All Booked | Reads for the Holiday Season

The original version of this newsletter was sent out on Tuesday, December 5

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Hello book lovelies!!

Living in beautiful sunny Santa Barbara is my favorite thing 90% of the year, but when it comes to the holiday season, I find the nice weather makes it difficult for me to get into the spirit. Enter: intentional holiday immersion. Over the next few weeks, I am surrounding myself with the holidays. I’m baking cookies. I’m wrapping presents. I’m watching holiday movies. I’m listening to holiday music. I’m lighting candles. And I’m reading holiday books. Holiday books? Yes! While there may not be as many classic holiday books as there are movies, there are a handful (i.e. A Christmas Carol) and there are also some new-ish releases that I’m looking forward to cracking open. Preferably under a blanket with a cup of tea in hand. Here are a few books that are on my radar for this holiday season.

I am a big believer in going into a book knowing as little as possible. I try not to read too much of the synopses or reviews, since most of them over-share. My pitches below are short and sweet just for that reason.

Peter Swanson is one of my favorite thriller authors. I’ve read three of his books and have loved them all. His latest, The Christmas Guest is a novella that follows an American student spending the holidays at her fellow classmate’s home in England. The mansion is beautiful but as her stay progresses, she feels more and more uneasy about being there. This story is told through two timelines – one thirty years later, and another through diary entries made at the time of stay. What more could you want from a holiday thriller?

I read The Appeal by Janice Hallett last year, and even though I found it a bit too long, that story has stuck with me ever since. Hallet’s The Christmas Appeal is set in the same world and follows the same amateur theatre group as The Appeal. As the reader we are reading through transcripts, files, and emails alongside lawyers who are trying to uncover the truth about the dead body who ends up on stage during their holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk.

I’m hoping this shorter installment in the series is the perfect length for this type of book. Also note that you do not need to have read The Appeal to enjoy this one.

If you’re looking for a book to give off Hallmark movie vibes, then pick up anything from Jenny Colgan. Her stories are sweet and heartwarming romances without too much at stake. I’ve read The Bookshop on the Corner and The Bookshop on the Shore by her and loved both of them. I’m looking forward to picking up The Christmas Bookshop.

In this book we follow Carmen who loses her job at a department store and is forced to move in with her sister. Soon after she finds herself trying to save a rundown bookshop, while also in the middle of a love triangle… Like I said, Hallmark movie vibes.

As always, I would love to hear from you. What are your holiday reading plans? Let me know!

Your smitten bookworm, Emily

UPCOMING BOOK EVENTS

Below, you will find a few bookish events coming up in Santa Barbara. If you are hosting a bookish event in Santa Barbara, be sure to submit the event to our online events calendar.

Book Signing with Elizabeth Poett
Saturday, December 9, 12 p.m., Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Book Talk Neal Allen & NYT Bestseller Ann Lamott
Tuesday, December 12, 6 p.m. Chaucer’s Books

LOCAL BOOK SPOTLIGHT

We at the Independent get many books sent to us by local authors, sometimes too many! It’s practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren’t worth the attention. In an attempt to not completely drop the ball, we have compiled a list of books here that have a local spin. They are all either written by a local author, feature someone in our community, or have another tie to Santa Barbara. I urge you to look through this list. Perhaps you will find your new favorite read!

The following are the most recent titles that have been sent to us. Click here for a more comprehensive list.

Flight to Armageddon by William Congdon

The Rogue Insurrection by William Congdon

Juan Felipe Herrera: Migrant, Activist, Poet Laureate edited by Francisco Lomelí and Osiris Aníbal Gómez

Border Crossings by Sneed B. Collard III and Illustrated by Howard Gray

If you are a local author and would like us to feature your book in this section, please email allbooked@independent.com with the subject line “Local Author Spotlight.”