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TBR of Doom, Holiday Book Pairing Edition
🕑 Added 2022-11-30 07:35:32 +0000 UTCDo we need more books? No, probably not. Do we want more books? Always. This time I've picked a couple of my favorite holiday movies (we use the term reaaaal loosely around these parts) and matched them up with a book that I think fits. Let's see how well I manage!
First up Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas: look, this is an actual book BUT it's also an adorable movie full of muppets where they compete to win a talent contest. There's a jug band AND muppets. What more do you want?
Book Pairing: Hum & Shiver by Alex Bledsoe, the first book in the Tufa series. It's an adult fantasy novel full of music and plays with the idea of the Fey, or fairies in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee.
Home Alone--look, you've probably seen this movie by now. Even if you haven't, you know the gist. Rambunctious kid, left alone, thieves, overly elaborate traps. Heavy Scooby Doo vibes. (There's actually a french horror movie from the 80's that really similar if you're into that sort of thing called Deadly Games/Dial Code Santa/3615 code Père Noël and like three other names for some reason that's really good but does include the death of an animal which I was not prepared for AT ALL.)
Book Pairing: Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley is an adult mystery with a funny, precious child main character named Flavia. Flavia is obsessed with poisons and delightful. This book isn't a holiday book, but one of the later ones, Half Sick of Shadows, is. Oh, maybe also Artemis Fowl if you want a kid's book?
Christmas Story--again, we've all seen it. I should be tired of it, right? I'm not. Couldn't tell you why. It's a classic in my household.
Book Pairing: I've got two for you here. One is Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris, which collects his essays about when he works as an elf for a Santa land thing. Short and funny. The other is I recommend the original source material for the Christmas story, which was originally split up into a few of his books (In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wandy Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, I think.) but you can now find in a collection just called A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd. He was a really funny essay writer and actually is the narrator for the film.
Rare Exports--I love this movie so much. It's basically a Christmas horror movie out of Lapland. It's subtitled for most of it, and a little goofy in a good way, but also beautifully shot with a really good script. And the characters! Ugh. So good. But basically the premise is that a young boy who's father is a reindeer farmer, realizes Krampus is real and that a construction company is about to dig him up. I need to rewatch this one.
Book Pairing: Look, there are a lot of books about Krampus, but I haven't read many of them (yet). Tone-wise, I think Kaiju Preservation Society by Scalzi lines up nicely. Another option I think would maybe be Bear and the Nightingale by Arden. Just a gorgeously written book.
While You Were Sleeping--this movie cracks me up. It's a fun holiday romance movie with wacky family antics. I'll always watch it when it's on. (Same with Moonstruck.)
Book Pairing: for a romance read, While the Duke was Sleeping is historical romance riff on the film that's a fun read. Kiss Her Once for Me is another romance inspired by the film, and though I haven't read it yet, I read her other book The Charm Offensive and it was funny and adorable.
The Nutcracker--My mom used to take me to see this when I was a kid, and when we couldn't go, we'd watch the movie, the recording with the old Maurice Sendak sets? Kind of creepy, but I loved it.
Book Pairing: I've got a few for you here. For middle grade, Nut Cracked by Susan Adrian. For YA, Winterspell by Claire LeGrande, the Wrath and the Dawn by Ahdieh (This one is actually a retelling of Shahrazad, but it's lush and dark and magical like the Nutcracker). For the contemporary YA reader, Up to This Pointe by Longo, which is about a ballet dancer who has to figure out what to do after she loses her dream. For adult fantasy readers, Discount Armageddon by McGuire--it's an urban fantasy about a woman who is both a professional dancer and comes from a family of monster...not fighters, exactly, but sometimes? It's really funny. I love the mouse cult.
Okay, I'm going to post this before we lose power. (Lots of snow in my neighborhood tonight and some very creaky-sounding trees!) A little bummed that I couldn't think of a good pairing for Elf. I'll keep thinking on it.
-Lish
