically-plotted book.

One thing I like about these Charles Finch mysteries is that Finch does not keep the action stagnant. He's not afraid to change the series up. I like where I think the series is going next.

This is a series that keeps getting better and better with each passing book.

I've only read the first couple of books in the Charles Lenox series, but I'm trying to catch up! I'm planning on book 3 this month.

I really like these, Carrie.

Definitely important to read them in order since Finch changes things up.

I never knew it but, apparently, Finch is a Chicago-area author.

Maybe you'll get a chance to meet him at a book signing!

Linda, nice review of An Old Betrayal! I just read it a couple weeks ago, and I'm also really excited about where Finch seems to be taking the series next!

Soup: A Global History by Janet Clarkson--finished on 12/2/13

I've read about a half dozen of the books in the Edible series, which focus on the history, the present, and the global aspects of a specified food item. This one was the worst of the bunch so far. Deadly dry. About 2/3 given over to a not-very-interesting history.

I love soup but this book just turned my stomach. Argh.

Sandwich: A Global History by Bee Wilson--finished on 12/2/13

Whereas Soup was the worst of the Edible Series books I've read, Sandwich might perhaps be the best one I've read so far. Very interesting and informative with a lively writing style.

Carrie, last month, I was supposed to attend a talk that Charles Finch and two others were giving but there was a minor ice storm so I didn't make it. I hope I get the chance again.

Tomorrow night, I've got a lecture at the same place which is nowhere near home. I hope the weather is better. The topic is the 1958 Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago.

Christina, I like when authors change things up a bit.

I think you'll enjoy that lecture. I do hope you have better weather.

Hero's Journey by J.J. Cook--finished on 12/3/13

Earlier this year, J.J. Cook's first book in the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade, That Old Flame of Mine was probably my favorite "first in the series mystery" of the year. I enjoyed reading about Stella Griffin, a Chicago firefighter on medical leave who organizes and trains the Sweet Pepper, TN volunteer fire department. It was a solid cozy series debut.

This novella, which I initially thought was a Kindle single, but isn't, includes many of the same characters from the first book, including Eric, the ghost of the previous fire chief. However, it focuses on the fire brigade's missing Dalmation puppy, Hero.

As is typically true of a novella/Kindle single, there's not much room to develop the plot, but nonetheless, this one is enjoyable. It left me eager to read the second book in the series, Playing with Fire, when it comes out next month. Very nicely done.

Hopefully I'll get around to That Old Flame of Mine soon. I'll have to look for the single after that.

Plus the new (second) J.J. Cook is due out next month.

Eleven Pipers Piping - C.C. Benison--finished on 12/7/13

In the second installment in C.C. Benison's Father Tom Christmas series, there's a poisoning at the annual Burns Dinner and there's suspicion that the vicar's housekeeper, Madrun, may have inadvertently killed the poor man. It happens during a blizzard so, in effect, this is a locked room mystery.

There are plenty of subplots, including a number with satisfying references to the past. Lots of undercurrents bubbling below the surface in this quiet little British village.

I enjoy how the author includes letters Madrun writes every day (on her trusty typewriter, misspellings and all) to her family. These provide additional insights into what's happening.

Lots of extraneous conversations and an overabundance of subplots but, in the end, very enjoyable. I do think that plenty could be cut from the book but, in the end, this extra material makes for a richer book.

I'm now eager to read the next one, if the ER book ever arrives, which I suspect will deal with skydiving.

I was mildly taken aback by the length of Pipers when I first borrowed it. It was approaching 400 pages! His "Her Majesty Investigates" books are shorter. But overall I enjoyed Pipers as well, especially the Burns Supper aspect. Hope the ER book arrives soon!

I always think of cozies as being 200-300 pages. I read this Benison book on my Kindle but it was incredibly long.

I'm enjoying the Tom Christmas series but I agree that the books are too long. The next book seemed quite a bit shorter on my e-reader, but I don't remember the page count now. It didn't take me long to read it. I hope your ER copy arrives soon!

Thanks, Carrie. I hope so, too.

I have narrow nonfiction-related categories in my 2014 challenge so I'm trying to read nonfiction now, unless the book will fit into one of my narrower nonfiction categories.

Just a few days til I start the new challenge and put this mini-challenge aside.

Orphan Trains to Missouri by Michael D. Patrick and Evelyn Goodrich Trickel--finished on 12/7/13

I read this one for the Missouri Readers Group.

I think of myself as fairly well-versed in American history but, before reading this book, I'd never heard of the orphan trains. After Charles Loring Brace and the Children's Aid Society could not handle the food, housing, and other needs of so many orphans in New York City in the 1850s, they started shipping the kids to the Midwest by train, to be taken in by families. This practice lasted for over 70 years and some estimates show that more than 100,000 orphans were taken in, in Missouri alone.

As I read this short, informative book, I kept having mixed feelings about whether this whole process was a good thing or not. Surely, for many kids, their lives back in New York would've been terrible. There were certainly many success stories, but there were certainly many stories of child abuse and other mistreatment. Not to mention how the kids were often paraded before the townspeople and, if unchosen by any families, might be sent back. Children from the same family often were separated. Children were sometimes put into homes with people of a different religion (and had to convert) or even were placed in homes where the family spoke a different language.

This book is part of the Missouri Heritage series and is geared towards new adult readers. Even though it tells the story of what I thought of as a little-known chapter of American history and it does so in a simple, straightforward manner, it's a thought-provoking book.

@ 62 -- I now remember reading a book about the orphan trains when I was a kid! It was called Journey Home by Isabelle Holland, and I really liked it at the time.

Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present by Hank Stuever--finished on 12/12/13

We may all think we know what Christmas is all about in the present day, after all, we're living it. However, the author of this entertaining book REALLY lives it, following (one might say) hounding a few Christmas practitioners in Frisco, Texas in 2006, the last "big" Christmas before hard times hit.

Everyone complains that Christmas is too commercialized. They've been saying this for a long time...remember Charlie Brown in the Peanuts Christmas special deploring the commercialization of Christmas back in 1965? The author follows three people who make Christmas special, including a Christmas decorator who decorates other people's homes for the holiday, then barely has time to do so for her family. Another focus is the guy whose extravagant home Christmas light display is the "go to" house in the area. This guy also sets up the mall's lights display. The third person who is focused on is an ordinary woman who tries to do the best for her family and who is also an avid churchgoer. In their own ways, each of the three contributes to the special Christmas feeling in the area.

Church Christmas pageants. People who display Snow Village scenes. Donations to an Angel Tree and how these gifts for the needy are distributed. The craziness of Black Friday. When the Christmas season starts and how it ends. These are just some of the topics addressed.

I thought the book would end with the last Christmas refuse being tossed into a landfill but the author follows up. As mentioned, 2006 was probably the last of the extravagant Christmases and the author follows up a bit on those same three people during the following years to see how austerity has changed what he learned.

Very interesting book. Highly recommended!!

This concludes my interim mini-challenge, which I was using to tide myself over til the new challenge begins.

Please join me over on the 2014 category challenge, which I'm starting on 12/14.

My thread is at: http://www.librarything.com/topic/158110

Congrats on finishing the mini-challenge - I'll follow on over to the 2014!

see you in 2014!