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Our Holiday TBR—From Cozy to Downright Creepy · Reality Writes

0:05
Ellie Alexander: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Reality Writes.
0:09
Ellie Alexander: I am author Ellie Alexander.
0:10
Ellie Alexander: This is the podcast where we take you behind the scenes in the writing life, the bookish life, and we talk about the ins and outs of everything from paths to publication and what we're reading.
0:23
Ellie Alexander: And uh I'm here with the Tech Guy.
0:26
Tech Guy: Hello, hello.
0:27
Tech Guy: It's the holiday season.
0:30
Ellie Alexander: November 1st.
0:31
Ellie Alexander: I knew you were gonna get that in.
0:34
Tech Guy: It is time to start the celebrations.
0:39
Ellie Alexander: It is November 1st.
0:40
Ellie Alexander: We have not put away Halloween because Halloween was last night, darlings.
0:45
Ellie Alexander: Last night.
0:46
Ellie Alexander: We're recording this on November 1st, and the tech guy already has strands of Christmas lights up in his office.
0:55
Ellie Alexander: How?
0:55
Ellie Alexander: I don't know.
0:56
Ellie Alexander: I don't know when you did that.
0:58
Tech Guy: I I I always have them at the ready.
1:01
unknown: Okay.
1:02
Tech Guy: Just have a pack.
1:04
Tech Guy: I stay ready for the holiday season so I don't have to get ready.
1:08
Ellie Alexander: Sure.
1:08
Ellie Alexander: Sure.
1:09
Tech Guy: Yeah.
1:10
Ellie Alexander: I will be keeping my pumpkins up through Thanksgiving for sure.
1:14
Tech Guy: No, the thing is, I love Thanksgiving.
1:16
Tech Guy: I mean, you know I do.
1:17
Tech Guy: And I I love uh Halloween um and all of that.
1:22
Tech Guy: But I feel like I get robbed every year that Thanksgiving is as late as it is in the month because it like Christmas is here before you know it.
1:36
Tech Guy: And and if you celebrate that sort of thing, you know, like again, there are all sorts of holidays that just happens to be ours.
1:44
Tech Guy: So the holiday season involves a lot of lights, a lot of decorations.
1:49
Ellie Alexander: Um well, I can't believe that I'm admitting this.
1:52
Ellie Alexander: Uh, but I am actually the one who suggested today's topic for Reality Writes.
1:59
Ellie Alexander: And I'm gonna get myself in trouble and I'm never gonna live this down, but I'm doing it for you, darlings, because I want you to have time to prepare.
2:06
Ellie Alexander: But today we are gonna take on some of our favorite holiday reads so that you can add to your TBR stack today.
2:17
Tech Guy: Yeah, and I was as amazed as all of you are, darlings, uh, when Ellie brought this up to me and said, Yeah, this is what we want to do for this episode.
2:27
Tech Guy: I was like, what?
2:28
Tech Guy: Sure, great.
2:29
Tech Guy: But uh for a slower reader like myself, I kind of have to get started right now reading the holiday books if I want to enjoy them.
2:37
Tech Guy: Because one, it takes me a while to read them.
2:40
Tech Guy: And uh going back to what I said about Thanksgiving being so late, and if I wait till after Thanksgiving, I'm getting one, maybe two books in if I'm lucky, if I'm lucky, because there's just for you know, second, there's just so much going on during this time of year.
2:56
Ellie Alexander: There is so much going on this time of year, and actually, you know, years ago you started the tradition of giving me holiday reads early in November, and I really do appreciate it because I love to read on season, and it does kind of help get you into this spirit.
3:10
Ellie Alexander: Now, I personally will still be reading fall books for a couple of weeks, and then I'll slowly start to transition into pure holiday goodness.
3:19
Ellie Alexander: But um I totally hear that all the time from other readers too.
3:22
Ellie Alexander: That it's like, wait a minute, if I want to read four or five or ten holiday books, I can't do that all in the month of December.
3:30
Ellie Alexander: So I acquiesced.
3:33
Ellie Alexander: We're doing holidays.
3:34
Ellie Alexander: We're gonna talk about.
3:36
Ellie Alexander: I brought, I brought a stack of six.
3:38
Ellie Alexander: I don't know how many you brought.
3:39
Ellie Alexander: What I decided is I picked three that I loved from last year.
3:43
Ellie Alexander: So I feel very confident about sharing these recommendations.
3:46
Ellie Alexander: And then I picked three that are new to me that I'm gonna read this holiday season.
3:51
Tech Guy: Hey, no way, I picked six as well.
3:53
Tech Guy: I've only read two of them.
3:56
Speaker 1: Okay, it's fair.
3:57
Tech Guy: I've read, but the two I've read, I've read multiple, multiple, multiple times.
4:01
Tech Guy: And the other four, I am really looking at actually, you you got me all four of these, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
4:08
Ellie Alexander: Well, what I always think is interesting from the writing perspective before we dive into our holiday reading lists, is that because I have written previous holiday titles, A Cup of Holiday Fear was a big Christmas book for the big shot mysteries.
4:23
Ellie Alexander: And then last year I had two cozy holiday rom-coms release back-to-back, a cozy kind of Christmas include into love.
4:32
Ellie Alexander: And the way it works in publishing is that those holiday books kind of get this big push from this time of year, early November, until the end of the holiday season.
4:42
Ellie Alexander: And then they sort of trickle off and they take up shelf space for a little while.
4:47
Ellie Alexander: But what's fun is every year I see them popping up again.
4:51
Ellie Alexander: So just this weekend, I've had so many readers all of a sudden tagging me and being like, oh, I'm breaking out a cup of holiday fear, or I just got a cozy kind of Christmas.
5:00
Ellie Alexander: So that's always interesting.
5:01
Ellie Alexander: Uh, because that's not necessarily true for other books within a series in particular that are more evergreen in terms of theme or time of the year.
5:10
Tech Guy: Yeah, a cup of holiday fear was especially fun because Sky Guy and I made a Halloween costume for you that year that it came out uh that made an appearance in the Ashland uh Halloween parade.
5:25
Tech Guy: Um, it was quite the hit.
5:26
Tech Guy: So it was quite the hit.
5:28
Tech Guy: You were a giant cup of hot chocolate with a skull on the side of it, of course.
5:33
Ellie Alexander: Complete with like my whipped cream hat.
5:36
Tech Guy: Yeah.
5:36
Tech Guy: Yeah.
5:37
Tech Guy: It was amazing.
5:38
Ellie Alexander: I will have to break out those pictures because that was epic.
5:41
Ellie Alexander: All right.
5:42
Ellie Alexander: Well, without further ado, should we get to our holiday TBRs?
5:47
Tech Guy: Yeah.
5:47
Tech Guy: First, I'll let all the darlings out there know, like, we want to hear from you too.
5:52
Tech Guy: What is on your holiday TBR list and uh what are you looking forward to reading this holiday season?
5:59
Tech Guy: So be sure to drop us a comment with your favorite titles, send us a message, uh, and you can even leave us a voicemail if you want.
6:07
Ellie Alexander: Ooh, love it.
6:08
Ellie Alexander: And I always like to put a plug out for your local indie bookstore or your local library again, because we're doing this early in November.
6:16
Ellie Alexander: Hopefully, it gives you plenty of time to go find some of these if you're wanting to add to your holiday rating stack.
6:22
Tech Guy: Absolutely.
6:23
Tech Guy: The independent bookstores out there, they are with me.
6:26
Tech Guy: They are, I guarantee you, they're starting to put out their holiday sections right now.
6:30
Tech Guy: If not today, definitely within the next week or two.
6:34
Ellie Alexander: So all right.
6:36
Ellie Alexander: Well, let's get straight to it.
6:38
Ellie Alexander: Let's go back and forth.
6:39
Ellie Alexander: So I'm gonna start with one of my favorite reads from last year.
6:42
Ellie Alexander: It is the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny.
6:46
Ellie Alexander: I don't know if you say Colgan.
6:47
Ellie Alexander: I think it's Colgan, um, but I'm never sure how you actually pronounce her name.
6:52
Ellie Alexander: I she is an auto-by author for me.
6:55
Ellie Alexander: I will read anything that Jenny writes.
6:58
Ellie Alexander: She beautifully captures small town, cozy community connection, relationships.
7:06
Ellie Alexander: She doesn't write mysteries, so there are no bodies in this.
7:09
Ellie Alexander: This is, I would say, like a cozy, rom-com adjacent kind of book.
7:14
Ellie Alexander: It's all about uh a bookstore at Christmas time.
7:18
Ellie Alexander: And these are all set over in the UK.
7:21
Ellie Alexander: She lives in a castle in real life in Scotland.
7:24
Ellie Alexander: So I just imagine that her world looks like this.
7:27
Ellie Alexander: If you're listening to the podcast, darling, it's just the epitome of a beautiful bookstore during the holiday season with this golden glow of light and the garlands.
7:39
Ellie Alexander: And yeah, I just want to live in this book.
7:41
Ellie Alexander: And I devoured it.
7:43
Ellie Alexander: I think I read this one in two hours, um, or maybe, maybe three, but I did read it in the bath because there are some sections where I'm like, oh yeah, that that's water stained.
7:52
Ellie Alexander: So uh I loved it.
7:55
Tech Guy: Yeah, that it wouldn't be one of your books without water stains, I think.
7:59
Tech Guy: Um the other thing I would like to tell the darlings out there is we'll we'll drop links, the titles and authors and links to all the the books at uh any bookstores um in the show notes.
8:09
Tech Guy: So be sure to check out the show notes for this episode afterwards if something um catches your eye in terms of a holiday read that you might want to complete.
8:18
Tech Guy: All right.
8:19
Tech Guy: My first choice always, always is Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.
8:25
Ellie Alexander: I'm shocked.
8:26
Ellie Alexander: I'm shocked by this.
8:28
Tech Guy: This is this is my go-to.
8:30
Tech Guy: Well, I have two go-tos.
8:31
Tech Guy: This is my first go-to, uh, maybe second, 1a.
8:34
Tech Guy: Um, maybe 1b.
8:37
Tech Guy: Um, just one of the funniest, like heartwarming, but but absolutely hilarious stories, holiday stories that I've ever read.
8:49
Tech Guy: And it was such a surprise and delight when this book first came out all those years ago.
8:55
Tech Guy: And I've read it every year since and just look forward to this time of year so I can read it again.
9:01
Tech Guy: I know exactly what's going to happen every time, but I I love it just the same.
9:05
Ellie Alexander: I think that's the best thing about a comfort read, though.
9:07
Ellie Alexander: You know what you're getting.
9:08
Ellie Alexander: And so every time you revisit it, you just sink back into that world.
9:12
Ellie Alexander: Now, for me, because you love this book so much, it is my white whale because you read that.
9:20
Ellie Alexander: When did that book come out?
9:21
Ellie Alexander: Like 20 years ago?
9:23
Tech Guy: I will look it up right now.
9:24
Ellie Alexander: Okay, look up the copyright.
9:26
Ellie Alexander: Ever since, because you fell in love with it, you've we've talked about the fact that Christmas with the Kranks, the movie that is based on the book, is not as good.
9:34
Ellie Alexander: But it's enjoyable.
9:36
Speaker 1: I think it's still it's mid, it's mid.
9:38
Ellie Alexander: Okay, all right.
9:39
Ellie Alexander: I still have never read Skipping Christmas, so I can't actually attest.
9:44
Ellie Alexander: I know, which is funny.
9:45
Tech Guy: It's amazing.
9:46
Tech Guy: Uh, it came out in 2001, so 25 years ago.
9:49
Ellie Alexander: 25 years ago.
9:50
Ellie Alexander: I have tried to find another equivalent because I think for me it's easier because I love, you know, anything that resembles the Christmas Bookshop, right?
10:00
Ellie Alexander: But this is such a unique book that every year I I try and I go to, I have connections in the book world.
10:07
Ellie Alexander: Like I'm pretty hooked up with some of the best books there are.
10:11
Ellie Alexander: And I'll be like, okay, we gotta try again for the tech guy.
10:14
Ellie Alexander: And I don't think anything has ever lived up.
10:17
Tech Guy: Well, let's put it out to the darlings.
10:18
Tech Guy: Like, is there a book out there that you have read that is akin to Skipping Christmas that you've enjoyed as much that is the same style of story that is both funny and heartwarming and holiday themed and and everything?
10:31
Tech Guy: I've I've read a lot of other books that have been recommended to me over the years, and and some of them have been really funny.
10:38
Tech Guy: Um, you know, uh holidays on ice, you better not cry, thing, things like that.
10:43
Tech Guy: But they just it it's not the same.
10:45
Tech Guy: They're not the same.
10:47
Ellie Alexander: This has that nice layer of depth to it as well.
10:50
Tech Guy: Yeah, and it's it's also surprising to me that John Grisham wrote this.
10:54
Tech Guy: Like given what John Grisham is known for, um it it is just it is it is shocking, and it just shows how cool it is to be an author and be and have that that breadth of you know talent.
11:08
Ellie Alexander: So I know I love that from the writing side too, that he totally went from writing something like The Firm to this very sweet, heartwarming holiday story.
11:17
Speaker 1: Yeah.
11:18
Ellie Alexander: Well, that's a good segue into one of my favorite reads, holiday reads from last year.
11:24
Ellie Alexander: And in fact, I think we did a podcast about our hopeful TBRs from the holiday, and this one was on it last year.
11:31
Ellie Alexander: And I loved this book.
11:34
Ellie Alexander: So, readers, this is Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon.
11:37
Ellie Alexander: And the thing is, from the cover, it just looks like your classic holiday rom-com, right?
11:43
Ellie Alexander: It's got all the sweet vibes.
11:44
Ellie Alexander: The concept is that these two strangers meet and they start watching every holiday movie together over the course of the Christmas season and beyond.
11:53
Tech Guy: And that's why I bought it for you.
11:55
Tech Guy: It's that cover.
11:56
Tech Guy: It looks just it looks fun, right?
11:59
Tech Guy: It looks like a holiday, fun holiday read.
12:02
Ellie Alexander: Which it is.
12:03
Ellie Alexander: Uh, the author for this is Matthew Norman.
12:06
Ellie Alexander: I had never read Matthew before.
12:08
Ellie Alexander: Holy smokes, it is like John Grisham.
12:10
Ellie Alexander: There is uh a death involved at the very beginning.
12:16
Ellie Alexander: And the first scene, I just balled my eyes out.
12:20
Ellie Alexander: Now, I don't think that that's a reason not to read it.
12:23
Ellie Alexander: I loved this book.
12:25
Ellie Alexander: It's just so unexpected because the cover might make you feel like it's gonna be kind of sappy and there's not gonna be a lot of depth to it, but it is so moving and such a heartwarming story about the triumph of loss and grief and what that means during the holiday season.
12:41
Ellie Alexander: And then it has all a lot of fun to it too.
12:44
Ellie Alexander: But it the cover does not necessarily reflect the content inside the book.
12:50
Tech Guy: Yeah, and for the darlings out there, I bought this for Ellie and I I go into our bedroom the night that she started reading it, and she is just sobbing.
13:01
Tech Guy: And I am like, what's a matter?
13:03
Tech Guy: What happened?
13:04
Tech Guy: I I just all of a sudden I was like, oh no.
13:07
Tech Guy: And she's like, This book is just so sad.
13:09
Tech Guy: And I'm like, that book?
13:10
Tech Guy: That's not I didn't I didn't try to buy you a sad book, but yeah, it it turned out to be a little sad.
13:18
Tech Guy: And then I'm so glad you did.
13:20
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, no, I loved it.
13:21
Ellie Alexander: I will I want to read it again this holiday, and I've recommended it to so many friends too.
13:25
Ellie Alexander: But um, it just goes to show you always cannot judge a book by the cover, right?
13:31
Tech Guy: Right, totally.
13:32
Tech Guy: Okay, um, I am going to go with number two, which is my first one of the first books uh that I have not read yet, which is called The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson.
13:44
Tech Guy: Okay, since I haven't read this one, I'm going to read just a little blurb from the inside uh jacket here.
13:52
Tech Guy: Uh, this is from New York Times best-selling author Peter Swanson.
13:55
Tech Guy: Comes a spectacularly spine-chilling story of an American student spending the holidays in a British manor house where she discovers dangerous secrets and a grim history hidden behind a seemingly charming Christmas celebration.
14:11
Tech Guy: Ooh.
14:12
Tech Guy: Sounds a little spooky, sounds a little mysterious.
14:16
Tech Guy: A Christmas thriller?
14:18
Tech Guy: Who knows?
14:19
Tech Guy: That's The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson.
14:22
Tech Guy: And it's a novella, it's very short.
14:24
Tech Guy: Uh I it I don't I don't know, but I think it's around a hundred pages or so.
14:30
Tech Guy: So even I can read that quickly.
14:33
Ellie Alexander: Um the cover of that is great too, and it kind of tracks back to the episode we did a little while ago where we talked about how mashups are hot right now, and you can put cozy on everything.
14:43
Ellie Alexander: So that's like cozy Christmas mystery thriller.
14:47
Ellie Alexander: Sure, sign me up.
14:48
Tech Guy: Yeah, it I mean the cover does look a little bit like the shining, the the lodge in in the shining, uh, which is Timberline Lodge up at uh in Oregon for those darlings out there who didn't know.
15:00
Tech Guy: The exterior shots, anyway.
15:02
Ellie Alexander: So the exterior shots, and if you want to do a real deep dive into the backlist, the second book in my Meg Reed Mysteries, which was originally titled Slayed on the Slopes, was set at Timberline.
15:17
Ellie Alexander: And we spent quite a few Christmases at Timberline Lodge where Santa comes down the chimney, and there's this beautiful caroling and buffet, and people are skiing past you.
15:29
Ellie Alexander: It's just, it's so idyllic and gorgeous.
15:32
Tech Guy: Yeah, that was super fun.
15:33
Tech Guy: What's next on your list?
15:34
Ellie Alexander: Okay, next on my list is another read from last holiday season, and this is a classic.
15:41
Ellie Alexander: It is also a short story.
15:42
Ellie Alexander: It doesn't look quite as short as yours, but for the great late Agatha Christie, this was a shorter mystery.
15:49
Ellie Alexander: It's Hercule Poirot's Christmas.
15:52
Ellie Alexander: And I think you would love this one too.
15:54
Ellie Alexander: I enjoyed this one so much.
15:56
Ellie Alexander: I had never read it in my childhood, which is interesting because I talked frequently about how much Agatha I read.
16:03
Ellie Alexander: But for some reason, this one never made it on my reading list.
16:07
Ellie Alexander: And I picked it for my Mysteries and Mocktail book club here in the Bay Area.
16:13
Ellie Alexander: So we will be reading this together in December.
16:16
Ellie Alexander: And I think I might just do a reread because it was so fast.
16:19
Ellie Alexander: And um, the little blurb is Poirot has solved some puzzling mysteries in his time, but never has his mighty brain functioned more brilliantly than at Christmas.
16:29
Ellie Alexander: That was a review back in the day by the New York Times.
16:33
Tech Guy: Wow.
16:33
Tech Guy: Yeah, no, I definitely want to check that one out.
16:36
Tech Guy: I'll have to get my little gray cells uh buzzing so I can can read that.
16:41
Tech Guy: Poirot and Christmas.
16:43
Tech Guy: That's a great mashup.
16:44
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, Manor House, there's Snowden, there's no electricity.
16:48
Ellie Alexander: I won't give it all away, but it's a classic.
16:51
Ellie Alexander: I'm surprised this one hasn't been made into a bigger holiday movie.
16:57
Ellie Alexander: Somebody's got to be optioning this because I'm sure like one of the BBC, you know, David Suchet shows at one point maybe covered this book, but I want this on the big screen for sure.
17:09
Tech Guy: Oh, wow.
17:09
Tech Guy: Yeah, that would be great.
17:10
Tech Guy: I'm sure the cinematography for that would be awesome.
17:13
Tech Guy: All right.
17:14
Tech Guy: Uh, next up on mine, uh, this might be a little controversial because this is a this is a James Patterson book, um, which he wrote with Tad Safran.
17:23
Tech Guy: Uh The 12 Topsy-Turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas.
17:28
Tech Guy: And I know James has like had a rough go of it lately because he partnered with Mr.
17:32
Tech Guy: Beast for some reason to write a book.
17:35
Tech Guy: I'm gonna put book in big air.
17:37
Tech Guy: Please put book.
17:38
Tech Guy: Yeah, right.
17:38
Tech Guy: And and now he's doing uh uh like uh uh romantasy, right?
17:44
Tech Guy: Something like that.
17:46
Tech Guy: I I don't know, James.
17:47
Tech Guy: What what's happening, man?
17:49
Tech Guy: Uh but this is a Christmas book.
17:51
Tech Guy: Uh so we'll see.
17:52
Tech Guy: Um let me read you the backcover copy here.
17:56
Tech Guy: America's favorite storyteller has written a gift, a delightful Christmas story to be shared by the whole family.
18:01
Tech Guy: That's what Kirkus has to say.
18:03
Tech Guy: So we'll see.
18:04
Tech Guy: Uh at Christmas time, the Sullivan family of three is missing someone dear to them until unexpected guests begin to arrive at their empty house.
18:16
Tech Guy: On the first day, a small beaked and feathered face pokes between tree branches.
18:21
Tech Guy: On the second day, two white doves burst from a gift box and fly around the kitchen.
18:26
Tech Guy: On the third day, three hens peck inside a garden that's been locked for years.
18:31
Tech Guy: Christmas is coming alive at the Sullivan House.
18:34
Tech Guy: At the end of the 12 days, the family will be aglow with new and wondrous memories and discover the true meaning of the season.
18:41
Tech Guy: That is really I don't even know what to think of that.
18:45
Tech Guy: I know it's gonna be this is gonna be interesting.
18:49
Ellie Alexander: But what is it?
18:50
Tech Guy: I don't know.
18:51
Tech Guy: I don't I'm not sure.
18:52
Tech Guy: But uh, this family's getting a lot of birds for Christmas, I guess.
18:56
Ellie Alexander: It's a menagerie.
18:57
Tech Guy: I mean, are there gonna be uh is it 12 drummers drumming, 10 drummers drumming?
19:02
Ellie Alexander: I think so.
19:03
Tech Guy: I can't remember the lyrics.
19:04
Ellie Alexander: How many leapers?
19:05
Ellie Alexander: Ladies are leaping.
19:06
Ellie Alexander: There's yeah.
19:07
Tech Guy: Lords are leaping.
19:08
Ellie Alexander: Lords are leaping, ladies are dancing, yes.
19:10
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, yeah, gotta get it straight.
19:12
Ellie Alexander: Okay, full disclosure.
19:13
Ellie Alexander: I have never read anything by James Patterson, but what I do appreciate about James Patterson is the support that he has given to indie bookstores over the years.
19:22
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, he has given so much money back to indie bookstores, and he does this thing where you can nominate booksellers and they get a grant and the store gets a grant.
19:30
Ellie Alexander: So I greatly appreciate that.
19:32
Ellie Alexander: But I'm curious from the darlings, uh, because I've never read James either.
19:35
Ellie Alexander: Maybe I'll start with this too.
19:36
Ellie Alexander: Maybe we'll we can do um a buddy read for the holidays.
19:40
Ellie Alexander: Um, but if darlings, if you've read him, like what are what are your recs?
19:43
Ellie Alexander: Let me know.
19:44
Ellie Alexander: He's got like a million books.
19:45
Tech Guy: So and I I I like this is a topic for another time, but this the whole like big author name, little author name thing.
19:54
Tech Guy: Like, I always wonder how much input did he have versus you know, it just me too.
20:00
Tech Guy: But that's for another episode.
20:01
Tech Guy: So what's up on your next on your list?
20:04
Ellie Alexander: Next on my list.
20:05
Ellie Alexander: Okay, all right.
20:06
Ellie Alexander: So uh my previous three are books that I've read and I recommend.
20:10
Ellie Alexander: These are my holiday hopefuls.
20:13
Ellie Alexander: So I kind of have a little theme going here with two of them.
20:16
Ellie Alexander: I mean, I guess all three.
20:17
Ellie Alexander: I'm going for the holiday romance vibe.
20:20
Ellie Alexander: So my first one is Meg & Jo.
20:23
Ellie Alexander: This is by Virginia Kantra.
20:25
Ellie Alexander: I've never read Virginia either.
20:26
Ellie Alexander: It's a contemporary retelling of Little Women.
20:31
Ellie Alexander: Um, so it says that this timeless classic of Little Women inspired this heartwarming modern tale of four sisters from New York.
20:39
Ellie Alexander: So these are the March sisters reimagined in New York.
20:43
Ellie Alexander: Um, of course, it's during the holidays because Little Women is set during the holidays.
20:49
Ellie Alexander: Uh, I loved Little Women.
20:50
Ellie Alexander: I try to watch Little Women every year at Christmas time too, especially the Greta Gerwig version.
20:56
Ellie Alexander: Oh, so beautiful.
20:57
Ellie Alexander: No notes.
20:58
Ellie Alexander: So um I'm excited to try this one.
21:01
Ellie Alexander: I have not read it yet.
21:02
Ellie Alexander: I will keep you posted.
21:04
Tech Guy: Wow, that one sounds good.
21:05
Tech Guy: Okay.
21:07
Tech Guy: Um, next up on my list, I have oh, I'm gonna save that one.
21:13
Tech Guy: I'm changing up my order.
21:14
Tech Guy: Last minute.
21:15
Tech Guy: Change it up my order.
21:16
Tech Guy: Um this is another one that you got me.
21:19
Tech Guy: Um, and I'm really looking forward to this because this will lead into another book in my list.
21:26
Tech Guy: But this one is A Christmas Carol Murder by Heather Redmond.
21:31
Tech Guy: It's a Dickens of a crime.
21:33
Tech Guy: Uh, let's see.
21:37
Tech Guy: Who did anyone have anything good to say?
21:40
Tech Guy: This this one is um this is in the clever reimagining of Charles Dickens' life.
21:46
Tech Guy: He and fiance Kate Hogarth must solve the murder of an old miser just before Christmas.
21:53
Tech Guy: That could be very interesting.
21:57
Tech Guy: Uh Kirkus says, mystery fans and history buffs alike should cheer.
22:03
Tech Guy: That could be good.
22:06
Tech Guy: So I'm looking forward to that.
22:08
Tech Guy: Um, this is uh the taglines on the cover kill me.
22:12
Tech Guy: Murder, bah, humbug.
22:16
Ellie Alexander: That's so good.
22:17
Ellie Alexander: Yes.
22:19
Tech Guy: Uh, so this is this is interesting.
22:21
Tech Guy: So um, this is going to be a story of Charles Dickens himself with his fiance solving a murder.
22:29
Tech Guy: I love it.
22:30
Tech Guy: That's gonna be great.
22:32
Ellie Alexander: Well, last year we, or maybe a couple years ago, we saw a kind of mashup of Sherlock solving Ebenezer's Oh yeah.
22:41
Tech Guy: Tiny Tim comes to Sherlock Holmes because Ebenezer Scrooge has died, and Tiny Tim thinks that he has been murdered, and so he's asking Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery.
22:55
Tech Guy: And that that was a play that we saw.
22:56
Tech Guy: And it was great.
22:57
Tech Guy: It was that was really good.
22:59
Tech Guy: It was a great production.
23:01
Ellie Alexander: Okay, well, we're totally unintentionally on the same theme here.
23:05
Ellie Alexander: So I have another retelling as my next holiday hopeful.
23:10
Ellie Alexander: So this is Blame it on the Brontës.
23:12
Ellie Alexander: Um, and this is by Annie Sereno, and this is a delightful third chance romance with the Brontë sisters brooding and all of your ongoing holiday banter.
23:27
Ellie Alexander: So it says everything that a rom com should be smart, sexy, funny, and charming to boot.
23:33
Ellie Alexander: A love story only a Brontë could write.
23:36
Ellie Alexander: So this is a retelling of the classic.
23:39
Ellie Alexander: Um, of course, it's got all those writer themes in it.
23:42
Ellie Alexander: It's not technically holiday heavy, but because I'm gonna read the retelling of Meg & Jo, I just feel like I've gotta get the Brontë sisters in the mix too.
23:54
Tech Guy: That sounds great.
23:55
Tech Guy: That sounds like a fun one.
23:57
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
23:58
Ellie Alexander: Again, these are hopefuls, so I'll keep you posted.
24:01
Tech Guy: Totally.
24:02
Tech Guy: Um, okay, next on my list.
24:04
Tech Guy: This is not gonna be for everyone.
24:06
Tech Guy: I'm not even sure it's gonna be for me, but uh, but I the cover.
24:12
Tech Guy: Well, you got this for me.
24:13
Tech Guy: And I don't remember.
24:15
Tech Guy: I think the the reason you got it for me was the cover because you just couldn't pass it up.
24:20
Tech Guy: But this is, Hark! The Herald Angels Scream.
24:24
Speaker 1: Yes.
24:26
Tech Guy: And this is uh um, well, it's by it's it's a it's a collection of a bunch of different Christmas theme horror stories or horror stories written uh during Christmas time.
24:40
Tech Guy: Um, so it is this is gonna be interesting.
24:46
Tech Guy: Um have yourself a scary little Christmas, it says on the back.
24:51
Tech Guy: So perfect.
24:52
Tech Guy: Um it's from chained ghosts to blood soaked Santas, the tradition of Christmas horror sketches from Dickens a Christmas Carol, uh on up to the controversial Silent Night, Deadly Night, and Gremlins.
25:07
Tech Guy: Hark the Herald Angel Scream dives deep into the dark side of the season with tales of commercialism and desire run amok, of hauntings and ghostly revenge, and of pure terror.
25:18
Tech Guy: Christmas, not Halloween, is horror's most fertile realm, as seen in the 18 original harrowing and chilling stories collected here.
25:26
Tech Guy: So that is Hark! The Herald Angels Scream.
25:29
Tech Guy: Yeah, we'll see how that one goes.
25:31
Tech Guy: I don't know.
25:32
Tech Guy: That's gonna be really interesting.
25:35
Ellie Alexander: But let me just put on the table there is precedent for this because we've already already established that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, absolutely, so that's bloody in all the things, and now we have David Harbour in the mix with Silent Night.
25:50
Ellie Alexander: Violent night, Violent Night, yes, thank you, Violet Night, not Silent Night.
25:54
Ellie Alexander: Don't darlings, if you're looking for something cozy, do different things.
26:02
Tech Guy: But I mean, I do think there there is already a trend there, so yeah, and before anybody looks it up, like that this book that I just talked about for the darlings out there, Violet Night, that movie is not for everyone.
26:14
Speaker 1: So yes, I thought it was amazing.
26:17
Tech Guy: Uh David Harbour was incredible in it.
26:19
Tech Guy: Um, but yeah, it and there's a second one coming out.
26:23
Tech Guy: Uh Chris and Bell is in it with him, and I cannot wait.
26:28
Ellie Alexander: But anyway, we will be seeing that.
26:29
Ellie Alexander: Do not take your children to this movie, though.
26:32
Tech Guy: Oh no, no, that is not a family Christmas movie by any stretch.
26:37
Tech Guy: Um, oh my gosh, no, don't do that.
26:39
Tech Guy: No, yeah.
26:40
Tech Guy: Okay.
26:40
Tech Guy: All right, last on your list.
26:42
Ellie Alexander: My last holiday hopeful, this is sort of uh uh um rest in peace mass market, because one of my core memories, especially around the holidays, was that my grandmother in particular would have a whole stack of holiday mass market romances that she would just breeze through.
27:01
Ellie Alexander: She and my mom are the reason that I got addicted to mysteries at a young age because they would share mysteries back and forth.
27:07
Ellie Alexander: My mom wasn't as big into the rom-coms, but would read some of them.
27:12
Ellie Alexander: But there would always be this stack of mass markets that looked like this at my grandma's house.
27:20
Ellie Alexander: And as we've talked about at length here at Reality Writes, the mass market as we know it will not continue.
27:27
Ellie Alexander: And so I was searching my local bookstore for any mass market holiday, and let me tell you, there are none out there.
27:37
Ellie Alexander: My choice was The Christmas Train by David Baldacci.
27:41
Ellie Alexander: I don't know if that's how you say his last name.
27:43
Ellie Alexander: He's a very popular NYT best-selling author who I've never read before either.
27:48
Ellie Alexander: Or my other choice was The Christmas Train by David Baldacci, because there was nothing else in the mass market section.
27:58
Ellie Alexander: So I was like, well, it's a sign from the universe.
28:00
Ellie Alexander: I'm gonna read The Christmas Train.
28:02
Ellie Alexander: Um, it has great reviews by the New York Times and People magazine.
28:07
Ellie Alexander: It says uh he's the number one global best selling author.
28:11
Ellie Alexander: Um, it talks all about him, but there is literally nothing on the back cover about the book.
28:18
Tech Guy: It's just about him.
28:19
Ellie Alexander: There's there's nothing about the book, it just is the Christmas train.
28:23
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
28:24
Ellie Alexander: So we'll find out.
28:27
Tech Guy: That may be one of the reasons that Mass Market is not gonna be around anymore.
28:32
Ellie Alexander: No, because then I was looking in the middle.
28:33
Ellie Alexander: I'm like, where is it?
28:35
Ellie Alexander: No, there are lots of blurbs and praise for the Christmas train um from other, you know, wonderful characters, all touched by the miracle, heartwarming, sweet holiday tale.
28:45
Ellie Alexander: But what is it about?
28:46
Ellie Alexander: I'm I'm guessing a train at Christmas.
28:49
Ellie Alexander: I'll let you know.
28:51
Tech Guy: But somebody takes a train at Christmas time.
28:54
Ellie Alexander: Maybe we're gonna find out.
28:55
Ellie Alexander: People magazine, it says evokes the glamour of classic romances, but that's as much as we know.
29:01
Ellie Alexander: Uh, but I wanted something on my shelf that was mass market, uh, just as like a little homage to the women in my life who used to read these at Christmas time.
29:12
Ellie Alexander: So if nothing else, it'll sit on my shelf every Christmas as a memory to them.
29:19
Tech Guy: That's great.
29:19
Tech Guy: That's great.
29:20
Tech Guy: All right.
29:21
Tech Guy: Uh, last but not least, my the last book on my list, this will be a surprise to no one who knows me.
29:27
Tech Guy: Um is going to be, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
29:32
Tech Guy: This particular volume with these amazing sprayed edges, um, is all a bunch of Christmas stories by Charles Dickens or Christmas-ish stories.
29:43
Tech Guy: Uh, but A Christmas Carol is the one that I will read.
29:48
Tech Guy: So, for those who don't know, one of the other traditions that I have personally, because I do this myself uh every holiday season, is I watch I have about 17 different versions of a Christmas Carol that I watch.
30:02
Tech Guy: And yes, that includes them up at Christmas Carol.
30:05
Tech Guy: Uh, one of my all-time favorites is the one with uh Sir Patrick Stewart, Rest in Peace.
30:12
Ellie Alexander: Um Rest in Peace.
30:13
Tech Guy: So I might have to, I might have to give that a couple of watches this year.
30:17
Ellie Alexander: Just I'll watch that one with you again, too.
30:19
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
30:19
Tech Guy: Um that that is amazing.
30:21
Tech Guy: But the story itself, the book, uh reading it or the the story that uh Dickens wrote is amazing.
30:28
Tech Guy: I love it.
30:29
Tech Guy: I love the I just love everything about it.
30:32
Tech Guy: I love the story, I love the spirit of it.
30:33
Tech Guy: I love all three of the spirits in it.
30:36
Tech Guy: Uh it it's just it's a great story that um just makes me tear up, makes me feel good every holiday season.
30:44
Tech Guy: So it is what I like to cap it off with and maybe wash out my brain after reading Hark the Herald Angel's Scream.
30:56
Ellie Alexander: And since we're also talking about movies, apparently, for this episode, there's a new version coming out with none other than Johnny Depp.
31:04
Tech Guy: So um that that he looks amazing in that the costume makeup.
31:10
Ellie Alexander: Well, uh never would have recognized him.
31:13
Tech Guy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:14
Tech Guy: Yeah, so that is our list for uh this holiday season uh so far.
31:21
Tech Guy: It'll be interesting to see.
31:22
Tech Guy: I know you'll burn through all yours.
31:24
Tech Guy: I I'm gonna be curious to see.
31:26
Tech Guy: It'll maybe I'll have to post updates uh over on Patreon on Patreon for for everyone about how I'm making it through uh to see how many of these I can actually get through.
31:38
Tech Guy: But uh but I really do want to hear from everyone out there like what is on their list.
31:42
Tech Guy: And if you have a book that you think is as good as skipping Christmas, bring it on.
31:48
Tech Guy: Let's go.
31:49
Tech Guy: I mean I I I wanna it's a challenge.
31:52
Tech Guy: Consider it a tech guy challenge.
31:54
Ellie Alexander: It is a tech guy challenge, and I will be forever in your debt because I have tried, I've tried, darlings, but haven't gotten there yet.
32:02
Ellie Alexander: Maybe it's gonna be the Christmas train, could be.
32:05
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, we'll see.
32:07
Tech Guy: I'm gonna I'm gonna put low odds on that.
32:10
Ellie Alexander: Okay, okay.
32:11
Ellie Alexander: Hey, you never know.
32:12
Tech Guy: You never know, you never know.
32:14
Tech Guy: That is true.
32:15
Tech Guy: All right.
32:16
Tech Guy: Well, with that, I'm gonna say until next time.
32:20
Ellie Alexander: Until next time, happy reading.
32:22
Tech Guy: Happy reading.